Tracks of a Rolling Stone
- Pages
- about 379
- Category
- History
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 7 h at 250 wpm
From the opening
WE know more of the early days of the Pyramids or of ancient Babylon than
we do of our own. The Stone age, the dragons of the prime, are not more
remote from us than is our earliest childhood. It is not so long ago for
any of us; and yet, our memories of it are but veiled spectres wandering
in the mazes of some foregone existence.
Are we really trailing clouds of glory from afar? Or are our
‘forgettings’ of the outer Eden only? Or, setting poetry aside, are they
perhaps the quickening germs of all past heredity—an epitome of our race
and its descent? At any rate then, if ever, our lives are such stuff
as dreams are made of. There is no connected story of events, thoughts,
acts, or feelings. We try in vain to re-collect; but the secrets of the
grave are not more inviolable,—for the beginnings, like the endings, of
life are lost in darkness.
It is very difficult to affix a date to any relic of that dim past. We
may have a distinct remembrance of some pleasure, some pain, some fright,
some accident, but the vivid does not help us to chronicle with accuracy.
A year or two makes a vast difference in our ability. We can remember
well enough when we donned the ‘cauda virilis,’ but not when we left
off petticoats.
The first remembrance to which I can correctly tack a date is the death
of George IV. I was between three and four years old. My recollection
of the fact is perfectly distinct—distinct by its association with other
facts, then far more weighty to me than the death of a king.
I was watching with rapture, for the first time, the spinning of a
peg-top by one of the grooms in the stable yard, when the coachman, who
had just driven my mother home, announced the historic news.
A short sample. Read the whole book
More to read
- A Belated Guest (from Literary Friends and Acquaintance)William Dean HowellsHistory19 pages
- A Bit of Old ChinaCharles Warren StoddardHistory17 pages
- A Book of Remarkable CriminalsH. B. IrvingHistory341 pages
- A Book of ScoundrelsCharles WhibleyHistory202 pages
- A Brief History of the Internet The Bright Side: The Dark SideMichael HartHistory59 pages
Public-domain text from Project Gutenberg, Standard Ebooks or a similar open source. Copyright differs between countries. Rights holder? See our takedown process.