called strange that the feelings, the thoughts, and emotions of
our youth should come welling up from the long past, or that with the
return of boyish emotions, the language and actions of boyhood should
be indulged in again?"

"You will find," said Smith, "your old feelings of sobriety, of
thoughtfulness, your cautiousness, coming back just in proportion as
you tire of this wilderness life, and that by the time you are ready
to return to civilization, you will have become as staid, sober, and
reflective men of the world, as when you started, with as strict a
guard upon your expression of sentiment, or opinion, as ever."

"It is that 'guard' of which you speak," remarked Spalding, "over the
emotions, the sentiments of the heart, stifling their expression, and
chaining down under a placid exterior their manifestations, that
constitutes one of the broad distinctions between youth and manhood.
It is when that guard is set, that the process of fossilization, so to
speak, begins; and if no relaxing agency intervenes, the heart becomes
cold and hard, even before white hairs gather upon the head. I often
imagine that if men who really _think_, who have the power of
analyzation, of weighing causes and measuring results, would dismiss
that rigid espionage over themselves, would stand in less awe of the
world, in less dread of its accusation of change, and with the
fearless frankness of youth, declare the truth, and stand boldly up
for the right as they, _at the time_, understand it to be, without
reference to consistency of present views and opinions with those of
the past, the world would be much better off; progress would have
vastly fewer obstacles to contend against. But it is not every man,
even of those who _think_, who in politics, in religion, in science,
in anything involving a possible charge of inconsistency, of the
desertion of a party, a sect, or a principle, dare avow a change of
conviction or opinion, however such change may exist. This should
not be so. It belittles manhood, and makes slaves and cowards of men.
It is a proud prerogative, this ability and power of thinking. It is a
priceless privilege, this freedom of thought and opinion, and he is a
craven who moves on with the heedless and thoughtless crowd, conscious
of error, himself a hypocrite and a living lie, through fear of the
charge of 'inconsistency,' the accusation of change. 'Speak your
opinions of to-day,' says Carlyle, 'in words hard as rocks, an