n; for had he
known her and loved her as some one knew and loved some one else
at that moment, most likely he would not have valued his life so
slightly. He clewed up his canvas like a wise mariner, and lay to
while the Symplegades butted one another with their foreheads of
adamant, and the sea was white with terror all about them. Jason
was no coward: he would have braved the passage had he alone been
concerned in the result; but for Maud in her rose-garden and for the
future, dear to him as his hope of heaven, he paused and trembled.

It is a pity there should be so little pausing and trembling among
the clashing islands when life hangs in the balance and the odds are
against it. But there always has been and always will be this little,
because we believe that nothing but experience is capable of teaching
us, and experience invariably teaches it all wrong end to, so that we
begin our lesson with a disaster and conclude it with a slow recovery.

During Jason's hour of deliberation his guardian angel, who was the
only one having his interests really at heart, and who loved him
unselfishly,--this angel advised him in the similitude of a dream to
"luff a little and go round the obstacles." Jason luffed, and passed
on with colors flying; which was doubtless much better than trying to
squeeze through the floating islands in the midst of an exceedingly
disagreeable sea.

Then came the land beyond, the long-sought kingdom, full of arts and
wiles. Jason was beset with ten thousand temptations, and was more
than once upon the point of falling into a snare, when, however, he
seemed to behold the apparition of his withered rose, which bloomed
and blushed again at such times, and gave out a faint fragrance, so
like a breath from that Eden on the sunny slope that he paused and
grew strong, and was saved.

His troubles were not yet over. There was the bargaining for the
golden fleece, and the tempting offer of the dragons' teeth which
he was to sow. They were the lusts of the body, that, once planted,
spring up an armed force of bloody and persistent accusers. But
that precious rose! How it blossomed over and over for his especial
benefit, a perpetual warning and an unfailing talisman--a very
profitable sort of blossom to wear in one's button-hole in these
times! But such blossoms are scarce indeed.

In due course of time that potent charm got him the golden fleece in a
very natural and business-like way, and, rejoicing in his