There was a disproportion between the ages of the master and the pupil;
in my eyes she was quite an old person, in her eyes, being her
intellectual equal, I was likewise her equal in age. In the natural
order of things she felt more personal sympathy for me than I for her.
Consequently, I involuntarily put a dash of teasing into my instruction,
and occasionally made fun of her sentimentality, and when the large
lady, half angry, half distressed, rose to seize hold of me and give me
a shaking, I would run round the table, pursued by her, or shoot out a
chair between her and myself,--which indubitably did not add to the
dignity of our lessons.
There was no question of thorough or connected instruction. What the
lady wanted more particularly was that I should go through her literary
attempts and correct them, but corrections could not transform them into
art. And so it came about that after no very long time I gave up these
arduous lessons, although obliged to give up my precious riding lessons
at the same time.
Consequently I never became a really expert rider, although during the
next few years I had a ride now and then. But after a severe attack of
phlebitis following upon typhoid fever, in 1870-71, I was compelled to
give up all the physical exercises that I loved best.
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