ms
and worked not at all---still, as we enter, shall something be learned
from our echoing footsteps, of the extent, and the clearness, and the
fidelity, of our home.

93. No day can be uneventful, save in ourselves alone; but in the day
that seems most uneventful of all, there is still room for the loftiest
destiny; for there is far more scope for such destiny within ourselves
than on the whole continent of Europe. Not by the extent of empire is
the range of destiny governed, but, indeed, by the depth of our soul.
It is in our conception of life that real destiny is found; when at
last there is delicate balance between the insoluble questions of
heaven and the wavering response of our soul. And these questions
become the more tranquil as they seem to comprise more and more; and to
the sage, whatever may happen will still widen the scope of the
questions, still give deeper confidence to the reply. Speak not of
destiny when the event that has brought you joy or sadness has still
altered nothing in your manner of regarding the universe. All that
remains to us when love and glory are over, when adventures and
passions have faded into the past, is but a deeper and ever-deepening
sense of the infinite; and if we have not that within us, then are we
destitute indeed. And this sense of the infinite is more than a mere
assemblage of thoughts, which, indeed, are but the innumerable steps
that thither lead. There is no happiness in happiness itself, unless it
help our comprehension of the rest, unless it help us in some measure
to conceive that the very universe itself must rejoice in existence.
The sage who has attained a certain height will find peace in all
things that happen; and the event that saddens him, as other men,
tarries but an instant ere it goes to strengthen his deep perception of
life. He who has learned to see in all things only matter for unselfish
wonder, can be deprived of no satisfaction whatever without there
spring to sudden life within him, from the mere feeling that this joy
can be dispensed with, a high protecting thought that enfolds him in
its light. That destiny is beautiful wherein each event, though charged
with joy or sadness, has brought reflection to us, has added something
to our range of soul, has given us greater peace wherewith to cling to
life. And, indeed, the accident that robs us of our love, that leads us
along in triumph, or even that seats us on a throne, reveals but little
of the wor