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UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
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Cornell University Library
PS 1600.E83 V.6
Emerson's complete works.
3 1924 022 032 688
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CAYLORD
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€bition
CONDUCT OF BEING VOLUME
LIFE VI.
OF
EMERSON'S COMPLETE WORKS
THE
CONDUCT OF LIFE BY
RALPH WALDO EMERSON 'I
Beto anU
Eeijuieli
©Jitton
BOSTON HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY New York 11 East Seventeenth StWet die Bito^itie prerfsi, <!ram6ri&Be :
1895
V5
A.I 07 ^
(oO
Copyright, 1860,
By BAIPH WALDO BMEESON. Copjright^ 1883, and 1888,
By
,
EDWARD
All rights reserved.
r]i
r
,^^^^^"'
W. EMERSON.
CONTENTS. PAQE
OEAPTIS I.
II.
III.
Fate
7
Power
53
Wealth
83
IV. CULTUEE
125
V. Behavior VI.
Worship
VII. Considerations VIII.
161
Beauty
IX. Illusions
191
by the
Wat
....
231
265 291
; ;
I.
FATE.
Delicate omens traced
To
in air
the lone bard true witness bare
Birds with auguries on their wings
Chanted undeceiving things
Him
to beckon,
him
to
warn
Well might then the poet scorn
To
learn of scribe or courier
Hints writ in vaster character
And
on
his
mind, at dawn of day,
Soft shadows of the evening lay.
For the prevision
Unto the thing
Or
is allied
so signified
;
say, the foresight that awaits
Is the
same Genius that
creates.
;
FATE. It chanced during one winter a few years ago,
on discussing the theory
that our cities were bent
By an odd
of the
Age.
noted
men were
Boston or
citizens of
the Times.
coincidence, four or five
each reading a discourse to the
New
York, on the Spirit of
It so happened that the subject
had
the same prominence in some remarkable pamphlets
and journals issued
season.
To me however
London
in
in the
same
the question of the times
resolved itself into a practical question of the con-
duct of
How
life.
shaff I aive ?
petent to solve th e times.
We
are incom-
Our geometry cannot
span the huge orbits of the prevailing ideas, behold their return and reconcile their opposition.
We can only obey our own polarity.
'T is fine for if
we must
steps to gain our wishes
we come
us to~speculate and elect our course, accept an
In our
irresistible dictation. first
upon immovable
limitations.
the hope to reform men.
we
find that
we
But the boys and nothing of them.
We
After
are fired with
many
must begin earlier, girls are
not docile
We decide
;
experiments
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
at school.
we can make
that they are not of
CONDUCT OF
10 good
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
LIFE.
We must begin our reform earlier
stock.
still,
at generation: that is to say there is Fate, or
laws of the world.
--"But
there be irresistible dictation, this dicta-
if
we
are not less
we must
If
tion understands itself.
accept Fate,
compelled to affirm liberty, the
sig-
nificance of the individual, the grandeur of duty,
the power of character.
This
true,
is
and that
But our geometry cannot span these extreme points and reconcile them. What to do? TBy obeying each thought frankly, by harping, or, if you wiU, pounding on each string, we learn at last its power. By the same obedience to other thoughts we learn theirs, and then comes some reasonable j
other
is true.
'
hope of harmonizing them.
though we
]^ow
We
are
a^yft
tji^s^t.
not how, necessity doe s fQUjjTgrt
with liberty, the individual with the world,_my__ÂŁ0larity with the spirit of the times.
The
the age has for each a private solution.
would study
method topics
his
of taking
own up
time,
riddle of
If one
must be by
it
which belong to our scheme of human
and by firmly stating rience on one,
this
in turn each of the leading
all that is
life,
agreeable to expe-
and doing the same
justice to the op-
posing facts in the others, the true limitations will appear.
Any excess
of emphasis
on one part would
be corrected, and a just balance would be made.
But
let
us honestly state the facts.
Our Amer-
:
FATE. ica
has a bad
name
11
for superfieialness.
Great men,
great nations, have not been boasters and buffoons,
but perceivers of
the terror of
manned themselves
to face
and have
life,
The Spartan, em-
it.
bodying his religion in his country, dies before
its
The Turk, who bedoom is written on the iron leaf iu the moment when he entered the world, rushes on the enemy's sabre with undivided will. The Turk, the
majesty without a question. lieves his
Arab, the Persian, accepts the foreordained fate "
On two The
On
the
Nor
days,
it
steads not to run from thy grave,
appointed, and the unappoiated day first,
thee,
neither
;
halm nor physician can
save,
on the second, the Universe slay."
The Hindoo under
the wheel,
vinists in the last generation
is
Our
as firm.
had something
Cal-
of the
They felt that the weight of the Universe held them down to their place. What could they do ? Wise men feel that there is somesame dignity.
thing which cannot be talked or voted away, strap or belt which girds the world
:
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;a
" The Destiny, minister general,
That exeouteth
in the
world o'er
all.
