Autocrat of the Breakfast Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes
page 29 of 328 (08%)
page 29 of 328 (08%)
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The dream flashes by, for the west-winds awake
On pampas, on prairie, o'er mountain and lake, To bathe the swift bark, like a sea-girdled shrine, With incense they stole from the rose and the pine. So fill a bright cup with the sunlight that gushed When the dead summer's jewels were trampled and crushed: THE TRUE KNIGHT OF LEARNING,--the world holds him dear, - Love bless him, Joy crown him, God speed his career! CHAPTER II I really believe some people save their bright thoughts, as being too precious for conversation. What do you think an admiring friend said the other day to one that was talking good things,-- good enough to print? "Why," said he, "you are wasting mechantable literature, a cash article, at the rate, as nearly as I can tell, of fifty dollars an hour." The talker took him to the window and asked him to look out and tell what he saw. "Nothing but a very dusty street," he said, "and a man driving a sprinkling-machine through it." "Why don't you tell the man he is wasting that water? What would be the state of the highways of life, if we did not drive our THOUGHT-SPRINKLERS through them with the valves open, sometimes? |
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