Chapter 3 Social Responsibility, Ethics, and Strategic Planning
5-3
5-4
6-2
Chapter 8 Accounting Records and Financial Statements
8-2
8-2a
8-4
Chapter 11 Small Business Marketing: Strategy and Research
Chapter 12 Small Business Marketing: Product
Chapter 14 Small Business Marketing: Price and Promotion 345
Chapter 16 Professional Small Business Management
Chapter 18 Operations Management
18-1d
18-2 Concept Module 18-2: Types of Operations Management 471
18-2a Operations Management for Manufacturing Businesses 471
18-2b Operations Management for Service Businesses 472
18-3 Concept Module 18-3: What Is Productivity? 473
18-3a Ways to Measure Manufacturing Productivity 474
18-3b Ways to Measure Service Productivity
18-4
18-4a
What
18-6 Concept Module 18-6: How Do You Control Operations?
Preface
Are you thinking about starting your own business some day? For many students, preparation for small business ownership begins with a course in Small Business Management. My goal as a teacher (and the purpose of this text) is to help students fulfill their dreams of becoming entrepreneurs and achieving the independence that comes with small business success.
The theme of this book revolves around creating and maintaining a sustainable competitive advantage in a small business. Running a small business is difficult in today’s rapidly evolving environment. At no other time has it been so important for businesses to hold a competitive advantage. Every chapter in this book can be used to create your competitive advantage— whether it be your idea, your product, your location, or your marketing plan. Running a small business is like being in a race with no finish line. You must continually strive to satisfy the changing wants and needs of your customers. This book can help you run your best race.
The writing style is personal and conversational. I have tried to avoid excessive use of jargon by explaining topics in simple, understandable language. The book is written in the first person, present tense, because I, the author, am speaking directly to you, the student. I believe that a good example can help make even the most complex concept more understandable and interesting to read. To strengthen the flow of the material and reinforce important points, examples have been carefully selected from the business press and small business owners I have known.
New to This Edition
In preparing this sixth edition, I incorporated suggestions from teachers and students who used the previous edition. In addition, an advisory board of educators from around the country was consulted to help me determine the best ways to meet the needs of students in this course. Here are some of the changes that have been made in this edition:
• You know all the material that is normally called “end-of-chapter”? We didn’t leave it at the end of the chapter—questions for review, discussion, and critical thinking have been moved to the section where the content is covered. We call the approach of blocking Learning Objectives, content, examples, review, and assessment material together “Concept Modules.” We hope you like them.
• Topics critical to small business have been added/updated. For example, a very popular (and valuable) practice of building a Business Model before writing a Business Plan has come into vogue, so it is covered here. Entrepreneurial skills are being found more in areas other than just for-profit businesses, so increased coverage has been paid to Social Entrepreneurship.
• Highlight boxes—they are great for focusing attention, but we understand that there should not be too many of them, nor should they be too long. The best examples of small business practices have been presented in chapter-opening vignettes and feature boxes, then discussed further in the body of the text.
• Every effort has been made to prevent “new edition bloat.” Attention has been paid to items to delete and not just to add to stay current and streamlined.
Highlight Feature Boxes
To highlight important issues in small business management, four types of boxed features are used: Entre-perspectives, What Would You Do?, Reality Check, and ‘ Trep Connections. In this edition, the number of boxes was reduced to avoid reader confusion, and the length of boxes was shortened to hold the reader’s attention. (Believe it or not, a rumor exists that some students actually skip reading these highlight boxes. Of course, you would never do this and risk missing some of the juiciest stories.) Here is what to expect in each type of highlight box:
Entre-perspectives New to this sixth edition, these boxes provide a peek “behind-the-curtain” stories of people who have created some very interesting businesses.
What Would You Do? As part of our effort to build Concept Modules in the sixth edition, these boxes provide students with a scenario similar to the content they are reading at that moment and are asked to describe, well, what they would do. Clever, eh?
