The Life of Robert Louis Stevenson for Boys and Girls

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  I read and longed to rise and roam,
  Where'er I went, what'er I willed,
  One promised land my fancy filled.
  Hence the long road my home I made;
  Tossed much in ships; have often laid
  Below the uncurtained sky my head,
  Rain-deluged and wind buffeted;
  And many a thousand miles I crossed,
  And corners turned--love's labor lost,
  Till, Lady, to your isle of sun
  I came, not hoping, and like one
  Snatched out of blindness, rubbed my eyes,
  And hailed my promised land with cries."


Once, while Louis was a discontented student at the University of
Edinburgh, the premier of New Zealand, Mr. Seed, spent an evening with