Part 36

A hush fell on the assembled nuts, as Beauty moved . . . As Beauty spoke to them . . . "I see," murmured Hermione to Fothergil Finch, "I see, As that toe moves . . . the Isles of Greece . . . And Aphrodite rising From the Acropolis." . . . "You mean," said Fothergil, "from the Aegean!" "It is all one," said Hermione, "the point is that I see her rising!"

Then Color spoke to them . . . "As that toe moves," said Ravenswood Wimble, "I see the heavens Turned into one vast Kaleidoscope . . . all the stars and moons Dance through my soul like flakes of colored glass!" Then waved the toe called Life, and as with one accord each of the company Leapt gasping to his or her feet, as the case might be, And cried: "I feel! I feel! I feel! I feel the Cosmic Urge!"

Then moved the toe called Italy, And Fothergil Finch remarked: "Roses . . . roses . . . roses . . . Onions and roses . . . roses are onions, and onions pigs . . . And pigs are beautiful" . . . And then the serious thinkers cried as one: "Ah! Pigs are Beautiful!" "Ah, Italy; oh, Italy!" cried Fothy Finch, "Oh, never cease to move . . . Italy . . . garlic . . . Venice . . . Oh, bind my brows with garlic, lovely land, and turn me loose!" And as the toe called Italy still moved The little groups made it into a chant, and sang: "Oh, bind my brows with garlic, love, and turn me loose!"

* * *

"Hermione," I asked her afterward, "Did you really see and feel anything when those educated toes wiggled?" "How can you ask?" she said, very up-stagey. "Hermione," I said, "we are old enough friends by this time, so we can deal frankly with one another. Tell me on the square . . . did you get it?" "You are blaspheming at the shrink of Art!" she said. "Hermione! You are dodging!" "Did you notice," she said irrelevantly, "the nail polish she was using? "It's QUITE the latest thing! For finger nails, too, you know. That delicate rose pink, with just the touch of creaminess in it! It's the creamy tint that's new, you know. Isn't it simply wonderful?"

KULTUR, AND THINGS

Do you know, Kultur isn't the same thing at all as culture . . . FANCY!

When we took it up -- Kultur, I mean yes, -- we took it up in quite a serious way the other evening -- our Little Group of Serious Thinkers, you know -- and threshed it out thoroughly -- we hadn't the slightest idea that it would lead us straight to Nietzsche and -- and, well, all those people like that, if you get what I mean. Though, of course, as the man who spoke to us -- he was the LOVELIEST person! -- spoke in German, we may have missed some of the finer shades.

Oh, yes, I had German in high school . . . really, I was quite proficient . . . although, of course, it's such a GUTTURAL kind of language -- don't you think? -- that one wonders how they EVER sing it. And then, the verbs! . . . but I had Latin verbs about the same time, you know . . . and really, isn't it surprising how some of those foreign languages seem to RUN to verbs, if you get what I mean?

It seems it was the Germans who invented the Superman . . . and I suppose we must be grateful to them for that, no matter what they may have done with him after they invented him. . . .

I used to be quite taken with the Superman, you know. . . . Really, I didn't recognize how dangerous he might become. . . .

I didn't know he was German at all when we took him up. . . .

Have you read anything about the Blond Beast?

I felt rather attracted toward him for a long time myself . . . until lately. . . . But the attraction passed. . . . I'm not brunette, you know, at all. . . . Likely that's why I lost interest in him. . . .

Aren't affinities between people of different complexion simply WONDERFUL!

It makes me wonder if the Eugenists can be right after all!

Fothergil Finch says that's where the Eugenists fall down. . . . He says they don't take account of Affinities at all.

Sometimes one finds it very puzzling -- doesn't one? -- the way these modern causes and movements seem to contradict one another!

But if one is in tune with the Cosmic All these little inconsistencies don't matter.

The Cosmic All! . . . WHAT would we do without it?

How do you suppose people ever got along a generation or two ago before the Cosmos and all that sort of thing was discovered?

I've often thought about it . . . and of what life must have been like in those days! As Emerson . . . or WAS it Emerson? . . . says in one of his poems: "Better a year of Europe than a cycle of Cathay!"

That's what Fothy Finch says he always feels about Brooklyn . . . though I WILL say this for Brooklyn -- the first girl I saw with courage enough to wear one of those ankle watches on the street lived in Brooklyn.

But don't you think Brooklyn people are rather LIKE that . . . go to the latest things in dress, you know, in an EXTREME sort of way, so that people won't suspect they live in Brooklyn?

THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS

ISN'T the Christmas festival just simply WONDERFUL?

For days beforehand I feel so uplifted -- so well, OTHER-WORLDLY -- if you know what I mean.

Isn't it just dreadful that any MATERIAL considerations have to spoil such a sacred time?