‘trep Connections Another brand new box contains cutting-edge information of how entrepreneurs (or ‘treps) use social media and other technology to build their businesses.
r eality Check T hese real-world stories come from streetwise business practitioners who know how it’s done and are willing to share the secrets of their success. Some notable examples of small business owners (some of which have businesses that are no longer small, but they started that way):
• Nick Woodman—GoPro
• Elon Musk—a man with many visions
• Jim Koch—beer entrepreneur
• Sara Blakely—Spanx
• Jacob Castillo/John McKinney—Panda Bicycles
• Roni and Ken DiLullo—Doggles
• Jon Kourn/Brian Acton—WhatsApp
• Megan Cox/Miguel Salinas—Wink Natural Cosmetics
• Jorge Oden—Wow, you HAVE to read about the devise this auto mechanic created to solve the problem of childbirth deaths in developing countries.
• Don Sadoway—this Chemistry professor developed a radical new battery (and business) that can store power from alternative energy sources like solar and wind.
• Ellie Sawits—who uses Facebook to market her chocolate that fights acne.
• Wu-Tang Clans unusual distribution strategy
Examples of some stories, examples, and issues facing small businesses include:
• Small business startups on campus
• Green can be gold
• Build a business model
• Analyzing what you would do if you created a tattoo removal cream
• Crowdfunding examples via Indiegogo and Kickstarter
• Impact on small business of legislation like the Affordable Care Act
• How Online Audience Optimization replaces SEO
• High-tech analysis for new business locations
• Anchors, bumps, and charms in product pricing
• Spotify pricing for college students
• How OtterBox protects your most prized possession
• How Five Guys Burgers and Fries competes in saturated markets
• How LinkedIn is your most valuable connection to potential employees
• How a small company uses ping-pong in its hiring process
Effective Pedagogical Aids
The pedagogical features of this book are designed to complement, supplement, and reinforce material from the body of the text. The following features enhance critical thinking and show practical small business applications:
• Chapter opening vignettes, Reality Checks, and extensive use of examples throughout the book show you what real small businesses are doing.
• Each chapter is broken into Concept Modules each with its own Learning Objective, which directly correlates to the topic coverage. These same objectives are then revisited and summarized at the end of the Concept Module.
• A running glossary in the margin brings attention to important terms as they appear in the text.
• Questions for Review & Discussion allow you to assess your retention and comprehension that have been built into the Concept Modules.
• Questions for Critical Thinking prompt you to apply what you have learned to realistic situations that have also been built into the Concept Modules.
• What Would You Do? highlight boxes are included to stimulate effective problem solving and classroom discussion in the Concept Modules.
• Chapter Closing Cases present actual business scenarios, allowing you to think critically about the management challenges presented and to further apply chapter concepts.
Complete Package of Support Materials
This edition of Small Business Management provides a support package that will encourage student success and increase instructor effectiveness.
CourseMate. This new and unique online Web site makes course concepts come alive with interactive learning, study, and exam preparation tools supporting the printed text. CourseMate delivers what students need, including an interactive eBook, dynamic flashcards,
interactive quizzes and video exercises, student PowerPoints, and games that test knowledge in a fun way.
• Engagement Tracker, a first-of-its-kind tool, monitors individual or group student engagement, progress, and comprehension in your course.
• Interactive video exercises allow students to relate the real-world events and issues shown in the chapter videos to specific in-text concepts.
• Interactive quizzes reinforce the text with rejoinders that refer back to the section of the chapter where the concept is discussed.
Instructor Companion Site. The Instructor Companion Site can be found at www .cengage.com/management/hatten. It includes a complete Instructor Manual, Word files from both the Instructor Manual and Test Bank, and PowerPoint slides for easy downloading.
Student Companion Site. The Student Companion Site includes interactive quizzes, a glossary, crossword puzzles, and sample student business plans. It can be found at www.cengagebrain.com. At the home page, students can use the search box at the top of the page to insert the ISBN of the title (from the back cover of their book). This will take them to the product page where free companion resources can be found.
Acknowledgments
There are so many people to thank—some who made this book possible, some who made it better. Projects of this magnitude do not happen in a vacuum. Even though my name is on the cover, a lot of talented people contributed their knowledge and skills.
George Hoffman, Lynn Guza, Natalie Anderson, and Ellin Derrick all played key roles in the book’s history. Jason Fremder has been very supportive and insightful as Senior Product Manager in incorporating this book into the Cengage list. I am so pleased to get to work with Zachary Fleischer, my talented Associate Content Developer. There are many other people whose names I unfortunately do not know who worked their magic in helping to make the beautiful book you hold in your hands, and I sincerely thank them all.
Of course, the entire group of Cengage sales reps will have a major impact on the success of this book. I appreciate all of their efforts.
