He was found unconscious in his chair with the book open at the
thirtieth chapter of Proverbs." Yes, I sometimes find it hard to
understand what Harrington, a man of really fine sensibilities, sees in
Mrs. Harrington. The very suggestion of locking up books to prevent
their being carried away hurts like the screech of a pencil upon a
slate. I think of Mrs. Harrington and then I think of Cooper. Cooper's
shelves are continuously being denuded by his friends. But if you think
of Cooper as a helpless victim you are sadly mistaken. There is an
elaborate scheme behind it all, a scheme of such transcendent ingenuity
as only simple-hearted, sweet-natured, unpractised, purblind visionaries
like Cooper are capable of.
He let me into the secret one day when he saw that I was about to find
it out for myself. "I know very many dear people," he said, "who are too
busy to read books or too little in the habit of it. You know them, too;
they are men and women in whom the pulse of life beats too rapidly for
the calm pleasures of reading. They are not insensible to fine ideas,
but they must see these ideas in concrete form.
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