billows or forests we are reading of--this surely is one of the perfect
moments of existence."

It is no doubt a great privilege to visit foreign countries; to travel say
in Mexico or Peru, or to cruise among the Pacific Islands; but in some
respects the narratives of early travellers, the histories of Prescott or
the voyages of Captain Cook, are even more interesting; describing to us,
as they do, a state of society which was then so unlike ours, but which
has now been much changed and Europeanized.

Thus we may make our daily travels interesting, even though, like those of
the Vicar of Wakefield, all our adventures are by our own fireside, and
all our migrations from one room to another.

Moreover, even if the beauties of home are humble, they are still
infinite, and a man "may lie in his bed, like Pompey and his sons, in all
quarters of the earth." [1]

It is, then, wise to "cultivate a talent very fortunate for a man of my
disposition, that of travelling in my easy chair; of transporting myself,
without stirring from my parlor, to distant places and to absent friends;
of drawing scenes in my mind's eye; and of peopling them with the groups
of fancy, or the society of remembrance." [2]

We may indeed secure for ourselves endless variety without leaving our own
firesides.

In the first place, the succession of seasons multiplies every home. How
different is the view from our windows as we look on the tender green of
spring, the rich foliage of summer, the glorious tints of autumn, or the