“It is a melancholy object to those, who walk through this great town, or travel in the country, when they see the streets, the roads, and cabin doors, crowded with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags, and importuning every passenger for an alms.” Which of these is nearest in meaning to the word importuning, as it is used in the passage above?
1. Attacking
2. luring
3. pestering
4. refusing