And it is through the mazes of this carnival, unique in the lenten gravity of nations, that wander the footsteps of the singer of youth, and of the lovers of this story.
O hear me sing:—If youth but knew
The glory of his April day,
Would he not cast the year away
For one more dawn of dream and dew?
Would he the fevered moons pursue,
Not rather with the spring delay,
Crowned with its leaf? If youth but knew
The glory of his April day!
For what shall unto age accrue,
If youth from joyance turn and stray?
Autumn is but the Spring grown grey,
Its harvest roses mixed with rue....
If youth but knew—if youth but knew!
(The Singer of Youth)
ELINOR SWEETMAN
"The something that lived on, the miserable carcass, the old man—call it myself, if you will—it took the violets and began to walk away.... And it has walked ever since!"
IF YOUTH BUT KNEW
CHAPTER I
THE VAGABOND
"Wealth I seek not, hope nor love,
Nor a friend to know me;
All I seek, the heaven above
And the road below me."
R. L. STEVENSON.
The traveller sat upon the milestone just where the road, skirting the brow of the hill, branched off into the forest. At his feet lay the detached wheel; further away, in pathetic attitude, the remainder of the chaise itself. A stout bay, seemingly unconscious of as handsome a pair of broken knees as ever horse displayed, was tethered to a stump of tree, browsing such tender grass or leafage as grew within his reach. The situation spoke for itself; and the young traveller's face spoke for the situation as eloquently as Nature (who had bestowed upon him a markedly disdainful and somewhat impassive set of features) would permit.
Behind him rose the cool gloom of the forest. Below lay the plain, gold-powdered by the level rays of a sinking sun. Between the edge of the road and the forest margin ran a stream. A robin sang to the glowing west from the topmost branch of a fir tree. But he on the milestone was blind to the gold of the valley, deaf to the gold of the song. "Now, here's a pretty kettle of fish!" was the burden of his thoughts.