IX NEW YORK. 309 



came in view from its forest setting, and here I found the 

 home-circle intact and well, and glad to see the sun-burnt, 

 rough-clad wanderer back; while our Irish handmaid voiced 

 a generous welcome, and Nero, the dog, who unlike his proto- 

 type of ancient Greece had not forgotten his Ulysses, gave 

 him the freedom of the house with bark and whine and 

 demonstrative wag of tail. I also learned how easy a thing it 

 is to compass sea and land, thinking of the wonder and 

 admiration you will create, and then, when returning to your 

 starting place, find what a transient splash you make when drop- 

 ping in the social sea. For awhile the questioning conversa- 

 tional billows meet answering waves, which ebb and flow and 

 bear you into prominence on their surges; then, through 

 familiarity, weariness or lack of curiosity, these subside to the 

 faintest ripples, until the returned traveler finds himself of no 

 more nor less account than those who remained at home satis- 

 fied with the contentments which every-day life brings forth. 

 And this is as it should be. If the expectations of all would 

 be realized who seek prominence, there would be so much 

 commotion in the world that any other than a hum-drum 

 existence would be suppressed by penal enactment. 