The purveyance which God hath seen befome. So strong it is, that though the world had sworn The contrary of a thing by yea or nay, Yet sometime it shall fallen on a day That
falleth not oft in a thousand year
For, certainly, our appetites here,
;
CONDUCT OF
12 Be
it
LIFE.
of war, or peace, or hate, or love,
AH this is
ruled hy the sight above."
Chaucek
:
The Knighte's Tale.
The Greek Tragedy expressed the same " Whatever
is
sense.
The
fated, that will take place.
great immense mind of Jove
is
not to be trans-
gressed."
Savages cling to a local god of one tribe or town.
The broad
ethics of Jesus
which preach an election or
to village theologies,
And now and
favoritism. like
Jung
were quickly narrowed then an amiable parson,
Robert Huntington, believes
Stilling or
in a pistareen - Providence, which, whenever the
good man wants a dinner, makes that somebody shall
knock
But Nature or
no
sentimentalist,
us.
We
surly,
anS
pamper
rough and
and leave a
at his door is
half-dollar.
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; does not
cosset
must see that the world will
is
notmnd drowning a man
or a woman, but swallows your ship like a grain of dust.
The
cold, inconsiderate of persons, tingles
your blood, benumbs your
an apple. The ity,
lightning, respect
Providence spider, the
is
a
feet, freezes
a
man
like
diseases, the elements, fortune, grav-
little
no persons.
rude.
The
The way
of
habit of snake and
anap of the tiger and other leapers and
bloody jumpers, the crackle of the bones of his prey in the coil of the anaconda,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; these are
tem, and our habits are like theirs.
in the sys-
You
have
FATE. just dined,
house there
13
and however scrupulously the slaughter-
concealed in the graceful distance of miles,
is
complicity, expensive races,
is
at the expense of race.
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; race
The planet
living
is liable to
shocks from comets, perturbations from planets,
rendings from earthquake and volcano, alterations of climate, precessions of equinoxes.
by opening of the forest. The Towns and coimties fall into earthquake killed
men
Rivers dry up
sea changes it.
like flies.
its
bed.
At Lisbon an At Naples three
years ago ten thousand persons were crushed in a
few minutes.
The scurvy
at sea, the
sword of the
climate in the west of Africa, at Cayenne, at Pan-
New
ama, at
Our western The cholera, tal to
some
having
men
like a massacre.
prairie shakes with fever
and ague.
the small-pox, have proved as mor-
tribes as a frost to the crickets, which,
filled
by a faU.
Orleans, cut off
the
summer with
noise, are silenced
of the temperature of one night.
Without
uncovering what does not concern us, or counting
how many species
of parasites
hang on a bombyx, or
groping after intestinal parasites or infusory
biters,
or the obscurities of alternate generation,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the
forms of the shark, the lahrus, the jaw of the seawolf paved with crushing teeth, the weapons of the
grampus, and other warriors hidden in the
sea, are
hints of ferocity in the ijateriors of nature.
Let us
not deny
it
up and down.
Providence has a wild,
;
CONDUCT OF
14
LIFE.
and
end,
it is
of
no
rough, incalculable road to
its
use to try to whitewash
huge, mixed instrumen-
or to dress
talities,
its
up that
terrific
benefactor in
a clean shirt and white neckcloth of a student in dijiiiity.
Will you
;
say, the disasters
which threaten man-
kind are exceptional, and one need not lay his ac-
j
!
count for cataclysms every day
;
happens once
\
these strokes are not to be parried
may happen
Aye, but what
?
and
again,
so long as
by us they must
ibe feared.
But
these shocks
and ruins are
less destructive
power of other laws which expense of ends to means is
to us than the stealthy
An
act on us daily. fate
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; organization
;
The menagerie, is
tyrannizing over character.
or forms
a book of fate
;
and powers of the
the snake, determines tyrannically is
spine,
the biU. of the bird, the skull of its limits.
the scale of races, of temperaments
;
So
so is sex
so is climate ; so is the reaction of talents imprison-
ing the vital power in certain directions. spirit
makes
its
house
;
Every
but afterwards the house
confines the spirit.
The
man
is
gross lines are legible to the dull
;
the cab-
phrenologist so far, he looks in your face to
see if his shilling is sure.
one thing, a
A dome of brow denotes
pot-belly another
nose, mats of hair, the
a squint, a pugpigment of the epidermis, ;
FATE.
People seem sheathed in their
betray character.
Ask Spurzheim,
tough organization. tors,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; or
ask Quetelet if
15
~r
if
ask the doc-
temperaments decide nothing ?
there be anything they do not decide?
Bead the
description in medical books of the four
temperaments and you will think you are reading your own thoughts which you had not yet
told.
