"Life is short at
best, but when a fellow has nobody to bear his name after he is
gone it is shorter still.
Get married, my boy. Get married." He took a lively interest in the
growth of my business. He rejoiced in it as though he ascribed my
successes to the loans he had given me when I struggled for a
foothold. He often alluded to those favors, but he was a devoted
friend, all the same. Moreover, he was a most attractive man to
talk to, especially when the conversation dealt with one's intimate
life. With all his illiteracy and crudity of language he had rare
insight into the human heart and was full of subtle sympathy. He
was the only person in America with whom I often indulged in a
heart-to-heart confab. He was keenly aware of my loneliness. It
seemed as though it disturbed him
"You are not a happy man, Levinsky," he once said to me. "You
feel more alone than any bachelor I ever knew. You're an orphan,
poor thing. You have a fine business and plenty of money and all
sorts of nice times, but you are an orphan, just the same.
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