384 THINGS HE HAS NOT DONE. CHAP. xvm. 



of Nature, had I pursued the one with half the 

 ardour and perseverance that T did the other, I have 

 no hesitation in saying that by this time I would 

 have been a rich man. 



" But it is not the things I have done that vexes 

 me so much, as the things that I have not done. I 

 feel that I could have accomplished so much more. 

 T did not want the will, but I wanted the means. It 

 is that consideration that hurts me when I think 

 about it, as I sometimes do. I know what I have 

 done, and from that I can conceive how much more 

 I might have done had I got but a little help. Think 

 yourself only think for a few moments of a poor 

 illiterate working man struggling against every sort of 

 privation for so many years, with no other object in 

 view but simply to gain a little knowledge of the works 

 of creation, think of that, and say if I can be blamed 

 because I occasionally grieve that I had no help, 

 when it would have enabled me to do so much more 

 than I have already done. For these reasons I some- 

 times consider my life to have been a blasted one 

 like a diamond taken from the mine, and, instead of 

 being polished, crushed to the earth in a thousand 

 fragments." 



Still, Edward must, to a great extent, have en- 

 joyed a happy life. He was hopeful and cheerful. 

 He had always some object to pursue, with a purpose. 

 That constitutes one of the secrets of happiness. He 

 had an interesting hobby : that is another secret. 



