He acquired the knack of winter fishing.
These Sundays were perhaps the most nearly perfect of any of the days of that winter.

In them the young man drew more directly face to face with the wilderness.

He called a truce with the enemy; and in return that great inscrutable power poured into his heart a portion of her grandeur.
His ambition grew; and, as always with him, his determination became the greater and the more secret.

In proportion as his ideas increased, he took greater pains to shut them in from expression.

For failure in great things would bring keener disappointment than failure in little.
He was getting just the experience and the knowledge he needed; but that was about all.