Some of my readers who are also writers have very probably had more
numerous experiences of this kind than I can lay claim to;
self-revelations from unknown and sometimes nameless friends, who write
from strange corners where the winds have wafted some stray words of
theirs which have lighted in the minds and reached the hearts of those to
whom they were as the angel that stirred the pool of Bethesda. Perhaps
this is the best reward authorship brings; it may not imply much talent
or literary excellence, but it means that your way of thinking and
feeling is just what some one of your fellow-creatures needed.
--I have been putting into shape, according to his request, some further
passages from the Young Astronomer's manuscript, some of which the reader
will have a chance to read if he is so disposed. The conflict in the
young man's mind between the desire for fame and the sense of its
emptiness as compared with nobler aims has set me thinking about the
subject from a somewhat humbler point of view. As I am in the habit of
telling you, Beloved, many of my thoughts, as well as of repeating what
was said at our table, you may read what follows as if it were addressed
to you in the course of an ordinary conversation, where I claimed rather
more than my share, as I am afraid I am a little in the habit of doing.
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