I am sorry I was not stronger, but to do as I
did was my only chance."
He looked so meek that I was vexed with myself for having said
what I had, more especially when I remembered his bringing-up, which
had doubtless done much to impair his power of taking a common-sense
view of things. He continued--
"I see it all now. The people like Towneley are the only ones who
know anything that is worth knowing, and like that of course I can
never be. But to make Towneleys possible there must be hewers of
wood and drawers of water- men in fact through whom conscious
knowledge must pass before it can reach those who can apply it
gracefully and instinctively as the Towneleys can. I am a hewer of
wood, but if I accept the position frankly and do not set up to be a
Towneley, it does not matter."
He still, therefore, stuck to science instead of turning to
literature proper as I hoped he would have done, but he confined
himself henceforth to enquiries on specific subjects concerning
which an increase of our knowledge- as he said- was possible. Having
in fact, after infinite vexation of spirit, arrived at a conclusion
which cut at the roots of all knowledge, he settled contentedly down
to the pursuit of knowledge, and has pursued it ever since in spite of
occasional excursions into the regions of literature proper.
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