You don't know what a bore it is,
listening to that drool the 'profs' hand you out up there." His fervent
young spirit would not be silent until, with one magnificent gesture, he
had swept the tobacco jar to the floor and shattered two electric lamps.
Then he went to his room and left me wondering at the vast mysteries
that underlie the rough surface of the sophomore's soul.
X
THE COMPLETE COLLECTOR--I
"I have given up books and pictures," said Cooper. "I now devote myself
entirely to collecting samples of the world's wisdom."
"Proverbs, do you mean?" I asked.
"No, but the facts on which proverbs are based. You see, I grew tired of
pictures when it got to be a question of bidding against millionaires
for the possession of spurious old masters. The break came when Downes
proved that my Velasquez was painted in 1896. His own, it turned out,
was done in 1820; but even then, you see, he had the advantage over me.
So I concentrated on books. But I could not resist the temptation of
glancing through my first editions now and then, and the pages began to
give way.
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