Of course it's the fault of not
having had advantages in early life; but, Loudon, I'm
so miserably low that it seems to me silly. The fact
is," he might add, with a smile, "I don't seem to have
the least use for a frame of mind without square meals;
and you can't get it out of my head that it's a man's
duty to die rich, if he can."
"What for?" I asked him once.
"O, I don't know," he replied. "Why in snakes should
anybody want to be a sculptor, if you come to that? I
would love to sculp myself. But what I can't see is
why you should want to do nothing else. It seems to
argue a poverty of nature."
Whether or not he ever came to understand me--and I
have been so tossed about since then that I am not very
sure I understand myself--he soon perceived that I was
perfectly in earnest; and after about ten days of
argument, suddenly dropped the subject, and announced
that he was wasting capital, and must go home at once.
No doubt he should have gone long before, and had
already lingered over his intended time for the sake of
our companionship and my misfortune; but man is so
unjustly minded that the very fact, which ought to have
disarmed, only embittered my vexation.
Pages:
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112