EARLY SPRING IN MASSACHUSETTS. 
13 
future as a smooth lawn for my virtue to disport 
in. It shows from afar as unrepulsive as the 
sunshine upon walls and cities, oyer which the 
passing life moves as gently as a shadow. I see 
the course of my life, like some retired road, 
wind on without obstruction into a country 
maze. I am attired for the future so, as the sun 
setting presumes all men at leisure and in con¬ 
templative mood, and am thankful that it is 
thus presented blank and indistinct. It still 
o’ertops my life. My future deeds bestir them¬ 
selves within me and move grandly towards a 
consummation, as ships go down the Thames. 
A steady onward motion I feel in me as still 
as that, or like some vast snowy cloud whose 
'shadow first is seen across the fields. It is the 
material of all things, loose and set afloat, that 
makes my sea. 
These various words are not without various 
meanings. The combined voice of the race 
makes nicer distinctions than any individual. 
There are the words diversion and amusement. 
It takes more to amuse than to divert. We 
must be surrendered to our amusements, but 
only turned aside to our diversions. We have 
no will in the former, but oversee the latter. 
We are oftenest diverted in the street, but 
amused in our chambers. We are diverted 
from our engagements, but amused when we 
