8
because I was too excited to look into them,
and there were so many that I could not possibly
open and read all. The Arabian Nights, Hans
Andersen's Fairy Tales and what not! I had
indeed discovered a new world. But how was
I to read so many books, and when ? They
would soon be sent away. So, with greedy
haste I snatched up one of the smaller volumes
close at hand and dipped into it. I remember
the title but have forgotten the story The Wide,
Wide World. The name seemed promising and
I began to read it without understanding much ;
but that did not matter, nor did it matter that
I could not read it through. I took up another
book, the Fairy Tales, and it was certainly much
more interesting. Then I went on to another,
the grandest of all, Don Quixote. The quaint
pictures illustrating the wonderful doings of the
Knight of La Mancha excited my imagination
to a degree that nothing else had done before.
This was the seed out of which my love of
Chivalry was to grow. I was then in my nth
year and did not know English well, but that
was hardly an obstacle ; I meant to understand
the story and I did. As for the significance of
it—the pathos of the mock-heroic romance and
the subdued lament over the decay of Chivalry
to which the genius of Cervantes has imparted
a subtle charm—all that I came to understand
long after/'
He continues, " Within three years of my first
adventure among books I was well on my way