noon
Then , in spite of myself , my consciousness flagged , and for days together I lived the tranquil , subconscious life of early childhood . At first my mind , altogether unimpressed and undeveloped , may be compared to a photographer 's apparatus fitted with its sensitized glass . Objects insufficiently lighted up make no impression upon the virgin plates ; but when a vivid splendor falls upon them , and when they are encircled by disks of light , these once dim objects now engrave themselves upon the glass . My first recollections are of bright summer days and sparkling noon times , -- or more truly , are recollections of the light of wood fires burning with great ruddy flames . As if it were yesterday I recall the evening when I suddenly discovered that I could run and jump ; and I remember that I was intoxicated by the delicious sensation almost to the point of falling . This must have been at about the commencement of my second winter . At the sad hour of twilight I was in the dining-room of my parents ' house , which room had always seemed a very vast one to me .