self. He thought he discovered in
the faces of certain great writers a
meditative quality full of repose and
suggestive of a constant companion-
ship with the highest themes. It
seemed to him that these thinkers,
who had done so much to liberate
his own thought, must have dwelt
habitually with noble ideas; that in
every leisure hour they must have
turned instinctively to those deep
things which concern most closely
the life of men. The vast majority
of men are so absorbed in dealing
with material that they appear to be
untouched by the general questions
of life; but these general questions
are the habitual concern of the men
who think. In such men the mind,
released from specific tasks, turns at
once and by preference to these great
themes, and by quiet meditation

[[44]]

p043 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p044w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p045

v?