A Tramp Abroad — Volume 06 by Mark Twain
page 38 of 90 (42%)
page 38 of 90 (42%)
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admired them, and when I heard you were here, I ..."
I indicated a chair, and he sat down. This grandee was the grandson of an American of considerable note in his day, and not wholly forgotten yet--a man who came so near being a great man that he was quite generally accounted one while he lived. I slowly paced the floor, pondering scientific problems, and heard this conversation: GRANDSON. First visit to Europe? HARRIS. Mine? Yes. G.S. (With a soft reminiscent sigh suggestive of bygone joys that may be tasted in their freshness but once.) Ah, I know what it is to you. A first visit!--ah, the romance of it! I wish I could feel it again. H. Yes, I find it exceeds all my dreams. It is enchantment. I go... G.S. (With a dainty gesture of the hand signifying "Spare me your callow enthusiasms, good friend.") Yes, _I_ know, I know; you go to cathedrals, and exclaim; and you drag through league-long picture-galleries and exclaim; and you stand here, and there, and yonder, upon historic ground, and continue to exclaim; and you are permeated with your first crude conceptions of Art, and are proud |
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