`` Work and wait , and meantime feed heart , soul , and imagination with the best food one can get , '' he answered slowly , finding it impossible to give a receipt for genius . `` I can work and wait a long time to gain my end ; but I do n't know where to find the food you speak of ? '' she answered , looking at him like a hungry child . `` I wish I could tell you , but each needs different fare , and each must look for it in different places . '' The kindly tone and the sympathizing look , as well as the lines in his forehead , and a few gray hairs among the brown , gave Psyche courage to say more . `` I love beauty so much that I not only want to possess it myself , but to gain the power of seeing it in all things , and the art of reproducing it with truth . I have tried very hard to do it , but something is wanting ; and in spite of my intense desire I never get on . '' As she spoke the girl 's eyes filled and fell in spite of herself , and turning a little with sudden shamefacedness she saw , lying on the table beside her among other scraps in manuscript and print , the well-known lines , -- `` I slept , and dreamed that life was beauty ; I woke , and found that life was duty . Was thy dream then a shadowy lie ? Toil on , sad heart , courageously , And thou shall find thy dream to be A noonday light and truth to thee . '' She knew them at a glance , had read them many times , but now they came home to her with sudden force , and , seeing that his eye had followed hers , she said in her impulsive fashion . -- `` Is doing one 's duty a good way to feed heart , soul , and imagination ? '' As if he had caught a glimpse of what was going on in her mind , Paul answered emphatically , -- `` Excellent ; for if one is good , one is happy , and if happy , one can work well . Moulding character is the highest sort of sculpture , and all of us should learn that art before we touch clay or marble . '' He spoke with the energy of a man who believed what he said , and did his best to be worthy of the rich gift bestowed upon him . The sight of her violets in a glass of water , and Giovanni staring at her with round eyes , suddenly recalled Psyche to a sense of the proprieties which she had been innocently outraging for the last ten minutes . A sort of panic seized her ; she blushed deeply , retreated precipitately to the door , and vanished , murmuring thanks and apologies as she went . `` Did you find him ? I thought you had forgotten , '' said Miss Dickenson , now hard at work . `` Yes , I found him .
No , I shall not forget , '' returned Psyche , thinking of Gage , not XXXXX .
Dickenson Giovanni Paul duty fashion mind minutes proprieties shamefacedness violets