my axe; and then I bethought me that a man was intended to marry--I
ought to marry; and if I married, where was I likely to be more
happy as a husband and a father than in America, engaged in tilling
the ground? I fancied myself in America, engaged in tilling the
ground, assisted by an enormous progeny. Well, why not marry, and
go and till the ground in America? I was young, and youth was the
time to marry in, and to labour in. I had the use of all my
faculties; my eyes, it is true, were rather dull from early study,
and from writing the Life of Joseph Sell; but I could see tolerably
well with them, and they were not bleared. I felt my arms, and
thighs, and teeth--they were strong and sound enough; so now was
the time to labour, to marry, eat strong flesh, and beget strong
children--the power of doing all this would pass away with youth,
which was terribly transitory. I bethought me that a time would
come when my eyes would be bleared, and, perhaps, sightless; my
arms and thighs strengthless and sapless; when my teeth would shake
in my jaws, even supposing they did not drop out. No going a
wooing then--no labouring--no eating strong flesh, and begetting
lusty children then; and I bethought me how, when all this should
be, I should bewail the days of my youth as misspent, provided I
had not in them founded for myself a home, and begotten strong
children to take care of me in the days when I could not take care
of myself; and thinking of these things, I became sadder and
sadder, and stared vacantly upon the fire till my eyes closed in a
doze.

I continued dozing over the fire, until rousing myself I perceived
that the brands were nearly consumed, and I thought of retiring for
the night. I arose, and was about to enter my tent, when a thought
struck me. "Suppose," thought I, "that Isopel Berners should