Find the part which black eyes and which blue
How
eyes play severally in the company.
man
shall
a~
escape from his ancestors, or draw off from
his veins the black drop which he father's or his mother's life ?
family as
if all
drew from
his
It often appears in a
the qualities of the progenitors were
potted in several jars,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; some ruling quality
son or daughter of the house
;
in each
and sometimes the j
unmixed temperament, the rank unmitigated elixir, the family vice, is drawn off in a separate individual and the others are proportionally relieved,
We
sometimes see a change of expression in our
companion and say to the
windows of
relative.
his father or his
his eyes,
mother comes
and sometimes a remote
In different hours a man represents each
of several of his ancestors, as
if
there were seven
or eight of us roUed up in each man's skin, or eight ancestors at least
;
the variety of notes for that
which his
life is.
At
and they
new
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; seven
constitute
piece of music
the corner of the street you
read the possibility of each passenger in the facial
|
1
j
CONDUCT OF
16
LIFE.
angle, in the complexion, in the depth of his eye.
His parentage determines
Men
it.
You may
mothers made them.
which weaves huckaback why cashmere, as expect poetry from
are what their
as
weU ask a loom
it
does not make
this engineer, or a
chemical discovery from that jobber.
Ask
ger in the ditch to explain Newton's laws
;
the dig. the fine
organs of his brain have been pinched by overwork
and squalid poverty from father to son for a hun> When each comes forth from his dred years. mother's
womb,
Let him value pair.
the gate of gifts closes behind him.
hands and
his
So he has but one
feet,
future,
he has but one
and that
is
predetermined in his lobes and described little
fatty face, pig-eye,
privilege
and
all
and squat form.
already in that
AU
the
the legislation of the world can-
not meddle or help to
make a poet
or a prince of
him.
When
he looketh on her, he hath
committed adultery." I
But he is an adulterer bewoman, by the super-
I
Jesus said, "
Ifore he has yet looked on the jfluity of
animal and the defect of thought in his
Who
I constitution. .;
meets him, or who meets her,
in the street, sees that they are ripe to
be each
Lother's victim.
In certain force,
60
men digestion and
and the stronger these
much weaker.
The more
sex absorb the vital
are, the individual is
of these drones perish,
FATE.
17
I fi later^ the y give birth some superior individual, with force enough to
the better for the hive. to
add
to this animal
paratus to work
it
a iiew~ailn and a complete apout, all the ancestors are gladly
Most men and most women are merely one couple more. Now and then one has a new forgotten.
cell or
camarilla opened in his brain,
tectural,
— an
a musical, or a philological knack
archi-
;
some
stray taste or talent for flowers, or chemistry, or
pigments, or story-teUing ; a good hand for drawing,
a good foot for dancing, an
wide journeying, &c.
rank in the time
;
the
scale of nature,
life
a succession,
frame for
skiU nowise alters
but serves to pass the
and tendencies are
^ach
At
fixed in one or
much food and a new ^cen^re. The new
absgrl^ so
force as to beeoEae. itself
talent draws
athletic
of sensation going on as before.
last these hints
in
— which
off so rapidly
the vital force that not
enough remains for the animal fimctions, hardly enough for health; so that in the second generation, if the like
deteriorated
genius appear, the health
is
visibly
and the generative force impaired.
People are born with the moral or with the material bias
destination
— uterine brothers
;
;
with this diverging
and I suppose, with high magnifiers,
Mr. Frauenhofer or Dr. Carpenter might come
to
distinguish in the embryo, at the fourth day,—' this is
a Whig, and that a Free-soiler.
CONDUCT OF
18
LIFE. this
mountain
of Fate, to reconcile this despotism of
race with
It
was a poetic attempt to
lift
which led the Hindoos to say, " Fate is nothing but the deeds committed in a prior state
liberty,
of existence."
I find the coincidence of the ex-
tremes of Eastern and Western speculation in the daring statement of Schelling, " There is ia every
man a
certain feeling that he has been
from aU in time."
say
it
tory of the individual condition,
is
and by no means became such
eternity,
To
what he
less^ sublimely, is
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
in the his-
always an account oL his
and he knows himself
to
be a party to
is
physiological.
his present estate.
A
good deal of our
Now and
then a
man
politics
of wealth in the heyday of
youth adopts the tenet of broadest freedom.
England there
is
always some
man
In
of wealth and
large connection, planting himself, during all his
years
of health,
on the side of progress, who,
as soon as he begins to die, checks his forward play, calls in his troops
and becomes
conservative.
All conservatives are such from personal defects.
They have been effeminated by position or nature, bom halt and blind, through luxury of their parents, and can only, like invalids, act on the defensive. But strong natures, backwoodsmen. New Hampshire giants. Napoleons, Burkes, Broughams, Websters, Kossuths, are inevitable patriots, untU
FATE.
19
their life ebbs and their defects and gout, palsy and money, warp them.
The and
strongest idea incarnates itself in majorities
nations, in the healthiest
and
X
Prob-
strongest.
ably the election goes by aYoirdupois weight, and if
you could weigh bodily the tonnage of any hun-
dred of the "Whig and the Democratic party in a
town on the Dearborn balance, as they passed the hay-scales,
you could predict with certainty which
party would carry
On
it.
way
rather the speediest
the whole
would be
it
of deciding the vote, to
put the selectmen or the mayor and aldermen at the hay-scales.
