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Cooper, James Fenimore, 1789-1851

"Oak Openings"

As this is not the general
character of the water of that region, though marked exceptions
exist, Margery insisted that the water was eastern and not western
water.
"Why do we always think the things we had in childhood better than
those we enjoy afterward?" asked Margery, after making one of these
comparisons, somewhat to the disadvantage of the part of the country
in which she then was. "I can scarce ever think of home--what I call
home, and which was so long a home to me--without shedding tears.
Nothing here seems as good of its kind as what I have left behind
me. Do you have the same longings for Pennsylvania that I feel for
the sea-coast and for the rocks about Quincy?"
"Sometimes. When I have been quite alone for two or three months, I
have fancied that an apple, or a potato, or even a glass of cider
that came from the spot where I was born, would be sweeter than all
the honey bees ever gathered in Michigan."
"To me it has always seemed strange, Bourdon, that one of your kind
feelings should ever wish to live alone, at all; yet I have heard
you say that a love of solitude first drew you to your trade."
"It is these strong cases which get a man under, as it might be, and
almost alter his nature.


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