Life is full of sniffles sobs and smiles. With sniffles predominating. - O. Henry

The air was full of human essence, of artificial enticement, of coquetry, indolence, pleasure — the man-made sense of existence.

It did not exactly beggar description, but it certainly had that word on the lookout for the mendicancy squad.

"I'll put you wise. You remember the old top-liner in the copy book — "Honesty is the Best Policy"? That's it. I'm working honesty for a graft. I'm the only honest man in the republic. The government knows it; the people know it; the boodlers know it; the foreign investors know it. I make the government keep its faith. If a man is promised a job he gets it. If outside capital buys a concession it gets the goods. I run a monopoly of square dealing here. There's no competition. If Colonel Diogenes were to flash his lantern in this precinct he'd have my address inside of two minutes. There isn't big money in it, but it's a sure thing, and lets a man sleep of nights."