the
life he had been leading was an arid and unprofitable one, that he had
stolen her fourteen hundred maledictions for which he had no use and
presented her with a child for which she had none, and that, all things
concerned, the sooner he did die and stop talking the sooner everybody
concerned would be made happy.

The other Philosopher replied mildly as he lit his pipe: "Brother,
the greatest of all virtues is curiosity, and the end of all desire
is wisdom; tell us, therefore, by what steps you have arrived at this
commendable resolution."

To this the Philosopher replied: "I have attained to all the wisdom
which I am fitted to bear. In the space of one week no new truth has
come to me. All that I have read lately I knew before; all that I have
thought has been but a recapitulation of old and wearisome ideas. There
is no longer an horizon before my eves. Space has narrowed to the petty
dimensions of my thumb. Time is the tick of a clock. Good and evil are
two peas in the one pod. My wife's face is the same for ever. I want to
play with the children, and yet I do not want to. Your conversation with
me, brother, is like the droning of a bee in a dark cell. The pine trees
take root and grow and die.--It's all bosh. Good-bye."

His friend replied:

"Brother, these are weighty reflections, and I do clearly perceive that
the time has come for you to stop. I might observe, not in order to
combat your views, but merely to continue an interesting conversation,
that there are still some knowledges which you have not assimilated--you
do not yet know how to play the tambourine, nor how to be nice to your
wife, nor how to get up first in the morning and cook the breakfast.
Have you learned how to smoke strong tobacco as I do? or can you dance
in the moonlight with a woman of the Shee? To understand the theory
which underlies all things is not sufficient. It has occurred to me,
brother, that wisdom may not be the end of everything. Goodness and
kindliness are, perhaps, beyond wisdom. Is it not possible that the
ultimate end is gaiety and music and a dance of joy? Wisdom is the
oldest of all things. Wisdom is all head and no heart. Behold, brother,
you are being crushed under the weight of your head. You are dying of
old age while you are yet a child."

"Brother," replied the other Philosopher, "your voice is like the
droning of a bee in a dark cell. If in my latter days I am reduced to
playing on the tambourine and running