Library of the world's best literature, ancient and modern . , had given him thevery spirit of my lifes enjoyment.** Boyand man, all that he needed for delight wasa peg for his fancy.** I could not learn my alphabet without some suitable mise-en-scene, and had to act abusiness man in an office before I could sit down to my book.**Burnt-cork mustachios expanded his spirit with dignity and self-reliance.** To him the burnt cork was not the significant thing,the warm delight of it. It is not the silly talk of the boys on thelinks, or the ill-smelling lantern buttoned under their great-coats,but t
Library of the world's best literature, ancient and modern . , had given him thevery spirit of my lifes enjoyment.** Boyand man, all that he needed for delight wasa peg for his fancy.** I could not learn my alphabet without some suitable mise-en-scene, and had to act abusiness man in an office before I could sit down to my book.**Burnt-cork mustachios expanded his spirit with dignity and self-reliance.** To him the burnt cork was not the significant thing,the warm delight of it. It is not the silly talk of the boys on thelinks, or the ill-smelling lantern buttoned under their great-coats,but the heaven of a recondite pleasure ** which they inhabit, that isworth considering. To find out where joy resides, and give it avoice far beyond singing,** — that was Stevensons endeavor; for tomiss the joy is to miss all. In the joy of the actors lies the sense ofany action.** That is the very spirit of romantic youth; the searchfor the incommunicable thrill of things,** which his friend andbiographer Sidney Colvin says was the main passion of Stevensons. R. L. Stevenson 13928 ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON life. *^To his ardent fancy, ^^ says Colvin, <*the world was a theatre,glaring with the lights and bustling with the incidents of romance.^*To any one looking for the reason of Stevensons perpetual charm,— even to those who can give a score of arguments for not liking hisromances, — this brave spirit of youth is an adequate and satisfyingmotive. The young find in it a full justification for their own hopes;the middle-aged feel again the very spring and core of the energywhich they have been so long disciplining and driving to the yokeof every-day effort that they have forgotten its origin; and the oldfind their memories alive and glowing again with the romance ofyouth. In sickness or in health, in comedy or tragedy, Stevensonand the characters he creates are never wholly unconscious of mansinalienable birthright of happiness. No matter how dire his circum-stances, it is a m
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectliterat, bookyear1902
