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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Within the Tides by Joseph Conrad: have been given in two words: 'Davidson's goodness.' THAT never
boggled at unworthiness if there was the slightest reason for
compassion. I don't want you to think that Davidson had no
discrimination at all. Bamtz could not have imposed on him.
Moreover, everybody knew what Bamtz was. He was a loafer with a
beard. When I think of Bamtz, the first thing I see is that long
black beard and a lot of propitiatory wrinkles at the corners of
two little eyes. There was no such beard from here to Polynesia,
where a beard is a valuable property in itself. Bamtz's beard was
valuable to him in another way. You know how impressed Orientals
are by a fine beard. Years and years ago, I remember, the grave
Within the Tides |