In science we have to consider two
things;
AU we know of
the egg,
power and circumstance.
from each successive discovery,
and
if,
after five
is,
another vesicle;
hundred years you get a better
observer or a better glass, he finds, within the last observed, another. sue or
it is
just alike,
spasm operates
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; but
the
In vegetable and animal
and is
tis-
that the primary
power
still vesicles, vesicles.
Yes,
all
tyrannical Circumstance!
A
vesicle
new circumstances, a vesicle lodged in darkness, Oken thought, became animal; in light, a plant. Lodged in the parent animal, it suffers in
changes which end in unsheathing miraculous capability in the unaltered vesicle, itself
to fish, bird, or quadruped,
and
it
imlocks
head and
foot,
y
20
CONDUCT OF
eye and claw.
The_^irc3imsta^Js^^afcure^
turejs what you
may
LIFE.
There
do.
is
^^
much you
ma^
—
the circiimstancgjj^d^ Qpt._We have two things, the life. Once we thought positive power was all. Now we learn that negative power, or circum-
Nature
stance, is half. stance, the
the tyrannous circvun^
is
thick skull, the sheathed snake, the
ponderous, rock-like jaw violent direction
;
necessitated
;
the conditions of a
ac tivity
£
the
toalj^ like
locomotive, strong enough on its track, but which
can do nothing but mischief
which are wings on the
off of
ice
it
;
or skates,
but fetters on the
ground.
The book
of Nature
is
turns the gigantic pages, re-turning one.
One
the book of Fate.
—
leaf after leaf,
leaf she lays
of granite; then a thousand ages, slate
;
She
— never
down, a
floor
and a bed
of
a thousand ages, and a measure of coal ; a
thousand ages, and a layer of marl and etable forms appear
;
her
zoophyte, trilobium, fish
first ;
mud
:
veg-
misshapen animals,
then,
saurians,
— rude
forms, in which she has only blocked her future statue, concealing
under these unwieldly monsters
the fine type of her coming king.
The
face of the
and dries, the races meliorate, and But when a race has lived its term, comes no more again.
planet cools
man it
is
bom.
The population
of the world is a conditional
PATE.
21
population; not the best, but the best that could live
now
;
and the
and the
scale of tribes,
steadi-
ness with which victory adheres to one tribe and defeat to another, tion of strata.
belongs to race.
is
as uniform as the superposi-
We know in history what weight We see the English, French, and
Germans planting themselves on every shore and market of America and Australia, and monopolizing the commerce of these countries. We like the nervous and victorious habit of our own branch of the family. We foUow the step of the Jew, of the Indian, of the Negro. We see how much win has been expended to extinguish the Jew, in vain. Look at the unpalatable conclusions of Knox, in his " Fragment of Eaces " a rash and ;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
unsatisfactory writer, but
charged with pungent
and unforgetable
"Nature respects
truths.
and not hybrids." itat."
" Every race has
own
" Detach a colony from the race, and
teriorates to the crab."
picture.
its
race,
habde-
it
See the shades of the
The German and
Irish
millions, like
the Negro, have a great deal of guano in their destiny.
They
are ferried over the Atlantic
and
carted over America, to ditch and to drudge, to
make corn cheap and then to lie down prematurely to make a spot of green grass on the prairie. One more fagot of these adamantine bandages is the new science of Statistics. It is a rule that
CONDUCT OF
22
LIFE.
the most casual .and. extraordinary events, ifjhe
become jit-
basis of popidation is broad enough,
It would not be safe to
ter of fixed caicuiation.
say
when a
captain like Bonaparte, a singer like
Jenny Lind, or a navigator be born in Boston
;
like
Bowditch would
but, on a population of twenty
or two hundred millions, something like accuracy
may be 'T
is
had.^ frivolous to fix pedantically the date of par-
They have
ticular inventions.
over and over fifty times.
been invented
all
Man
the arch ma-
is
chine of which all these shifts drawn from himself
He
are toy models.
helps himseH on each emer-
gency by copying or duplicating his own just so far as the
right
need
is.
Homer, Zoroaster, or Menu
find the
;
harder
Copernicus, or Fust, or Fulton
;
if it
'
or
the indisputable
There are scores and centuries of them. is full
of
men."
This kind of talent
abounds, this constructive tool-making as
still to
Tubal Cain, or Vulcan, or Cadmus,
inventor.
" The air
structure,
'T is hard to find the
adhered to the chemic atoms
" Everytliing which pertains to the
;
as
human
so
efficiency, if
the
air
species, con-
sidered as a whole, belongs to the order of physical facts.
The greater the number
of individuals, the
influence of the individual
more does
the
wiU disappear, leaving predomi-
nance to a series of general facts dependent on causes by
which society
esists,
and
is
preserved."
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Quetelet.
;
FATE.
23
he breathes were made of Vaucansons, Franklins,
and Watts. Doubtless in every million there wilt be an astronomer, a mathematician, a comic poet, a mystic.
