Footprints, that perhaps another, Sailing o'er life's solemn main, A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, Seeing, shall take heart again. Let us, then, be up and doing, With a heart for any fate; Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor and to wait. When he got to the verse Trust no future, howe'er pleasant! Let the dead Past bury its dead! Act--act in the living present! Heart within and God o'erhead. Robert now fully realized that he must trust to the future if he intended to live and continue to make a success and complete his discoveries and inventions. He read the last verse slowly and carefully: Let us, then, be up and doing, With a heart for any fate; Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor and to wait. This sounded much better to Robert. He was willing to learn to labor and wait and felt that if he waited there would be a reward, because Marie had promised him and he knew that Marie would keep her promise, and nothing could ever take from him that hope, that knowledge that Marie would keep her promise. Then he read another little poem: "The Spring of Love." A little sun, a little rain, A soft wind blowing from the West, And woods and fields are sweet again And warmth within the mountain's breast. A little love, a little trust, A soft impulse, a sudden dream, And life as dry as desert dust, Is fresher than a mountain stream. He knew that he had great love and great trust, and that that love, and the hope of Marie, would give him ambition and courage to continue on. It was now getting late and no news had come of Marie. Robert realized his birthday was passing and his hopes for the present were blasted. He read the poem, "Lead Kindly Light": Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom, Lead thou me on! The night is dark and I am far from home, Lead thou me on! Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see The distant scene--one step enough for me. I was not ever thus, nor prayed that thou Shouldst lead me on; I loved to see and choose my path, but now Lead thou me on! I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears, Pride ruled my will: remember not past years. So long thy power hath blessed me, sure it still Will lead me on; O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent till The night is gone; And with the morn those angel faces smile Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile. The last few lines of the final verse impressed him strongly. Robert felt that Marie was only lost for awhile and that on the coming morning he would meet the future with a smile, face it with hope, courage and determination and make some new plans; figure some other new way by which he might locate Marie or obtain some news of her whereabouts. Realizing more than ever that hope deferred maketh the heart grow sick, Robert read everything in the Bible that he could find on love. At last he read the song of Solomon.