It
dare not, if it wishes to be beautiful, lay claim to what it is not.
And it should not bulk on the city-scape like Leviathan; it should
rise and soar, light and airy and fairylike.
Man is an ethical animal--or, at least, he is more ethical than any
other animal. Wherefore he has certain yearnings for honesty. And
in no way can these yearnings be more thoroughly satisfied than by
the honesty of the house in which he lives and passes the greater
part of his life.
They that dwelt in San Francisco were dishonest. They lied and
cheated in their business life (like the dwellers in all cities), and
because they lied and cheated in their business life, they lied and
cheated in the buildings they erected. Upon the tops of the simple,
severe walls of their buildings they plastered huge projecting
cornices. These cornices were not part of the construction. They
made believe to be part of the construction, and they were lies. The
earth wrinkled its back for twenty-eight seconds, and the lying
cornices crashed down as all lies are doomed to crash down.
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