... However,
this is not my only or my greatest affliction, I have had and have
others. But the night is silent and the grave is dumb, and their
sister, Sorrow, should be as they. Therefore--let this suffice."
December 29th. "Alas, this old year! What I have suffered in it no
one knows, if not, perhaps, the Recorder beyond the clouds. But I
am indebted to this year. It has been darker, but also more serious
than all the others put together. I have learned at my own expense
what a human heart can endure without breaking, and what power God
has deposited in a man under his left nipple. As I say, I am under
obligation to this year, for it has enriched me with what is the
real sinking fund of human wisdom and human independence--a mighty,
deeply rooted contempt for man.... My inner nature emerges from the
crisis like the hibernating bear from his den, emaciated and
exhausted, but happily with my ursine sinews well preserved; and by
and by some flesh will be growing on them again.
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