, aspiring
years of his life in hopeless idleness was a weakness rather than a
virtue.

He was only spared from passing a judgment upon his father, more correct
than filial, by throwing the blame of his conduct upon the shackling
customs, and false opinions, and arbitrary laws of his native land. He
could not but be forcibly struck by the wide dissimilarity between the
usages and views of life which distinguished the two nations. In
America, he saw men, self-made and self-educated, at an age when young
Frenchmen have scarcely begun to be aware that they have any independent
existence, rising to prominent and honorable positions, taking a bold
part in public affairs, and asserting by their achievements the maturity
of their brains. He saw men, who had been forced by circumstances to
commence their lives of toil and self-support at fifteen and eighteen, a
few years later not only gaining their own livelihood, but contributing
to the maintenance of their families, and laying the foundation of
future fortune. He saw artistic tastes, literary talents, professional,
legislative, and military abilities, brought to opulent fruition in men
but a few years his senior; and though every one seemed to work at high
pressure, every one appeared to live rapidly, crowding each day with
actions, still men _lived_, lived _consciously_, planting along the
pathway of their pilgrimage the landmarks of positive deeds; and they
sowed, and reaped, and rejoiced in their harvests, and if some of them
grew old faster than their European brethren, their age was at least
enriched by varied memories, vast experiences, manifold mental gains,
that testified to the value of their lives.

And was it imperative, Maurice asked himself, that the accident of noble
blood should paralyze a man's volition, and that the bearing of a noble
name should render his life inertly ignoble? He recognized that, in the
seeming curse which condemned man to "work," God had hidden the richest
blessing, even as he buried golden veins in the dark bosom of the earth.
"Labor was privilege," and gave its sweetest flavor to the daily cup of
life.

As for Ronald, though he loved his country with the enthusiasm which
characterized all his affections, he had never been fully cognizant of
the advantages it possessed over the land in which he had lately
sojourned until he saw them through the eyes of Maurice.

Nothing is more true than that _we can render no service to another by