The Project Gutenberg EBook of Two Years Ago, Volume I, by Charles Kingsley

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Title: Two Years Ago, Volume I

Author: Charles Kingsley

Release Date: February 3, 2004 [EBook #10920]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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TWO YEARS AGO

[Illustration]

TWO YEARS AGO

BY CHARLES KINGSLEY

IN TWO VOLS.--VOL. I

1901

CONTENTS OF VOL.I.

CHAP

INTRODUCTORY
I POETRY AND PROSE
II STILL LIFE
III ANYTHING BUT STILL LIFE
IV FLOTSOM, JETSOM, AND LAGEND
V THE WAY TO WIN THEM
VI AN OLD FOE WITH A NEW FACE
VII LA CORDIFIAMMA
VIII TAKING ROOT
IX "AM I NOT A WOMAN AND A SISTER?"
X THE RECOGNITION
XI THE FIRST INSTALMENT OF AN OLD DEBT
XII A PEER IN TROUBLE
XIII L'HOMME INCOMPRIS
XIV THE DOCTOR AT BAY

TWO YEARS AGO.

INTRODUCTORY.

It may seem a somewhat Irish method of beginning the story of "Two
Years Ago" by a scene which happened but a month since. And yet, will
not the story be on that very account a better type of many a man's
own experiences! How few of us had learnt the meaning of "Two Years
Ago," until this late quiet autumn time; and till Christmas, too, with
its gaps in the old ring of friendly faces, never to be filled up
again on earth, began to teach us somewhat of its lesson.

Two years ago, while pestilence was hovering over us and ours; while
the battle-roar was ringing in our ears; who had time to think, to ask
what all that meant; to seek for the deep lesson which we knew must
lie beneath? Two years ago was the time for work; for men to do with
all their might whatsoever their hands found to do. But now the storm
has lulled once more; the air has cleared awhile, and we can talk
calmly over all the wonders of that sudden, strange, and sad "Two
years ago."

So felt, at least, two friends who went down, just one week before
Christmas-day, to Whitbury, in Berkshire. Two years ago had come to
one of them, as to thousands more, the crisis of his life; and he was
talking of it with his comp