Thanks to Morgan Bridge and many other faculty contributors. I would also like to thank the many colleagues who have reviewed this text and provided feedback concerning their needs and their students’ needs:
Allen C. Amason, University of Georgia
Godwin Ariguzo, University of Massachusetts–Dartmouth
Walter H. Beck, Sr., Reinhardt College
Joseph Bell, University of Arkansas at Little Rock
Rudy Butler, Trenton State College
J. Stephen Childers, Jr., Radford University
Michael Cicero, Highline Community College
Richard Cuba, University of Baltimore
Gary M. Donnelly, Casper College
Peter Eimer, D’Youville College
Arlen Gastinau, Valencia Community College West
Caroline Glackin, Delaware State University
Doug Hamilton, Berkeley College of Business
Gerald Hollier, University of Texas at Brownsville
David Hudson, Spalding University
Philip G. Kearney, Niagara County Community College
Paul Keaton, University of Wisconsin–La Crosse
Mary Beth Klinger, College of Southern Maryland
Paul Lamberson, University of Southern Mississippi–Hattiesburg
MaryLou Lockerby, College of Dupage–Glen Ellyn
Anthony S. Marshall, Columbia College
Norman D. McElvany, Johnson State College
Milton Miller, Carteret Community College–Morehead City
Bill Motz, Lansing Community College
Grantley E. Nurse, Raritan Valley Community College
Cliff Olson, Southern Adventist University
Roger A. Pae, Cuyahoga Community College
Nancy Payne, College of Dupage–Glen Ellyn
Michael Pitts, Virginia Commonwealth University
Julia Truitt Poynter, Transylvania University
George B. Roorbach, Lyndon State College
Marty St. John, Westmoreland County College
Joe Salamone, SUNY Buffalo
Gary Shields, Wayne State University
Bernard Skown, Stevens Institute of Technology
William Soukoup, University of San Diego
Jim Steele, Chattanooga State Technical Community College
Ray Sumners, Westwood College of Technology
Charles Tofloy, George Washington University
Barrry Van Hook, Arizona State University
Mike Wakefield, Colorado State University–Pueblo
Warren Weber, California Polytechnic State University
John Withey, Indiana University
Alan Zieber, Portland State University
Finally, my family: Saying thanks and giving acknowledgment to my family members is not enough, given the patience, sacrifice, and inspiration they have provided. My daughters, Paige and Brittany; and son, Taylor, are the best. The perseverance and work ethic needed for a job of this magnitude were instilled in me by my father, Drexel, and mother, Marjorie—now gone but never forgotten.
Timothy S. Hatten
About the Author
t imothy S. Hatten is a professor at Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction, Colorado, where he has served as the chair of business administration and director of the MBA program. He is currently co-director of the Entrepreneurial Business Institute. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Missouri–Columbia, his M.S. from Central Missouri State University, and his B.A. from Western State College in Gunnison, Colorado. He is a two-time Fulbright Scholar. He taught small business management and entrepreneurship at Reykjavik University in Iceland and Copenhagen Business Academy in Denmark and business planning at the Russian-American Business Center in Magadan, Russia.
Dr. Hatten has been passionate about small and family businesses his whole life. He grew up with the familyowned International Harvester farm equipment dealership in Bethany, Missouri, which his father started. Later, he owned and managed a Chevrolet/Buick/Cadillac dealership with his father, Drexel, and brother, Gary.
Since entering academia, Dr. Hatten has actively brought students and small businesses together through the Small Business Institute program. He works closely with the awardwinning Business Incubator Center in Grand Junction, CO. He approached writing this textbook as if it were a small business. His intent was to make a product (in this case, a book) that would benefit his customers (students and faculty).
Dr. Hatten is fortunate to live on the Western Slope of Colorado where he has the opportunity to share his love of the mountains with his family.
Please send questions, comments, and suggestions to thatten@coloradomesa.edu.
The Challenge
When most people think of American business, corporate giants like General Motors, IBM, and Walmart generally come to mind first. There is no question that the companies that make up the Fortune 500 control vast resources, products, and services that set world standards and employ many people. But as you will discover in these first two chapters, small businesses and the entrepreneurs who start them play a vital role in the American economy. Chapter 1 illustrates the economic and social impact of small businesses. Chapter 2 discusses the process and factors related to entrepreneurship.
