"But now, in my lingering course I had descended the bill, and began to
consider, painfully enough, how I should meet my townspeople, and what
reception they would give me. Of many an evil prophecy, doubtless, had
I been the subject. And would they salute me with a roar of triumph or
a low hiss of scorn, on beholding their worst anticipations more than
accomplished?

"'No,' said I, 'they will not triumph over me. And should they ask the
cause of my return, I will tell f hem that a man may go far and tarry
long away, if his health be good and his hopes high; but that when flesh
and spirit begin to fail, he remembers his birthplace and the old
burial-ground, and hears a voice calling him to cone home to his father
and mother. They will know, by my wasted frame and feeble step, that I
have heard the summons and obeyed. And, the first greetings over, they
will let me walk among them unnoticed, and linger in the sunshine while
I may, and steal into my grave in peace.'

"With these reflections I looked kindly at the crowd, and drew off my
glove, ready to give my hand to the first that should put forth his. It
occurred to me, also, that some youth among them, now at the crisis of
his fate, might have felt his bosom thrill at my example, and be emulous
of my wild life and worthless fame. But I would save him.

"'He shall be taught,' said I, 'by my life, and by my death, that the
world is a sad one for him who shrinks from its sober duties. My
experience shall warn him to adopt some great and serious aim, such as
manhood will cling to, that he may not feel himself, too late, a
cumberer of this overladen earth, but a man among men. I will beseech
him not to follow an eccentric path, nor, by stepping aside from the
highway of human affairs, to relinquish his claim upon human sympathy.