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 316 'GOD'S PEACE'

XVI T WONDER how the world is getting on ? If a i great war or a great revolution had broken out, I suppose the rumours would have been so noisy, they would even have reached me here. But since no rumours have disturbed my newspaper- less existence, I may conclude that the events have not been of very great importance. On the home 'exchange' the quotations will most probably be restricted to the usual number of engagements and scandals, the usual political soup on a sausage-stick on which there is scarcely left even the least flavour of meat, a little theatrical squabble on account of the approaching season, and the announcement of half a hundred books, of which the three-fouvths will be forgotten the same day they are published, because they tell of nothing there is in the author's or his readers' minds, or because the author has nothing in his mind of interest to anybody, except to himself and a few of his nearest relatives.

It is reflections such as these which retard the progress of my new book. One day the subject will seem too small and unimportant, and I fear that people will scorn my book and turn from it saying: What possible interest can this have for me ? But the next day I wake up full of gratitude and happiness for all the beauty of its old memories, and for all the new impressions round me, and again the feeling is born in me that my book should bring a message to other hearts, which have felt and dreamt the same dreams as my own.