Its questions and conjectures were like a
glimpse into the chaos of our own dimly developing inner life.
The fascination of "Festus" was that of wonder, doubt, and
dissent, with great outbursts of an overmastering faith sweeping
over our minds as we read. Some of our friends thought it not
quite safe reading; but we remember it as one of the inspirations
of our workaday youth.
We read books, also, that bore directly upon the condition of
humanity in our time. "The Glory and Shame of England" was one of
them, and it stirred us with a wonderful and painful interest.
We followed travelers and explorers,--Layard to Nineveh, and
Stephens to Yucatan. And we were as fond of good story-books as
any girls that live in these days of overflowing libraries. One
book, a character-picture from history, had a wide popularity in
those days. It is a pity that it should be unfamiliar to modern
girlhood,--Ware's "Zenobia." The Queen of Palmyra walked among
us, and held a lofty place among our ideals of heroic womanhood,
never yet obliterated from admiring remembrance.
Pages:
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310