Though my ceiling be not lofty , yet I can pile up the mountains of Central Asia beneath it till their summits shine far above the clouds of the middle atmosphere . And with my humble means -- a wealth that is not taxable -- I can transport hither the magnificent merchandise of an Oriental bazaar , and call a crowd of purchasers from distant countries to pay a fair profit for the precious articles which are displayed on all sides . True it is , however , that amid the bustle of traffic , or whatever else may seem to be going on around me , the raindrops will occasionally be heard to patter against my window-panes , which look forth upon one of the quietest streets in a New England town . After a time , too , the visions vanish , and will not appear again at my bidding . Then , it being nightfall , a gloomy sense of unreality depresses my spirits , and impels me to venture out before the clock shall strike bedtime to satisfy myself that the world is not entirely made up of such shadowy materials as have busied me throughout the day . A dreamer may dwell so long among fantasies that the things without him will seem as unreal as those within . When eve has fairly set in , therefore , I sally forth , tightly buttoning my shaggy overcoat and hoisting my umbrella , the silken dome of which immediately resounds with the heavy drumming of the invisible raindrops . Pausing on the lowest doorstep , I contrast the warmth and cheerfulness of my deserted fireside with the drear obscurity and chill discomfort into which I am about to plunge . Now come fearful auguries innumerable as the drops of rain . Did not my manhood cry shame upon me , I should turn back within-doors , resume my elbow-chair , my slippers and my book , pass such an evening of sluggish enjoyment as the day has been , and go to bed inglorious . The same shivering reluctance , no doubt , has quelled for a moment the adventurous spirit of many a traveller when his feet , which were destined to measure the earth around , were leaving their last tracks in the home-paths . In my own case poor human nature may be allowed a few misgivings . I look upward and discern no sky , not even an unfathomable void , but only a black , impenetrable nothingness , as though heaven and all its lights were blotted from the system of the universe . It is as if Nature were dead and the world had put on black and the clouds were weeping for her . With their tears upon my cheek I turn my eyes earthward , but find little consolation here below . A lamp is burning dimly at the distant corner , and throws just enough of light along the street to show , and exaggerate by so faintly showing , the perils and difficulties which beset my path . Yonder dingily-white remnant of a huge snowbank , which will yet cumber the sidewalk till the latter days of March , over or through that wintry waste must I stride onward . Beyond lies a certain Slough of Despond , a concoction of mud and liquid filth , ankle-deep , leg-deep , neck-deep -- in a word , of unknown bottom -- on which the lamplight does not even glimmer , but which I have occasionally watched in the gradual growth of its horrors from morn till nightfall . Should I flounder into its depths , farewell to upper earth ! And hark !
how roughly XXXXX the roaring of a stream the turbulent career of which is partially reddened by the gleam of the lamp , but elsewhere brawls noisily through the densest gloom !
appear cumber heard impels lies look quelled resounds throws vanish