text:
Page:Henry Mulford Tichenor - A Guide to Emerson (1923).djvu/39

 36 seize them. I fear only that I may lose them receding into the sky in which now they are only a patch of brighter light. Then, though I prize my friends, I cannot afford to talk with them and study their visions, lest I lose my own. It would indeed give me a certain household joy to quit this lofty seeking, this spiritual astronomy, or search of stars, and come down to warm sympathies with you; but then I know well I shall mourn always the vanishing of my mighty gods. It is true, next week I shall have languid moods, when I can well afford to occupy myself with foreign objects; then I shall regret the lost literature of your mind, and wish you were by my side again. But if you come, perhaps you will fill my mind only with new visions, not with yourself but with your lustres, and I shall not be able any more than now to converse with you. So I will owe to my friends this evanescent intercourse. I will receive from them, not what they have, but what they are. They shall give me that which properly they cannot give, but which emanates from them. But they shall not hold me by any relations less subtle and pure. We will meet as though we met not, and part as though we parted not."

Writing on the "Uses of Great Men," Emerson critically observes: "Great men—the word is injurious. Is there caste? Is there fate? What becomes of the promise to virtue? The thoughtful youth laments the superfoetation of Nature. 'Generous a handsome,' he says, 'is your hero; but look at yonder poor Paddy, whose country is his wheelbarrow; look at his


text:
Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 09).pdf/278

 college. According to the wish of your Majesty, this work was changed into a college for natives which they wished to found. The same income of one thousand pesos a year has been assigned them, in addition to the fourth of the tribute paid where there is no instruction, and other sums from similar sources. I think it would be well to further this work; for besides the receiving of a good education by the sons of natives, which would strengthen them greatly in the things of the Christian religion and right living, it would be a hidden blessing to have the sons of the principal natives in this college, for our safety is thereby assured on any occasion whatever. The papers in this matter are sent, in order that your Majesty may have provision made according to your pleasure.

At the beginning of this year, a galleon arrived at these islands from Piru, and later a small fragata in its convoy, wherein it appears that Adelantado Alvaro de Mendaña had set out from Piru in April of last year to discover the western islands in the Southern Sea. This he did not succeed in doing, and lost his flagship and afterward another fragata. He formed a settlement on another island near Nueva Guinea, where the men quarreled among themselves, and the said adelantado died with many of his people. His wife inherited that settlement, and arrived at these islands in great need and after many hardships, where she married Don Fernando de Castro, cousin of the governor, and returned to Piru with her

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text: Page:The Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems - Longfellow (1846).djvu/118


text: Page:The Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems - Longfellow (1846).djvu/119


text: Page:The Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems - Longfellow (1846).djvu/117


text:
Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 09).pdf/272

 China; but as those who set out returned here, it seems as if God had, for the present, closed the door for that voyage; and so it stands.

This year so many Chinese have come under pretext of trading, that we have been very cautious, and suspicious of an uprising. For by these expeditions we have been left so greatly in need of troops, that there was good cause to be fearful and on the watch. I undertook to put the Chinese out of the country, and by this time more than twelve thousand have embarked. About as many more remain, and much diligence is being observed. They are a people with whom one must live with much watchfulness and caution, of which but little has hitherto been exercised. The city has been cut down in size, extending from the border of the fort and royal house by the garrison, furnishing a retreat in case of necessity for the few people here and the women and children. In fact the whole change is only setting the city aright; for the fortifications were wrongly planned from the beginning.

Your Majesty's exchequer has suffered so much damage and loss by the mismanagement of the officials, that, although various gentle means were taken to relieve and repair it, they were of no effect. Consequently, when the governor saw himself so hard pressed, he commenced to investigate the accounts; and the officers are suspended from the exercise of their duties until the state of their offices shall be ascertained. They are alike in their bitter enmities and difficulties with one another, making the despatch of the matter impossible. The papers are sent in order that your Majesty may see what has been done, and the condition of affairs here at present,


text: Page:The Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems - Longfellow (1846).djvu/126


text: Page:The Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems - Longfellow (1846).djvu/127


text:
Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 09).pdf/273

 which if investigated thoroughly will be found to contain other things of much moment in the matter. Your Majesty will decree in everything what will be most expedient for your service. I assure your Majesty that had any other means been found of dealing with the said officials besides the one used, until your Majesty should be advised thereof, this final measure would not have been taken—which was necessary, since no other effectual means were at hand.

Your Majesty has yet in this kingdom a revenue amply sufficient for all the expenses thereof, if it be administered with fidelity and care, and if many present superfluous expenses be suppressed. There are not more than a hundred paid soldiers in camp, and six captains of infantry and their officers draw salaries. The forts are without garrisons; but for more than a year the wardens thereof have been improperly drawing salaries. Your Majesty has no galleys whatever, and there is one commander, who, though unemployed, draws a yearly salary of eight hundred pesos; and there are many officers who get a salary in the same manner. There are many garrisons of soldiers, sailors, artillerymen, and others in various capacities who draw pay from your Majesty's exchequer; and they are of no service, nor will they ever in their lives be of any use, except as servants and attendants upon the officers and other persons, who pay them from your Majesty's revenues. In this way much of your Majesty's revenue is being spent and wasted. It would be necessary to institute a reform, and to make many investigations of the accounts of your Majesty's debtors and the collectors of your Majesty's revenue, in order to regain much property which is lost. Every day more will be wasted unless your Majesty


text:
Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 09).pdf/276

 interests and those of their friends. The youth and inexperience of the governor does not permit of anything else. Now with the news that your Majesty is to send Don Francisco Tello to this government, it seems as if everything would take on new life; for, if there is more delay, it would be at the cost of the service of your Majesty, and the welfare of these islands. Everything has declined greatly from the condition in which matters were left by his father; and although I have done what I could it is but little, on account of my slight and inadequate authority. Nevertheless, some of the most important things have been looked after with more spirit than at first. The people of this land cannot be pleased with everything, for they are fond of liberty; and for this reason there are some complaints. But I endeavor only to further the service of God and of your Majesty, not to consult their tastes or to manage affairs so that they may write to your Majesty in approbation of me. As things have happened, there may be a lack of persons to approve my proceedings; but this does not vex me, because I expect that, with God's help, time will show the truth; and no other reward is needed than to satisfy your Majesty, as is my earnest desire.

The jurisdiction of your Majesty in this kingdom is so hampered by that of the ecclesiastics that on no occasion can we have our own way. As there is no one to withstand them much damage is experienced; and we see ourselves in great troubles and hardships, tied hand and foot, because the ecclesiastics and religious interfere in everything. They rebel against and hinder the accomplishment of your Majesty's commands; and even among themselves they have many dissensions and disagreements. It is a pitiable state of


text: Page:The Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems - Longfellow (1846).djvu/148


text: Page:The Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems - Longfellow (1846).djvu/147


text: Page:The Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems - Longfellow (1846).djvu/149


text:
Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 09).pdf/274

 orders a speedy remedy, with punishment of the guilty, which shall serve as a warning for the future. In the meanwhile much suffering will be felt here, as at present; and even a large part of your Majesty's estate in Nueva España will not suffice to meet the needs here.

There are very few in these islands capable of handling the arquebus, although they used to be the best and most skilful soldiers in the Yndias. The cause of this is that they have so devoted themselves to trade that they have no desire for anything else. Nevertheless, your Majesty ordered, in the instructions given to Gomez Perez, when he came here to govern, that those who drew pay from your Majesty as fighting men should not be allowed to trade. Afterward in a clause of the letter of January, 1593, replying to another of his, your Majesty ordered the same thing. This has not been complied with, however, and as the captains and higher officers are rich and rewarded by their salaries and grants, it is not just that they be merchants, as is the case. They are so diverted from military exercise that they are as useless as if they were in Toledo; and elsewhere they engross, by their large shipments, the space required for the merchandise and freight of the citizens. Your Majesty therefore spends the revenue on them and their soldiers uselessly; and it is necessary that this be corrected, in order that affairs may return to their normal condition.

The city was sufficiently supplied with public endowments, because in addition to what the governor held, he made a grant to it, in the name of your Majesty, of the shops and rents of a new parián, which had been built after my arrival for the Chinese, outside


text: Page:The Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems - Longfellow (1846).djvu/154


text: Page:The Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems - Longfellow (1846).djvu/155


text:
Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 09).pdf/275

 the walls, on the border of Sant Gabriel. Consequently there comes in from the property more than four thousand pesos annually, which is fully sufficient for necessary expenses, and in the future should be used for public buildings, which are needed. None such have ever been attempted, except the wall and fortifications which were built by the governor Gomez Perez. In respect to the traffic of the citizens of these islands and the administration of their commerce, your Majesty made suitable provisions by a decree of the same month of January, ninety-three. This is as is necessary; and since the returns from all the merchandise from Nueva Spaña come to them without limitation, there is left them no just ground for complaint. When I came here I found that, although the said decree is so precise, the execution of it was so far forgotten here that, when I took steps for its observance, it was ill received, as will appear by the accompanying reports thereof. Nevertheless, the execution of the decree will be attended to on my part, until your Majesty may decree otherwise. There is no doubt that by this is decreed what is expedient for this kingdom; and if the officials took proper care to execute your Majesty's orders, these difficulties would be obviated. But, as I have before written, it is not done with due exactness.

Governor Don Luis Perez Dasmariñas was daily expecting a change in this government and his removal, and owing to this and his mildness of disposition, affairs in general suffer. Although he is a man of good intentions and of much virtue, he is governed in everything by the friars, and particularly by the Dominicans, who are enjoying this favorable opportunity and make use of it to advance their own


text: Page:The Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems - Longfellow (1846).djvu/165


text: Page:The Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems - Longfellow (1846).djvu/166


text: Page:The Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems - Longfellow (1846).djvu/167


text: Page:The Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems - Longfellow (1846).djvu/168


text:
Page:The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 (Volume 09).pdf/277

 affairs, and even if it were for no other purpose than to moderate these excesses and licenses of powerful persons, it would be best to have here the royal Audiencia, which your Majesty ordered to be suppressed. I beseech your Majesty, as I likewise urged from Nueva Spaña, in the report which your Majesty already has, that in case the royal Audiencia is not reëstablished, a remedy be provided. There should be someone to oppose the ecclesiastics in a land so far away from the Audiencia of Mexico; for, no matter what question is sent there for decision, at least two years must elapse before despatches can be returned.

