HOSTILE WITNESS OR JURY

a great piece of writing demands of the reader as much as it's worth ... and the reader knows it ... even when he can't give it ... that's why he keeps turning back to read it again ... or ... my favorite ... keeps returning in his mind to that great work ... even if that's all he can remember ... that it was a great work ... it's enough to remember it fondly ... for it's true now and always that that the master had his pupil who for a week or two followed his master in reverence and delight ... and as proof that this was so we have as evidence the great piece itself ... the witness you would think always responsive always pitch perfect but alas sometimes we find to this our jury of obdurate culture deliberately stubbornly silent ... who can turn again and in the tight rooms of our deliberation request of the judge that we hear it again ... who would listen if we did ... it had a time and an audience ... it has them no more ... what happens to your wisdom or your beauty when your jury will not look or listen ... doesn't it fade away