Chapter 15

We are many: I speak for thousands who are voiceless. But we are feeble, for we know not one another: we shall know.

A new summer is coming and a new adventure; and summer, as all know, is the year itself, the other seasons being purely subordinate. We are as yet but February heralds. Nevertheless we ask, standing without the gates of the sleeping city of winter, "Who of ye within the city are stepping forth unto the new adventure?" Strange powers are to them; the mysterious spells of the earth, the renewal of inspiration at the life source, the essence of new summer colours, the idea of new summer shapes. To the young men and women of to-day there is a chance to be as beautiful as it is possible to be upon this little earth, a chance to find all the significance of life and beauty that is possible for man to know, a chance to be of the same substance as the fire of stars, a chance of perfection. It is the voice of the hermit crying from the wilderness: "I have come back from God with a message and a blessing--come out ye young men and maidens, for a new season is at hand."

THE END

A TRAMP'S SKETCHES

BY

STEPHEN GRAHAM

SOME PRESS OPINIONS.

_DAILY TELEGRAPH_.--"A deeply interesting volume that will stimulate in many readers a desire for that fuller work on his trampings which Mr. Graham promises.... He is gifted with rare ability to write of that which he has experienced. It may safely be said that few readers would wish, after taking up this volume and reading one of the sketches at random, to put it aside without having read the rest.... It is always something pertinent, fresh, and interesting that the writer has to tell us."

_DAILY NEWS_.--"Mr. Graham has given us in this robust book a classic of educated yet wild vagabondage."

_ACADEMY_.--"To have read _A Tramp's Sketches_ is to have been lifted into a higher and rarer atmosphere.... A book that, if we mistake not, is destined to endure."

_ENGLISH REVIEW_.--"A delightful book, redolent of the open air, of the night, of the great silences of expanse, and yet full of incident, of _aperçus_ into Russian conditions and the minds of peasants, revealing a real spiritual and material sympathy, both with the 'black earth' and the monks of monasteries, whose hospitality he enjoyed, and with his fellow-comrades of the road. It is life that interests the author. Here we can get it, and it is like splashing about in a clear pool on a warm summer's day, spontaneous in inspiration, mature in philosophic contemplation. This sort of book gives a man honest pleasure. More, it sets his heart beating in unison with the author, in harmony with the awe and beauty and simplicity of Nature."

_QUEEN_.--"The whole book is full of beautiful things.... Mr. Graham may feel sure that we look forward eagerly to his next book, in which he promises to tell the full story of his pilgrimage to Jerusalem."

_LITERARY WORLD_.--"A book to read, to cherish, and to turn to again and again for the renewal of the moods of exaltation which it distils like dew upon a hillside."

_T.P.'S WEEKLY_.--"A charming book of travel and philosophy. This tramp is a stylist, and if you have a friend who can appreciate really intimate and beautiful writing, buy it, and read it carefully word by word yourself. The pages are cut, and by this means you have a fund for reverie and talk that is not chatter. In an age of 'topics' and 'masterpieces' this quiet volume is the more delightful."

_GLOBE_.--"Of the true vagabond spirit Mr. Graham possesses a very abundant share, and it is this sheer delight in tramping for tramping's sake--the only real joy of living--that, visible in every word he writes, makes his book so fascinating to read."

_BY THE SAME AUTHOR_.

WITH THE RUSSIAN PILGRIMS TO JERUSALEM

With 38 Illustrations from Photographs by the Author, and a Map. 8vo.