orms of
religious, social, and national life afresh from the forest, the quarry,
and the mine. Some thought he would succeed, others that he would be a
brilliant failure.

"Grand notions,--grand notions," the master with whom he studied said.
"Large ground plan of life,--splendid elevation. A little wild in some
of his fancies, perhaps, but he's only a boy, and he's the kind of boy
that sometimes grows to be a pretty big man. Wait and see,--wait and
see. He works days, and we can let him dream nights. There's a good deal
of him, anyhow." His fellow-students were puzzled. Those who thought of
their calling as a trade, and looked forward to the time when they
should be embodying the ideals of municipal authorities in brick and
stone, or making contracts with wealthy citizens, doubted whether
Clement would have a sharp eye enough for business. "Too many whims, you
know. All sorts of queer ideas in his head,--as if a boy like him was
going to make things all over again!"

No doubt there was something of youthful extravagance in his plans and
expectations. But it was the untamed enthusiasm which is the source of
all great thoughts and deeds,--a beautiful delirium which age commonly
tames down, and for which the cold shower-bath the world furnishes
_gratis_ proves a pretty certain cure.

Creation is always preceded by chaos. The youthful architect's mind was
confused by the multitude of suggestions which were crowding in upon it,
and which he had not yet had time or developed mature strength
sufficient to reduce to order. The young American of any freshness of
intellect is stimulated to dangerous excess by the conditions of life
into which he is born. There is a double proportion of oxygen in the
New-World air. The chemists have not found it out yet, but human brains
and breathing organs have long since made the discovery.

Clement knew that his hasty entanglement had limited his possibilities
of happiness in one direction, and he felt that there was a certain
grandeur in the recompense of working out his defeated instincts through
the ambitious medium of his noble art. Had not Pharaohs chosen it to
proclaim their longings for immortality, Caesars their passion for pomp
and luxury, and the priesthood to symbolize their conceptions of the
heavenly mansions? His dreams were on a grand scale; such, after all,
are the best possessions of youth. Had he but been free, or mated with a
nature akin to his own, he would have felt h