I had no idea,—said the Professor,—until I pulled up my domestic
establishment the other day, what an enormous quantity of roots I had
been making during the years I was planted there. Why, there wasn’t a
nook or a corner that some fibre had not worked its way into; and when I
gave the last wrench, each of them seemed to shriek like a mandrake, as
it broke its hold and came away.
There is nothing that happens, you know, which must not inevitably, and
which does not actually, photograph itself in every conceivable aspect
and in all dimensions. The infinite galleries of the Past await but one
brief process and all their pictures will be called out and fixed
forever. We had a curious illustration of the great fact on a very
humble scale. When a certain bookcase, long standing in one place, for
which it was built, was removed, there was the exact image on the wall of
the whole, and of many of its portions. But in the midst of this picture
was another,—the precise outline of a map which had hung on the wall
before the bookcase was built. We had all forgotten everything about the
map until we saw its photograph on the wall. Then we remembered it, as
some day or other we may remember a sin which has been built over and
covered up, when this lower universe is pulled away from before the wall
of Infinity, where the wrong-doing stands self-recorded.
The Professor lived in that house a long time,—not twenty years, but
pretty near it. When he entered that door, two shadows glided over the
threshold; five lingered in the doorway when he passed through it for the
last time,—and one of the shadows was claimed by its owner to be longer
than his own. What changes he saw in that quiet place! Death rained
through every roof but his; children came into life, grew to maturity,
wedded, faded away, threw themselves away; the whole drama of life was
played in that stock-company’s theatre of a dozen houses, one of which
was his, and no deep sorrow or severe calamity ever entered his dwelling.
Peace be to those walls, forever,—the Professor said,—for the many
pleasant years he has passed within them!
The Professor has a friend, now living at a distance, who has been with
him in many of his changes of place, and who follows him in imagination
with tender interest wherever he goes.—In that little court, where he
lived in gay loneliness so long,—
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