The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1857-05-30
Books we have never Outgrown.


of an inch out of Robinson Crusoe. He fits
us just as well, and in exactly the same way,
as when we were among the smallest of the
small. We have never grown out of his par
rot. or his dog, or his fowling-picce, Or the
horrible old staring goat he came upon in the
cave, or his rusty money, or his cap, or UNI
brella. There has been no change i'll the
manufacture of telescopes since that blessed
ships spv-glass was made. through which.
lying on his breast at the top of his tortitic;-
ton, with the ladder drawn up after him and
made safe he saw the black fl cures of those
cannibals moving about the fire on the sea-
sand. as the monsters danced themselves into
an appetite for dinner. We have never grown
out of Friday. or the excellent old father he
VS. so glad to see, or the grave and gentle
manly Spaniards, or tie reprobate Will Al
klnS. or the knowing way in which he and
those other mutincers were lurcd up into the
island when they came ashore there. and their
boat was stove. We have got no nearer
heaven by the altitude of atom. in respect of
the tragi-comic bear whom Friday caused to
dance upon the tree. or the awful array of
howling wolves in the dismal wcathcr.who were
made to make good entertainment of man and
beast. and who were received with trains of
gunpowder laid on fallen trees, and fired bv
the swapping of pistols: and who ran blazing
INTO the forest darkness. or were blown up
tamously. Never sail we, idle. in the little
boat. and hear the rippling water at the PROV.
and look upon the island. but we know that
our boat-growth stopped forever when Rob-
cn,l,1 .,rn,,,,l 1,,,J
having been nearly lost was SO atcctionatcly
awakened out Of al, sleep at home again by
that lmmortl parrot. great progcnitor of all
the parrots We have ever known Our growth
stepped when the great IIcroun Alraschid
Spelt his name so. and when nobody had ever
heard of a jim: when the Sultan of the ln-
dies was almighty tvpcr>ona@c.t to be approached
respectfully even on the stare and when all the
dazzling wonders of those many nights held
far too high place in the imagination to be
burlc>qucd and parodicd: when Bluc Beard.
condc>ccndng to come out of a book AT all.
came over mountains. to the music of his own
march. on an elephant. and knew no more of
slang than of San>crt. Our growth stopped.
when Don QuiXotc might have been right.
atcral.n going about to >uccor the distressed.
and when the priest and the barber were no
more justified i'll burning his books. than they
would have been in making bonfire of oar
own two bedroom shelves; when Gil Bias h&t,
Il heart and was somehow or other not at all
worldly. that he knew of: and when ii was a
wonderful accident that the end Of that IN
tcrc>ting story in the Sentimental Journey.
commencing with the windy night, and the
notary. and the Pont Ncuf and the hat blown
off, was not to be found in our edition. though
We looked for ii thousand times Ne nave
never grown out Of the real orr ginaI roaring
giants. We have seen modern giants. for
various considerations. ranging from penny
to halt-a-croNn: but thry have only had a
head piece. and have been merely large men.
and not ALWAYS that. We have never out
grown the putting 70 ourselves of this sup
positions case: Whether. :, We. with large
company of brothers and sisters. had been
put III his thy which We mean. OF course. in
Jack y TRYING situation. We should have had
at once the courage and the presence of mind
to ta-, the golden crowns (which il seems
they always wore as nightcaps) of the heads
Of the giants children as the lay abcd and
put them on our tNnily-;hu> causing or
trcacherous host to batter his own oti>prin-.
and spare Us. We have never out-@rown a
want of confidence in ourselves in this par
ticular.