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Dream Days

 by Kenneth Grahame












Contents



                                                       

THE TWENTY…FIRST OF OCTOBER

DIES IRAE

MUTABILE SEMPER

THE MAGIC RING

ITS WALLS WERE AS OF JASPER

A SAGA OF THE SEAS

THE RELUCTANT DRAGON

A DEPARTURE





Dream Days

THE TWENTY…FIRST OF

OCTOBER



In the matter of general culture and attainments; we youngsters

stood on pretty level ground。  True; it was always happening that

one of us would be singled out at any moment; freakishly; and

without regard to his own preferences; to wrestle with the

inflections of some idiotic language long rightly dead; while

another; from some fancied artistic tendency which always failed

to justify itself; might be told off without warning to hammer

out scales and exercises; and to bedew the senseless keys with

tears of weariness or of revolt。  But in subjects common to

either sex; and held to be necessary even for him whose

ambition soared no higher than to crack a whip in a circus…ring

in geography; for instance; arithmetic; or the weary doings of

kings and queenseach would have scorned to excel。  And; indeed;

whatever our individual gifts; a general dogged determination to

shirk and to evade kept us all at much the same dead level;a

level of ignorance tempered by insubordination。



Fortunately there existed a wide range of subjects; of healthier

tone than those already enumerated; in which we were free to

choose for ourselves; and which we would have scorned to consider

education; and in these we freely followed each his own

particular line; often attaining an amount of special knowledge

which struck our ignorant elders as simply uncanny。  For Edward;

the uniforms; accoutrements; colours; and mottoes of the

regiments composing the British Army had a special glamour。 

In the matter of facings he was simply faultless; among chevrons;

badges; medals; and stars; he moved familiarly; he even knew the

names of most of the colonels in command; and he would squander

sunny hours prone on the lawn; heedless of challenge from bird or

beast; poring over a tattered Army List。  My own accomplishment

was of another charactertook; as it seemed to me; a wider and a

more untrammelled range。  Dragoons might have swaggered in

Lincoln green; riflemen might have donned sporrans over tartan

trews; without exciting notice or comment from me。  But did you

seek precise information as to the fauna of the American

continent; then you had come to the right shop。  Where and why

the bison 〃wallowed〃; how beaver were to be trapped and wild

turkeys stalked; the grizzly and how to handle him; and the

pretty pressing ways of the constrictor;in fine; the haunts and

the habits of all that burrowed; strutted; roared; or wriggled

between the Atlantic and the Pacific;all this knowledge I took

for my province。  By the others my equipment was fully

recognized。  Supposing a book with a bear…hunt in it made its way

into the house; and the atmosphere was electric with excitement;

still; it was necessary that I should first decide whether the

slot had been properly described and properly followed up; ere

the work could be stamped with full approval。  A writer might

have won fame throughout the civilized globe for his trappers and

his realistic backwoods; and all went for nothing。  If his

pemmican were not properly compounded I damned his achievement;

and it was heard no more of。



Harold was hardly old enough to possess a special subject of his

own。  He had his instincts; indeed; and at bird's…nesting they

almost amounted to prophecy。  Where we others only suspected

eggs; surmised possible eggs; hinted doubtfully at eggs in the

neighbourhood; Harold went straight for the right bush; bough; or

hole as if he carried a divining…rod。  But this faculty belonged

to the class of mere gifts; and was not to be ranked with

Edward's lore regarding facings; and mine as to the habits of

prairie…dogs; both gained by painful study and extensive travel

in those 〃realms of gold;〃 the Army List and Ballantyne。



Selina's subject; quite unaccountably; happened to be naval

history。  There is no laying down rules as to subjects; you just

possess themor rather; they possess youand their genesis or

protoplasm is rarely to be tracked down。  Selina had never so

much as seen the sea; but for that matter neither had I ever

set foot on the American continent; the by…ways of which I knew

so intimately。  And just as I; if set down without warning in the

middle of the Rocky Mountains; would have been perfectly at home;

so Selina; if a genie had dropped her suddenly on Portsmouth

Hard; could have given points to most of its frequenters。  From

the days of Blake down to the death of Nelson (she never

condescended further) Selina had taken spiritual part in every

notable engagement of the British Navy; and even in the dark days

when she had to pick up skirts and flee; chased by an ungallant

De Ruyter or Van Tromp; she was yet cheerful in the consciousness

that ere long she would be gleefully hammering the fleets of the

world; in the glorious times to follow。  When that golden period

arrived; Selina was busy indeed; and; while loving best to stand

where the splinters were flying the thickest。  she was also a

careful and critical student of seamanship and of manoeuvre。  She

knew the order in which the great line…of…battle ships moved into

action; the vessels they respectively engaged; the moment when

each let go its anchor; and which of them had a spring on its

cable (while not understanding the phrase; she carefully noted

the fact); and she habitually went into an engagement on the

quarter…deck of the gallant ship that reserved its fire the

longest。



At the time of Selina's weird seizure I was unfortunately away

from home; on a loathsome visit to an aunt; and my account is

therefore feebly compounded from hearsay。  It was an absence I

never ceased to regretscoring it up; with a sense of injury;

against the aunt。  There was a splendid uselessness about the

whole performance that specially appealed to my artistic sense。 

That it should have been Selina; too; who should break out

this waySelina; who had just become a regular subscriber to the

〃Young Ladies' Journal;〃 and who allowed herself to be taken out

to strange teas with an air of resignation palpably assumedthis

was a special joy; and served to remind me that much of this

dreaded convention that was creeping over us might be; after all;

only veneer。  Edward also was absent; getting licked into shape

at school; but to him the loss was nothing。  With his stern

practical bent he wouldn't have seen any sense in itto recall

one of his favourite expressions。  To Harold; however; for

whom the gods had always cherished a special tenderness; it was

granted; not only to witness; but also; priestlike; to feed the

sacred fire itself。  And if at the time he paid the penalty

exacted by the sordid unimaginative ones who temporarily rule the

roast; he must ever after; one feels sure; have carried

inside him some of the white gladness of the acolyte who; greatly

privileged; has been permitted to swing a censer at the sacring

of the very Mass。



October was mellowing fast; and with it the year itself; full of

tender hints; in woodland and hedgerow; of a course well…nigh

completed。  From all sides that still afternoon you caught the

quick breathing and sob of the runner nearing the goal。 

Preoccupied and possessed; Selina had strayed down the garden and

out into the pasture beyond; where; on a bit of rising ground

that dominated the garden on one side and the downs with the old

coach…road on the other; she had cast herself down to chew the

cud of fancy。  There she was presently joined by Harold;

breathless and very full of his latest grievance。



〃I asked him not to;〃 he burst out。  〃I said if he'd only please

wait a bit and Edward would be back soo

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