This was
a custom he had some time before instituted, and I was finding it
increasingly interesting. He selected my course of reading, and a very
strong bill of fare I was finding it, some of the passages straining my
utmost power of brain to comprehend. He had, as yet, confined me chiefly
to German literature, mainly Kant and Lessing, with a dip into Schiller
now and then, he said, by way of relaxation. He seemed gratified at the
interest I took in his efforts to develop my intellectual powers, and
sometimes he sat chatting with me, after the lesson was ended, by the
firelight, until we were summoned to dinner. His mind appeared like some
rich storehouse where every article has its appointed place; and while it
held many a treasure from foreign sources, its own equipment was equal to
the best. I could not always follow him. He gave me credit, I believe,
for much greater brain power than I possessed; but what I could not
comprehend made me the more eager to overcome the impediment of ignorance
and stupidity. In these hours in his own study, where very few, save
myself, were permitted to enter, he laid aside all badinage and severe
criticism. I blundered sadly, at times, over the meaning of some
specially difficult passages; but he helped me through with a quiet
patience that amazed me. I mentioned it one day to Mrs. Flaxman,
expressing my surprise that he should so patiently endure my ignorance,
and stupidity.
"It is just like him. He has a world of patience with any one really
trying to do good work.
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