The bishop is very much missed in this land by all the ecclesiastics; and it would be very beneficial for the future if he should come this year with the arms sent from Nueva Spaña. May God bring them, although they are already late in arriving. If they should fail to come, great need would be felt everywhere. All these islands are now pacified, and the only need is for ministers of the gospel, on account of the many heathen who are without instruction. Many of the Spaniards who people the land and come here for its defense, die here. Thus we are in need, as I have said.

The college founded by the fathers of the Society for the education of Spaniards in this city, at the expense of your Majesty's exchequer, is now closed, by the new contract which was made with Captain Estevan Rodriguez de Figueroa regarding the patronage which was given him from this house and


text: Page:The Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems - Longfellow (1846).djvu/169


text:
Page:Bible (1901 American Standard Version).pdf/43

24. 15

Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink. And she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also. Let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac. And thereby shall I know that thou hast showed kindness unto my master.  And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder.  And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her. And she went down to the fountain, and filled her pitcher, and came up.  And the servant ran to meet her, and said, Give me to drink, I pray thee, a little water from thy pitcher.  And she said, Drink, my lord. And she hasted, and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink.  And when she had done giving him drink, she said, I will draw for thy camels also, until they have done drinking.  And she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw, and drew for all his camels.  And the man looked stedfastly on her, holding his peace, to know whether Jehovah had made his journey prosperous or not.  And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden ring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold,  and said, Whose daughter art thou? Tell me, I pray thee. Is there room in thy father's house for us to lodge in?  And she said unto him, I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, whom she bare unto Nahor.  She said moreover unto him, We have both straw and provender enough, and room to lodge in.  And the man bowed his head, and worshipped Jehovah.  And he said, Blessed be Jehovah, the God of my master Abraham, who hath not forsaken his lovingkindness and his truth toward my master. As for me, Jehovah hath led me in the way to the house of my master's brethren.

And the damsel ran, and told her mother's house according to these words.  And Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban: and Laban ran out unto the man, unto the fountain.  And it came to pass, when he saw the ring, and the bracelets upon his sister's hands, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, Thus spake the man unto me. That he came unto the man. And, behold, he was standing by the camels at the fountain.  And he said, Come in, thou blessed of Jehovah. Wherefore standest thou without? For I have prepared the house, and room for the camels.  And the man came into the house, and he ungirded the camels. And he gave straw and provender for the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men that were with him.  And there was set food before him to eat. But he said, I will not eat, until I have told mine errand. And he said, Speak on.  And he said, I am Abraham's servant.  And Jehovah hath blessed my master greatly. And he is become great. And he hath given him flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and men-servants and maid-servants, and camels and asses.  And Sarah my master's wife bare a son to my master when she was old. And unto him hath he given all that he hath.  And my master made me swear, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell.  But thou shalt go unto my father's house, and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son.  And I said unto my master, Peradventure the woman will not follow me.  And he said unto me, Jehovah, before whom I walk, will send his angel with thee, and prosper thy way. And thou shalt take a wife for my son of my kindred, and of my father's house.  Then shalt thou be clear from my oath, when thou comest to my kindred. And if they give her not to thee, thou shalt be clear from my oath.  And I came this day unto the fountain, and said, O Jehovah, the God of my master Abraham, if now thou do prosper my way which I go:  behold, I am standing by the fountain of water. And let it come to pass, that Rh


text: Page:The Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems - Longfellow (1846).djvu/170


text: Page:The Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems - Longfellow (1846).djvu/171


text: Page:The Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems - Longfellow (1846).djvu/172


text: Page:The Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems - Longfellow (1846).djvu/173


text: Page:The Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems - Longfellow (1846).djvu/174


text: Page:The Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems - Longfellow (1846).djvu/175


text: Page:The Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems - Longfellow (1846).djvu/176


text:
Page:Henry Mulford Tichenor - A Guide to Emerson (1923).djvu/40

 Rh whole nation of Paddies.' Why are the masses, from the dawn of history down, food for knives and powder? The idea dignifies a few leaders, who have sentiment, opinion, love, self-devotion; and they make war and death sacred;—but what for the wretches whom they hire and kill? The cheapness of man is every days tragedy. It is as real a loss that others should be low, as that we should be low; for we must have society."

We are born to attain independence—"On, and forever onward! The microscope observes a monad or wheel-insect among the infusories circulating in water. Presently, a dot appears on the animal, which enlarges to a slit, and it becomes two perfect animals. The ever-proceeding detachment appears not less in all thought, and in society. Children think they cannot live without their parents. But, long before they are aware of it, the black dot has appeared, and the detachment taken place. Any accident will now reveal to them their independence."

To Emerson "the heroes of the hour" are but "relatively great." They are "of a faster growth; or they are such in whom at the moment of success, a quality is ripe which is then in request. Other days will demand other qualities. Some rays escape the common observer, and want a finely adapted eye. Ask the great man if there be none greater. His companions are; and not the less great, but the more, that society cannot see them. Nature never sends a great man into the planet, without confiding the secret to another soul."


text:
Page:Lorna Doone - a romance of Exmoor (IA lornadooneromanc691blac).pdf/97

 warmth of courage breathed in me, to think that perhaps no other had dared to try that pass before me, and to wonder what mother would say to it. And then came thought of my father also, and the pain of my feet abated.

How I went carefully, step by step, keeping my arms in front of me, and never daring to straighten my knees, is more than I can tell clearly, or even like now to think of, because it makes me dream of it. Only I must acknowledge that the greatest danger of all was just where I saw no jeopardy, but ran up a patch of black ooze-weed in a very boastful manner, being now not far from the summit.

Here I fell very piteously, and was like to have broken my knee-cap, and the torrent got hold of my other leg while I was indulging the bruised one. And then a vile knotting of cramp disabled me, and for awhile I could only roar, till my mouth was full of water, and all of my body was sliding. But the fright of that brought me to again, and my elbow caught in a rock-hole; and so I managed to start again, with the help of more humility.

Now being in the most dreadful fright, because I was so near the top and hope was beating within me, I laboured hard with both legs and arms, going like a mill and grunting. At last the rush of forked water, where first it came over the lips of the fall, drove me into the middle, and I stuck awhile with my toe-balls on the slippery links of the pop-weed, and the world was green and gliddery, and I durst not look behind


text:
Page:Henry Mulford Tichenor - A Guide to Emerson (1923).djvu/41

 38 What, then, is the benefit in contemplation of the great? Emerson writes: "One gracious fact emerges from these studies—that there is true ascension in our love. The reputations of the nineteenth century will one day be quoted to prove its barbarism. The genius of humanity is the real subject whose biography is written in our annals. We must infer much, and supply many chasms in the record. The history of the universe is symptomatic, and life is mnemonical. No man, in all the procession of famous men, is reason or illumination, or that essence we were looking for; but is an exhibition, in some quarter, of new possibilities. Could we one day complete the immense figures which these flagrant points compose! The study of many individuals leads us to an elemental region wherein the individual is lost, or wherein all touch by their summits. Thought and feeling, that break out there, cannot be impounded by any fence of personality.

"This is the key to the power of great men—their spirit diffuses itself. A new quality of mind travels by night and by day, in concentric circles from its origin, and publishes itself by unknown methods; the union of all minds appears intimate; what gets admission to one, cannot be kept out of any other; the smallest acquisition of truth or of energy, in any quarter, is so much good to the commonwealth of soulsThe genius of humanity is the right point of view of history. The qualities abide; the men who exhibit them have now more, now less, and pass away; the qualities remain on another brow


text: Page:Virgil's Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis - Dryden (1709) - volume 2.djvu/201


text: Page:Virgil's Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis - Dryden (1709) - volume 2.djvu/202


text:
Page:Henry Mulford Tichenor - A Guide to Emerson (1923).djvu/42

 Rh "For a time, our teachers serve us personally, as metres or milestones of progress. Once they were angels of knowledge, and their figures touched the sky. Then we drew near, saw their means, culture and limits; and they yielded their place to other geniuses. Happy, if a few names remain so high that we have not been able to read them nearer, and age and comparison have not robbed them of a ray. But at last we shall cease to look in men for completeness, and shall content ourselves with their social and delegated quality. All that respects the individual is temporary and prospective, like the individual himself, who is ascending out of his limits into a catholic existence. We have never come at the true and best of any genius, so long as we believe him an original force. In the moment when he ceases to help us as a cause, he begins to help us more as an effect. Then he appears as an exponent of a vaster mind and will. The opaque self becomes transparent with the light of the First Cause."

In his Essay on "The Over-Soul" Emerson reaches the summit of his transcendentalism: "We grant that human life is mean; but how did we find out that it was mean? What is the ground of this uneasiness of ours; of this old discontent? What is the universal sense of want and ignorance, but the fine, innuendo by which the soul makes its enormous claim? Why do men feel that the natural history of man has never been written, but he is always leaving behind what you have said of him, and it be-


text:
Page:Henry Mulford Tichenor - A Guide to Emerson (1923).djvu/43

 40 comes old, and books of metaphysics worthless? The philosophy of six thousand years has not searched the chambers and magazines of the soul. In its experiments there has always remained, in the last analysis, a residuum it could not resolve. Man is a stream whose source is hidden. Our being is descending into us from we know not whence. The most exact calculator has no prescience that somewhat incalculable may not balk the very next moment. I am constrained every moment to acknowledge a higher origin for events than the will I call mine.

"As with events, so it is with thoughts. When I watch that flowing river, which, out of regions I see not, pours for a season its streams into me, I see that I am a pensioner; not a cause, but a surprised spectator of this ethereal water; that I desire and look up, and put myself in the attitude of reception, but from some alien the visions come.

"The Supreme Critic on the errors of the past and the present, and the only prophet of that which must be, is that great Nature in which we rest, as the earth lies in the soft arms of the atmosphere; that Unity, that Over-soul, within which every man's particular being is contained and made one with all other; that common heart, of which all sincere conversation is the worship, to which all right action is submission; that overpowering reality which confutes our tricks and talents, and constrains every one to pass for what he is, and to speak from his character, and not from his


text:
Page:Carroll Lane Fenton - A History of Evolution (1922).djvu/46

 Rh it into clear and unmistakable language, and to back it up by evidence secured directly from studies made on living animals and plants. It might have been compared to a piece of waiting for someone to forge it into a key—a key that would open the doors of conventional thought and old-fashioned restriction, and thereby give an insight into life and life's history that would revolutionize human thought, and help in a better understanding between man and man, and man and beast.

