Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Volume 4).djvu/165

 vely a self-taught man.
 * Methodically naught I've learned;
 * but I have thought and speculated,
 * and done much desultory reading.
 * I started somewhat late in life,
 * and then, you know, it's rather hard
 * to plough ahead through page on page,
 * and take in all of everything.
 * I've done my history piecemeal;
 * I never have had time for more.
 * And, as one needs in days of trial
 * some certainty to place one's trust in,
 * I took religion intermittently.
 * That way it goes more smoothly down.
 * One should not read to swallow all,
 * but rather see what one has use for.

MR. COTTON
 * Ay, that is practical!

PEER [lights a cigar].
 * Dear friends,
 * just think of my career in general.
 * In what case came I to the West?
 * A poor young fellow, empty-handed.
 * I had to battle sore for bread;
 * trust me, I often found it hard.
 * But life, my friends, ah, life is dear,
 * and, as the phrase goes, death is bitter.
 * Well! Luck, you see, was kind to me;
 * old Fate, too, was accommodating.
 * I prospered; and, by versatility,
 * I prospered better still and better.
 * In ten years' time I bore the name
 * of Croesus 'mongst the Charleston shippers.