Excerpt from Sights and Insights, Vol. 1: Patience Strong's Story of Over the Way
1st Gravedigger. It may bo all well enough - for a story ; but nevertheless it has no business to be. And you see she knows it all the time, with her reasonings and her apologies. What right had she to scribble it all off, in short hand, to Rose Halliday - whoever that is?
2d Gravedigger. Why, Rose Halliday is an alter ego. Can't a woman talk to herself, if she has no privilege elsewhere?
1st Gravedigger. But here it is in a book. And the world has got it; at least, as much of the world as will pay any attention. And it has all just happened; a couple of years ago.
2d Gravedigger, solemnly. My dear, do you properly apprehend what a book is? It is an utterly impersonal, abstract irresponsibility. It is a mere medium; a battery of type plates, which you hold by its two covers, to receive a magnetic current. And the little black characters upon which you fix your eyes are hypnotizers. The book tells you nothing. You simply perceive. The places, persons, occurrences, are or have been, and you come into intuitive relations with them.
1st Gravedigger. I can't see it in quite such a boneless light. It is a thing deliberately done; written, printed, published.
2d Gravedigger. Well; even so, the book and the story had to be.
1st Gravedigger. "I do not of that see the necessity."
2d Gravedigger. And possibly - as might have been retorted to the original sarcasm, - there may not be a like vital necessity that you should. - We've had it, anyway; and we've done with it. Put it up on the shelf; we will begin the new one; it has been out three days already.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works. Это и многое другое вы найдете в книге Sights and Insights, Vol. 1 (Mrs. A. D. T. Whitney)