progress of years, the consciousness that the spring-time of life --
that peculiar season of happiness which can never be known again --
has been consumed in futile desires and aspirations, in vain hopes
and bitter experiences, must ever remain deepening the gloom of
Memory.

Anxious to possess immediate independence, young men, full of
adventurous spirit, proceed in search of new fields of labour, where
they may reap at once the enjoyments of domestic life, whilst they
industriously work out the curse that hangs over the Sons of Adam.

They who thus become emigrants from the ardent spirit of adventure,
and from a desire to experience a simpler and less artificial manner
of living than that which has become the essential characteristic of
European civilization, form a large and useful body of colonists.
These men, notwithstanding the pity which will be bestowed upon them
by those whose limited experience of life leads to the belief that
happiness or contentment can only be found in the atmosphere of
England, are entitled to some consideration and respect.

To have dared to deviate from the beaten track which was before them
in the outset of life; to have perceived at so vast a distance
advantages which others, if they had seen, would have shrunk from
aiming at; to have persevered in their resolution, notwithstanding
the expostulations of Age, the regrets of Friendship, and the sighs
of Affection -- all this betokens originality and strength of
character.

Does it also betoken indifference to the wishes of others? Perhaps
it does; and it marks one of the broadest and least amiable features