The Art of Tetman Callis Lit & Crit We must cultivate our garden

We must cultivate our garden

“He who never has a garden, and knows naught of flowers, and never looks back into the earthly paradise,—he is but a slave and serf of the plough, and is accursed.” — Francis Daniel Pastorius (quoted in The Cambridge History of English and American Literature, Vol. XVIII, Ch. XXXI, Sec. 2)

6 thoughts on “We must cultivate our garden”

  1. Thank you. I am feeling better now. The night was a nightmare (endless delirious dreams of Facebook and broken bones), followed by an exhausting early morning of painful wet coughing. My presence at the office was desirable, so I went in, rigged up a couple chairs to sit and nap in while I waited for something I needed to be there waiting for, did the necessaries and nothing else, and came home early. Once home, I lay down with a cup of tea and a book, drank and read, took another short nap, and am feeling much better. Dreading tonight a little, though. Don’t want to go again through what I went through last night. I got up early this morning thinking, “This is the way I’m going to die,” and feeling very blue.

  2. Lots and lots of pillows tonight, you don’t want to lie down flat. Maybe a long hot shower before bed to clear your chest, and one last cup of sleepy-time tea. Sweet dreams.

  3. I slept propped up most of the night. Woke at 11:00 and my wife brought me a shot of brandy (old-fashioned nighttime cold remedy), then I slept till 1:00 sitting up. Slid down then most of the way, woke at 5:30 coughing and saying, “I’m all right, I’m all right,” between coughing fits, as I don’t want my wife to be alarmed. I’m not going to the office today. Shortly I will be going back to bed for a while.

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