He was more tolerant of opinions other
than his own, but more unrelenting in his fidelity to conscience and
more impatient of half-heartedness and self-indulgence. He was full of
reverence for the great scholars and the great leaders of men he had
come to know.
'Great, noble fellows they are, and extraordinarily modest,' he
said--'that is, the really great are modest. There are plenty of the
other sort, neither great nor modest. And the books to be read! I am
quite hopeless about my reading. It gave me a queer sensation to
shake hands with a man who had written a great book. To hear him make
commonplace remarks, to witness a faltering in knowledge--one expects
these men to know everything--and to experience respectful kindness at
his hands!'
'What of the younger men?' I asked.
'Bright, keen, generous fellows. In things theoretical, omniscient; but
in things practical, quite helpless. They toss about great ideas as
the miners lumps of coal. They can call them by their book names easily
enough, but I often wondered whether they could put them into English.
Pages:
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277