Small Business: An Overview
Chapter Learning Out CO mes
After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
LO 1 Describe the characteristics of small business.
LO 2 recognize the role of small business in the U.S. economy.
LO 3 Understand the importance of diversity in the marketplace and the workplace.
LO 4 Suggest ways to court success in a small business venture.
LO 5 Name the most common causes of small business failure.
You may not have heard of Nick Woodman, but if you love to surf in SoCal, ski the rocky Mountains, or longboard urban streets—bet you know his product. We don't film our adventures anymore, we Gopro them. Creating a product whose name becomes a verb is pretty cool and that is exactly what Woodman did.
If you’re not familiar with Gopro cameras, they are small, wearable, mountable, and affordable made to capture first-person angled shots that had been impossible previously. The unassuming little boxes shoot hD video and still pictures with surprising quality. This quality combined with the growth of social media captures a lot of eyeballs and interest online to pull viewers into the action. Woodman says, “It’s like a teleportation device.”
Creating the world’s leading activity image capture company has been a long strange trip for Woodman. After graduating
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.
Title: The Garden God: A Tale of Two Boys
Author: Forrest Reid
Release date: August 12, 2018 [eBook #57673]
Language: English
Credits: Produced by Donald Cummings and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Books project.)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GARDEN GOD: A TALE OF TWO BOYS ***
Transcriber's Note: The cover image was created from the title page by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
BythesameWriter
THE KINGDOM OF TWILIGHT
THE GARDEN GOD
THE GARDEN GOD
A Tale of Two Boys BY FORREST REID
‘Take this kiss upon the brow!’ EDGAR ALLAN
‘Yea, to Love himself is pour’d This frail song of hope and fear. Thou art Love, of one accord With kind Sleep to bring him near, Still-eyed, deep-eyed, ah, how dear! Master, Lord,
POE
In his name implor’d, O hear!’
D. G. ROSSETTI
SECONDIMPRESSION
LONDON
Published by DAVID NUTT
At the Sign of the Phœnix LONG ACRE
1906
Edinburgh: T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to His Majesty
TO HENRY
JAMES
THIS SLIGHT TOKEN OF RESPECT AND ADMIRATION
LIST OF CHAPTERS
Iy dear Allingham,’ he wrote, ‘it is very charming of you to think of venturing into this remote corner of the world for no other reason than to renew our friendship, and I must beg of you to let as little time as possible elapse between your promise and its fulfilment. Not only do I consider your idea a delightful one, but also I venture to find it really courageous, since to look me up again, after so many years, must be to take something remarkably like a leap in the dark. Well! at all events I hope—perhaps I should say fear—that you may not discover in me any extraordinary change. Indeed, from this moment I throw myself entirely upon your mercy, plead guilty to all the charges you bring against me in your letter. It is perfectly true that in living here the life of a hermit—a hermit, I hasten to add, with a taste for the philosophy of Epicurus and Anatole France—I have not in the least fulfilled my duties as a good citizen. Doubtless I am not a good citizen. Doubtless, as you so kindly hint, I ought to have married; but I suppose even you will admit that it is now too late—too late for me to think of following your excellent example. I cannot, alas! even pretend that I want to follow it, want to forsake my wilderness. Ah, my dear fellow, I am incorrigible, and you need not expect to find in the middle-aged Graham Iddesleigh an any more satisfactory person than him you found so unsatisfactory at Oxford. Do you remember all that I used to be in the old days?— unreasonable, impractical, quite a worthless fellow! Do
you ever remember the old days at all? But of course you must, or you would not have desired to renew them. For myself, you know, it is the one great privilege, the one great occupation of my life—I mean remembering. You will scarce be pleased to learn this, I suppose;—that is, unless you are, with increasing years, grown more tolerant of idleness—a weakness which I confess I do not exactly gather from your letter. But you must forgive me for this and countless other faults. Yes—I remember! Sometimes I remember too much!—remember, in other words, what never really was; what, alas! only might have been. You see, the dividing line is so apt to shift a little, grow dimmer, as the years pass.... And after all, it is only a kind of feline habit that was born in me, and that keeps me, like a cat, quiet in the sun, or before my fire, dreaming, wandering in the endless woods of Persephone. Over those woods a gentle twilight broods, and the soft shady paths wind about, meet and cross one another, and lose themselves again in cool leafy distances.
