Some one before me found a modicum of sweets in his cup of bitterness, and in a complacent hour set the good against the evil in single entry, summing up the same to his advantage. I concluded to do it myself, and did it thus:--
I find myself in a foreign But I may do as I please in land with no one to love and consequence, and it is nobody's none to love me. business save my own.
I am working for my board But I may quit as soon as I and lodging (no extras), and feel like it, and shall have no find it very unprofitable. occasion to dun my employer for back salary so long as I stop with him.
My clothes are in rags. I But the weather is mild and shall soon be without a stitch to the fig-tree flourisheth. Moreover my back. many a good savage has gone naked before me.
I get hungry before breakfast But fasting is saintly. Day and feel faint after dinner. by day I grow more spiritual, What are two meals a day to a and shall shortly be a fit subject man of my appetite? for translation to that better world which is doubtless the envy of all those who have lost it by over eating and drinking.
Nothing can exceed the satisfaction with which I read and re-read this philosophical summary, but I had relapses every few minutes so long as I lived in Tahiti. I remember one Sunday morning, a day I had all to myself, when I cried out of the depths and felt better after it. It was a real Sunday. The fowls confessed it by the indifference with which they picked up a grain of rice now and then as though they weren't hungry. The family were moving about in an unnatural way; some people are never themselves on the Lord's day. The canoes lay asleep off upon the water, evidently conscious of the long hours of rest they were sure of having. To sum it all, it seemed as though the cover had been taken off from the earth, and the angels were sitting in big circles looking at us. Our clock had run down, and I found myself half an hour too early at mass. Some diminutive native children talked together with infinite gesticulation, like little old men. At every lag in the conversation, two or three of them would steal away to the fence that surrounded the church and begin diligently counting the pickets thereof. They were evidently amazed at what they considered a singular coincidence, namely, that the number of pickets, beginning at the front gate and counting to the right, tallied exactly with the do. do. beginning at the do. do. and counting to the left; while they were making repeated efforts to get at the heart of this mystery, the priest rode up on horseback, dismounted in our midst, and we all followed him into chapel to mass.