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 rites; their manner was never abrupt. And how they hated dispute and talk! When they had to dispute, they let their swords settle the point; and for talk, they used the language of silence. They were quiet and discreet towards Life’s object; they moved around it as if an artist, and again like an excellent artist, they never separated it from its surroundings. Where they were faithful to tradition they well expressed their own eccentricity; and where they were eccentric they were most conventional, How the times made us change! We trust too much in words; how we assert and deny when a question comes forth! And like an amateur, we walk upon to Life’s stage most ungracefully, often forget our lines; oh, what poor acting!

You must not come to see me till I tell you you may come; I must be sure of the hour and day when the right light or proper shadow will be provided. Do you laugh at me over my having too great anxiety in my presentation as if a piece of art rare and old? But what else am I, do you suppose? When the first Rh