‘Nevertheless, there have been times—moments of dreadful egotism let me call them—when I have told myself, as you so flatteringly tell me, that had I been born the son of a poor man I might have done something in the world, though exactly what, I am as careful as you yourself are to leave undefined. No! I’m afraid all my gifts may be reduced to this single capacity for sitting in the sun—a capacity that is not of immense value to other people, whatever pleasure it may give to myself. I have an idea, however, that had I lived in the days of Plato, he would have employed me to sweep the walks of the Academe, or mow the grass, or do something of that kind. Possibly, even to make myself useful by illustrating the doctrine of
reminiscence, like the boy in the Meno; or I might have taken care of the books.
‘This last, certainly; for I have a sneaking fondness for the very cobwebs that gather in the corners of a library. Last night I spent two or three delicious hours in looking over my own volumes, taking down one after another from the shelf, and slowly turning their leaves. Many of them, most of them in fact—for my tastes have not greatly changed—I had loved in my boyhood, and these were, I confess, the ones I lingered over longest. And, in a sense, turning their pages again in the light of this darker-risen day was like holding up a lamp to the past; and the soft, gentle dust of the dead years fell all about me, floated in the air I breathed, delicate, sweet, and sad.
‘O wondrous seed of poetry! Happy the child into whose tender soul you have dropped at his birth! May he keep until his death the innocence and the heart of a boy, and may the burden of years and the cares of the world fall lightly upon him!...’
He laid down his pen and turned toward the window, while a smile, a little sad, but singularly sweet and gentle, passed across his face.
After all!... Well, he supposed the years had fallen lightly upon him. If he took the trouble to look in the glass he must see that his hair was turning grey, that his shoulders were a little stooped, that there were lines about his mouth and eyes.... And his life?—that too, perhaps, had taken a greyish tinge.... Monotonous?... ah yes, monotonous in truth: but even now he had only to close his eyes to bring up the light—the light....
The view of the years that opened up behind him was in fact tranquil and pleasant enough; uneventful; like a broad, shady garden, an old-world, sleepy garden full of flowers still sweet and
fresh. He had done little. As Allingham had pointed out (with something of the air of a man who has made a wonderful discovery), the years of his life had simply floated away from him— floated away just as in autumn dead leaves float down a river.
But there had been many things that had given him pleasure. On the whole he had been happy—happy after his fashion: and he had known, had felt, the most beautiful thing of all, ‘the ecstasy and sorrow of love....’
He looked out into the quiet evening. The garden lay before him, stretching from the window in the pale half-light. A fine misty rain had begun to fall and was slowly shutting out the world. Presently his gaze wandered back again to the room wherein he sat. It rested on dark oak carvings; on the sheen and sombreness of fine bindings; on a chipped and broken statue of a boy, in yellowish marble; and, lastly, on a modern portrait hanging above the great fireplace.
This was the only picture in the room, and the fading light had drawn most of the colour out of it, but his memory held up a lamp— a lamp of soft flame—by which he beheld the full length figure of a boy a boy of fifteen, sixteen, slight, dark-complexioned, with delicately oval face, and long silky hair falling in a single great wave over his forehead. The features were very finely moulded; the mouth especially being quite perfect. A somewhat exotic looking youngster, extraordinarily aristocratic one imagined, even a little disdainful,— yes, that too, perhaps, despite the wonderful charm of expression.
Harold, youngest son of Aubrey Stewart Brocklehurst, Esquire. He remembered the name as he had seen it in a catalogue of the Royal Academy—how long ago? He remembered the strange conversation he had had later on with his father, when he must have laid bare his soul a little; he remembered the morning when, on coming downstairs, he had found the picture there, awaiting him.
Twenty—thirty years ago!—it seemed like yesterday. Surely his father had been very good to him! The picture, from what he had since heard of the character of Mr. Brocklehurst, had not been bought for nothing.... And Harold!...
Thus he had been when he had first met him; thus he was now; thus he would be for ever! For he would never grow old—he would be a boy always. Summer would follow summer and the fields would grow white to harvest, but Time would thread no silver in the dusk of his dark hair, nor dim his smile, nor make unshapely his shapely body.
Graham lay back in his chair and closed his eyes. He had already forgotten his unfinished letter to Allingham; he had forgotten everything—everything save the curious fantastic dream that had filled up the first part of his life—the great light—the light beyond....
