Page:A Girl of the Limberlost.djvu/337

Rh money to spend, take that violin and go to one of the world's great masters and let the Limberlost sing to him; if he thinks he can improve it, very well. I have my doubts." "Do you really mean that you would give up all idea of going to college, if you were me?" "I really mean it," said Ammon. "If I now held the money to send you in my hands, and could give it to you in some way you would accept, I would tear it up and throw it away first. I do not know why it is the lot of the world always to want something different from what life gives them. If you only could realize it, my girl, you are in college, and have been always. You are in the school of experience, and it has taught you to think, and given you a heart. God knows I envy the man who wins it! You have been in the college of the Limberlost all your life, and I never met a graduate from any other institution who could begin to compare with you in sanity, clarity, and interesting knowledge. I wouldn't even advise you to read too many books on your lines. You get your stuff first hand, and you know that you are right. What you should do is to begin early to practise self-expression. Don't wait too long to tell us about the woods as you know them." "Follow the course of the Bird Woman, you mean?" asked Elnora. "In your own way; with your own light. She won't live forever. You are younger, and you will be ready to begin where she ends. The swamp has given you all