My ideas of the aboriginal character led me to fear that the Indian would prefer his own solitary musings to the gay society thus offered him ; on the contrary , the girl 's proposal met with immediate acceptance , and seemed to animate him with a misty expectation of enjoyment . I now gave myself up to a course of thought which , whether it flowed naturally from this combination of events , or was drawn forth by a wayward fancy , caused my mind to thrill as if I were listening to deep music . I saw mankind , in this weary old age of the world , either enduring a sluggish existence amid the smoke and dust of cities , or , if they breathed a purer air , still lying down at night with no hope but to wear out to-morrow , and all the to-morrows which make up life , among the same dull scenes and in the same wretched toil that had darkened the sunshine of to-day . But there were some , full of the primeval instinct , who preserved the freshness of youth to their latest years by the continual excitement of new objects , new pursuits , and new associates ; and cared little , though their birthplace might have been here in New England , if the grave should close over them in Central Asia . Fate was summoning a parliament of these free spirits ; unconscious of the impulse which directed them to a common centre , they had come hither from far and near ; and last of all appeared the representative of those mighty vagrants , who had chased the deer during thousands of years , and were chasing it now in the Spirit Land . Wandering down through the waste of ages , the woods had vanished around his path ; his arm had lost somewhat of its strength , his foot of its fleetness , his mien of its wild regality , his heart and mind of their savage virtue and uncultured force ; but here , untamable to the routine of artificial life , roving now along the dusty road , as of old over the forest leaves , here was the Indian still . `` Well , '' said the old showman , in the midst of my meditations , `` here is an honest company of us , -- one , two , three , four , five , six , -- all going to the camp-meeting at Stamford . Now , hoping no offence , I should like to know where this young gentleman may be going ? '' I started . How came I among these wanderers ? The free mind , that preferred its own folly to another 's wisdom ; the open spirit , that found companions everywhere ; above all , the restless impulse , that had so often made me wretched in the midst of enjoyments : these were my claims to be of their society . `` My friends ! '' cried I , stepping into the centre of the wagon , `` I am going with you to the camp-meeting at Stamford . '' `` But in what capacity ? '' asked the old showman , after a moment 's silence . `` All of us here can get our bread in some creditable way . Every honest man should have his livelihood . You , sir , as I take it , are a mere strolling gentleman . '' I proceeded to inform the company , that , when Nature gave me a propensity to their way of life , she had not left me altogether destitute of qualifications for it ; though I could not deny that my talent was less respectable , and might be less profitable , than the meanest of theirs . My design , in short , was to imitate the storytellers of whom Oriental travellers have told us , and become an itinerant novelist , reciting my own extemporaneous fictions to such audiences as I could collect .
`` Either this , '' said I , `` is my vocation , or I have been born XXXXX vain . ''
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