The Life of the Fly 



fail to understand, they never advise you, 

 never suggest an attempt along another road 

 which might lead you to the light. The 

 merest word would sometimes be enough to 

 put you on the right track; and that word the 

 books, hide-bound in a regulation phrase- 

 ology, never give you. 



How greatly preferable is the oral lesson 1 

 It goes forward, goes back, starts afresh, 

 walks around the obstacle and varies the 

 methods of attack until, at long last, light is 

 shed upon the darkness. This incomparable 

 beacon of the master's word was what I 

 lacked; and I went under, without hope of 

 succour, in that treacherous pool of the rule 

 of signs. 



My pupil was bound to suffer the effects. 

 After an attempt at an explanation in which 

 I made the most of the few gleams that 

 reached me I asked him : 



'Do you understand?' 



It was a futile question, but useful for gain- 

 ing time. Myself not understanding, I was 

 convinced beforehand that he did not under- 

 stand either. 



'No,' he replied, accusing himself, per- 

 haps, in his simple mind, of possessing a 



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