"Oh, but that's very different," said Watts.
"It's just as different as the two men with the toothache," said Peter.
"They both met at the dentist's, who it seems had only time to pull one
tooth. The question arose as to which it should be. 'I'm so brave,' said
one, 'that I can wait till to-morrow.' 'I'm such a coward,' said the
other, 'that I don't dare have it done to-day.'"
"Haven't you ever taken people to those places, Peter?" asked Leonore.
"No. I've always refused. It's a society fad now to have what are called
'slumming parties,' and of course I've been asked to help. It makes my
blood tingle when I hear them talk over the 'fun' as they call it. They
get detectives to protect them, and then go through the tenements--the
homes of the poor--and pry into their privacy and poverty, just out of
curiosity. Then they go home and over a chafing dish of lobster or
terrapin, and champagne, they laugh at the funny things they saw. If the
poor could get detectives, and look in on the luxury and comfort of the
rich, they wouldn't see much fun in it, and there's less fun in a
down-town tenement than there is in a Fifth Avenue palace.
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