The outstanding figure of the entire history of evolution is Charles Darwin. Whether or not be deserves all of the prominence that has been given him is a question—a question that probably must be answered in the negative. We are very apt to lionize the victor while we ignore those who made the victory possible, whether it be won in science, politics, or warfare. Among certain circles today there is an undeniable tendency to over-praise Darwin; to talk and think as though he were the first and the last truly great evolutionist. It is becoming with Darwin as Harris found it with Shakespeare: "He is like the Old-Man-of-the


text:
Page:Carroll Lane Fenton - A History of Evolution (1922).djvu/47

 44 Sea on the shoulders of our youth; he has become an obsession to the critic, a weapon to the pedant, a nuisance to the man of genius." If we substitute 'popularizer' for 'critic,' Harris' sentence will apply to Darwin without further modification. There is a popular misconception that a great and successful scientist must of necessity be a man of great genius; nothing of the sort is true. Take the average "authority" away from his specialty, and he is a very commonplace individual; take him with it, and he is often little more than a remarkably durable and precise human machine.

Neither biographers nor critics have shown us any good reasons for considering Charles Darwin an exceptionally great man. He was a highly successful scientist, but at the same time he was aided to success by the condition of science during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and his personal fortune. In this connection it will be worth our while to examine the opinions of Carlyle, as reported by Frank Harris. The two were discussing notables of the century, and Harris brought up the name of Darwin. Carlyle described the two brothers as "solid, healthy men, not greatly gifted, but honest and careful and hardworking " and speaking of a conversation with Charles Darwin after his return from the "Beagle" voyage, said: "I saw in him then qualities I had hardly done justice to before: a patient clear-mindedness, fairness too,


text:
Page:Carroll Lane Fenton - A History of Evolution (1922).djvu/48

 Rh and, above all, an allegiance to facts, just as facts, which was most pathetic to me; it was so instinctive, determined, even desperate, a sort of belief in its way, an English belief, that the facts must lead you right if you only followed them honestly, a poor, groping, blind faith—all that seems possible to us in these days of flatulent unbelief and piggish unconcern for everything except swill and straw."

We need not, like Carlyle, abuse this "allegiance to facts"; it is the foundation-stone of all reliable scientific work, and the scientist who abandons it is sure to bring disaster to himself and his work. And yet, to maintain that fact-hunting is, of necessity, a mark of genius is absurd.

It is largely the qualities that prevent us from ranking Darwin as a genius that establish his eminence as a research scientist. He is great not for his ideas, for they had been worked out before him, but for the clearness with which he stated his conclusions, and the wealth of proof which he brought to their defence. The earliest evolutionists tried to solve their problems by deduction, making the theory first, and searching for the facts afterward. Darwin's method was just the opposite. As he himself says, he searched for fact after fact, at the same time straining to keep all thought of theory from his mind. Finally, when he had ascertained how things actually were, and had arranged his information, he set forth to formulate a theory that might accord fully with


text:
Page:The Mystery of the Blue Train.pdf/45

 "By my advice, she is about to file a petition for divorce. That, of course, is a solicitor's business. But, for private reasons, I want the fullest and most complete information."

Mr. Goby looked at the cornice and murmured:

"About Mr. Kettering?"

"About Mr. Kettering."

"Very good, sir."

Mr. Goby rose to his feet.

"When will you have it ready for me?"

“Are you in a hurry, sir?”

"I'm always in a hurry," said the millionaire.

Mr. Goby smiled understandingly at the fender.

"Shall we say two o'clock this afternoon, sir?" he asked.

"Excellent," approved the other. "Good morning, Goby."

"Good morning, Mr. Van Aldin."

"That's a very useful man," said the millionaire as Goby went out and his secretary came in. "In his own line he's a specialist."

"What is his line?"

"Information. Give him twenty-four hours and he would lay the private life of the Archbishop of Canterbury bare for you."

"A useful sort of chap," said Knighton, with a smile.

"He has been useful to me once or twice," said Van Aldin. "Now then, Knighton, I'm ready for work."

The next few hours saw a vast quantity of business rapidly transacted. It was half-past twelve when the telephone bell rang, and Mr. Van Aldin was informed that Mr. Kettering had called. Knighton


text:
Page:Carroll Lane Fenton - A History of Evolution (1922).djvu/49

 46 what he knew to be the truth. He took the ancient, indefinite idea of evolution and welded it into an organized theory, and armed it with an array of facts that made it irresistible. While some of Darwin's beliefs have failed to show the importance he assigned them, and others of them are very probably errors, there are few indeed who seriously, from the standpoint of science, care to question the conception that all living things have developed from earlier living things of simpler or more primitive character. His careful, painstaking work gained for his ideas a world wide acceptance among thinking men, and made Charles Darwin one of the greatest figures in the history of science.

The story of Darwin's life is a story of long, careful study and preparation, of rapid publication of his discoveries when he set out to write them, and finally of triumph over those who opposed him. He was born on the twelfth of February, 1809, the same day that brought the world Abraham Lincoln. Someone has said that on that day the world's greatest liberators were born—in America the one who would free the bodies of men from bondage; in England the man who would free their minds from a no less real slavery to custom, power, and worn-out dogma.

When he was sixteen years old, Darwin went to Edinburgh to study medicine. But he was already a rebel against dryness and dead academic thought, and wrote home that the lectures in anatomy were quite as dry as was the


text:
Page:Carroll Lane Fenton - A History of Evolution (1922).djvu/50

 Rh lecturer himself. After two years of medicine he gave up his work at Edinburgh, and went to Cambridge to become a preacher. But while studying for the ministry the young Darwin spent a great deal of his time with nature, and acquired something of a reputation as a naturalist. When, in 1831, he was offered the chance to make a five years' trip around the world as naturalist on the exploring ship "Beagle" he did not delay long in accepting. The things seen, and the facts learned on that long voyage probably had more to do with making Darwin a great naturalist than any other single phase of his life. On his return to England the young man set about writing up the results of his studies while on his trip, and put into this book most of the arguments which he had to give in favor of evolution. In 1856 he sent this report to Sir Joseph Hooker, then the leading authority on plants in England, and finally in 1859 published his great book, "The Origin of Species." This was the first concise statement of a theory of evolution, backed up by actual evidence, and it created a furore both in Europe and America. Some scientists eagerly took up with Darwin's ideas, seeing in them the explanation of facts that they. had long been unable to understand. Others, lacking in breadth of knowledge, or unwilling to give up old beliefs, fought bitterly against evolution. The controversy involved not only scientists, but the churchmen, and was a leading feature in newspapers, magazines, and


text:
Page:Egyptian Literature (1901).djvu/198

 days alone, without a companion beside my own heart. I laid me in a thicket, and the shadow covered me. Then stretched I my limbs to try to find something for my mouth. I found there figs and grapes, all manner of good herbs, berries and grain, melons of all kinds, fishes and birds. Nothing was lacking. And I satisfied myself; and left on the ground that which was over, of what my arms had been filled withal. I dug a pit, I lighted a fire, and I made a burnt-offering unto the gods.

“Suddenly I heard a noise as of thunder, which I thought to be that of a wave of the sea. The trees shook, and the earth was moved. I uncovered my face, and I saw that a serpent drew near. He was thirty cubits long, and his beard greater than two cubits; his body was as overlaid with gold, and his color as that of true lazuli. He coiled himself before me.

“Then he opened his mouth, while that I lay on my face before him, and he said to me: ‘What has brought thee, what has brought thee, little one, what has brought thee? If thou sayest not speedily what has brought thee to this isle, I will make thee know thyself; as a flame thou shalt vanish, if thou tellest me not something I had not heard, or which I knew not, before thee.’

“Then he took me in his mouth and carried me to his resting-place, and laid me down without any hurt. I was whole and sound, and nothing was gone from me. Then he opened his mouth against me, while that I lay on my face before him, and he said, ‘What has brought thee, what has brought thee, little one, what has brought thee to this isle which is in the sea, and of which the shores are in the midst of the waves?’

“Then I replied to him, and holding my arms low before him, I said to him: ‘I was embarked for the mines by the order of the majesty, in a ship; 150 cubits was its length, and the width of it forty cubits. It had 150 sailors of the best of Egypt, who had seen heaven and earth, and the hearts of whom were stronger than lions. They said that the wind would not be contrary, or that there would be none. Each of them exceeded his companion in the prudence of his heart and the strength of his arm, and I was not beneath any of them. A storm came upon us while we were on the sea. Hardly could we reach to the shore when the wind waxed yet greater,


text:
Page:Henry Mulford Tichenor - A Guide to Emerson (1923).djvu/44

 Rh tongue, and which evermore tends to pass into our thought and hand, and becomes wisdom, and virtue, and power, and beauty. We live in succession, in division, in parts, in particles. Meantime within man is the soul of the whole; the wise silence; the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related; the eternal ONE.

"And this deep power in which we exist, and whose beatitude is all accessible to us, is not only self-sufficing and perfect in every hour, but the act of seeing and the thing seen, the seer and the spectacle, the subject and the object, are one. We see the world piece by piece, as the sun, the moon, the animal, the tree: but the whole, of which these are the shining parts, is the soul. Only by the vision of that Wisdom can the horoscope of the ages be read, and by falling back on our better thoughts, by yielding to the spirit of prophecy which is innate in every man, we can know what it saith. Every man's words, who speaks from that life, must sound vain to those who do not dwell in the same thought on their own part. I dare not speak for it. My words do not carry its august sense; they fall short and cold. Only itself can inspire whom it will, and behold! their speech shall be lyrical, and sweet, and universal as the rising of the wind. Yet I desire, even by profane words, if I may not use sacred, to indicate the heaven of this deity, and to report what hints I have collected of the transcendent simplicity and energy of the Highest Law.


text:
Page:Egyptian Literature (1901).djvu/199

 and the waves rose even eight cubits. As for me, I seized a piece of wood, while those who were in the boat perished without one being left with me for three days. Behold me now before thee, for I was brought to this isle by a wave of the sea.’

