declare a glory which was reserved for other days. Dreary and harsh
was the way they trod. But in its very dreariness they found safety.
They sought no pleasure, they fought no battles, they wasted no time.
In the pushing aside of all temptation, the scorn of all beauty and
idleness, they found delight. Against the strength of granite rock
they set the force of iron will. Withal, at the bottom their hearts
were light with the certainty of coming joy. Even the multitude of
conflicting paths gave them a peculiar satisfaction; for whatever way
they took was always the right way.

But there were some among them who lost all heart. And they threw
their charts away and set forth in disorder through the forest and up
the mountain. Some of them came safely to the river, far in advance of
the bands they had left behind. But to most the way was strange, and
harder than of old. And as the journey wore on they began to hate the
forest and all its ways.

So they fared on, together or apart, in ever-deepening shadow. They
distrusted their neighbors. They despised the joyous bands who trooped
after their leaders with mouthing of verses and waving of flags. They
were stirred by the sound of no trumpet. They were deceived by no
illusion of sunshine or of mist. They said: "We know the forest; no
one knows it but ourselves. There is no future; there is no way; there
is no rest; there is no better country. The azure mists are shadows
only, hiding some dreary plain, if haply they hide anything at all.
Evil is man; evil are all things about him. Love and joy, hope and
faith, all these are but flickering lights that lure him to
destruction. Vultures croak on the rocks. The fountains flow with
ink. Danger lurks in the desert. The name of the river is Death."
And when they came to the shore of the river they saw no rift in the