No
one can read the history of astronomy without
perceiving that Copernicus, Newton, Laplace, are
not
new men,
or a
new kind
of
men, but that
Thales, Anaximenes, Hipparchus, Empedocles, Ar-
had anticipated them ; each had the same tense geometrical brain, istarchus, Pythagoras, CEnipodes,
apt for the same vigorous computation and logic
a mind parallel to the movement of the world.
The Roman mile probably rested on a measure of a degree of the meridian. Mahometan and Chinese know what we know of leap-year, of the Gregorian 'Jendar, and of the precession of the equinoxes.
As
in every barrel of cowries brought to
New
ford there shall be one orangia, so there
Bed-
will, in
a
dozen millions of Malays and Mahometans, be one or two astronomical skulls.
In a large
city,
most casual things, and things whose beauty their casualty, are
order as
,the
produced as punctually and to
baker's muffin for breakfast.
makes exactly one
the
lies in
capital joke a
Punch
week; and the
journals contrive to furnish one good piece of
news
every day.
And
not less work the laws of repression, the
penalties of violated functions.
Famine, typhus.
CONDUCT OF
24
and
frost, war, suicide
LIFE.
effete races
must be
reck-
oned calculable parts of the system of the world. -^""THiese are pebbles from the mouutaia, hints of
by which our
the terms
life is
walled up, and which
show a kind of mechanical exactness, as of a loom or null, in what
The
we
call casual or fortuitous events.
force with which
we
resist these torrents of
tendency looks so ridiculously inadequate that
amounts to
little
more than a
made by a minority
it
criticism or a protest
of one, under compulsion of
millions.
I seemed in the height of a tempest to
men
overboard struggling in the waves, and
see
They glanced
driven about here and there. ligently at each other, but
for one another
;
't
't
was
was much
little
if
intel-
they could do
each could keep
afloat alone.
Well, they had a right to their eye-
beams, and
the rest was Fate.
all
We cannot trifle
with this
reality, this cropping-
out in our planted gardens of the core of the world.
No
picture of life can have any veracity that does
not admit the odious facts.
A
man's power
is
hooped in by a necessity which, by many experiments, he touches on every side until he learns
its
arc.
The element running through entire nature, which we popularly call Fate, is known to us as limitation.
Whatever
limits us
weeaJUEate.
If
FATE.
25
we
are brute and barbarous, the fate takes a brute and dreadful shape. As we refine, our checks
become
If
finer.
we
rise to spiritual culture, the
In the Hindoo
antagonism takes a spiritual form. fables,
Vishnu follows Maya through
her ascend-
all
ing changes, from insect and crawfish up to
phant
;
ele-
whatever form she took, he took the male
form of that kind, untU she became
at last
and goddess, and he a man and a god.
woman
The
lim-
itations refine as the soul purifies, but the ring of
necessity_is_always perched at t^jfcop.
"When the gods of mountains,
Norse heaven were unable
in the
to bind the Fenris
Wolf with
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the one
steel or
with weight
he snapped and the other
he spurned with his heel,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; they put round
a limp band softer than
silk or
his foot
cobweb, and this
him the more he spumed it the stiffer it drew. So soft and so stanch is the ring of Fate.
held
;
Neither brandy, nor nectar, nor sulphuric ether,
nor heU-fixe, nor ichor, nor poetry, nor genius, can get rid of this limp band.
For
if
high sense in which the poets use itself is
not above Fate
ing to eternal laws, and tastic in
it
is
in
;
we give
it,
it
the
even thought)^
that too must act accordall
that
opposition to
is
wilful
its
and
fan-
fundamental
essence.
And
last of all,
high over thought, in the world >C
of morals. Fate appears as vindicator, levelling the
;
CONDUCT OF
26 high,
striking soon or late
and always
wiU
What is "The
Greeks
when
useful will last
not done. ful
low, requiring justice in man,
the
lifting
LIFE.
;
is
is
hurt-
doer must suffer," said the
sink.
soothed."
justice
what
;
" you would soothe a Deity not to be " God himself cannot procure good for
Welsh
the wicked," said the
"
triad.
God may
consent, hut only for a time," said the bard of
Spain.
The
sight of
man.
limitation
insight itself
In
is
its last
impassable by any
and
in-
loftiest ascensions,
and the freedom of the will is one members. But we must not run
of its obedient
into generalizations too large, but
ural bounds
do
in matter, mind,
in race, in retardations of strata,
and character as limits,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
It
well.
But Fate has
limitation.
different
is
is
to
is
immense, so
its
and in thought
lord; limitation
is
Power, which
We
but there
and what
Forjbhough i_s
the other
If Fate follows
Power, PoweT attends and antagonizes
limits
Fate.
its
seen from above and from
fact in the dual world,, immense.
and
and morals
everywhere bound or
below, from within and from without.
Fate /
nat-
and seek
justice to the other elements as well.
Thus we trace Fate
-^
show the
or essential distinctions,
is
must respect Fate more than natural
is this criticism
as natural history, history.
