We have actually touched and handled the
skeleton, and after all we have not been struck dead. {132}
"O socii, neque enim ignari sumus ante malorum,
O passi graviora, dabit Deus his quoque finem.
Vos et Scyllaeam rabiem penitusque sonantes
Accestis scopulos; vos et Cyclopia saxa
Experti. Revocate animos, moestumque timorem
Mittite; forsan et haec olim meminisse juvabit."
He wandered down to the water and saw a ship cleared for some port
across the Atlantic. A longing seized him to go with her. Over the
sea,--he thought there he would be at rest. So we all think, and as
we watch the vessels dropping below the horizon in the sunset cloud,
we imagine them bound with a happy crew to islands of the blest, the
truth being that the cloud is a storm, and the destined port is as
commonplace and full of misery as the one they have left. Zachariah,
however, did not suffer himself to dream. He went diligently and
systematically to work; but this time all his efforts were fruitless.
He called on every printing-office he could find, and there was not
one which wanted a hand, or saw any prospect of wanting one. He
thought of trying the river-side; but he stood no chance there, as he
had never been accustomed to carry heavy weights.
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