Image from the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
Contributed by Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley.
| www.biodiversitylibrary.org
Transcription
"[illegible]"
I think I can explain to you what I meant by my trip, but it's quite at home now and I'm sure that in time you'll see how much I learned, seeing other people and what they may say out. Now maybe you'll never get it right as we all do, but we're not the same person to try something else.
I can't go back to be a good girl again. It's hard at least now, and my voice hanging over me. And I had told, most of them that I tried, and at one time I did see it was strange that they all seemed to want to get along with everyone else but me. And I have said, "I'll just let him go." He said, "Oh, no!" and I knew he'd be angry about it.
And so I went out of the house and saw a big man coming towards me. He looked at me for a moment and then said, "Well, I think you've got to do something about this. You can't just stand there and let him come over to you like that." And I said, "Yes, I know. But what should I do?" And he answered, "Just keep your head down and don't look at him. Keep walking straight ahead until you get out of his sight. Then maybe he'll forget all about you."
I followed his advice and kept my eyes fixed on the ground as we walked along. The street was quiet except for the sound of our footsteps. We turned onto another street where there were fewer people around, and I felt safer now that I wasn't being watched by anyone.
After a while, we reached a crossroads where several streets met. There were some lights shining from windows above us, and I could hear music coming from inside one of the buildings nearby. It sounded like someone playing an instrument.
We continued walking until we came to a small park with benches scattered around its perimeter. A few families sat enjoying their evening outdoors while others strolled leisurely through the grassy area. Children played happily near swings set up along one side of the field.
As night fell completely, darkness enveloped everything except for street lamps casting soft glows onto sidewalks below them. Stars twinkled faintly overhead giving impression of vastness beyond reach of human hands alone capable grasping hold upon such beauty found within nature's creations herself.