The Man of Promise

st was nearly sixteen, hale, clear-eyed and conspicuously able. He followed the courses of instruction laid out by his father, and was eager for learning. He made companions among his school-fellows, throwing himself with zest into the healthy outdoor escapades of the other students. He became the intellectual leader of the members of his class, and commanded their respect. They came to him for advice and ideas, and went home to their parents with stirring tales of his accomplishments. His writing now was not entirely secret. The things he cared for most he showed his father, who encouraged and helped him. His life was full?'full of the fine fervour of youth and fired with the divine delight of self- expression. He read voluminously from the poets and philosophers and the masters of living prose. Spirited and splendid emotions surged up in him. He dreamed / of the fine deeds and the stout hearts of the Middle Ages, j He envied the master accomplishments of the Renaissance. He longed for the dangers of the Napoleonic epoch. He projected himself into the vigorous romances of ancient Greece. Of all these intoxications he wrote in prose and verse. His tastes broadened. New problems presented themselves, and he pondered over them. He began to think more and more of his future and to analyse the advantages of the life he had planned. A change came over his viewpoint. Unknowingly, he had lost many illusions regarding his father and mother. The role he had chosen faile...