For who
that pries iuto the
mat
— FATE.
Man
ter? belly
27
not order of nature, sack and sack,
is
and members, link
in a chain, nor
any igno-
minious baggage ; but a stupendous antagonism, a
dragging together of the poles of the Universe. betrays his relation to what skulled, small-brained, fishy,
is
ruped
below him,
—
He
thick-
quadrumanous, quad-
hardly escaped into biped,
ill-disguised,
and fashions
new powers by loss of some of But the lightning which explodes planets, maker of planets and suns, is
On
one side elemental order, sandstone
and has paid the old ones.
in him.
and
for the
granite, rock-ledges, peat-bog, forest, sea
shore
;
and on the other part thought, the
which composes and
decomposes nature,
and
spirit
— here
they are, side by side, god and devil, mind and matter, king and conspirator, belt and spasm, rid-
ing peacefully together in the eye and brain of
every man.
N^can^e contradiction,
please to say.
Fate
blink the fj,e„ejdll.
— freedom
is all
;
the
of choosing
nuls Fate.
If
then we say, a part of Fate
freedom of man.
And
To hazard
necessary.^
you X plant yourself on the side of Fate, and is
is
the
Forever wells _U£^^^. impulse
and acting
So far
though nothing
in the soul.
as a is
man
Intellect an-
thinks, he is free.
more, disgusting than the
crowing about liberty by
slaves, as
most
men
are,
and the flippant mistaking for freedom of some
^
CONDUCT OF
28
LIFE.
paper preamble like a " Declaration of Indepen-
dence" or the statute right
who have never dared wholesome to
man
to
by
vote,
to think or to act,
those
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; yet
it is
to look not at Fate, but the
other way: the practical view
is
His
the other.
sound relation to these facts is to use and command, not to cringe to them. " Look not on Nature, for her
name
said the oracle.
is fatal,"
The
too
much
contemplation of these limits induces meanness.
They who
talk
much
of destiny, their birth-star,
&e., are in a lower dangerous
plane,
and
invite
the evils they fear. I cited the instinctive and heroic races as proud believers in
Destiny.
loving resignation
is
They
conspire with
with the event.
it;
But
a
the
dogma makes a different impression when it is 'Tis weak and viheld by the weak and lazy. cious people who cast the blame on Fate. The up our conduct to the Rude and invincible except loftiness of nature. by themselves are the elements. So let man be. Let him empty his breast of his windy conceits, and show his lordship by manners and deeds on the scale of nature. Let him hold his purpose as right use of Fate
is
to bring
with the tug of gravitation.
No
make him
power, no per-
suasion,
no bribe
A
ought to compare advantageously with a
man
river,
sliall
an oak, or a mountain.
give
He
up
shall
his point.
have not
FATE.
29
the flow, the expansion, and the resistance of
less
these.
'T
is
the best use of Fate to teach a fatal cour-
Go
age.
face the fire at sea, or the cholera in
your friend's house, or the burglar in your own, or what danger lies in the
way
of duty,
you^are guarded by the cherubim
you believe in Fate least for
For of
it,
if
of^
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; knowing
Destiny. ^__^If
harm, believe
to your
it
at
your good. Fate
is
man
also is part
fate with fate.
If the Uni-
so prevailing,
and can confront
verse have these savage accidents, our atoms are as savage in resistance.
"We should be crushed
by the atmosphere, but for the reaction of the within the body.
can
A
tube
made
shock of the ocean
resist the
same water.
If
stroke, there is
omnipotence of
1.
with the
if filled
there be omnipotence
But Fate against Fate
air
of a fihn of glass
in
the
recoil.
is
only parrying and
defence: there are also the noble creative forces.
The
revelation of
Thought takes man out qf
tude into freedom.
"We rightly say of
ourselves,
we were born and afterward we were born '
servi-
again,
and many times. so
"We have successive experiences important that the new forgets the old, and
hence the mythology of the seven or the nine heavens.
The day
of days, the great
of life, is that in
day of the
feast
which the inward eye opens to
;
CONDUCT OF
30
LIFE.
the Unity in tilings, to the omnipresence of law
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
sees that
what
on us and we are in
is
must be and ought to
be, or is
This beatitude dips from on high down
the best.
It is not in us so
see.
much
we
as
If the air come to our lungs, we breathe
it.
If the light come to our if not, we die. we see else not. And if truth come to our nuind we suddenly expand to its dimensions, as if we grew to worlds. We are as lawgivers; we speak for Nature we prophesy and divine.
and
live
;
eyes,
;
;
This insight throws us on the party and interest of the Universe, against all
much
ourselves as
and sundry
A
as others.
man
from insight affirms of himself what
mind seeing :
seeing
tal
;
It
is
its
its invincibility,
are in
is
made.
maker, not of what
touched and changed by
who
it.
speaking
am am
immorstrong.
