hurricane and the storm.

With such thoughts I went to rest, and laid my head on my pillow in
thoughtfulness and peace. In my dreams my troubles still lingered. But
who regrets the anxious minutes of a vision which wakening thoughts
dispel? Are they not rather the mountain shadows that serve to brighten
the gleam of the sunlight in the plain?

It was thus the morning broke for me, with all the ecstasy of danger
passed, and all the crowding hopes of a happy future. The hundred
speculations which in poverty I had formed for the comfort of the poor
and the humble might now be realized; and I fancied myself the centre of
a happy peasantry, confiding and contented. It would be hard, indeed,
to forget "the camp and the tented field" in the peaceful paths of a
country life. But simple duties are often as engrossing as those of a
higher order, and bring a reward not less grateful to the heart; and I
flattered myself to think my ambition reached not above them.

The moments in which such daydreams are indulged are the very happiest
of a lifetime. The hopes which are based on the benefits we may render
to others are sources of elevation to ourselves; and such motives purify
the soul, and exalt the mind to a pitch far above the petty ambitions of
the world.

To myself, and to my own enjoyments, wealth could contribute less than
to most men. The simple habits of a soldier's life satisfied every wish
of my mind. The luxuries which custom makes necessary to others I never
knew; and I formed my resolution not to wander from this path of humble,
inexpensive tastes, so that the stream of charity might flow the wider.

These were my waking thoughts. Alas, how little do we ever realize of
such speculations! and how few glide down the stream of life unswayed by
the eddies and crosscurrents of fortune! The higher we build the temple
of our hopes, the more surely will it topple to its fall. Who shall say
that our greatest enjoyment is not in raising the pile, and our happiest
hours the full abandonment to those hopes our calmer reason never
ratified?

As yet it had not occurred to me to think what position the world might
concede to one whose life had been passed like mine, nor did I bestow a
care upon a matter whereon so much of future happiness depended. These,
however, were considerations which could not be long averted. How they
came, and in what manner they were met must remain for a future chapter
of my history.

CHAPTER X