216 THE TRIBES ON MY FRONTIER, 



me to endure. At any rate, if this is not so logical as it 

 should be, it is all the more true. The thermometer is no 

 gauge of all the influences which are abroad in the air, 

 depressing our spirits or making them dance within us. I 

 am certain that the power to enjoy a balmy breeze, or 

 bear up against a furnace-blast, would be alike paralysed 

 by the hopeless dismalness which would come down like 

 an extinguisher on my spirits, if the keys within me, the 

 chords of my soul, ceased to be played upon, like an 

 ALo\ia.n harp, by the sprightly forms, the merry voices, 

 and even, sometimes, the plaguey impertinences of " The 

 Tribes on my Frontier." 



