TRAVELING IN THE SMOKY CITY

The dreamer found himself with three younger traveling companions in Liverpool. It was night and raining. The air was full of smoke and soot. They climbed up from the harbor to the 'upper city.' The dreamer said, 'It was terribly dark and disagreeable, and we could not understand how anyone could stick it out here. We talked about this, and one of my companions said that, remarkably enough, a friend of his had settled here, which astonished everybody. During this conversation we reached a sort of public garden in the middle of the city. The park was square, and in the center was a lake or large pool... On it there was a single tree, a red-flowering magnolia, which miraculously stood in everlasting sunshine. I noticed that my companions had not seen this miracle, whereas I was beginning to understand why the man had settled here.