A commenter on my

blog wrote today about Heidi:



"I read a "charming classics" version aloud to my daughter about 6 or 7

years ago. I remember that there were some beautifully descriptive passages

in it, but that there were also some bludgeon-you-with-the-message scenes.

Overall, I found it more slow-going than charming. On the other hand, my

daughter remembers it fondly."



I have the strong feeling that I have read Heidi when I was a child. It

seems very familiar.



And I am starting to understand why real life has been such a disappointment

to me after a childhood of Heidi-ish books. I thought life would be like

Heidi, where a charming child can change a jaded and bitter man to a happy

one. Heal the sick. Teach the unteachable.



At 54, I'm starting to suspect that this may not always be so.



Still one can hope.