ward for
yesterday, forward for to-morrow, and overhead for the passing day.
This was sheer idleness to my fellow-townsmen, no doubt; but if the
birds and flowers had tried me by their standard, I should not have
been found wanting. A man must find his occasions in himself, it is
true. The natural day is very calm, and will hardly reprove his
indolence.

I had this advantage, at least, in my mode of life, over those who were
obliged to look abroad for amusement, to society and the theatre, that
my life itself was become my amusement and never ceased to be novel.
It was a drama of many scenes and without an end. If we were always
indeed getting our living, and regulating our lives according to the
last and best mode we had learned, we should never be troubled with
ennui. Follow your genius closely enough, and it will not fail to show
you a fresh prospect every hour. House-work was a pleasant pastime.
When my floor was dirty, I rose early, and, setting all my furniture
out of doors on the grass, bed and bedstead making but one budget,
dashed water on the floor, and sprinkled white sand from the pond on
it, and then with a broom scrubbed it clean and white; and by the time
the villagers had broken their fast the morning sun had dried my house
sufficiently to allow me to move in again, and my meditations were
almost uninterrupted. It was pleasant to see my whole {159} household
effects out on the grass, making a little pile like a gypsy's pack, and
my three-legged table, from which I did not remove the books and pen
and ink, standing amid the pines and hickories. They seemed glad to
get out themselves, and as if unwilling to be brought in. I was
sometimes tempted to stretch an awning over them and take my seat
there. It was worth the while to see the sun shine on these things,
and hear the free wind blow on them; so much more interesting most
familiar objects look out of doors than in the house. A bird sits on
the next bough; life everlasting grows under the table, and blackberry
vines run round its legs; pine cones, chestnut burs, and strawberry
leaves are strewn about. It looked as if this was the way these forms
came to be transferred to our furniture, to tables, chairs, and
bedsteads,--because they once stood in their midst.

(_Walden_.)

GEORGE ELIOT (MARY ANN EVANS) 1819-1880

A MISER

Gradually the guineas, the crowns, and the half-crowns grew to a heap,
and Marner drew less and less for his o