Page:Three Years in Europe.djvu/129

 the 15th April 1886, I left Calcutta for London. Eighteen years ago I had performed the same voyage;—eighteen years! What a large slice out of one's brief life. What a number of events have crowded themselves within these 18 years of my life, what great changes have transpired since I last left my home, almost like a truant in pursuit of adventure! In 1868, I had left my home impelled by an ambition which was rashness; and staked my future, staked all on success in an almost impossible undertaking. I acted as only a young man can act, utterly uncertain as to my chances, as to my prospects, as to my future! But success like charity covers all sins, and success had crowned my undertaking.

Now in 1886, I left Calcutta with greater assurance as to the present, with greater confidence as to the future. But the cares and responsibilities of life had increased, not decreased with added years. I was not alone now, but my wife and four little ones accompanied me in my present voyage. The children gazed on the blue ocean and on every port that we touched at with much the same elasticity and buoyancy of feelings that I had felt in my first journey. To shew them a little of European life and civilization, to enable them to look around them a little in