OF DEPARTURE 305 



(A lot he cares.) But I decline to have him 

 blundering about in front of me when I am paint- 

 ing, or throwing stones in the water when I am 

 fishing, or sitting third with my wife and me. And 

 I laugh at him. For I know that in whatever I 

 do, I am achieving immortality even when I 

 write not the immortality of my miserable name, 

 but the immortality of my doings and words, each 

 least one of which has its influence now and for 

 ever. As the splash of my cocked dun shall be 

 felt in Orion and further and further than that, till 

 Orion ceases to be and afterwards and afterwards, 

 so my lightest good-morning has within it the 

 welfare or misery of men to come. And this is 

 said humbly and not otherwise. Let my good 

 mornings therefore be as good as I can make 

 them and my good nights and all that lies 

 between. 



But though I dismiss from my consideration the 

 General Terminator of Pleasant Experiences, I 

 cannot look with equal contempt upon the day of 

 my departure from this place. The first is an 

 uncertain certainty, incalculable, foolishness to 

 brood upon. 



But the boxes are packed. 



And now it is too dark for any more fishing. 

 Let us reel up for the year Someone is waiting 

 for me. There, above Ottley Down, is the glow 



