26 May–1 June 1834

Languages as discipline, much reading as an additional atmosphere or two, to gird the loins and make the muscles more tense. It seems time lost for a grown man to be turning the leaves of a i834l LANGUAGES. WOMAN 301 dictionary, like a boy, to learn German, but I be- lieve he will gain tension and creative power by so doing. Good books have always a prolific atmos- phere about them and brood upon the spirit.