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Virginibus Puerisque and Other Papers by Robert Louis Stevenson
page 17 of 166 (10%)
outpost, and still keep open our communications with the
extreme rear and first beginnings of the march. There is our
true base; that is not only the beginning, but the perennial
spring of our faculties; and grandfather William can retire
upon occasion into the green enchanted forest of his boyhood.

The unfading boyishness of hope and its vigorous
irrationality are nowhere better displayed than in questions
of conduct. There is a character in the PILGRIM'S PROGRESS,
one Mr. LINGER-AFTER-LUST with whom I fancy we are all on
speaking terms; one famous among the famous for ingenuity of
hope up to and beyond the moment of defeat; one who, after
eighty years of contrary experience, will believe it possible
to continue in the business of piracy and yet avoid the guilt
of theft. Every sin is our last; every 1st of January a
remarkable turning-point in our career. Any overt act, above
all, is felt to be alchemic in its power to change. A
drunkard takes the pledge; it will be strange if that does not
help him. For how many years did Mr. Pepys continue to make
and break his little vows? And yet I have not heard that he
was discouraged in the end. By such steps we think to fix a
momentary resolution; as a timid fellow hies him to the
dentist's while the tooth is stinging.

But, alas, by planting a stake at the top of flood, you
can neither prevent nor delay the inevitable ebb. There is no
hocus-pocus in morality; and even the "sanctimonious ceremony"
of marriage leaves the man unchanged. This is a hard saying,
and has an air of paradox. For there is something in marriage
so natural and inviting, that the step has an air of great
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