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Chapter IV.
Men grow strong in action, but in solitudeTheir thoughts are ripened. Like one who cuts awayThe bridge on which he has walked in safetyTo the other side, so Moses cut off all retreatTo Pharaoh's throne, and did choose the callingMost hateful to an Egyptian; he becameA shepherd, and led his flocks and herds amidThe solitudes and wilds of Midian, where heNursed in silent loneliness his earnest faithIn God and a constant love for kindred, tribeAnd race. Years stole o'er him, but they tookNo atom from his strength, nor laid one heavy weightUpon his shoulders. The down upon his faceHad ripened to a heavy beard; the fireThat glowed within his youthful eye had deepenedTo a calm and steady light, and yet his heartWas just as faithful to his race as when he hadStood in Pharaoh's courts and bade farewellUnto his daughter.There was a look of patient waiting on his face,A calm, grand patience, like one who had liftedUp his eyes to God and seen, with meekened face,The wings of some great destiny o'ershadowingAll his life with strange and solemn glory.But the hour came when he must pass from thoughtTo action.—when the hope of many years