“Then said he to me: ‘Fear not, fear not, little one, and make not thy face sad. If thou hast come to me, it is God who has let thee live. For it is he who has brought thee to this isle of the blest, where nothing is lacking, and which is filled with all good things. See now, thou shalt pass one month after another, until thou shalt be four months in this isle. Then a ship shall come from thy land with sailors, and thou shalt leave with them and go to thy country, and thou shalt die in thy town.

“‘Converse is pleasing, and he who tastes of it passes over his misery. I will therefore tell thee of that which is in this isle. I am here with my brethren and my children around me; we are seventy-five serpents, children and kindred; without naming a young girl who was brought unto me by chance, and on whom the fire of heaven fell, and burnt her to ashes.

“‘As for thee if thou art strong, and if thy heart waits patiently, thou shalt press thy infants to thy bosom and embrace thy wife. Thou shalt return to thy house, which is full of all good things; thou shalt see thy land, where thou shalt dwell in the midst of thy kindred.’

“Then I bowed, in my obeisance, and I touched the ground before him. ‘Behold now that which I have told thee before. I shall tell of thy presence unto Pharaoh, I shall make him to know of thy greatness, and I will bring to thee of the sacred oils and perfumes, and of incense of the temples with which all gods are honored. I shall tell, moreover, of that which I do now see (thanks to him), and there shall be rendered to thee praises before the fulness of all the land. I shall slay asses for thee in sacrifice, I shall pluck for thee the birds, and I shall bring for thee ships full of all kinds of the treasures of Egypt, as is comely to do unto a god, a friend of men in a far country, of which men know not.’

“Then he smiled at my speech, because of that which was in his heart, for he said to me: ‘Thou art not rich in perfumes, for all that thou hast is but common incense. As for me I am Prince of the land of Punt, and I have perfumes.


text:
Page:Egyptian Literature (1901).djvu/200

 Only the oil which thou sayest thou wouldst bring is not common in this isle. But, when thou shalt depart from this place, thou shalt never more see this isle; it shall be changed into waves.’

“And, behold, when the ship drew near, according to all that he had told me before, I got me up into an high tree, to strive to see those who were within it. Then I came and told to him this matter; but it was already known unto him before. Then he said to me: ‘Farewell, farewell; go to thy house, little one, see again thy children, and let thy name be good in thy town; these are my wishes for thee.’

“Then I bowed myself before him, and held my arms low before him, and he, he gave me gifts of precious perfumes, of cassia, of sweet woods, of kohl, of cypress, an abundance of incense, of ivory tusks, of baboons, of apes, and all kinds of precious things. I embarked all in the ship which was come, and, bowing myself, I prayed God for him.

“Then he said to me, ‘Behold thou shalt come to thy country in two months, thou shalt press to thy bosom thy children, and thou shalt rest in thy tomb.’ After this I went down to the shore unto the ship, and I called to the sailors who were there. Then on the shore I rendered adoration to the master of this isle and to those who dwelt therein.

“When we shall come, in our return, to the house of Pharaoh, in the second month, according to all that the serpent has said, we shall approach unto the palace. And I shall go in before Pharaoh, I shall bring the gifts which I have brought from this isle into the country. Then he shall thank me before the fulness of all the land. Grant them unto me a follower, and lead me to the courtiers of the King. Cast thy eye upon me, after that I am come to land again, after that I have both seen and proved this. Hear my prayer, for it is good to listen to people. It was said unto me, ‘Become a wise man, and thou shalt come to honor,’ and behold I have become such.”

This is finished from its beginning unto its end, even as it was found in a writing. It is written by the scribe of cunning fingers Ameni-amen-aa; may he live in life, wealth, and health!


text:
Page:Henry Mulford Tichenor - A Guide to Emerson (1923).djvu/45

 42 "All goes to show that the soul in man is not an organ, but animates and exercises all the organs; is not a function, like the power of memory, of calculation, of comparison, but uses these as hands and feet; is not a faculty, but a light; is not the intellect or the will, but the master of the intellect and will; is the background of our being, in which they lie—an immensity not possessed and that cannot be possessed. From within or from behind, a light shines through us upon things, and makes us aware that we are nothing, but the light is all. A man is the facade of a temple wherein all wisdom and all good abide. What we commonly call man—the eating, drinking, planting, counting man—does not, as we know him, represent himself, but misrepresents himself. Him we do not respect: but the soul, whose organ he is, would he let it appear through his action, would make our knees bend. When it breathes through his will, it is love. And the blindness of the intellect begins when it would be something of itself. The weakness of the will begins when the individual would be something of himself. All reform aims, in some one particular, to let the soul have its way through us; in other words, to engage us to obey.

"Humanity shines in Homer, in Chaucer, in Spenser, in Shakespeare, in Milton. They are content with truth. They use the positive degree. They seem frigid and phlegmatic to those who have been spiced with the frantic passion and violent coloring of inferior, but popular writers. For they are poets by the free course which they allow to the informing soul,


text:
Page:Henry Mulford Tichenor - A Guide to Emerson (1923).djvu/46

 Rh which through their eyes beholds again, and blesses the things which it hath made. The soul is superior to its knowledge, wiser than any of its works. The great poet makes us feel our own wealth, and then we think less of his compositions. His best communication to our mind is to teach us to despise all he has done.

"Shakespeare carries us to such a lofty strain of intelligent activity as to suggest a wealth which beggars his own; and we then feel that the splendid works which he has created, and which in other hours we extol as a sort of self-existent poetry, take no stronger hold of real nature than the shadow of a passing traveler on the rock. The inspiration which uttered itself in Hamlet and Lear could utter things as good from day to day forever. Why, then, should I make account of Hamlet and Lear, as if we had not the soul from which they fell as syllables from the tongue?"

"What is the hardest task in the world?" asks Emerson; and he answers, "To think."

"I would put myself," he says, "in the attitude to look in the eye an abstract truth, and I cannot. I flinch and withdraw on this side and on that. … We say, I will walk abroad, and the truth will take form and clearness to me. We go forth, but cannot find it. It seems as if we needed only the stillness and composed attitude of the library to seize the thought. But we come in, and are as far from it as at first."

Does thinking alone, then, answer our ques-


text:
Page:The Painted Veil - Maugham - 1925.djvu/225

 possible. The regimental surgeon has been treating him. Your husband has trained him and he’s done all that your husband could do himself.”

“Is that the surgeon?”

“No, that is Colonel Yü. He’s never left your husband’s side.”

Distracted, Kitty gave him a glance. He was a tallish man, but stockily built, and he seemed ill at ease in his khaki uniform. He was looking at Walter and she saw that his eyes were wet with tears. It gave her a pang. Why should that man with his yellow, flat face have tears in his eyes? It exasperated her.

“It’s awful to be able to do nothing.”

“At least he’s not in pain any more,” said Waddington.

She leaned once more over her husband. Those ghastly eyes of his still stared vacantly in front of him. She could not tell if he saw with them. She did not know whether he had heard what was said. She put her lips close to his ears.

“Walter, isn’t there something we can do?”

She thought that there must be some drug they could give him which would stay the dreadful ebbing of his life. Now that her eyes were more accustomed to the dimness she saw with horror that his face had fallen. She would hardly have recognised him. It was unthinkable that in a few short hours he should look like another man; he hardly looked like a man at all; he looked like death.

She thought that he was making an effort to speak. She put her ear close.


text:
Page:Egyptian Literature (1901).djvu/201

The hereditary prince, royal seal-bearer, confidential friend, judge, keeper of the gate of the foreigners, true and beloved royal acquaintance, the royal follower Sanehat says:

I attended my lord as a follower of the King, of the house of the hereditary princess, the greatly favored, the royal wife, Ankhet-Usertesen, who shares the dwelling of the royal son Amenemhat in Kanefer.

In the thirtieth year, the month Paophi, the seventh day the god entered his horizon, the King Sehotepabra flew up to heaven and joined the sun’s disk, the follower of the god met his maker. The palace was silenced, and in mourning, the great gates were closed, the courtiers crouching on the ground, the people in hushed mourning.

His Majesty had sent a great army with the nobles to the land of the Temehu (Lybia), his son and heir, the good god King Usertesen as their leader. Now he was returning, and had brought away living captives and all kinds of cattle without end. The councillors of the palace had sent to the West to let the King know the matter that had come to pass in the inner hall. The messenger was to meet him on the road, and reach him at the time of evening: the matter was urgent. “A hawk had soared with his followers.” Thus said he, not to let the army know of it. Even if the royal sons who commanded in that army send a message, he was not to speak to a single one of them. But I was standing near, and heard his voice while he was speaking. I fled far away, my heart beating, my arms failing, trembling had fallen on all my limbs. I turned about in running to seek a place to hide me, and I threw myself between two bushes, to wait while they should pass by. Then I turned me toward the south, not from wishing to come into this place—for I knew not if war was declared—nor even thinking a wish to live after this sovereign, I turned my back to the sycamore, I reached Shi-Seneferu, and rested on the open field. In the morning I went on and overtook a man, who passed by the edge of the road. He asked of me mercy, for he feared me. By the evening I drew near to Kher-ahau (? old Cairo), and I crossed the river on a raft


text:
Page:The Painted Veil - Maugham - 1925.djvu/226

 “Don’t fuss. I’ve had a rough passage, but I’m all right now.”

Kitty waited for a moment, but he was silent. His immobility rent her heart with anguish; it was terrifying that he should lie so still. He seemed prepared already for the stillness of the grave. Some one, the surgeon or a dresser, came forward and with a gesture motioned her aside; he leaned over the dying man and with a dirty rag wet his lips. Kitty stood up once more and turned to Waddington despairingly.

“Is there no hope at all?” she whispered.

He shook his head.

“How much longer can he live?”

“No one can tell. An hour perhaps.”

Kitty looked round the bare chamber and her eyes rested for an instant on the substantial form of Colonel Yü.

“Can I be left alone with him for a little while?” she asked. “Only for a minute.”

“Certainly, if you wish it.”

Waddington stepped over to the Colonel and spoke to him. The Colonel gave a little bow and then in a low tone an order.

“We shall wait on the steps,” said Waddington as they trooped out. “You have only to call.”

Now that the incredible had overwhelmed her consciousness, like a drug coursing through her veins, and she realised that Walter was going to die she had but one thought, and that was to make his end easier for him by dragging from his soul the rancour which poisoned it. If he could die at peace


text:
Page:The Painted Veil - Maugham - 1925.djvu/227

 with her it seemed to her that he would die at peace with himself. She thought now not of herself at all but only of him.

