in his ignorance of his own powers and of the world. He strives again and
again to put himself in touch with organised work; he takes up one task
after another in a fruitless endeavour to succeed. He does not know what
he is fitted to do, and he turns helplessly from one form of work for
which he has no faculty to another for which he has less. His friends
begin to think of him as a ne'er-do-weel; and, more pathetic still, the
shadow of failure begins to darken his own spirit. And yet it may be that
in this halting, stumbling, ineffective human soul, vainly striving to put
its hand to its task, there is some rare gift, some splendid talent,
waiting for the ripe hour and the real opportunity! In such a crisis
sympathetic comprehension is invaluable, but it is rarely given, and the
youth works out his problem in isolation. If he is courageous and
persistent he finds his place at last; and work brings peace, strength,
self-comprehension.




Chapter V

The Year of Wandering


Goethe prefaces Wilhelm Meister's travels with some lines full of that
sagacity which was so closely related to his insight:

What shap'st thou here at the world? 't is shapen long ago;
The Maker shaped it, he thought it best even so;
Thy lot is appointed, go follow its hest;
Thy way is begun, thou must walk, and not rest;