"Life is hard for our children. It isn't as simple as it was for us. Their grandfathers were pioneers and the same blood runs in their veins, only they haven't a frontier any longer. They stand—these children of ours—with their backs toward this rough-hewn middle west and their faces set toward Europe and the East and they belong to neither. They are lost somewhere between."
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"Wherever she goes, trouble will follow. She's born like most people with a touch of genius, under a curse. She is certain to affect the lives of every one about her . . . because, well, because the threads of our lives are hopelessly tangled. . . . Marry her if you will, but don't expect happiness to come of it. She would doubtless bear you a son . . . a fine strong son, because she's a fine cold animal. But don't expect satisfaction from her. She knows too well exactly where she is bound."
