Some men pass their lives in the midst of environments where insincerity would not have been so painful; but in a home and a community where sham and hypocrisy were almost unknown these perpetual deceptions became more and more intolerable with every passing hour. Nothing could be more certain than that in a short time, like some foreign substance in a healthy body, his nature would force him out of this uncongenial environment. With some natures the experience would have been a slow and protracted one, but with him the termination could not be long delayed.
It came in a tragedy at the close of the next Sabbath. The day had been dreary, painful and exasperating beyond all endurance, and he felt that he could never stand the strain of another. And so, having detained his mother in the sitting room after the rest of the family had retired, he paced the floor for a few moments, and after several unsuccessful attempts to introduce the subject gently, said bluntly:
"Mother, I am chafing myself to death against the limitations of this narrow life."
"My son," she said calmly, "this has not come to me as a surprise."
He moved uneasily and looked as if he would ask her "Why?"
"Because," she said, as if he had really spoken, "a mother possesses the power of divination, and can discern the sorrows of her children, by a suffering in her own bosom."
The consciousness that he had caused her pain rendered him incapable of speech, and for a moment they sat in silence.
"What is thy wish and purpose, my son?" she asked at last, with an effort which seemed to exhaust her strength.
"I wish to see the world," he answered, his eye kindling as he spoke.
This reply, foreseen and expected as it was, sent a shiver through her. She turned paler, if possible, than before; but summoning all the powers of self-control resident in that disciplined spirit, she replied with an enforced tranquillity: