1.
There was a little path beside the rocky road, and
Mrs. Flowers walked in front swinging
her arms and picking her way over the stones.
2.
She said, without turning her head, to me, "I
hear you’re doing very good school work, Marguerite,
but
that it's all written. The teachers report
that they have trouble getting you to talk in class."
We passed the triangular farm on our left and the
path widened to allow us to walk together. I
hung back in the separate unasked and unanswerable
questions.
3.
"Come and walk along with me, Marguerite."
I couldn't have refused even if I wanted to. She pronounced
my name so nicely. Or more correctly, she spoke each
word with such
clarity that I was certain a foreigner who didn't
understand English could have understood her.
4.
"Now no one is going to make you talk -- possibly
no one can. But bear in mind, language is man's way
of communicating with his fellow man and it is language
alone which separates him from the lower animals."
That was a totally new idea to me, and I would need
time to think about it.
5.
"Your grandmother says you read a lot. Every
chance you get. That' s good, but not good
enough. Words mean more than what is set down on paper.
It
takes the human voice to infuse
them with the shades of deeper meaning."
