'--GOETHE.
SUCCESSFUL.--Terminating in accomplishing what is wished
or intended.'--WEBSTER'S _Dictionary_.
CHAPTER IV.
We go tack to look a little at the fortunes of the Meeker family.
Twenty-three years have passed since we introduced it to the reader, on
the occasion of Hiram's birth. Time has produced his usual tokens. Mr.
Meeker is already an old man of seventy, but by no means infirm. His
days have been cheerful and serene, and his countenance exhibits that
contented expression which a happy old age produces.
A happy old age--how few of the few who reach the period enjoy _that_!
Mr. Meeker's life has been unselfish and genuine; already he reaps his
reward.
Mrs. Meeker, too, is twenty-three years older than when we first made
her acquaintance. She is now over sixty. She still possesses her fair
proportions; indeed, she has grown somewhat stouter with advancing
years. Her face is sleek and comely, but the expression has not
improved. When she wishes to appear amiable, she greets you with the
same pleasing smile as ever; but if you watch her features as they
relapse into their natural repose, you will discover a discontented,
dissatisfied air, which has become habitual. Why? Mrs. Meeker has met
with no reverses or serious disappointments in the daily routine of her
life. But, alas! its sum total presents no satisfactory consequences.
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