How had it begun?... Had it always been?... He tried to remember....
Presently he made a movement to light a cigar. Nothing now was visible in the room save, very faintly, the broken statue, an antique version of the famous Spinario, which his father had come by, he knew not how, long ago, in one of his many wanderings through Greece. And it came suddenly into Graham’s mind that this statue was the centre from which everything had radiated; the touchstone around which his whole life had revolved. Itwas the beginning, then —the starting point. And yet—had it only begun with his life here? Had it not been before?... Two thousand years ago?... But the veil had descended—he could not see.
This Greek boy, at all events, had been his secret playmate throughout his childhood, the companion who had shared his numerous adventures, the companion of his dreams—day-dreams and sleeping-dreams. And his mind leapt back to the dawn of his life. He had been brought up by his father (his mother had died in giving him birth), brought up here, in this house; and until he had gone to school he had had no friend of his own age. His father had
himself undertaken his education, had taught him to read Greek at an age when most boys are stumbling through the first page of their grammar, and before Graham had ever heard of either Shakespeare or Milton, he had read again and again many of the writings of Sophocles and Plato.
Given such influences—his unconventional upbringing, his ignorance of the world, his beautiful surroundings—was it a wonder that that strange faculty for dreaming with which he had been born should have been perfected—perfected until in broad daylight he would slip unconsciously from one world to the other, and gravely tell his father of marvellous happenings, fantastic adventures, which never could have taken place? Yes, there had been magic influences at work in that sleepy garden, in those broad, soft lawns and quiet trees,—a magic, above all, in the dim rich music of the sea.
For through all his childhood a subtle music had whispered like an undersong—the music of water, the music of running water, of sighing water—seeming to shape his very soul, making it pliant, graceful, gentle and pure, giving to it that gift or malady of reverie, which was itself like the endless flowing away of a stream. The noise of water had been ever in his ears. At night, if he had chanced to awaken, he had heard the low sad wash of the waves; in the daytime he had often lain for hours on the bank of a stream that flowed among the roots of water-willows by the foot of the appleorchard,—lain there and let his thoughts run on and on with the running water, so fresh! so clear! so pure! And in the rose-garden there was an old moss-stained fountain, a fountain that sang in the sunshine, and wept in the twilight, and sobbed in the night—a fountain that murmured through the noontide to a lazy boy, whispering of the wanderings of Odysseus, and of Jason and the golden fleece—a fountain that curved up against the blue and splashed back into a basin of broad green leaves—a fountain coloured by the rainbow of romance, and brushed by the outstretched wings of Love.
Sometimes in the evenings he would sit for a while with his father on the lawn before the house, or play a game of croquet with him; and sometimes in the mornings he did his lessons there, or in the side-garden, while the scent of roses, and the low booming whisper of the bees, drifted slowly past. And whenever he looked up he would see, stretching away from him, trim dark walks, and soft green turf, and brilliant flower-beds, all very still and quiet under a yellow summer sun—he would see arches of climbing roses, dahlias with their petals opened wide to the heat, the sunlight itself, like a stream of daffodils, falling from the deep blue sky. A place to dream the sleepy hours away! a place suggestive of, leading to, that inner contemplative life, to the boy, even then, so precious! And looking at it now, in retrospect, he was conscious of a drowsy calm that had hung everywhere and over everything, hardly stirring with the faint wind; an absolute freedom from all troublous things, from all the tumult and discord of the world. Attuned to such surroundings he had grown up; on hot afternoons lying in the dark, cool, fragrant shadow of a great beech tree that grew close to the house—not reading, feeling rather than thinking, letting the impression of everything about him sink into his soul, to be afterwards an everpresent picture there, a picture of perfect beauty, of that ideal or spiritual beauty which, according to Plato, must lift one’s spirit to God—willing to live and die just there, never wandering quite so far afield even, as those dark blue hills one could see, from the upper windows, melting into the sky.
A rather sensuous boy perhaps! One, certainly, for whom the actual colour, the physical charm of life, of the visible world, meant much. A gentle boy too; warm-hearted, loving and happy, innocent and pure....
The visible world!—was it not almost sentient? From the trees and the sky, from the restless sea and the wind had emerged, at any rate, that imaginary playmate who had made his life beautiful; the messenger of Eros; the fair boy who had come to him from his strange garden, his meadow of asphodel.
