' THE STORY OF MY HEART ' 199 



ambitions. Let me be in myself myself fully, and those 

 I love equally so. 



' It is enough to lie on the sward in the shadow of 

 green boughs, to listen to the songs of summer, to drink 

 in the sunlight, the air, the flowers, the sky, the beauty 

 of all. Or upon the hill-tops to watch the white clouds 

 rising over the curved hill-lines, their shadows descending 

 the slope. Or on the beach to listen to the sweet sigh 

 as the smooth sea runs up and recedes. It is lying 

 beside the immortals, in-drawing the life of the ocean, 

 the earth, and the sun. 



' I want to be always in company with these, with 

 earth, and sun, and sea, and stars by night. The petti- 

 ness of house-life — chairs and tables — and the pettiness 

 of observances, the petty necessity of useless labour, use- 

 less because productive of nothing, chafe me the year 

 through. I want to be always in company with the sun, 

 and sea, and earth. These, and the stars by night, are 

 my natural companions. 



' My heart looks back and sympathizes with all the 

 joy and life of ancient time. With the circling dance 

 burned in still attitude on the vase ; with the chase and 

 the hunter eagerly pursuing, whose javelin trembles to 

 be thrown ; with the extreme fury of feeling, the whirl of 

 joy in the warriors from Marathon to the last battle of 

 Rome, not with the slaughter, but with the passion — the 

 life in the passion ; with the garlands and the flowers ; 

 with all the breathing busts that have panted beneath 

 the svm. O beautiful human life ! Tears come in my 

 eyes as I think of it. So beautiful, so inexpressibly 

 beautiful ! 



' So deep is the passion of life that, if it were possible 

 to live again, it must be exquisite to die pushing the 

 eager breast against the sword. In the flush of strength 

 to face the sharp pain joyously, and laugh in the last 

 glance of the sun — if only to live again, now on earth, 

 were possible. So subtle is the chord of life that some- 

 times to watch troops marching in rhythmic order, 