It is of the
All things are
This uses and
it.
is
not
who share it from those Those who share it not are
It distances those
used.
share
flocks
he says, I
we
against
true of the
is
immortality, he says, I
not in us, but
;
it
not.
and herds.
former
men
It dates
from
itself
;
not from
or better men, gospel, or constitution,
or college, or custom.
Where
it
shines,
Nature
is
make a musical The world of men show
/no longer intrusive, but all things or pictorial impression. like ests,
a comedy without laughter populations, :
government, history
;
't is
aU toy
inter-
figures in a
;
FATE. toy house.
We
It does not ovei. value particular truths.
hear eagerly every thought and word quoted
from an
intellectual
own mind fast
81
what he
play of our his.
'T
is
But
man.
in his presence our
we
roused to activity, and
is
says,
much more
forget very
new
interested in the
own thought than
any thought of
in
we have suddenly
the majesty into which
mounted, the impersonality, the scorn of egotisms,
Once we were way and a little that way
the sphere of laws, that engage us.
stepping a
little this
now we are as men in a balloon, and do not think so much of the point we have left, or the point we would make, as of the
liberty
and glory of the
way.
Just as
much
intellect as
ganic power.
He who
sides over
and must
We sit will
it,
and
come
rule,
sees
you add, so much
will that
and, though we
Our
to pass.
or-
through the design, pre-
which must sleep,
be.
our dream
thought, though
it
were
only an hour old, affirms an oldest necessity, not to
be separated from thought, and not to be separated
from
will.
They must always have
apprises us of
its
from
it.
thine, but the will of all mind.
tutes is
all
It is not It is
mine or
poured into
men, as the soul itseK which
them men.
alleged, in the
It
sovereignty and godhead, which
refuse to be severed
the souls of
coexisted.
I
know not whether
consti-
there be, as
upper region of our atmosphere, a
CONDUCT OF
32
LIFE.
permanent westerly current which carries with it all atoms which rise to that height, but I see that
when
souls reach
a certain clearness of perception
they accept a knowledge and motive above
A
ness.
selfish-
breath of wiU blows eternally through
the universe of souls in the direction of the Eight
and Necessary.
It is the air
inhale and exhale, and
it is
which
all
intellects
the wind which blows
the worlds into order and orbit.
Thought
dissolves the material universe
rying the mind up into a sphere where tic.
Of two men, each obeying
he whose thought character.
his
by
car-
all is plas-
own
thought,
deepest will be the strongest
is
Always one man more than another
represents the will of Divine Providence to the period.
thought makes free, so does the moral
sen-
The mixtures of spiritual chemistry be analyzed. Yet we can see that with
the
2. If
timent. fuse to
perception of truth prevail over,
;
is
joined the desire that
that affection
when a strong
is
essential to will.
re-
it shall
More-
will appears, it usually results
from a certain unity of organization, as
if
the whole
energy of body and mind flowed in one direction. All great force is real and elemental. There is no manufacturing a strong wiU. There must be a pound to balance a pound. Where power is shown in will,
it
must
rest
on the universal
force.
Alario
FATE.
33
and Bonaparte must believe they
on a truth,
rest
There
or their will can be bought or bent.
is
a
bribe possible for any finite will.
But the pure
sympathy with universal ends
infinite force,
an
is
and cannot be bribed or bent.
Whoever
has had
e xperienc e of the moral sentiment cannot choose biit ^believe in jinUmited po\rer7~ 'TESSnpulse
that heart
is
from
an oath from the Most High. I know
not what the word sublime means,
be not the
if it
A
intimations, in this infant, of a terrific force. text of heroism, a
name and anecdote
of courage,
One
are not arguments but sallies of freedom. these
is
ten on the gate of Heaven, fers himself to
'Woe unto him who
be betrayed by Fate
reading of history
make us
!
fatalists ?
'
"
whim
suf-
Does the
What
age does not the opposite opinion show tle
of
the verse of the Persian Hafiz, " 'T is writ-
!
cour-
A
lit-
of will to be free gallantly contending
against the universe of chemistry.
But
insight
is
Perception
is
As Voltaire
said,
not
cold, 't is
will,
nor
is
affection wUl.
and goodness dies in wishes. the misfortune of worthy peo-
ple that they are cowards
;
"
un
des plus grands
malheurs des honnStes gens c'est qu'ils sont des Idches."
There must be a fusion of these two to J)
generate the energy of wiU.
There can be no
driving force except through the conversion of the
man
into his will,
making him the
will,
and the
CONDUCT OF
34 will
And
Mm.
may
one
LIFE.
say boldly that no
has a right perception of any truth
beea reacted on by
it
so as to
man
who has
not
be ready to be
its
martyr.
\
The one
and formidable thing in nature is a will. Society is servile from want of will, and therefore the world wants saviours and religions.
One way
serious
is
right to go; the hero sees
it,
and
moves on that aim, and has the world under him
and support.
for root
He is
His approbation is honor
;
to others as the world.
The
his dissent, infamy.
