"Still studying Dante?" said the
intruder into the workshop of as
true a man of culture as we have
known on this continent. "Yes,"
was the prompt reply; "always
studying Dante."

A man's intellectual character is
determined by what he habitually
thinks about. The mind cannot
always be consciously directed to
definite ends; it has hours of relax-
ation. There are many hours in the
life of the most strenuous and ardu-
ous man when the mind goes its own
way and thinks its own thoughts.
These times of relaxation, when the
mind follows its own bent, are per-
haps the most fruitful and significant
periods in a rich and noble intellec-
tual life. The real nature, the deeper
instincts of the man, come out in
these moments, as essential refine-

[[41]]

p040 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p041w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p042

v?