Book-bot.com - read famous books online for free

Marie Bashkirtseff (From Childhood to Girlhood) by Marie Bashkirtseff
page 54 of 80 (67%)
To-morrow I will talk with Mamma about my idea; aid me, my God.


Thursday, December 23d, 1875.

I am sorrowful and discouraged. My departure is an exile to me. I
want to stay in Nice, and it is impossible. We always insist upon
the impossible. The simplest thing, by resisting, gains in value.


Friday, December 24th, 1875.

B---- has been to our house. By a few words in the conversation he
awoke in me so much love for Nice, so much regret at leaving, that I
became unhappy and went to my room to sing--with such earnestness,
such warmth, that I am still weeping from it--that eternal air, and
these delightful words:

"Alas! Would it were possible I might return,
Unto that vanished land whence I was torn,
There, there alone to live my heart doth yearn,
To live, to love, to die."

How I pity those who are not like me! They do not understand how
much truth there is in this familiar fragment that is sung in every
drawing-room. Yes, _there alone to live my heart doth yearn_. Yes,
at Nice, in my beloved villa. People may go through the world. They
will find sublime landscapes, impressive mountains, frightful gulfs,
wild beauties of nature, picturesque towns, great cities; but, on
returning to Nice one would say that elsewhere it was beautiful,
DigitalOcean Referral Badge