Little Women - 912 Freedom Library

Little Womenmounted on his hobby, came ambling up to hold anintellectual tournament in the recess. The conversationswere miles beyond Jo’s comprehension, but she enjoyedit, though Kant and Hegel were unknown gods, theSubjective and Objective unintelligible terms, and theonly thing ‘evolved from her inner consciousness’ was abad headache after it was all over. It dawned upon hergradually that the world was being picked to pieces, andput together on new and, according to the talkers, oninfinitely better principles than before, that religion was ina fair way to be reasoned into nothingness, and intellectwas to be the only God. Jo knew nothing aboutphilosophy or metaphysics of any sort, but a curiousexcitement, half pleasurable, half painful, came over her asshe listened with a sense of being turned adrift into timeand space, like a young balloon out on a holiday.She looked round to see how the Professor liked it, andfound him looking at her with the grimest expression shehad ever seen him wear. He shook his head and beckonedher to come away, but she was fascinated just then by thefreedom of Speculative Philosophy, and kept her seat,trying to find out what the wise gentlemen intended torely upon after they had annihilated all the old beliefs.618 of 861