Life on the Mississippi

Since those days, I have pitied doctors from my heart. What does the lovely flush in a beauty's cheek mean to a doctor but a 'break' that ripples above some deadly disease. Are not all her visible charms sown thick with what are to him the signs and symbols of hidden decay? Does he ever see her beauty at all, or doesn't he simply view her professionally, and comment upon her unwholesome condition all to himself? And doesn't he sometimes wonder whether he has gained most or lost most by learning his trade?

from "Is He Living or Is He Dead?"

"A child has a caged bird which it loves, but thoughtlessly neglects. The bird pours out its song unheard and unheeded, but in time, hunger and thirst assail the creature and its song grows plaintive and feeble and finally ceases.

The bird dies.

The child comes, and is smitten to the heart with remorse. Then with bitter tears and lamentations, it calls its mates and they bury the bird and, with elaborate pomp and the tenderest grief, without knowing, poor things, that it isn't children only who starve poets to death and then spend enough on their funerals and monuments to have kept them alive and made them easy and comfortable. . ."