For sorrow and care cannot alter the case;
And running, not raging, will win thee the race.

My inheritance, how wide and fair!
Time is my estate: to time I'm heir.

Between the preparation and the work, the apprenticeship and the actual
dealing with a task or an art, there comes, in the experience of many
young men, a period of uncertainty and wandering which is often
misunderstood and counted as time wasted, when it is, in fact, a period
rich in full and free development. In the days when Wilhelm Meister was
written, the _Wanderjahr_ or year of travel was a recognised part of
student life, and was held in high regard as contributing a valuable
element to a complete education. "The Europe of the Renaissance," writes
M. Wagner, "was fairly furrowed in every direction by students, who often
travelled afoot and barefoot to save their shoes." These wayfarers were
light-hearted and often empty-handed; they were in quest of knowledge, but
the intensity of the search was tempered by gaiety and ease of mood. Under
a mask of frivolity, however, youth often wears a serious face, and behind
apparent aimlessness there is often a steady and final turning of the
whole nature towards its goal.

Uncertainty breeds impatience; and in youth, before the will is firmly
seated and the goal clearly seen, impatience often manifests itself in the
relaxation of all forms of restraint. The richer the nature the greater
the reaction which sometimes sets in at this period; the more varied and
powerful the elements to be harmonised in a man's character and life, the
greater the ferment and agitation which often precede the final
discernment and acceptance of one's work. If the pressure of uncertainty
with regard to one's gifts and their uses ought to call out patience and