The Duke rode past in his idle way
Empty and fine like a swordless sheath.

* * * * *

He looked at her, as a lover can;
She looked at him as one who awakes:
The past was a sleep, and her life began.

--_The Statue and the Bust._ Browning




II

_THE AWAKENING OF THE SOUL_


The process of physical awakening is not always sudden or swift. The
passage from sleep to consciousness is sometimes slow and difficult. The
soul's realization of itself is often equally long delayed. The effect
of eloquence on an audience has often been observed when one by one the
dormant souls wake up and begin to look out of their windows, the eyes,
at the speaker who is addressing them. In something the same way the
souls of men come to a consciousness of their powers and, with
clearness, begin to look out on their possibilities and their destiny.

The prodigal son in the parable of Jesus lived his earlier years without
an appreciation either of his powers or possibilities. When he came to