Unnoticeably to themselves and altogether
unnoticeably, of course, to the casual glance, they cautiously
right themselves; or, more correctly, fade until they grow a belly
unto themselves, and acquire podagra and diseases of the liver.
Then they grumble at the whole world; say that they were not
understood, that their time was the time of sacred ideals. While
in the family they are despots and not infrequently give money out
at usury.
The path of the education of Liubka's mind and soul was plain to
him, as was plain and incontrovertible everything that he
conceived; he wanted at the start to interest Liubka in chemistry
and physics.
"The virginally feminine mind," he pondered, "will be astounded,
then I shall gain possession of her attention, and from trifles,
from hocus-pocus, I shall pass on to that which will lead her to
the centre of universal knowledge, where there is no superstition,
no prejudices; where there is only a broad field for the testing
of nature."
It must be said that he was inconsistent in his lessons. He
dragged in all that came to his hand for the astonishment of
Liubka.
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