“Walter, I beseech you to forgive me,” she said, leaning over him. For fear that he could not bear the pressure she took care not to touch him. “I’m so desperately sorry for the wrong I did you. I so bitterly regret it.”

He said nothing. He did not seem to hear. She was obliged to insist. It seemed to her strangely that his soul was a fluttering moth and its wings were heavy with hatred.

“Darling.”

A shadow passed over his wan and sunken face. It was less than a movement, and yet it gave all the effect of a terrifying convulsion. She had never used that word to him before. Perhaps in his dying brain there passed the thought, confused and difficultly grasped, that he had only heard her use it, a commonplace of her vocabulary, to dogs and babies and motor-cars. Then something horrible occurred. She clenched her hands, trying with all her might to control herself, for she saw two tears run slowly down his wasted cheeks.

“Oh, my precious, my dear, if you ever loved me—I know you loved me and I was hateful—I beg you to forgive me. I’ve no chance now to show my repentance. Have mercy on me. I beseech you to forgive.”

She stopped. She looked at him, all breathless, waiting passionately for a reply. She saw that he tried to speak. Her heart gave a great bound. It


text:
Page:Lucian (IA lucianlucas00collrich).pdf/168

can readily see, from the spirit and vivacity of Lucian's Dialogues, what an admirable novelist he would have been; especially if he had chosen the style which has of late become deservedly popular, where nice delineation of character, and conversation of that clever and yet apparently natural and easy kind in which "the art conceals the art," form the attraction to the reader, rather than exciting incidents or elaborate plot. But this kind of literature had yet to be born. Lucian has left us, however, two short romances, if they may be so called, which it would be hardly fair to compare with modern works of fiction, but which show that he possessed powers of imagination admitting of large and successful development if his own age had afforded scope and encouragement to literary efforts of that kind. It must be remembered that the modern novel, in all its various types, is the special product of modern society; the love-tales which so largely form its staple, and the nice distinctions of character on which so much of its interest depends, spring entirely out of the circumstances of modern


text:
Page:Flaming Youth black on red.pdf/162

 FLAMING

158

YOUTH

“Probably not. Dee’s marrying a man over thirty, Bobs, do you like Dee’s engagement?” “No; I don’t,” he answered, and straightway wished that he had not been betrayed into that frankness. ‘Neither do I. Jimmie James thinks he’s first cousin to the Almighty. Dee won’t stand for that.” “‘She seems devoted to him.” “Oh, she'll see it through. Dee’s a good old girl. But I wish she wouldn’t. Have you told her what you think about it?” “Certainly not!” “Well, don’t bite me. Would you have if she’d asked your” “Perhaps. I doubt it.” “Jd have thought she’d have awfully impressed with you, Bobs.

Dee’s come to you. Lots more than I am.

Would you tell me if I came to you?” “Of course.”

“Why the difference, I wonder? Never mind, old dear. V’ll make you a promise right here that I won’t marry anyone without your consent. Only, you'll have to give your consent if I want it very much, you know. Won’t you, Bobs?”

“Probably,” he said. She waved him a kiss and was gone. his interrupted task.

He returned to

In the midst of a test which should have absorbed ali

his attention a sudden query jarred itself into his brain. How had Pat known that he thought it desirable for her to marry a man of thirty? Certainly he had never told her so, He had never told anyone so, Except Mona.

title: Page:Flaming Youth black on red.pdf/162


text:
Page:The Painted Veil - Maugham - 1925.djvu/228

 seemed to her that it would be in a manner a reparation for the suffering she had caused him if at this last moment she could effect his deliverance from that load of bitterness. His lips moved. He did not look at her. His eyes stared unseeing at the white-washed wall. She leaned over him so that she might hear. But he spoke quite clearly.

“The dog it was that died.”

She stayed as still as though she were turned to stone. She could not understand and gazed at him in terrified perplexity. It was meaningless. Delirilum. He had not understood a word she said.

It was impossible to be so still and yet to live. She stared and stared. His eyes were open. She could not tell if he breathed. She began to grow frightened.

“Walter,” she whispered. “Walter.”

At last, suddenly, she raised herself. A sudden fear seized her. She turned and went to the door.

“Will you come, please. He doesn’t seem to ”

They stepped in. The little Chinese surgeon went up to the bed. He had an electric torch in his hand and he lit it and looked at Walter’s eyes. Then he closed them. He said something in Chinese. Waddington put his arm round Kitty.

“I’m afraid he’s dead.”

Kitty gave a deep sigh. A few tears fell from her eyes. She felt dazed rather than overcome. The Chinese stood about, round the bed, helplessly, as though they did not quite know what to do next.


text:
Page:Flaming Youth black on red.pdf/163

 CHAPTER

XV

Consctousness of virtue warmed Pat’s heart as she jumped from the train at Dorrisdale and sniffed the shrewd October air with nostrils that quivered like a kitten’s. She had been working hard at school, ever so much harder than there was any real need for, on her music and domestic science, and now she was to enjoy some deserved recreation. For this was the week of Dee’s wedding and she had five days of unmitigated gaiety in prospect. She peopled her plans with the figures of those who were to be participants of and ministers to her pleasurings, nearly all of them, it is significant to note, of the masculine gender. There were the local youth of her own “crowd,” with half a dozen of whom she had “had a flutter” more or less ardent, in the last year; the out-of-town contingent whom she had long known from the viewpoint of childhood and upon whom she aspired confidently to try her burgeoning charms; and two or three unknowns who were to be of the

wedding party. Cary Scott had a place in the mosaic, too; but not an overshadowing one. The easy effacements of time, so potent upon a youthful mind, had dimmed, though they had not erased, his image. She was expectant of livelier excitements than asscciation with him afforded. Nevertheless there was an abiding feeling of assurance in having him for a secure background: she looked forward happily to being approved by him for having worked so hard, much as a playful puppy looks for a tidbit as reward of a trick cleverly performed. Furthermore she had a surprise in store for him. 159

title: Page:Flaming Youth black on red.pdf/163


text:
Page:Flaming Youth black on red.pdf/164

 160

FLAMING YOUTH

“What's doing to-night?" was her first —

of =

‘

o

hs.

after their greetings. “Dinner-dance at the Vaughns’.” “Everybody going to be there?”

'

%

7

‘

“All that are on hand. Some of the party aren't here yet.” “Who's back of my crowd?"

“Selden Thorpe, Billy Grant, Monty Standish; he was

¥

asking to-day about you.”

“That stiff!" commented Pat, doing a pirouette,

“Ne

more pep than a jumping-jack.” “Neither would you have if you'd been brought up in a

bandbox.

But he’s begun to lift the lid and look around.

And he’s a winner to look at.” “Maybe

Pll have

a shot at him.

Dee, I'm out for

trouble this trip. Ive been being good so long it hurts.” “You look it; the trouble-hunting, I mean,” commented the elder, appraising her maid-of-honour. “They ought te put a danger signal over you, Pat. Where do you get the stuff that you work on the men? Your features are nothing to hire out to an artist, you know. And yet-———”* Pat laughed delightedly. “Arent they? Well, you

and Con have got enough cold and haughty beauty for the family. Being a bride is becoming to you, Dee. You look stunning.” Indeed, Dee’s clean-cut, attractive

to have taken on a new quality.

athleticism seemed

Her eyes had grown

more brilliant; there was a higher glow of colour in the © clear skin; but a more analytical observer than Pat might have discerned in the httle, straightening lines at the corners of the firm, sweet mouth, a conscious effort at nervous control. “Oh, Pm all right,” said she, carelessly. “When's Cissie

coming?”

title: Page:Flaming Youth black on red.pdf/164


text:
Page:Flaming Youth black on red.pdf/165

 FLAMING

YOUTH

161

Cissie Parmenter was the Philadelphia schoolmate whom Pat had adopted as “b.f.” ‘To-morrow night. You're a peach to let me have her. ‘What’ll we do with her Wednesday, Dee? Only the actual wedding party are asked to the Dangerfields’, aren’t they?” “That’s all. Vl get Cary Scott to run her in town for luncheon.” “Isn’t Mr. Scott one of the ushers?” “No. He and Jimmy aren’t very strong for each other. {’'m using him as my general utility man for the show. Dad’s no good for that, and Bobs is too busy.”

“Cissie’ll be all fired up about Mr. Scott.

T’ve told her

about him.” “Did you tell her he was married?” “Of course. You don’t think that would cramp Cissie’s style, do you? She'll show him some thrill if he gives her half a chance. Not that he’s too brisk a pacer, himself, How’s his little flutter with Con going?” “All off,” answered Dee, laconically. “Does Con miss it much?”

“No. She’s having a mild whirl 1 Emslie Selfridge. He’s safer.” “Safer than Mr. Scott? Couldn’t be. I think Scottie invented Safety First.” “Do you?” returned Dee drily. “Well, you’ve still got something to learn about men, Infant.” “P’ve got something to teach ’em, too,” laughed Pat

impishly.

‘Will he be there to-night?”

“Who? Cary? No; he’s in Washington. Gets back to-morrow noon.” This suited Pat well enough for her projected surprise. It went with her temperament that she should have a taste for dramatic effect. Assuming that Mr. Scott would report himself at the house shortly after his ar-

title: Page:Flaming Youth black on red.pdf/165


text:
Page:Lucian (IA lucianlucas00collrich).pdf/169

Rh civilisation, and could have no place in Greek or Roman life in the days of Lucian. Yet he may fairly claim to have furnished hints, at least, of which later workers in the same field have taken advantage.

One of these tales Lucian has entitled "The Veracious History." Even here he preserves his favourite character of satirist; for he glances slyly, both in the opening of his story and throughout it, at the stories told by the old poets and historians, which he would have us understand are often about as "veracious" as his own. His old quarrel with the pretenders to philosophy breaks out also from time to time in the same pages. He introduces his story (which is the account of an imaginary voyage made into certain undiscovered regions) by a kind of preface, of which the following is a portion.

