Attempt > Volume 1 and Select writings

THE ATTEMPT
57
I was much alarmed at this, as the thought that I was obliged to follow the
rest had not occurred to me, so with a heavy heart I took the paper from my
guide, and began to toil onward. What an innumerable host did I see around
me of all ages, from the old man bent with years, to the laughing, happy child just
entering on his course! I quite forgot my own mission in watching the others,
many of whom had done likewise, and were enjoying the pleasure of the hour,
and rejoicing in the green fields and sunny sky. But again there were others whose
heart and soul appeared to he engaged in the search, and often enchanted with what
they found. The stones they gathered seemed to shine with great brilliancy, and quite
eclipsed some others I saw lying near, and unheeded. For a time these travellers
spoke of nothing, thought of nothing, hut the treasures they had found; hut after a
while I saw a look of disappointment steal over their countenances, and they began to
sneer at what they had once held as valuable, which I now saw was only glass. They
did not, however, throw them away; for whenever they seemed inclined to do so, a
terrible giant rose up before them, armed at all points, on whose forehead I read in
burning letters, “ The World’s Laugh.” Before him they cowered in the most abject
terror; and though he openly smiled upon and praised them, I saw a look of contempt
curl his proud lip.
A little farther on I came upon a fearful sight—a fiery furnace, in which
numbers of poor creatures were groaning and crying aloud. Some seemed utterly
prostrated by its fierceness, and incapable of uttering a cry for help, while others
bewailed bitterly their cruel fate, and complained of the injustice of their King in
punishing them more than they could bear. Some were just issuing forth, more or
less scorched, many bearing marks for life on their countenances, and a hardening
process appeared to have acted on a few. Others, again, wore a look of extreme sadness
and depression, and no longer took any interest in what passed around them; but, oh !
wonder of wonders, what an atmosphere of calm and peace hovered about a select
company, who, appearing again in the world, spread abroad the praises of their King,
who had brought them out of darkness into his marvellous light. Every one of these
held his touchstone in his hand, and rejoiced in the possession of the wonderful
diamond. To outward eyes it was not visible, but that it was a treasure real and
beyond price was not to be disputed, from the effect it produced on these happy ones.
Their humility was as conspicuous as their joy; for I noticed, that although they had
obtained the object of their search, the inestimable diamond, still they did not disdain
the other stones, after proving them, and now it was clearly visible to my eyes, that
the very ones I had seen despised by the multitude were those best worth having;