Page:Her Benny - Silas K Hocking (Warne, 1890).djvu/170

146 some of his castles, it must be admitted, were of a most magnificent description.

He saw the glowing heights before him, the summits of which others had reached, and why might not he? He certainly had commenced the ascent: what was there to hinder him from reaching the top? Had not granny told him of poor Liverpool boys who, by perseverance and honest toil, had become wealthy men, and were now occupying high and honourable positions? Surely, then, there was a chance for him, and if he did not succeed it should not be for want of trying.

He felt that already he had got his foot on the first rung of the ladder, and if there was any chance of his reaching the top he would do it. And as he thought thus, the future opened out before him in glowing vistas of unimagined beauty.

He knew that he must wait many years; that he must work hard and patiently; that perhaps many difficulties would arise that he could not foresee; still, still, across the boggy valley the mountain rose with its sunlighted crown, and the question came back—Others had reached the top, then why might not he?

It is true he never attempted to put these thoughts into words. They seemed to him too big for utterance; yet they were always with him, lightening his toil and brightening the long future that lay before him.

If Benny had been of a less practical turn, of mind, he might have done what so many others have done—dreamed his life away, or waited idly for fortune to drop her treasures