THE WISCONSIN FARMER.



cumstances of this almost entire year of ab-
sence have been such as to disturb, if not quite
break up, the unity of things both small and
great.
  Almost a year! it is longer, since I have
more than just spoken with you. Was I gone
so long ? Only eight months, reckoned by the
calendar.  But the darkness in which I sut
previous to this lengthens out the time-keeping
of my thought vastly. To those of you who
have not experienced it, there is a difference
you are not prepared to be good judges of, be-
tween seeing people a little through your fing-
ers' enm'.s, and in broad daylight with two good
eyes.  Iave I had but one?    My dear, I
haven't had any. I suppose it will be easier
for me to state than for you to realize, that with
little to boast of before, for a year and a half,
ere I dropped so almost entirely out of your
circle, I read not one line, saw not the glory
of the sun, or the budding of a leaf, and not
very distinctly anything between these-not
even the Old Flag, which meantime was being
spit upon and buried.  But I used to write a
little still, sometimes ! Certainly, feeling my
way along the page with undotted i's and un-
crossed t's whenever I made my way, thus
dimly, to your precincts. Am I complaining?
Not at all. I was as happy as any of you, hap-
pier, perhaps; only defrauded of accomplish-
ing all that it was in my heart to do. Those
who expect to live in this world and suffer no
loss are born too soon, not by being born into
this age, but by being born at all. How could
I be very happy under such circumstances?
For the reason that long ago, in the aforetime
of my earliest experiences of life, I had made
up my mind that I would be. This willing, and
then holding it fast as pure WILL, has more
than some folks have found out to do with the
result we all seek, and in whatever form grasp-
ed, call by the common name, happiness.
  Is my sight better now? Very much, and
though not as strong and clear as yours, it is
yet quite serviceable for many of the needs of
hand ad brain. How ca   othi about t It's
too long to tell.  But being humane, and be-



cause I have a special interest in eyes that
have need of healing, I will say that of the
hosts of oculists who try, I know of one who
cures. If you need to know more, ask and I
will answer.

  This occupied the first months of my absence
from home, during which time, from the sever-
est of necessities, only scraps of incident and
song came back to you.  But when in June,
beautiful June, I opened my new eyes and
turned my steps to Virginia, it was with a
thrill of positive delight that I thought of how
easily I could now report myself, and how glad
you would be to hear from that land so full of
old and new interest. A few days of rest; a
few more days of planning how best to make
much of the opportunities thus thrown in my
way, a few weeks (less than three) of rambling,
riding, climbing and observing, then the cata-
strophe of which you have long ago had par-
ticulars.
  As I remarked about the eyes, those of you
who have not had the experience needn't set
yourselves up as judges of the effect of bring-
ing one's head, somewhat more suddenly than
in the nature of things has been contemplated.
into juxtaposition with a bit of rock. That's
all. It doesn't take a moment. It's such a
little thing, how could it? Then if you only
get up and say, "1 Now, Billy, that was hardly
fair; I expected better things of you! " so
smooth your dress, grasp your bridle, and tak-
ing your seat, take also, good-naturedly, the
laughing rally of your companions and go right
along, why, it is but the incident of the morn-
ing.
  But if you don't get up.  That's it. If you
don't get up: The difference between these is
that of everything and nothing. In the first
instance you have behind you all the past, clear
as a sunbeam; before you all the future, a lit-
tle clearer, so believed in, that it sems more
real than the other. Between theme there lies
a golden morning, the best of company and
the paraphernalia of a certain pomp that ac-
cords so well with the majesty of the hlls, the
forests, the heavens, and the watsr-fa1s; add-



-
                               -



114