NOTEBOOK
The boats go stuttering by with a good deal of fre-
quency—and packed with tourists. They charge only three
francs fifty for the round trip to Fluellen and back—a
voyage of five hours.
Met a woman of 70 with a deep fruit-basket strapped
on her back, and she stopped and remarked that the
weather was very warm. I was of that opinion, too—the
perspiration was flowing from me, washing boulders down
the hill. This was about a third of the way up the moun-
tain. She asked if I was on my way to the summit. I said
no, it was too much of a climb. She said she had been up
there to carry a load of peaches and pears, and was on
her way down to get another load. I asked if she meant
to carry that up, too. Yes, she said. Today? Oh yes, today.
I tried to voice my admiration, but got tangled among
the verbs and tenses and she bade me good-bye and re-
sumed her brisk march down the slope without waiting
to see where I was going to arrive with my speech. She
was apparently not overheated, and was not perspiring.
She was climbing 5000 feet, twice in the day, with a load
of iqo Ibs., descending the same distance twice, yet she
seemed to think nothing of it. One ascent by itself would
use me up.
July 31. Sunday. A smooth lake and a most quiet and
peaceful day. Domestic picture. Grandmother, mother
and two little daughters, sitting by the lake in front of
their pretty villa. Grandma teaching one of the little girls
her Bible lesson, the mother teaching the other one to fish.
In a dream I have at last encountered a humorism that
actually remained one after waking. The crowned heads
were adrift at sea on a raft. They all managed to stay
amiable but Victoria—she was constantly cross. This was
the origin of the V.C. With that sentence the dream
ended.
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