feeds and enriches the very soul of
the thinker. And the quality of this
meditation determines whether the
nature shall be productive or sterile;
whether a man shall be merely a
logician, or a creative force in the
world. Following this hint, this
lover of books persistently trained
himself, in his leisure hours, to think
over the books he was reading; to
meditate on particular passages, and,
in the case of dramas and novels,
to look at characters from different
sides. It was not easy at first, and
it was distinctively work; but it be-
came instinctive at last, and conse-
quently it became play. The stream
of thought, once set in a given direc-
tion, flows now of its own gravita-
tion; and reverie, instead of being
idle and meaningless, has become rich
and fruitful. If one subjects "The

[[45]]

p044 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p045w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p046

v?