60 ANDREW JACKSON HOWE. 



may be supplanted by something better. Does the 

 boy lament the loss of his infancy, or does the young 

 man regret that he is no longer a youth ? And it 

 might be asked with equal propriety if the well set- 

 tled adult longs for the uncertainties of early man- 

 hood? And, finally, is there need for repine on the 

 part of the elderly who enjoy intellectual repasts, as 

 well as a satiety of physical feasts ? 



" Maturer life with smiling eye will view 

 The imperfect scenes which youthful fancy drew." 



Sophocles when asked if he yet enjoyed carnal 

 pleasures, calmly replied : " The gods have given me 

 something better ; nay, I have run away from them 

 with gladness, as from a wild and furious tyrant." 



There is such a large proportion of suicides 

 among adults, that the circumstance is taken as an ar- 

 gument favoring the idea that existence beyond youth 

 is hardly worth continuance. But in this we are not 

 to be misled. An ambitious man may become de- 

 spondent as soon as his schemes fail, and his future ap- 

 pears dark and uncertain. He has not wisely esti- 

 mated the world, but has entertained a more hopeful 

 outcome to it than facts warrant. The husbandman 

 who mortgages his crop in seed-time,. is not sure of a 

 harvest he would be wiser to wait till the danger of 

 frost and midge are over, and the golden grain is 

 ready for the sickle. Impatience and unreasonable 

 expectations are among the faults of youth, and lead 

 to untimely unhappiness. 



Age does not alone insure comfort and repose, 

 nor is advanced life a surety; yet once attained, and 

 the environment be fortunate, who would exchange 



