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Brandes, Georg Morris Cohen, 1842-1927

"Recollections of My Childhood and Youth"

Over!
When I was teasing her the other day about all the time I had wasted in
her company, she replied: "_People do not waste time with their
friends_," and when I exclaimed: "What do I get from you?" she
answered, laughing:
"_Inspiration_." And that was the truth. Those great brown eyes,
the firm eyebrows, the ringleted mass of chestnut brown hair and the
fresh mouth--all this that I still remember, but perhaps in three months
shall no longer be able to recall, the quick little figure, now
commanding, now deprecating, is to me a kind of inspiration. I have
never been in love with Vinnie; but most people would think so, to hear
the expressions I am now using. But I love her as a friend, as a mind
akin to my own. There were thoughts of our brains and strings of our
hearts, which always beat in unison. Peace be with her! May the cursed
world neither rend her nor devour her; may she die at last with the
clear forehead she has now! I am grateful to her. She has communicated
to me a something good and simple that one cannot see too much of and
that one scarcely ever sees at all. Finally, she has shown me again the
spectacle of a human being entirely happy, and good because happy, a
soul without a trace of bitterness, an intellect whose work is not a
labour.


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