xiv FOREWORD 



itary, the artistic and the semi-scientific all 

 to no purpose. Here were all the desserts that 

 throughout his life he had been steadfastly 

 pushing aside; they were ranged before him 

 to partake of, and when he would partake he 

 could not. And so he left his pleasure palace 

 and went back to &quot;business.&quot; 



We are not all so far gone as this, but few 

 of us have the courage to take our desserts 

 when they are offered, or the free spirit to 

 enjoy them to the uttermost. I get up on a 

 glorious summer morning and gaze out at the 

 new day. With all the strongest and deepest 

 instincts of my nature I long to go out into 

 the green beauty of the world, to fling myself 

 down in some sloping meadow and feel the 

 sunshine envelop me and the warm winds pass 

 over me, to see them tossing the grasses and 

 tugging at the trees and driving the white 

 clouds across the blue, and to feel the great 

 earth revolving under me for if you lie long 

 enough you can really get the sense of sailing 

 through space. All this I long for from my 

 window. Then I turn back to my unglorified 

 little house little, however big, compared 

 with the limitless world of beauty outside 