"Ctesias, son of Ctesiochus, of Cnidus, has written an account of India, and of the things there which he never either saw himself or heard from any one else. So also Iambulus has told us a great many incredible stories about things in the great ocean, which everybody knew to be false, but which he has put together in a form by no means unentertaining. So many others besides, with the same end in view, have related what purported to be their own travels and adventures, describing marvellously large beasts and savage men, and strange modes of life. But the ring-


text:
Page:Flaming Youth black on red.pdf/166

 162

FLAMING YOUTH

nt

rival, she planned to keep the early afternoon free Watchful at her window, on pretence of taking a nap, — she saw his car come up the drive and hurried down to—

the music room where she seated herself at the piano and began to strum casually, taking up the accompaniment of

a song as he entered the front door.

It was sketchy and

sloppy, that accompaniment, the performance of a jerry trained hand, but it served as background to the fresh,

deep, unforgotten voice, which met his ears and checked his Footatent. “Tf love were what the rose is

And you were lke the leaf.”

She completed woman’s

sense,

the stanza, of every

conscious, through her

slow step that brought

him

nearer to her. All the falsity of method, the cheap trickery of intonation which had been coached into her for the song, could not wholly devitalise the velvety passion of the voice. As the final word died away she whirled about. “Mr. Scott! I didn't know you were there.” “Didn*t you?” He smiled down into her eyes with that quietly ironic look of his which seemed te mock at himself as much as at that to which it was directed, tak-

ing her outstretched hand. But—didn’t you?”

“I’m glad to see you, Pat.

“You know I did,” she confessed. you. Did you like it?”

“I was singing at

“Yes.”

Unsated of her lust for praise, she persisted: you think my lessons have done me good?”

“Don’t

“Have you been taking lessons?” “Certainly I have. You told me you wanted me te

I’ve been working ferribly hard.”

title: Page:Flaming Youth black on red.pdf/166


text:
Page:The Painted Veil - Maugham - 1925.djvu/229

 Waddington was silent. In a minute the Chinese began to speak in a low tone among themselves.

“You’d better let me take you back to the bungalow,” said Waddington. “He’ll be brought there.”

Kitty passed her hand wearily across her forehead. She went up to the pallet bed and leaned over it. She kissed Walter gently on the lips. She was not crying now.

“I’m sorry to give you so much trouble.”

The officers saluted as she passed and she gravely bowed. They walked back across the courtyard and got into their chairs. She saw Waddington light a cigarette. A little smoke lost in the air, that was the life of man.

AWN was breaking now, and here and there a Chinaman was taking down the shutters of his shop. In its dark recesses, by the light of a taper, a woman was washing her hands and face. In a teahouse at a corner a group of men were eating an early meal. The grey, cold light of the rising day sidled along the narrow lanes like a thief. There was a pale mist on the river and the masts of the crowded junks loomed through it like the lances of a phantom army. It was chilly as they crossed and Kitty huddled herself up in her gay and coloured shawl. They walked up the hill and they were above the mist. The sun shone from an unclouded sky.


text:
Page:Flaming Youth black on red.pdf/167

 FLAMING

YOUTH

163

“How hard?” “A whole hour, some days. Or pretty nearly.” “That is toil! Under whom?” “One of the teachers at school. She’s very good.” “A professional?” “She used to sing in a choir. She says,” Pat dropped her voice impressively, “there are lots of voices on the stage not as good as mine.” “Doubtless.” “I wish I knew what you mean when you say that, that funny way,” she said pathetically. “I think you’re awfully queer to-day, anyway.” Her manner changed from petulance to pleading. “Do you think T’ve got a terrible lot to learn before I could try?” “Try? What?” “Going on the stage.” “T think you’ve got everything to unlearn,” he said calmly. Silently she gazed at him. The tender upper curve of her lip quivered. She turned back to the piano, jangled a discord which was intended to be a sad and melting harmony, and told her little, feminine lie in a muffled voice: “And I did it all on your account, too.” “Were you going on the stage on my account?” Around she whisked again, jumped from the seat and went to him, her face alight. “That’s what I adore about you. You never let me put over any bunk. What makes . you so awfully clever about girls, Mr. Scott?” “Not clever at all,” he disclaimed. “I’m simply being

honest with you.

And,” he supplemented, “hoping that

you’re one of those rare human beings with whom can be honest successfully.”

“Oh, I am,” she averred fervently.

one

“But you simply

title: Page:Flaming Youth black on red.pdf/167


text:
Page:Flaming Youth black on red.pdf/168

 pig rm

164

FLAMING

YOUTH

smeared my feelings. I thought you were going to be perfectly thrilled and I get no come-back at all! Don’t you like my voice even a little bit any more, Mr. Seott? You did, before.”

“There’s a quality in it that—that use!

But what's the

You won’t do any honest work with it.”

“You don’t think I’m any good at all, do you?” she said peevishly. “We were talking about your music, weren’t we?” “Ah, but I’ve done

you.

a lot besides music

since I saw

And I’ve been fearfully good and proper.

<Aren*t

you proud?”

“Of you? Very,” he smiled. “Of your influence.” She took a fold of his sleeve between finger and thumb and idly pleated at it, keeping her intent gaze fixed there. ‘“Nobody’s ever had half so much over me. I’ve always done exactly what I liked and never done anything I didn’t like.” “It’s a delightful world, isn’t it, Pat?

But sometimes

those things have to be paid for.” At this she raised her eyes, thoughtful and honest eyes, now a little shadowed. “I’ve always known that. And

Pll always be ready to pay. I'm not yellow, Mr. Scott. if there’s a—a

Whatever else I may be, Ill take what I can get, and

comeback, I'll take that, too.”

“Yes. You've got courage. Ca se voit. That sees itself.” He had dropped unconsciously into the emphatic French idiom. “Does it? How can you tell? You don’t know me se well,” “No; I don’t.”

Yes, you do,” she contradicted him and herself. “I think you know me better than anyone ever has.” Again she let her glance fall.

title: Page:Flaming Youth black on red.pdf/168


text:
Page:Lucian (IA lucianlucas00collrich).pdf/170

160 leader and first introducer of this extravagant style is that Ulysses of Homer's, telling his stories at the court of Alcinöus, about the imprisonment of the winds, and the one-eyed Cyclops, and the man-eaters, and suchlike savage tribes; and about creatures with many heads, and the transformation of his comrades by magic potions, and all the rest of it, with which he astonished the simple Phæacians. When I read all these, I do not blame the writers so much for their lies, because I find the custom common even with those who pretend to be philosophers. All I wonder at is, that they should ever have supposed that people would not find out that they were telling what was not true. Wherefore, being myself incited (by an absurd vanity, I admit) to leave some legacy to posterity, that I may not be the only man without my share in this open field of story-telling, and haying nothing true to tell (for I never met with any very memorable adventures), I have turned my thoughts to lying; in much more excusable fashion, however, than the others. For I shall certainly speak the truth on one point,—when I tell you that I lie; and so it seems to me I ought to escape censure from the public, since I freely confess there is not a word of truth in my story. I am going to write, then, about things which I never saw, adventures I never went through, or heard from any one else; things, moreover, which never were, nor ever can be. So my readers must on no account believe them."

The adventures of the voyagers "from the Pillars of Hercules into the Western Ocean" are indeed of the most extravagant kind. They have all the wild im-


text:
Page:Flaming Youth black on red.pdf/169

 FLAMING

YOUTH

165

“I know that you will face whatever comes, unafraid. That is in your face. No; it’s in the way you bear yourself. In any event, there it is.” “But you did hurt my feelings. Terribly! I thought you'd like my music—and maybe pat me on the head— and say ‘Nice little girl-—and give me a kiss and a stick of candy.” She slipped her fingers down to his wrist, let them creep to the palm of his hand where they clung. “Say you’re glad to see me again, Mr. Scott,” she murmured. “Very glad.” “But”—she tilted her face toward his, turned it away, whispered—“I don’t think you act so—very.” His free hand clamped strongly, friendlily down upon hers for a moment, then released it with a tap. “Are you trying to flirt with your grandfather, Pat?” he mocked. Not for the first time in their intercourse Pat said savagely, “I hate you!” But this time she said it to herself, with the wrath of disappointment and shamed uncertainty. She turned to take her music from the piano. It fluttered from her grasp to the floor whence he retrieved it. Pat’s heart gave a bound of exultation. She had seen his hand shake as it held the sheet out to her. this evening?” she challenged gaily. “As many as Granddaughter can spare from her little playmates.” “Come early then and avoid the rush,” she advised. “Tl keep what I can out of the wreckage. Now I must send Dee down to you. She’s got a million things for
 * “Wouldn’t Grandpa like a dance with Granddaughter

you to do.” The million things proved exacting enough to keep Scott in town so long that the dance was well under way

title: Page:Flaming Youth black on red.pdf/169


text:
Page:Flaming Youth black on red.pdf/170

 166

FLAMING

when he reaehed it.

YOUTH

Pat passed him on the floor, float-

ing beatifically in the arms of this or that partner, never for more than a few turns with anyone, for the rush was on for her favours. After dancing contentedly enough with such partners as he could pick up, for several numbers, Scott looked about to see whether

there was

any

hope of his cutting in on Pat, but failed to find her on the floor; so, as the rooms were rather close, he wandered

outside to smoke a cigarette. The soft carpet of the lawn tempted his tired feet. He strolled around the house, intending to re-enter by the far end of the vineshrouded

piazza,

when,

turning

the

corner,

he

came

abruptly upon a couple deep in shadow which did not prevent his making out that they were close-clasped. Noiselessly though he stepped back he saw the girl’s face strain back in attentiveness. Pat’s startled eyes peered after him in the dark, unrecognising.

Cary Scott swore.

Then he laughed.

was more bitter than the curse.

The laughter

_

title: Page:Flaming Youth black on red.pdf/170


text:
Page:Egyptian Literature (1901).djvu/202

 without a rudder. Carried over by the west wind, I passed over to the east to the quarries of Aku and the land of the goddess Herit, mistress of the red mountain (Gebel Ahmar). Then I fled on foot, northward, and reached the walls of the prince, built to repel the Sati. I crouched in a bush for fear of being seen by the guards, changed each day, who watch on the top of the fortress. I took my way by night, and at the lighting of the day I reached Peten, and turned me toward the valley of Kemur. Then thirst hasted me on; I dried up, and my throat narrowed, and I said, “This is the taste of death.” When I lifted up my heart and gathered strength, I heard a voice and the lowing of cattle. I saw men of the Sati, and one of them—a friend unto Egypt—knew me. Behold he gave me water and boiled me milk, and I went with him to his camp; they did me good, and one tribe passed me on to another. I passed on to Sun, and reached the land of Adim (Edom).

