er than one only a single
league in length, if intersected by ditches and strewn with wild
beasts."

"Bah!" cried Jack, who had just come up out of breath, "you might leap
the one and shoot the others."

"Your argument," replied Wolston, "is that of the savage, who can
imagine no obstacles that are not solid and tangible. The obstacles
that retard our progress in life neither display yawning chasms nor
rows of teeth; they dwell within our own minds--they are versatility,
disgust, ennui, thirst after the unknown, and love of change. These
lead us to take bye-paths and long turnings, and fritter away the
strength that should be used in promoting a single aim. Hence arise a
multiplicity of hermaphrodite avocations and desultory studies, that
terminate in nothing but vexation of spirit. Let us suppose, for
example, that Peter has made up his mind to be a lawyer."

"I do not see any particular reason why Peter should not be a lawyer,"
said Jack.

"Nor I either; but unfortunately when Peter has pored a certain time
over Coke upon Littleton, and other abstruse legal authorities, he
accidentally witnesses a review; he throws down his books, and
resolves to become a soldier."

"After the manner and style of our Fritz," suggested Jack.

"He changes the Pandects for Polybius, and Gray's Inn for a military
school. All goes well for awhile; the idea of uniform helps him over
the rudiments of fortification and the platoon exercise. He passes two
examinations creditably, but breaks down at the third, in consequence
of which he throws away his sword in disgust. He does not like now to
rejoin his old companions in the Inn, who have been working steadily
during the years he has lost. He therefore, perhaps, adopts a middle
course, and gets himself enrolled in the society of solicitors, which
does not exact a very elaborate diploma."

"Well, after all, the difference between a barrister and a solicitor
is not so great."

"True; but the exercises to which he has been accustomed previously
unfit him for the drudgeries of his new employment, and he soon
abandons that, just as he abandoned the other two."

"Your friend Peter is somewhat difficult to please," said Jack.

"He then goes into business, a term which may mean a great deal or
nothing at all; it admits of one's going about idle with the
appearance of being fully occupied. Then a few unsuccessful
speculations bring him back, at the end of his days, to the point
whence he