d nearly fourteen miles and
was already footsore. "Going out into the world," began to seem not
quite so enchanting a proceeding as it had appeared to be at starting.
For the first time since the idea of "seeking his fortune" had entered
his mind, he asked himself _where_ he was to seek it.

The reply to this inquiry was not easy. Meanwhile the sun had mounted
high up in the heavens and was shining brightly, the birds were singing
their matin songs, and in the roadside pastures the cattle were quietly
grazing. It was a peaceful, pastoral scene, but its peace did not enter
the heart of the wanderer. Somehow the world did not appear half so
attractive in his eyes as it had looked when he stole forth from his
father's gate in the cold gray of the morning twilight. His step,
therefore, was less elastic and his bearing less assured now than then,
and at length he sat down under a large beech-tree by the roadside, to
reflect upon the situation. He began to feel very weary, and the sudden
transition from action to repose induced a drowsiness that in a few
minutes overcame his waking sense and launched him into the sea of
forgetfulness. The young head sank lower and lower on his breast, and
finally, sleep ... "that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care,"...
"sore labor's bath, balm of hurt minds, great Nature's second course,"
came to him unawares, and for some hours he was totally oblivious of all
surroundings.

It was a dreamless sleep, and noon had come when he awoke. For a few
moments he was unable to recall where he was or how he had come there,
but in a very short time the recollection of everything that had
happened to him since the evening before swept over his mind like a
flood. Every circumstance now, however, was viewed in a far different
light. Somehow, the provocation which had sent him into the wide world
to seek his fortune did not seem half so great as it had seemed only the
night before. The example of De Foe's hero was not so completely
alluring, and a portion of that history which the evening previous he
had not deemed worthy of a thought, now rose vividly before him. He
seemed to read again these words:

"My father, a grave, wise man, gave me serious and excellent counsel
against what he saw was my design. He told me it was for men of
desperate fortunes on the one hand, or of aspiring superior fortunes on
the other, who went abroad upon adventures, to rise by enterprise and
make themselves famous in undert