-7 I U 
A CHILD OF NATURE 
vision often gave the things which 
surrounded him a touch of unreal- 
ity ; to him as to the Prince in 
Tennyson's charming poem : 
On a sudden in the midst of men and 
day, 
And while I walk'd and talk'd as here- 
tofore, 
I seem'd to move among a world of 
ghosts, 
And feel myself the shadow of a dream. 
The boy's imagination was begin- 
ning to play its magical tricks with 
his vision, and the most solid things 
took on a dreamlike vagueness, and 
the most unsubstantial became solid 
realities. The world was the more 
beguiling to him because it sur- 
rounded him with mysteries instead 
[18] 
,— »H^ 
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Y.u 
7M 
~3S 
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