Page 1166 - les-miserables

but in his heart.
And then, on the day when his grandfather had turned
him out of doors, he had been only a child, now he was a
man. He felt it. Misery, we repeat, had been good for him.
Poverty in youth, when it succeeds, has this magnificent
property about it, that it turns the whole will towards effort,
and the whole soul towards aspiration. Poverty instantly
lays material life bare and renders it hideous; hence inex-
pressible bounds towards the ideal life. The wealthy young
man has a hundred coarse and brilliant distractions, horse
races, hunting, dogs, tobacco, gaming, good repasts, and all
the rest of it; occupations for the baser side of the soul, at
the expense of the loftier and more delicate sides. The poor
young man wins his bread with difficulty; he eats; when he
has eaten, he has nothing more but meditation. He goes to
the spectacles which God furnishes gratis; he gazes at the
sky, space, the stars, flowers, children, the humanity among
which he is suffering, the creation amid which he beams.
He gazes so much on humanity that he perceives its soul, he
gazes upon creation to such an extent that he beholds God.
He dreams, he feels himself great; he dreams on, and feels
himself tender. From the egotism of the man who suffers he
passes to the compassion of the man who meditates. An ad-
mirable sentiment breaks forth in him, forgetfulness of self
and pity for all. As he thinks of the innumerable enjoyments
which nature offers, gives, and lavishes to souls which stand
open, and refuses to souls that are closed, he comes to pity,
he the millionnaire of the mind, the millionnaire of mon-
ey. All hatred departs from his heart, in proportion as light

1166 Les Miserables