"
Young Camp entered at this moment, and the Altrurian hesitated. "Oh, do go
on!" Mrs. Makely entreated. She added to Camp: "We've got him to talking
about Altruria at last, and we wouldn't have him stopped for worlds."
The Altrurian looked around at all our faces, and no doubt read our eager
curiosity in them. He smiled and said: "I shall be very glad, I'm sure.
But I do not think you will find anything so remarkable in our
civilization, if you will conceive of it as the outgrowth of the
neighborly instinct. In fact, neighborliness is the essence of
Altrurianism. If you will imagine having the same feeling toward all," he
explained to Mrs. Makely, "as you have toward your next-door neighbor--"
"My next-door neighbor!" she cried. "But I don't _know_ the people next
door! We live in a large apartment house, some forty families, and I
assure you I do not know a soul among them."
He looked at her with a puzzled air, and she continued: "Sometimes it
_does_ seem rather hard. One day the people on the same landing with us
lost one of their children, and I should never have been a whit the wiser
if my cook hadn't happened to mention it.
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