umber, the variety, the interest
of the events which occupy us, making our hours pass glibly and flowingly,
will still suggest to the mind the impressions of a longer period than
when the daily routine of our occupations assumes a character of continued
uniformity. It seems to be the _amende_ made by hours of weariness and
tedium, that, in looking back upon them, they appear to have passed rapidly
over. Not that my life, at the period I speak of, was devoid of interest;
on the contrary, devoting myself with zeal and earnestness to the new
duties of my station, I made myself thoroughly acquainted with the
condition of my property, the interest of my tenantry, their prospects,
their hopes, their objects. Investigating them as only he can who is
the owner of the soil, I endeavored to remedy the ancient vices of the
land,--the habits of careless, reckless waste, of indifference for the
morrow; and by instilling a feature of prudent foresight into that
boundless confidence in the future upon which every Irishman of every
rank lives and trusts, I succeeded at last in so far ameliorating their
situation, that a walk through my property, instead of presenting--as it
at first did--a crowd of eager and anxious supplicants, entreating for
abatements in rent, succor for their sick, and sometimes even food itself,
showed me now a happy and industrious people, confident in themselves, and
firmly relying on their own resources.

Another spring was now opening, and a feeling of calm and tranquil
happiness, the result of my successful management of my estate, made my
days pass pleasantly along. I was sitting at a late breakfast in my little
library; the open window afforded a far and wide prospect of the country,
blooming in all the promise of the season, while the drops of the passing
shower still lingered upon the grass, and were sparkling like jewels under
the bright sunshine. Masses of white and billowy cloud moved swiftly
through the air, coloring the broad river with many a shadow as they
passed. The birds sang merrily, the trees shook their leaves in concert,
and there was that sense of movement in everything on earth and sky which
gives to spring its character of lightness and exhilaration. The youth of
the year, like the youth of our own existence, is beautiful in the restless
activity which marks it. The tender flower that seems to open as we look;
the grass that springs before our eyes,--all speak of promise. The changing
phas