"I was very lonely—that was the chief feature of my childhood. My father I saw very seldom; he was away a great deal, but his presence pervaded the whole house and was one of the deepest influences on my life. Kept in charge of the servants after my mother died, I used to sit, day after day, in front of the window and picture to myself what was going on in the outer world. From the very first time I can remember I was passionately fond of Nature. Ah, it used to make me mad with joy when I saw the clouds come up in the sky one by one. I felt, even in those very childish days, that I was surrounded with a friend, a companionship, very intense and very intimate, though I did not know how to name it. I had such an exceeding love for Nature, I cannot tell how to describe it to you; but Nature was a kind of loving companion always with me, and always revealing to me some fresh beauty."
A passage in his Givansmriti, or "Reminiscences," completes the picture of a child's solitary life.
"In the morning of autumn," he writes, "I would run into the garden the moment I got up from sleep. A scent of leaves and grass, wet with dew, seemed to embrace me, and the dawn,
