In a Canadian Canoe; The Nine Muses Minus One, and Other StoriesPain, Barry
General
In a Canadian Canoe; The Nine Muses Minus One, and Other Stories
Pain, Barry
English wit and humor
I saw that she had taken no notice of the unmannerly animal. She had
crossed the street, and was leaning over the low stone wall, with her
beautiful head supported on one hand; I saw that my most dignified
course was to follow her, and I did so.
“Yes,” she said, pointing downwards with her finger, “those are
the other worlds. They were put there to be a heating and lighting
apparatus for the most insignificant of them--at least that is the
prevalent creed, for the most insignificant. Do not believe it. On each
one there is life, and for each one there is a purpose; all are part
of one scheme that----”
The horse was quite right. At this point, I rested my head on my arms
as I leaned over the parapet, and went fast asleep. I can never forgive
myself for it, but I was powerless to prevent it. I do not know how
long I slept, but I woke suddenly. She was no longer leaning over the
parapet; she stood on the pathway, gazing upwards, with a strange light
in her eyes. Of course she was in the middle of a sentence. That was
only part of the generally unsatisfactory nature of everything.
“----would get new experiences, new data. You would think and imagine
new things. You would know what the new love means. I can only speak to
you as a woman to a man, but I do not look at you as a woman would. She
would see only a poor little schoolmaster, not very beautiful, rather
sleepy-headed, in a dress-suit much too tight for him. I too can see
that. But I see also a life that long ago came out into the darkness
hand-in-hand with mine. Had you been placed in this world, you would
have known as I know; but I came here, and you were sent elsewhere. Out
of the same clay the potter makes two vessels, one to honour and one to
dishonour.”
“And that is extremely unjust,” I said.
“It would be quite impossible for you to think otherwise; but you are
wrong. You will soon know that you are wrong.”
“When?” I asked.
“On the day that you know my name, when the earthly love that you feel
for me is changed to the new love of which it is the shadow, when we
come back together, you and I, out of the darkness into the light.”
“Where is the light?”
“Look upwards. There are no more stars, and above all seems dark. And
the darkness flows on like a river, on and on. But the river will run
dry at the last, the darkness will have passed at the last, and then we
shall enter into the light.”
“And now,” said the voice of the unconscionable cab-horse behind us, “I
will ask you to join with me in singing the last hymn on the paper.”
“What on earth,” I exclaimed testily, “is the point of making that
perfectly idiotic remark?”
“Mere absent-mindedness,” the brute answered. “I thought from the
general style of the conversation that I was at some missionary
meeting. That’s all.”
“At any rate,” I said, “you need not interrupt a--a lady.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account