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235
The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft
·
George Gissing
138
From
the
beginning
of
my
manhood,
it
is
true,
I
longed
for
bookish
leisure;
that,
assuredly,
is
seldom
even
one
of
the
desires
in
a
young
man's
heart,
but
perhaps
it
is
one
of
those
which
may
most
reasonably
look
for
gratification
later
on.
What,
however,
of
the
multitudes
who
aim
only
at
wealth,
for
the
power
and
the
pride
and
the
material
pleasures
which
it
represents?
We
know
very
well
that
few
indeed
are
successful
in
that
aim;
and,
missing
it,
do
they
not
miss
everything?
For
them,
are
not
Goethe's
words
mere
mockery?
Apply
them
to
mankind
at
large,
and
perhaps,
after
all,
they
are
true.
The
fact
of
national
prosperity
and
contentment
implies,
necessarily,
the
prosperity
and
contentment
of
the
greater
number
of
the
individuals
of
which
the
nation
consists.
In
other
words,
the
average
man
who
is
past
middle
life
has
obtained
what
he
strove
for--success
in
his
calling.
As
a
young
man,
he
would
not,
perhaps,
have
set
forth
his
aspirations
so
moderately,
but
do
they
not,
as
a
fact,
amount
to
this?
In
defence
of
the
optimistic
view,
one
may
urge
how
rare
it
is
to
meet
with
an
elderly
man
who
harbours
a
repining
spirit.
True;
but
I
have
always
regarded
as
a
fact
of
infinite
pathos
the
ability
men
have
to
subdue
themselves
to
the
conditions
of
life.
Contentment
so
often
means
resignation,
abandonment
of
the
hope
seen
to
be
forbidden.
I
cannot
resolve
this
doubt.
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