Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
235
The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft
·
George Gissing
90
When
travelling,
I
have
now
and
then
watched
the
sunrise,
and
always
with
an
exultation
unlike
anything
produced
in
me
by
other
aspects
of
nature.
I
remember
daybreak
on
the
Mediterranean;
the
shapes
of
islands
growing
in
hue
after
hue
of
tenderest
light,
until
they
floated
amid
a
sea
of
glory.
And
among
the
mountains--that
crowning
height,
one
moment
a
cold
pallor,
the
next
soft-glowing
under
the
touch
of
the
rosy-fingered
goddess.
These
are
the
things
I
shall
never
see
again;
things,
indeed,
so
perfect
in
memory
that
I
should
dread
to
blur
them
by
a
newer
experience.
My
senses
are
so
much
duller;
they
do
not
show
me
what
once
they
did.
How
far
away
is
that
school-boy
time,
when
I
found
a
pleasure
in
getting
up
and
escaping
from
the
dormitory
whilst
all
the
others
were
still
asleep.
My
purpose
was
innocent
enough;
I
got
up
early
only
to
do
my
lessons.
I
can
see
the
long
school-room,
lighted
by
the
early
sun;
I
can
smell
the
school-room
odour--a
blend
of
books
and
slates
and
wall-maps
and
I
know
not
what.
It
was
a
mental
peculiarity
of
mine
that
at
five
o'clock
in
the
morning
I
could
apply
myself
with
gusto
to
mathematics,
a
subject
loathsome
to
me
at
any
other
time
of
the
day.
Opening
the
book
at
some
section
which
was
wont
to
scare
me,
I
used
to
say
to
myself:
"Come
now,
I'm
going
to
tackle
this
this
morning!
If
other
boys
can
understand
it,
why
shouldn't
I?"
And
in
a
measure
I
succeeded.
In
a
measure
only;
there
was
always
a
limit
at
which
my
powers
failed
me,
strive
as
I
would.
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
