lauri

'One of the triumphs of civilisation, Peter Walsh thought. It is one of the triumphs of civilisation, as the light high bell of the ambulance sounded. Swiftly, cleanly, the ambulance sped to the hospital, having picked up instantly, humanely, some poor devil; ... That was civilisation. It struck him... the efficiency, the organisation, the communal spirit of London. Every cart or carriage of its own accord drew aside to let the ambulance pass. Maybe it was morbid,; or was it not touching rather, the respect which they showed this ambulance with its victim inside - busy men hurrying home, yet instantly bethinking them as it passed of some wife; or presumably how easily it might have been them there, streched out on a shelf with a doctor and a nurse...'