author of _Quiet Days in Spain_ all days may seem quiet, because, a
courageous convert, he is now at peace with himself.

How better can we take leave of this interesting Vagabond than with the
road salutation of passing wayfarers: "And on you be peace! . . . You
have chosen your ideal, and it is a good choice. There's nothing like
giving up one's life to an unselfish passion. Let the rich and the
powerful of this globe preach their sound gospel of palpable progress.
The part of the ideal you embrace is the better one, if only in its
illusions. No great passion can be barren. May a world of gracious and
poignant images attend the lofty solitude of your renunciation!"



THE LIFE BEYOND--1910


You have no doubt noticed that certain books produce a sort of physical
effect on one--mostly an audible effect. I am not alluding here to Blue
books or to books of statistics. The effect of these is simply
exasperating and no more. No! the books I have in mind are just the
common books of commerce you and I read when we have five minutes to
spare, the usual hired books published by ordinary publishers, printed by
ordinary printers, and censored (when they happen to be novels) by the
usual circulating libraries, the guardians of our firesides, whose names
are household words within the four seas.

To see the fair and the brave of this free country surrendering
themselves with unbounded trust to the direction of the circulating
libraries is very touching. It is even, in a sense, a beautiful