ock, set apart for his
especial use, was the old blind horse his father had bestrode during
the last fifteen years of his life; it leant its sightless head
upon the gate, half up-turned, he fancied, to where he stood. It
is wonderful what small things will sometimes stir up the hearts of
strong men, ay, and what is still more difficult, even of ambitious
men. Yet he did not feel at that moment a regret for the fair acres he
had parted with; he was full of the importance which the possession
of a considerable sum of money gives a young man, who has been fagging
almost unsuccessfully in an arduous profession, and one which requires
a certain appearance of success to command success--for John Adams
even then placed M.D. after his plain name; yet still, despite the
absence of sorrow, and the consciousness of increased power, he
continued to look at poor old Ball until his eyes swam in tears.

With the presence of his father, which the sight of the old horse had
conjured up, came the remembrance of his peculiarities, his habits,
his expressions; and he wondered, as they passed in review before him,
how he could ever have thought the dear old man testy or tedious;
even his frequent quotations from "Poor Richard" appeared to him,
for the first time, the results of common prudence; and his rude but
wise rhyme, when, in the joy of his heart, he told his father he had
absolutely received five guineas as one fee from an ancient dame who
had three middle-aged daughters (he had not, however, acquainted his
father with _that_ fact,) came more forcibly to his memory than it had
ever done to his ear--

"For want and age save while you may,
No morning sun shines all the day."

He repeated the last line over and over again, as his father had done;
but as his "morning sun" was at that moment shining, it is not matter
of astonishment that the remembrance was evanescent, and that it did
not make the impression upon him his father had desired _long_ before.

A young, unmarried, handsome physician, with about three thousand
pounds in his pocket, and "good expectations," might be excused for
building "des chateaux en Espagne." A very wise old lady said once
to me--"Those who have none on earth may be forgiven for building
them in the air; but those who have them on earth should be content
therewith." Not so, however, was John Adams; he built and built, and
then by degrees descended to the realities of his position. What power
would no