When I had dwelt there half a year Amu-an-shi—who is the Prince of the Upper Tenu—sent for me and said: “Dwell thou with me that thou mayest hear the speech of Egypt.” He said thus for that he knew of my excellence, and had heard tell of my worth, for men of Egypt who were there with him bore witness of me. Behold he said to me: “For what cause hast thou come hither? Has a matter come to pass in the palace? Has the King of the two lands, Sehetepabra, gone to heaven? That which has happened about this is not known.” But I answered with concealment, and said: “When I came from the land of the Tamahu, and my desires were there changed in me, if I fled away it was not by reason of remorse that I took the way of a fugitive; I have not failed in my duty, my mouth has not said any bitter words, I have not heard any evil counsel, my name has not come into the mouth of a magistrate. I know not by what I have been led into this land.” And Amu-an-shi said: “This is by the will of the god (King of Egypt); for what is a land like if it know not that excellent god, of whom the dread is upon the lands of strangers, as they dread Sekhet in a year of pestilence?” I spake to him, and replied: “Forgive me; his son now enters the palace, and has received the heritage of his father. He is a god who has none like him, and there is none before him.” He is a master of wisdom, prudent in his designs, excellent


text:
Page:The Painted Veil - Maugham - 1925.djvu/230

 It shone as though this were a day like another and nothing had happened to distinguish it from its fellows.

“Wouldn’t you like to lie down?” said Waddington when they entered the bungalow.

“No. I’ll sit at the window.”

She had sat at the window so often and so long during the weeks that had passed and her eyes now were so familiar with the fantastic, garish, beautiful and mysterious temple on its great bastion that it rested her spirit. It was so unreal, even in the crude light of midday, that it withdrew her from the reality of life.

“I’ll get the boy to make you some tea. I’m afraid it will be necessary to bury him this morning. I’ll make all arrangements.”

“Thank you.”

HEY buried him three hours later. It seemed horrible to Kitty that he must be put into a Chinese coffin, as though in so strange a bed he must rest uneasily, but there was no help for it. The nuns, learning of Walter’s death as they learned everything that happened in the city, sent by a messenger a cross of dahlias, stiff and formal, but made as though by the accustomed hands of a florist; and the cross, alone on the Chinese coffin, looked grotesque and out of place. When all was ready they had to wait for Colonel Yü who had sent to Wad-


text:
Page:Flaming Youth black on red.pdf/171

 CHAPTER

XVI

Miss C1ssrz ParMEnTEr strolled down the broad stairs at Holiday Knoll, looking neither to the left nor the right. She was freshly painted with considerable taste, and arrayed with such precision and perfection that she would have suggested a handsome and expensive species of toy but for the sleepy and dangerous eyes which were as profoundly human and natural as the rest of her was delieately artificial. In their depths one could surmise volcanic possibilities.

She was

small, daintily made, and

languid of movement, not without a hint of feline strength. Though her regard was apparently fixed upon far-away things, she had at once observed the man in the library. “You’re Mr. Scott, aren’t you?” she said in a cool and lazy voice, advancing with hand outstretched. “Yes.” He took the hand. “And you’re Miss Parmenter?” “Yes; I’m Cissie. You know, Mr. Scott, I’m a social outcast for the afternoon.” “It wouldn’t strike one as having weighed on your spirits.” “Buoyed up by the prospect of meeting you. Aren’t you appalled at having a total stranger on your hands all afternoon?” “On the contrary, I’m thrilled,” he returned with the conventional answer. She let her slow gaze sweep over him estimatingly. “You’re not a bit like I figured out,” she murmured, having decided upon the direct-personality gambit, as promising the best and promptest returns. 167

title: Page:Flaming Youth black on red.pdf/171


text:
Page:Lucian (IA lucianlucas00collrich).pdf/171

Rh possibilities without much of the picturesqueness of an Eastern tale. A burlesque resemblance is kept up throughout to the kind of incident which, in the mouths of the old bards, had passed for history. We read how they came to a brass pillar with an almost illegible inscription, marking the limit of the travels of Hercules and Bacchus, and found near it on a rock the prints of two footsteps, one "measuring about an acre"—plainly that of Hercules; the smaller one, of course, belonged to Bacchus: how they found rivers of native wine,—a manifest confirmation of the visit of the latter god to those parts: and how a whirlwind carried them, ship and all, up into the moon, where they made acquaintance with Endymion, and saw the earth below looking like a moon to them, which shows that Lucian was not so far wrong in his astronomy. How their ship was swallowed by a sea-monster, and they lived inside him a year and eight months, carrying on a small war against a previous colony whom they found established there: and effected their escape at last by lighting an enormous fire, so that the monster died of internal inflammation. After this they made their way to that hitherto undiscovered country, the 'Island of the Blest,' when they were bound in fetters of roses, and led before Rhadamanthus, the king. We have a glowing description of the city, with its streets of gold and walls of emerald, temples of beryl and altars of amethyst; where there was no day or night, but a perpetual luminous twilight; where it was always spring, and none but the south wind blew; and where the vines


text:
Page:Flaming Youth black on red.pdf/172

 168

FLAMING

YOUTH

“No? Well, youth survives these disappointments.” “Fishing,” she retorted. “No; I shan’t tell you how much nicer you are than the prospectus. What are you going to do with me?” “Whatever you permit.” “Oh, have a care of yourself! That might take you far. But I can decide better after eating. Where do we go for that?” “How would the Ritz do?” “Music to my ears. Can you get a cocktail there?” “T think it might be managed, confidentially.” “That’ll do nicely for a starter.” “A starter? Isee. And for continuance?” “I’m feeling a little down to-day. What would you

prescribe?” “T’ve heard that that medicine with bubbles in it possesses a self-raising quality.” “From now on you’re my family physician. But I’m sinking rapidly.” He contemplated her curiously. “Believe me, Miss Parmenter, I don’t want to spoil sport before it begins, but— how old are you?” “Twenty-one. Beyond the age of consent—for drinks. It’s all right; I know how to say ‘when’ to a bottle. And

I’m not so old but that you might call me Cissie if you like. I think it would help pass the time.” “And as I’m still short of forty, I suppose, on the same principle, you’d better call me Cary.” “How nicely you play back! And Pat told me you were slow; nice, but slow.”

At the mention of Pat’s name a little surge of anger and contempt went through Scott’s veins. But he answered lightly: “I’m a plodding old party, it’s true. But I de

title: Page:Flaming Youth black on red.pdf/172


text:
Page:Flaming Youth black on red.pdf/173

 FLAMING

my best.

YOUTH

165

Now, as to practical details I’m afraid that the

Ritz would draw the line at champagne.”

“That’s a blow.” “But I bethink me that there’s a locker at a Country Club up toward the frozen north that I have entry to, if that isn’t too far.” “If you’d said Albany it wouldn’t be too far for me.” “What would be too far for you, Cissie?” She gave him her eyes, alight with gleams of mirth and appreciation. “Don’t let me stop you,” she laughed. “There are days when my brakes need re-lining. Let’s go 199

Throughout the drive, Cissie alternated between urging her companion to put more speed on the car, and light, slangy, clever, suggestive chatter about theatres, athletics, movies, and the sort of thing that fills the society columns of the daily newspapers. At the luncheon she drank two cocktails, half of the pint of champagne which was all that she would permit to be provided, and then declared herself fit for life again. ‘“What’ll we do now?” was her way of putting it. “What time do they expect you back?” “Five sharp. So, of course, I shan’t be there. I never am. Play golf, Mr. Scott?” “Just an average game, Miss Parmenter.”

“All right, Cary; PZ take you on for twenty on our

handicaps.” “You bet fairly high, don’t you?” “Yes; and what’s more, I pay up when I lose. If the bet isn’t good enough, just to make it more interesting, I'll throw in the odds of a kiss if you win. Do you know anyone here who’d loan me a pair of shoes?” That matter being arranged, Cissic, playing with cool precision, proceeded to beat him by three and one.

title: Page:Flaming Youth black on red.pdf/173


text:
Page:Egyptian Literature (1901).djvu/203

 in his decrees, with good-will to him who goes or who comes; he subdued the land of strangers while his father yet lived in his palace, and he rendered account of that which his father destined him to perform. He is a brave man, who verily strikes with his sword; a valiant one, who has not his equal; he springs upon the barbarians, and throws himself on the spoilers; he breaks the horns and weakens the hands, and those whom he smites cannot raise the buckler. He is fearless, and dashes the heads, and none can stand before him. He is swift of foot, to destroy him who flies; and none who flees from him reaches his home. His heart is strong in his time; he is a lion who strikes with the claw, and never has he turned his back. His heart is closed to pity; and when he sees multitudes, he leaves none to live behind him. He is a valiant one who springs in front when he sees resistance; he is a warrior who rejoices when he flies on the barbarians. He seizes the buckler, he rushes forward, he never needs to strike again, he slays and none can turn his lance; and when he takes the bow the barbarians flee from his arms like dogs; for the great goddess has given to him to strike those who know her not; and if he reaches forth he spares none, and leaves naught behind. He is a friend of great sweetness, who knows how to gain love; his land loves him more than itself, and rejoices in him more than in its own god; men and women run to his call. A king, he has ruled from his birth; he, from his birth, has increased births, a sole being, a divine essence, by whom this land rejoices to be governed. He enlarges the borders of the South; but he covets not the lands of the North: he does not smite the Sati, nor crush the Nemau-shau. If he descends here, let him know thy name, by the homage which thou wilt pay to his majesty. For he refuses not to bless the land which obeys him.”

And he replied to me: “Egypt is indeed happy and well settled; behold thou art far from it, but whilst thou art with me I will do good unto thee.” And he placed me before his children, he married his eldest daughter to me, and gave me the choice of all his land, even among the best of that which he had on the border of the next land. It is a goodly land, Iaa is its name. There are figs and grapes; there is wine commoner than water; abundant is the honey, many are its olives;


text:
Page:Flaming Youth black on red.pdf/174

 170

FLAMING YOUTH

“Now I'll have a highball, please, and we'll trail for home,” she directed.

“We won't be more than an hour

late if you hit it up with that hearse you drive. going to claim the loser’s end of the purse?”

