Page:A Voice from the Nile, and Other Poems. (Thomson, Dobell).djvu/30

 Chelsea to finish the course of studies necessary to qualify him for the post of a schoolmaster. The usual practice is for the students to remain there for two years, which period is required in most cases in order to fit the candidates for their duties. In his case, however, it was quite unnecessary to keep him there for such a length of time: indeed, he was quite able to pass the necessary examinations after he had been there only six months. Routine, however, exacted a stay of at least eighteen months before he was allowed to receive his appointment as schoolmaster.

It was towards the close of his stay at the College that he received the news of the death of his beloved. One morning there came a letter stating that she was dangerously ill: the next morning came the news of her death. Words cannot picture his grief and sorrow for her. For three days after receiving the news of her death, no food passed his lips, and it can hardly be doubted that he intended to starve himself to death. Had he done so the world would have lost much; but he himself would have lost nothing that he cared for, and would have been spared long dreary years of suffering and despair. Thenceforth Regret and Sorrow were his inseparable companions, and without hope and almost without object, his was rather a death-in-life than a healthy and natural existence. In striking him thus through his affections, destiny had wounded him where he was most vulnerable. No other affliction could have affected him as he was affected by this. In after-years he was doomed to endure much poverty: he suffered constant rebuffs in his endeavours to get his works published; and finally neglect