But if I wrote it myself, then I shouldn't get tired of it; it
would be what pleased me, and not what pleased somebody else."
"Well," said Donal, after thinking for a moment, "suppose you begin
to write a book!"
"Oh, that will be fun!--much better than learning verbs and nouns!"
"But the verbs and nouns are just the things that go to make a
story--with not a few adjectives and adverbs, and a host of
conjunctions; and, if it be a very moving story, a good many
interjections! These all you have got to put together with good
choice, or the story will not be one you would care to
read.--Perhaps you had better not begin till I see whether you know
enough about those verbs and nouns to do the thing decently. Show
me your school-books."
"There they all are--on that shelf! I haven't opened one of them
since Percy came home. He laughed at them all, and so Arkie--that's
lady Arctura, told him he might teach me himself. And he wouldn't;
and she wouldn't--with him to laugh at her. And I've had such a
jolly time ever since--reading books out of the library! Have you
seen the library, Mr. Grant?"
"No; I've seen nothing yet. Suppose we begin with a holiday, and
you begin by teaching me!"
"Teaching you, sir! I'm not able to teach you!"
"Why, didn't you as much as offer to teach me the library? Can't
you teach me this great old castle? And aren't you going to teach
yourself to me?"
"That would be a funny lesson, sir!"
"The least funny, the most serious lesson you could teach me! You
are a book God has begun, and he has sent me to help him go on with
it; so I must learn what he has written already before I try to do
anything.
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