DUMB INTIMACIES 



the pond observes us with a Chinese decorum, and 

 sits stolidly by or goes his way. We learned by 

 insensible degrees that nothing interfered with us 

 so long as we were amicably inclined. Even 

 that exceptionally mischievous imp, Sir Stomoxys 

 Calcitrans, the incisive horse-fly, that later in the 

 season will bite through a dress-coat or Parisian 

 stays, goes to roost at sundown, and as for the 

 mosquitoes which every milldam spawns, I 

 learned soon enough that we could never coax 

 them out of their coverts into a current of air. 



Perhaps you think that these things are not 

 worth learning, and are quite beneath the notice 

 of a Wall Street man. As for that, they are not 

 worth spending time and thought upon if you 

 have something better to do, but the beauty of 

 it is they do not exact any time or thought. 

 They merely accompany you as you frolic. They 

 are like the water. You must not make their 

 acquaintance with a reporter s inquisitiveness, but 

 like a fellow craftsman who receives the pass 

 word and keeps it to himself. 



I recall my experience lying on my back on a 

 deep pool of those waters, looking up at the stars 

 and then looking down at them, until I 

 seemed to be suspended in the limitless ether and 

 could feel the soft tide of the great spaces. Then 

 Gretry s words came to my mind : &quot; God shuts 

 off this world once every twenty-four hours so 

 that we can see the universes.&quot; It was impossi 

 ble to have these experiences without feeling that 

 the dull strifes of man s existence slunk back- 



65 



