130 BUSH DAYS 



saved and spent ; they are something that everyone can under- 

 stand and value. But this business of stars well, leave it 

 for dreamers and poets; it's a harmless fad. And the 

 Enthusiast, with a laugh of good-natured scorn for the man 

 whose mind could not soar beyond the spending power of a 

 sovereign, went on his way with the whole wide world before 

 him. 



What mattered it to him if the gleam ahead should never 

 turn into solid sovereigns; gold is not the only thing that 

 glitters. Age would have us believe so, but youth knows 

 better. For youth and enthusiasm together there are worlds 

 to be conquered whose very existence is undreamed of by the 

 worldly-wise. " Give me," says Age, " a fine house, a warm 

 coat, a big banking account, a motor car, and a good cook, 

 and I ask nothing more." 



But Youth laughs, and demands a cause to champion, a 

 road to tramp, the scent of the grass, the song of the wind, 

 and the light of the stars, and Age can have the rest. 



So it has been from the beginning and so it will be while 

 there are trees for the wind to whistle through, or stars to 

 shine on summer nights. And happy it is that things should 

 be so, and bad and sad indeed the day when Youth is content 

 to give up the ideal for the real. 



Yet every day the pressure of Age is greater to force out 

 of life all that is beautiful and desirable. " Let us be 

 practical," cry the grown-ups. " There is no place, no time 



