I pity the young man when he first girds himself for the real duties of life.

The change from thought to action, from dreams to realities, from hope to fruition or _disappointment_, is so sudden, so great, he requires the wisdom which is only bought by experience, the strength gained only by exercise.

But it is well," she added, with great expression, "it is well as it is.

If youth could command the experience of age, it would lose the enthusiasm and zeal necessary for the conception of great designs; it would lose the brightness, the energy of hope, and nothing would be attempted, because every thing would be thought in vain.

I did not mean to give you an essay," she said, smiling at her own earnestness, "but a young friend on the threshold of manhood is deeply interesting to me.