The Generous Abundance Of Her

It Was Not Despair, But It Seemed To Her As If Life Were Passing By, Leaving Its Promises Broken And Unfulfilled. Yet There Were Other Days When She Listened, Was Led On And Deceived By Fresh Promises Which Her Youth Had Held Out To Her.

Exhaustion Was Pressing Upon And Overpowering Her. "good-by--because I Love You." He Did Not Know; He Did Not Understand. He Would Never Understand. Perhaps Doctor Mandelet Would Have Understood If She Had Seen Him--but It Was Too Late; The Shore Was Far Behind Her, And Her Strength Was Gone. She Looked Into The Distance, And The Old Terror Flamed Up For An Instant, Then Sank Again.

I Dance With People I Despise; Amuse Myself With Men Whose Only Talent Lies In Their Feet, Gain The Disapprobation Of People I Honor And Respect; Return Home At Day Break With My Brain In A State Which Was Never Intended For It; And Arise In The Middle Of The Next Day Feeling Infinitely More, In Spirit And Flesh Like A Liliputian, Than A Woman With Body And Soul. Entry (when She Was Eighteen) In Her Commonplace Book, 1868-1869.

To Be An Artist Includes Much; One Must Possess Many Gifts - Absolute Gifts - Which Have Not Been Acquired By One's Own Effort. And, Moreover, To Succeed, The Artist Much Possess The Courageous Soul.

It Is Greater Than The Stars - That Moving Procession Of Human Energy; Greater Than The Palpitating Earth And The Things Growing Thereon.