who learn this lesson early--for, thence, the current
onward flows, a tranquil, noiseless, but resistless, tide. Manhood,
steady and mature, with its resolute but quiet thoughts, its deep,
unwavering purposes, and, more than all, its firm, profound affections,
is passing thus, between the shores of Time--not only working for itself
a channel broad and clear, but bearing on its bosom, toward Eternity,
uncounted wealth of hopes.

But in the middle of its course, its character is wholly changed; a
flood pours in, whose waters hold, suspended, all impurities. A
struggle, brief but turbulent, ensues: the limpid wave of youth is
swallowed up. Some great success has been achieved; unholy passions are
evoked, and will not be allayed; thenceforward there is no relenting;
and, though the world--nay! Heaven itself!--pour in, along its course,
broad tributaries of reclaiming purity, the cloud upon the waters can
never be dispelled. The marl and dross of Earth, impalpable, but visibly
corrupting, pervade the very nature; and only when the current ceases,
will its primitive transparency return.

Still it hurries onward, with velocity augmented, as it nears its term.
Yet its breadth is not increased; the earth suspended in its waters,
like the turbid passions of the human soul, prevents expansion;[1] for,
in man's career through time, the heart grows wider only in the pure.

Along the base of cliffs and highlands--through the deep alluvions of
countless ages--among stately forests and across extended plains, it
flows without cessation. Beyond full manhood, character may change no
more--as, below its mighty tributaries, the river is unaltered. Its full
development is reached among rich plantations, waving fields, and
swarming cities; while, but the journey of a day beyond, it rushes into
Eternity, leaving a melancholy record, as it mingles with the waters of
the great gulf, even upon the face of Oblivion.

--Within the valley of this river, time will see a population of two
hundred millions; and here will be the seat of the most colossal power
Earth has yet contained. The heterogeneous character of the people is of
no consequence: still less, the storms of dissension, which now and then
arise, to affright the timid and faithless. The waters of all latitudes
could not be blended in one element, and purified, without the tempests
and cross-currents, which lash the ocean into fury. Nor would a stagnant
calmness, blind attachment to th