V ., 
A CHILD OF NATURE 
heart of the past through eyes 
that had the searching insight of 
genius behind them. The passion 
of the race, which has borne so 
many great spirits on mounting 
waves of power and dragged so 
many down to the very gates of 
hell, encompassed him, and he un- 
derstood for the first time what tre- 
mendous forces contend with man 
in the making of that personality 
which in turn makes destiny. 
Among all those who saw John 
Foster in those days no one knew 
what was moving within him, least 
of all they of his own household ; 
for youth is a mystery save to the 
poets ; and its rapture, its passion, 
its dreaming of the time that is to 
[6 4 ] 
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