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158
Adventures in Contentment
·
David Grayson
129
"What
have
you?"
we
are
ever
asking
of
those
we
meet.
"Information,
learning,
money?"
We
take
it
cruelly
and
pass
onward,
for
such
is
the
law
of
material
possessions.
"What
have
you?"
we
ask.
"Charm,
personality,
character,
the
great
gift
of
unexpectedness?"
How
we
draw
you
to
us!
We
take
you
in.
Poor
or
ignorant
though
you
may
be,
we
link
arms
and
loiter;
we
love
you
not
for
what
you
have
or
what
you
give
us,
but
for
what
you
are.
I
have
several
good
friends
(excellent
people)
who
act
always
as
I
expect
them
to
act.
There
is
no
flight!
More
than
once
I
have
listened
to
the
edifying
conversation
of
a
certain
sturdy
old
gentleman
whom
I
know,
and
I
am
ashamed
to
say
that
I
have
thought:
"Lord!
if
he
would
jump
up
now
and
turn
an
intellectual
handspring,
or
slap
me
on
the
back
(figuratively,
of
course:
the
other
would
be
unthinkable),
or--yes,
swear!
I--think
I
could
love
him."
But
he
never
does--and
I'm
afraid
he
never
will!
When
I
speak
then
of
my
books
you
will
know
what
I
mean.
The
chief
charm
of
literature,
old
or
new,
lies
in
its
high
quality
of
surprise,
unexpectedness,
spontaneity:
high
spirits
applied
to
life.
We
can
fairly
hear
some
of
the
old
chaps
you
and
I
know
laughing
down
through
the
centuries.
How
we
love
'em!
They
laughed
for
themselves,
not
for
us!
Yes,
there
must
be
surprise
in
the
books
that
I
keep
in
the
worn
case
at
my
elbow,
the
surprise
of
a
new
personality
perceiving
for
the
first
time
the
beauty,
the
wonder,
the
humour,
the
tragedy,
the
greatness
of
truth.
It
doesn't
matter
at
all
whether
the
writer
is
a
poet,
a
scientist,
a
traveller,
an
essayist
or
a
mere
daily
space-maker,
if
he
have
the
God-given
grace
of
wonder.
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