and he had sat for one whole hour beside the
window, with bowed head, and clasped hands building up a castle, which,
perchance might fall; perchance might resist the shock of ages, and
prove the admiration of every beholder. What mattered it to him, so long
as it served to divert him from the one baneful subject--his distorted
self--and place him for the time being at least, in an atmosphere of
glory and delight! It was better by far than the boisterous mirth of the
rude boys whose riotous sport filled the open space near his dwelling
with revolting and uncouth sounds; and these silent and intense
yearnings after something higher and better than his present state, were
almost sure to result in some real and noble achievement.

Not much could be found in any of his surroundings to encourage his
lofty aspirations; what with the coarse father whose only mastery was of
the trowel by day, and at night the pipe; and the simple grandmother who
dwelt with wonder, and almost with alarm on every progressive step of
the boy. As he looked from the small loop-hole that admitted the light
and air to his humble room, there was naught before him save blocks of
brick and stone, with a large square of ground intervening, which was
unfenced and covered with rough stone, and the refuse from the adjoining
houses; but that same uncultivated plot insured to him a wide expanse
above, whither his longing soul often turned for the beauty and power
that it met not on earth. The bay was shut off from his view by the
broad and high masonry which his wealthy neighbors had erected between
him and his chief joy, and the only glimpse of water visible to him now
was a stagnant pond, on which dirty and ill-mannered urchins were
constantly sailing their boats of paper or wood. One would have thought
that there was nothing to attach him to so barren and unattractive a
spot, and yet the greatest of all his anxieties was lest amid the
encroachments of an ambitious and increasing population, the miserable
hut that had become a palace to him in its hallowed associations, would
fall under the ban of some authoritative power, and himself be cast
forth into some new place where memory and affection had no hold.

The extensive traveler, whose mind has an unbounded range, can scarcely
conceive of the immense value of a limited space to his equally
acquisitive though less favored brother. Thousands, whose feet had
wandered amid all the wonders of the earth, came ba