man boasting, so long as he boasts of what he really has,
I believe they would do it more freely and with a
better grace.

*

A girl at school in France began to describe one of our
regiments on parade to her French school-mates, and as she
went on she told me the recollection grew so vivid, she
became so proud to be the countrywoman of such soldiers,
and so sorry to be in another country, that her voice
failed her and she burst into tears. I have never
forgotten that girl, and I think she very nearly deserves a
statue. To call her a young lady, with all its niminy
associations, would be to offer her an insult. She may
rest assured of one thing, although she never should marry
a heroic general, never see any great or immediate result
of her life, she will not have lived in vain for her
native land.

*

As I went, I was thinking of Smethurst with admiration; a
look into that man's mind was like a retrospect over the
smiling champaign of his past life, and very different from
the Sinai-gorges up which one looks for a terrified moment
into the dark souls of many good, many wise, and many
prudent men. I cannot be very grateful to such men for
their excellence, and wisdom, and prudence. I find myself
facing as stoutly as I can a hard, combative existence,