A Chapter of My Life

IN due course I got my license. I was a pilot now, full fledged. I dropped into casual employments; no misfortunes resulting, intermittent work gave place to steady and protracted engagements. Time drifted smoothly and prosperously on, and I supposed—and hoped—that I was going to follow the river the rest of my days, and die at the wheel when my mission was ended. But by and by the war came, commerce was suspended, my occupation was gone.

In time, I got my license. I was now a fully qualified pilot. I took occasional jobs, and since nothing went wrong, those led to steady, long-term work. Time passed smoothly and prosperously. I expected and hoped to work on the river for the rest of my days. I hoped to die at the wheel when my work was done. But then the war came, commerce stopped, and my job was gone.

I had to seek another livelihood. So I became a silver miner in Nevada; next, a newspaper reporter; next, a gold miner, in California; next, a reporter in San Francisco; next, a special correspondent in the Sandwich Islands; next, a roving correspondent in Europe and the East; next, an instructional torch-bearer on the lecture platform; and, finally, I became a scribbler of books, and an immovable fixture among the other rocks of New England.

I had to find another way to make a living. So I became a silver miner in Nevada, then a newspaper reporter, then a gold miner in California. Next I was a reporter in San Francisco, then a special correspondent in the Sandwich Islands. After that, I became a traveling correspondent in Europe and the East. Next I took to the lecture platform, carrying the torch of knowledge. Finally, I became a scribbler of books and an immovable fixture among the other rocks of New England.

In so few words have I disposed of the twenty-one slow-drifting years that have come and gone since I last looked from the windows of a pilot-house.

In just a few words, I have covered the twenty-one slowly drifting years since I last looked out from a pilot-house.

Let us resume, now.

Let's continue now.