A Thousand-Mile Walk 



How imperishable are all the impressions 

 that ever vibrate one s life ! We cannot forget 

 anything. Memories may escape the action of 

 will, may sleep a long time, but when stirred 

 by the right influence, though that influence be 

 light as a shadow, they flash into full stature 

 and life with everything in place. For nineteen 

 years my vision was bounded by forests, but 

 to-day, emerging from a multitude of tropical 

 plants, I beheld the Gulf of Mexico stretching 

 away unbounded, except by the sky. What 

 dreams and speculative matter for thought 

 arose as I stood on the strand, gazing out on 

 the burnished, treeless plain! 



But now at the seaside I was in difficulty. I 

 had reached a point that I could not ford, and 

 Cedar Keys had an empty harbor. Would I pro 

 ceed down the peninsula to Tampa and Key 

 West, where I would be sure to find a vessel 

 for Cuba, or would I wait here, like Crusoe, and 

 pray for a ship. Full of these thoughts, I 

 stepped into a little store which had a con 

 siderable trade in quinine and alligator and 

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