n which his opinions were
held, and my imagination was fired by an impression of the power to be
achieved by successful men of his profession, by the evidence of their
indispensability to capital itself.... At last when the gentlemen rose
and were leaving the room, Mr. Watling lingered, with his hand on my
arm.

"Of course you're going through the Law School, Hugh," he said.

"Yes, sir," I replied.

"Good!" he exclaimed emphatically. "The law, to-day, is more of a
career than ever, especially for a young man with your antecedents and
advantages, and I know of no city in the United States where I would
rather start practice, if I were a young man, than ours. In the next
twenty years we shall see a tremendous growth. Of course you'll be going
into your father's office. You couldn't do better. But I'll keep an eye
on you, and perhaps I'll be able to help you a little, too."

I thanked him gratefully.

A famous artist, who started out in youth to embrace a military career
and who failed to pass an examination at West Point, is said to have
remarked that if silicon had been a gas he would have been a soldier.
I am afraid I may have given the impression that if I had not gone
to Weathersfield and encountered Mr. Watling I might not have been a
lawyer. This impression would be misleading. And while it is certain
that I have not exaggerated the intensity of the spiritual experience
I went through at Cambridge, a somewhat belated consideration for the
truth compels me to register my belief that the mood would in any case
have been ephemeral. The poison generated by the struggle of my nature
with its environment had sunk too deep, and the very education that
was supposed to make a practical man of me had turned me into a
sentimentalist. I became, as will be seen, anything but a practical man
in the true sense, though the world in which I had been brought up and
continued to live deemed me such. My father was greatly pleased when
I wrote him that I was now more than ever convinced of the wisdom of
choosing the law as my profession, and was satisfied that I had come
to my senses at last. He had still been prepared to see me "go off at a
tangent," as he expressed it. On the other hand, the powerful effect
of the appeal made by Weathersfield and Mr. Watling must not be
underestimated. Here in one object lesson was emphasized a host of
suggestions each of which had made its impression. And when I returned
to Cambridge Alonzo Che