"I, you see, am nothing," continued the old man--"nay, do not
interrupt me. You will tell me, as you have already told me, that
I am much, and have done much, here in Charlemont. But, for all that
I am, and have done here, I need not have gone beyond my accidence.
My time has been wasted; my labors, considered as means to ends,
were unnecessary; I have toiled without the expected profits of
toil; I have drawn water in a sieve. It is not pleasant for me to
recall these things, much less to speak of them; but it is for your
good that I told you my story. You have, as I had, certain defects
of character--not the same exactly, but of the same family complexion.
To be something, you must be resolved. You must devote yourself,
heart and mind, with all your soul and with all your strength, to
the business you have undertaken. Shut your windows against the
sunshine, your ears to the song of birds, your heart against the
fascinations of beauty; and if you never think of the last until
you are thirty, you will be then a better judge of beauty, a truer
lover, a better husband, a more certain candidate for happiness.
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