I
learned also that there are many things which belong to the whole
world of us together, that no one of us, nor any few of us, can
claim or enjoy for ourselves alone. I discovered, too, that I
could so accustom myself to the noise that it became like a
silence to me. And I defied the machinery to make me its slave.
Its incessant discords could not drown the music of my thoughts
if I would let them fly high enough. Even the long hours, the
early rising and the regularity enforced by the cladgor of the
bell were good discipline for one who was naturally inclined to
dally and to dream, and who loved her own personal liberty with a
willful rebellion against control. Perhaps I could have brought
myself into the limitations of order and method in no other way.
Like a plant that starts up in showers and sunshine and does not
know which has best helped it to grow, it is difficult to say
whether the hard things or the pleasant things did me most good.
But when I was sincerest with myself, as also when I thought
least about it, I know that I was glad to be alive, and to be
just where I was.
Pages:
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237