WHAT WE LOSE AND WHAT WE GAIN. 2OI 



can talk and write exquisitely about love tow- 

 ards one's neighbor may be conspicuous for a 

 vile temper at home. The novelist who de- 

 lights me in print may, and probably will, dis- 

 appoint me in person. Upon the whole, while 

 I can look back to some pleasure derived from 

 the talk of men whose writings are famous, I 

 doubt whether the disappointments do not 

 outweigh the pleasures. Certainly the satisfac- 

 tion which I have found in meeting persons who 

 write well has been infinitesimal as compared 

 with the pleasure which these same persons have 

 given me by their books. As to the so-called 

 literary evenings of great cities occasions 

 upon which some person in public view at the 

 moment is placed upon exhibition by Mrs. Leo 

 Hunter, I know of few less dreary ways of wast- 

 ing precious time. 



I presume that in this matter of house, 

 grounds, clothes, and other signs of outward 

 luxury, the fact that poverty is considered sy- 

 nonymous with inferiority is primarily due to 

 simple causes. I wear a patched coat ; there- 

 fore I have no money wherewith to buy a new 

 one. The absence of money implies inability 

 to earn money ; therefore I am not so energetic 



