noon
My darling , ambition is the mirage of the literary desert you are anxious to traverse ; it is the Bahr Sheitan , the Satan 's water , which will ever recede and mock your thirsty , toil-spent soul . Dear little pilgrim , do not scorch your feet and wear out your life in the hot , blinding sands , struggling in vain for the constantly fading , vanishing oasis of happy literary celebrity . Ah ! the Sahara of letters is full of bleaching bones that tell where many of your sex as well as of mine fell and perished miserably , even before the noon of life . Ambitious spirit , come , rest in peace in the cool , quiet , happy , palm-grove that I offer you . My shrinking violet , sweeter than all Paestum boasts ! You can not cope successfully with the world of selfish men and frivolous , heartless women , of whom you know absolutely nothing .