There have never been many adventurers. You can read stories about men called adventurers. But they were really businessmen. There was something they wanted----- a lady, or money, or a country, or honor. And so they got it. But a true adventurer is different. He starts without any special purpose. He is ready for anything he may meet. There have been many half-adventurers. And they were great men. History is rich with their stories. But each of them had a special purpose. They were not followers of true adventure. In the big city of New York, Romance and Adventure are always waiting. As we walk along the street, they are watching us. We look up suddenly and see a face in a window. The face seems to interest us strangely. Or in a quiet street, we hear a cry of fear and pain coming from a house where no one lives. A car takes us to a strange door, instead of to our own. The door opens and we are asked to enter. At every corner, eyes look toward us, or hands are raised, or fingers point. Adventure is offered. But few of us are ready to accept. We are ready to do only the things we do every day. We wish to do only the things that everyone else does. We move on; and some day we come to the end of a long quiet life. Then we begin to think. Then, when it is too late, we are sorry that we have never known true Romance and Adventure. When do most people wish that they had known romance and adventure?
When they are young. When it involves a beautiful lady or handsome man. When something interests them strangely. When they reach the end of a long quiet life.