amily.
The little pitchman has just told me that his mother died an early
death, and that he never knew his father.

This accounts for much in Hansei's behavior, and only renders it the
more beautiful.

*

We are feasting on meat broth.

Great is Hansei, the dispenser of good!

Yes, he is great. How all our illusions vanish! An Homeric hero who
cuts up swine and cooks and roasts them, remains a hero for all, and
Hansei is as good as any of them, although it be not with the sword.

There is Homeric feasting throughout the farm. They all bite with teeth
as good as those of Menelaus.

*

The greatest blessings are pure blood, steeled sinews and strong
nerves.

But he who, besides these, possesses a quiet conscience, is the
happiest of creatures.

*

I love the twilight--day fading into night. He who lives in communion
with nature is the only one whose life does full justice to each day.

Man is the only being who lives, far into the night. Light and fire
makes us what we are.

Schnabelsdorf the omniscient, once said: "The hour at which men retire
is the measure of their civilization."

At court, they are just sitting down to dinner. They are joking and
laughing, and telling each other anecdotes. If I were suddenly to
appear among them?

No, I shall not disturb ye!

In a little while, they will be driving to the theater. Isn't to-day--?
I had almost forgotten it--yes, this is my birthday. It was to-day a
year ago that I went to the ball, in the character of the Lady of the
Lake, and it was there he said to me--it was in the palmhouse--I can
still hear his soft voice: "I have purposely chosen this day. You alone
are to know it. You and I."

Oh! that night!

I wonder if they are thinking of me there?

The Egyptians, at all their festivals, displayed mementoes of their
dead. I cannot write any more--I will light the candle--I must work.

*

There is a deaf mute who lives down in the village and works at coarse
wood carvings. He has neither learned to read nor to write, nor has he
ever had any religious instruction. He knows nothing at all; but he
does know the church festivals, the holidays, and Shrove Tuesday
especially. On those days he will plant himself, with his umbrella, in
front of the church, and watch the peasants as they go by. If he sees
one who ple