V 



TRAVELLING along the pleasant path of life, on the 

 reverse side of the hill, the downward course <how graphic 

 is the French of it for the later and " smaller half " of our 

 allotted span : sur le retour), there is a tendency to dwell 

 more upon memories and proportionately less on ambitions. 

 The prospect now ahead, placid and mellowed as it may 

 be, naturally dwindles to narrower margins. Its interest 

 is more of the immediate order / deals mostly with hopes 

 and doings of the coming season. And, the circle of 

 recollection widening, things distant in the past appeal 

 with proportionate insistency to the mind's eye. 

 I believe this is the case with all thinking creatures <says 

 Loki's Grandpa who has fallen into a reminiscent mood). 

 With one whose lazy and musing propensities, whose 

 delight in day-dreams has proved his paramount weakness, 

 the habit of " dreaming backwards " and hunting for old 

 impressions has become as haunting, in these years of the 

 sixth decade, as was, in salad days, the "dreaming 

 forward " and the straining for a sight of things still below 

 the horizon. 



For instance: in a life which has always been one of 

 constant book-companionship, the printed passages which 

 most delight me are those which, having been first read in 

 another age and re-discovered in this one, bring back a 

 pulse of some long forgotten impression. The impression 

 may be one that sober and critical memory does not record 

 as having been so particularly enthralling at the timeyet 

 it now comes back with a subtle fragrance all its own. 

 The long darkness of winter provides the richest reading 

 44 