Are you

“The loser’s? Oh, I see. But I thought that was the winner's.” “Don*t fall all over yourself with unbridled enthusiasm,” she jeered. “You've got to give three more rousing cheers than that to wake me up.” “Just at present I'm busy with the car. But to-night is coming. What dances will you give me?” “The lucky numbers. Seven and Eleven. <Aren‘t you flattered?” “Almost as much flattered as I am delighted.” She twisted in her seat to confront him. “Cary Scott, you’re a good bluffer, but it doesn’t go with me. Fou haven't fallen for me one little bit!” “J? Like an avalanche,” he protested. “I find you as charming as you are—startling.” “Ah, that startling stuff; you know what that is, don't you?” “T'm not sure that I do.” “I'm showing you my line; that’s all.” “And now I find you bewildering. Be kind to the stupidity of one who has not yet become fully acclimated to

his own amazing country.” “Yes; anyone could tell that you don’t fully belong with us. You see, every girl has her special line to show, nowadays.” “Like a commercial traveller?” “You've said it! It’s whatever is supposed to fit her

personality best. You go to a character reader—there’s a wiz in Carnegie Hall, who lays you out a complete map

title: Page:Flaming Youth black on red.pdf/174


text:
Page:Flaming Youth black on red.pdf/175

 FLAMING

YOUTH

171

for twenty-five dollars—and she sizes you up and lays out your line for you.” “Ts this line, perhaps, equipped with a hook?” “Eh? Oh, sure!” Cissie laughed. ‘Hook and bait. Yes; it’s a fish-line, all right.”

“And what is your specialty?” “Haven’t I shown it plain enough? It’s the lively and risky with just enough restraint to lead ’°em on. I’m supposed to have passionate eyes, you know.” Scott laughed aloud.

“TI like you, Cissie.”

“It’s about time!” she exclaimed. ‘You haven’t, up to now. And I’ve been working pretty hard on you.” “That’s very shrewd of you. I mean it, this time. It’s vealler than the thing we’ve been playing at.” “Good man! It’s mutual. You can have the kiss if you want it, just for liking.” “But you’d rather [ wouldn’t.” “And that’s very shrewd of you. You're right; I like you that much ... Cary, I don’t wonder Pat’s batty over you.” “Pat? You’re quite wrong.” “And I’m wrong in thinking you’re crazy about her, I suppose.” “Equally.”
 * “Pat’s

line,”? remarked

thoughtfully, tomboy,

the

“is the Minnesota

you’re-another,

astute

Miss

Parmenter

shift up to date; all

take-it-or-leave-it

one

minute,

and the next you know she’s a clinging vine and you’re it. She can do it with those wonderful eyes and that throaty, croaky, heart-breaky voice of hers. It knocks the boys cold. And I’d think it would be just the line to catch an old—a man of the world like——” “An old man like you, you started to say,” prompted Scott. “No occasion for embarrassment on my account.”

title: Page:Flaming Youth black on red.pdf/175


text:
Page:Flaming Youth black on red.pdf/176

 17?

FLAMING YOUTH

“Don’t fool yourself by thinking that age makes such

a difference to girls, these days. They think it does at

Pat's age, but a couple of years more makes a hig diff, Most of the boys I used to be crazy about look Hike sapheads to me now. They're teo easy.

There's more pep

im experience; and,” remarked the youthful philosopher, “the bigger they are, the harder they fall. Pat's a pretty wise Kid, at that. She isn’t all ‘petite gamine. “

_

“Evidently she has no secrets from you,” said Scott,

vexed, “We're bf.’s, you know, I suppose you think Dirty Me for trying te cut in on her with you.” “TI don’t know that Pd thought of it at all.” “Now we're very old and stately,” said the girl with mischievous alarm. “It makes us coldly dignified te be teased. . . Heavens! Are we home already? Good-bye, and thank you for a cerking afterneen. See you te

night.”

She waved him a farewell, but reappeared as his car eame back around the curve at the side of the house “Don't forget the lucky numbers, Cary,” she called, in her high, sweet drawl. “No danger,” he answered, wondering just why she had come back to say that. . He understood when, in the hallway back of Cissie, he

caught sight of Pat's surprised and frowning face, “The little devil!" he chuckled. But, he thought the moment after, was Cissie playing her own game, or Pat's? fithin doors Pat rushed the tardy guest upstairs and followed inte her ream.

“Deo hustle,” she said crossly.

-

“You're gumming the

game.” “Hustle is my ancestral name,” stated CGissie.

right in high to-day.”

“Pim

title: Page:Flaming Youth black on red.pdf/176


text:
Page:Lucian (IA lucianlucas00collrich).pdf/172

162 ripened their fruit every month. There they found most of the heroes of Grecian legend and of later history. Philosophers, too—genuine philosophers—were there in good number. And here the satirist quite gets the mastery over the story-teller. Plato was remarked as absent; he preferred living "in his own Republic, under his own laws," to any Elysium that could be offered him. The Stoics had not yet arrived, when these voyagers reached the island, though they were expected; Hesiod's 'Hill of Virtue,' which they all had to climb, was such a very long one. Neither were the Sceptics of the Academy to be seen there; they were thinking of coming, but had "doubts" about it—doubts whether there were any such place at all; and perhaps, thinks Lucian, they were shy of encountering the judgment of Rhadamanthus, having a profound dislike to any decisive judgment upon any subject whatever.

The travellers would gladly have remained in the Happy Island altogether, but this was not allowed. They were promised, however, by Rhadamanthus, that if during their further voyage they complied with certain rules, which remind us of the old burlesque oath for-


text:
Page:The Painted Veil - Maugham - 1925.djvu/231

 dington to say that he desired to attend the funeral. He came accompanied by an A.D.C. They walked up the hill, the coffin borne by half a dozen coolies, to a little plot of land where lay buried the missionary whose place Walter had taken. Waddington had found among the missionary’s effects an English prayer-book and in a low voice, with an embarrassment that was unusual to him, read the burial service. Perhaps, reciting those solemn but terrible words, the thought hovered in his mind that if he in his turn fell a victim to the pestilence there would be no one now to say them over him. The coffin was lowered into the grave and the grave-diggers began to throw in the earth.

Colonel Yü, who had stood with bared head by the grave-side, put on his hat, saluted Kitty gravely, said a word or two to Waddington and followed by his A.D.C. walked away. The coolies, curious to watch a Christian burial, had lingered and now in a straggling group, their yokes trailing in their hands, sauntered off. Kitty and Waddington waited till the grave was filled and then placed on the mound, smelling of fresh earth, the nuns’ prim dahlias. She had not wept, but when the first shovelful of earth rattled on the coffin she felt a dreadful pang at her heart.

She saw that Waddington was waiting for her to come away.

“Are you in a hurry?” she asked. “I don’t want to go back to the bungalow just yet.”

“I have nothing to do. I am entirely in your hands.”


text:
Page:Flaming Youth black on red.pdf/177

 FLAMING

YOUTH

“T’ll bet a bet you are,” was the reply bitterness in it. Miss Parmenter’s pleasantly decorated expression of innocent frankness. ‘What teli me that your Scottie man was slow? winner. I’ve fallen for him like—like an “You can have him. stuff you were working?”

173

with a tinge of

face took on an ever made you I think he’s a avalanche.” But where do you get that Cary

“Start a bath for me, will you, Mike?

Oh, that.

He

asked me to. We’re awful pals. Just like that.” She crooked her two perfectly manicured little fingers together. Pat grunted. “You know you told me to go as far as I liked, dee-rie.” “Well, you did, didn’t you?” “Oh, not half,” cooed the b.f. “He’s going to drive me back home after the wedding.” “That won’t break up my summer!” shouted Pat, from the bathroom, above the seethe of the foaming faucets. She felt a definite sense of injury, not against Cissie so much as against Mr. Scott, who represented, to her annoyed mind, a defection on the part of her own presumptive property. Had Cissie really lured his interest away? Or had he lost interest in her, Pat, anyway? Upon this point her misgivings were allayed by calling to mind the tremulous hand with which he had recovered that sheet of music.

Yet he had resisted the lure of her touch, the

mute offer of her lips. Accustomed to the potency of physical appeal upon men, she felt at a loss. True, what had drawn her to Scott had been his enjoyment of that in her which underlay the surface, his capacity for appreciating in her qualities and potentialities which she herself felt only dimly and doubtfully when the influence of his presence was remote. Yet that he should find he

title: Page:Flaming Youth black on red.pdf/177


text:
Page:Egyptian Literature (1901).djvu/204

 and all fruits are upon its trees: there are barley and wheat, and cattle of kinds without end. This was truly a great thing that he granted me, when the prince came to invest me, and establish me as prince of a tribe in the best of his land. I had my continual portion of bread and of wine each day, of cooked meat, of roasted fowl, as well as the wild game which I took, or which was brought to me, beside what my dogs captured. They made me much butter, and prepared milk of all kinds. I passed many years, the children that I had became great, each ruling his tribe. When a messenger went or came to the palace, he turned aside from the way to come to me; for I helped every man. I gave water to the thirsty, I set on his way him who went astray, and I rescued the robbed. The Sati who went far, to strike and turn back the princes of other lands, I ordained their goings; for the Prince of the Tenu for many years appointed me to be general of his soldiers. In every land which I attacked I played the champion, I took the cattle, I led away the vassals, I carried off the slaves, I slew the people, by my sword, my bow, my marches and my good devices. I was excellent to the heart of my prince; he loved me when he knew my power, and set me over his children when he saw the strength of my arms.

A champion of the Tenu came to defy me in my tent: a bold man without equal, for he had vanquished the whole country. He said, “Let Sanehat fight with me”; for he desired to overthrow me; he thought to take my cattle for his tribe. The prince counselled with me. I said: “I know him not. I certainly am not of his degree, I hold me far from his place. Have I ever opened his door, or leaped over his fence? It is some envious jealousy from seeing me; does he think that I am like some steer among the cows, whom the bull overthrows? If this is a wretch who thinks to enrich himself at my cost, not a Bedawi and a Bedawi fit for fight, then let us put the matter to judgment. Verily a true bull loves battle, but a vainglorious bull turns his back for fear of contest; if he has a heart for combat, let him speak what he pleases. Will God forget what he has ordained, and how shall that be known?” I lay down; and when I had rested I strung my bow, I made ready my arrows, I loosened my poniard, I furbished my arms. At dawn the land of the Tenu came to-