Events slip away from him and leave nothing.

His intellect gets the habit of letting go.

It loses its power to seize and hold.

His impressions are like footprints on a beach.

They are washed away by the next tide." There was much talk at the fireside after dinner, all of which doubtless had an effect on the fortunes of the good people who sat around it, and the historian must sort the straws, and with some regret, for bigger things are drawing near in the current.