A
glance of his eye has the force of sunbeams. personal influence towers up in thy,
only wor-
and we gladly forget numbers, money,
gravitation,
We
H.
memory
know
and the
climate,
rest of Fate.
can afford to allow the limitation, it
the meter of the growing man.
is
we
if
We
stand against Fate, as children stand up against the wall in their father's house and notch their height
from year man, and
to year.
is
But when the boy grows
wall and builds a
new and
question of time.
Every brave youth
make weapons and wings
retarding forces. things, fate
Now
'Tis only a
bigger.
ing to ride and rule this dragon. to
to
master of the house, he pulls down that
is
in train-
His science
is
of these passions and
whether, seeing these two
and power, we are permitted
to believe
FATE.
35
in unity?
Tlia_iu^_ofjnankind J^eligx.eJ?i^wo They are under one dominion here in the house, as friend and parent, in social circles, in
gods.
_
letters, in art, in love, in religion ics,
and
in dealing with steam
polities,
;
but in mechan-
climate, in trade, in
they think they come under another
;
and
would be a practical blunder to transfer the method and way of working of one sphere into
that
it
"What good, honest, generous men at
the other.
home, will be wolves and foxes on 'Change! pious
men
in the parlor will vote for
bates at the polls themselves_ttie
To a
!
ca;re
What
what repro-
certain point, the y believe
of a Providence.
.Bjrfc^jn^a
steamboat,^ in an epidemic, in war, they; _^^a^gEg a
malignant energy
But
relation
rules.
and connection are not somewhere
and sometimes, but everywhere and always.
The
divine order does not stop where their sight stops.
The
friendly power works on the
same rules in the
But where they it and hurt
next farm' and the next planet.
have not experience they run against themselves.
Fate then
passed under the
fire of
is
a name for facts not yet
thought
;
for causes which
are unpenetrated.
Rit every minate us force.
is
Fate
jet o f
chaos which ^threaten s to exter-
convertible is
by
intellect into jj^hol^ome
unpenetrated causes.
drowns ship and
sailor like
a grain of
The water dust. But
CONDUCT OF
36
LIFE.
and the wave which drowned it will be cloven by it and carry it like The cold is its own foam, a plume and a power.
learn to swim, trim your bark,
inconsiderate of persons, tingles your blood, freezes
a
man
But learn
like a dew-drop.
the ice will give you
The
motion.
to skate, and
and
a graceful, sweet,
poetic
cold will brace your limbs and brain
and make you foremost men of
time.
Cold and sea wiU train an imperial Saxon
race,
to genius,
which nature cannot bear to it
up for a thousand years
lose,
and
after cooping
in yonder England, gives
a hundred Englands, a hundred Mexicos. bloods
it
shall absorb
and domineer
All the
and more
:
than Mexicos, the secrets of water and steam, the
spasms of
electricity,
the ductility of metals, the
chariot, of the air, the
ruddered balloon are
await-
ing you.
The annual that of
war
The plague by lemon
;
slaughter from typhus far exceeds
but right drainage destroys typhus.
in the sea-service
juice
and other
able; the depopulation is
from scurvy
effect,
is
;
small-pox
and every
not less in the chain of cause and
and may be fought
draws out the venom, benefit
healed
diets portable or procur-
by cholera and
ended by drainage and vaccination
other pest
is
it
off.
And
commonly
from the vanquished enemy.
chievous torrent
is
whUst
art
extorts some
taught to drudge for
The
man
mis. ;
tha
FATE.
37
wild beasts he makes useful for food, or dress, or labor
;
These are now the steeds on which he
Man
rides.
by wings
moves
and stands on
the eagle in his
make
will not
Steam was
own
legs of horses,
There
element.
by
of balloon,
tiptoe threatening to 's
hunt
nothing he
his carrier.
we
tiU the other day the devil which
had a hole
he should
lift
in its cover, to let off the
enemy,
pot and roof and carry the house
But the Marquis
away.
by
Every pot made by any human potter or
dreaded. brazier
in all modes,
by steam, by gas
of wind,
electricity,
lest
Ms
the chemic explosions are controlled like
watch.
of Worcester,
Watt, and
Fulton bethought themselves that where was power
was not
devil,
but was
God
that
;
and not by any means
of,
Could he
He
lift
it
let
must be availed
off
and wasted.
pots and roofs and houses so handily?
was the workman they were in search
could be used to devils far
lift
of.
He
away, chain and compel other
more reluctant and dangerous, namely
cubic miles of earth, mountains, weight or resist-
ance of water, machinery, and the labors of
men
in the world
and shorten It
;
and time he
all
lengthen,
space.
has not fared
kinds of steam.
much
it,
otherwise with higher
The opinion
the terror of the world, to dissipate
shall
and
by amusing
it
of the million
was attempted
was
either
nations, or to pile
it
— ;
CONDUCT OF
38
LIFE,
— a layer
over with strata of society,
of soldiers,
over that a layer of lords, and a king on the top
with clamps and hoops of
But sometimes the
lice.
castles, garrisons,
and
po-
religious principle would
get in and burst the hoops and rive every mountain laid
on top of
itics,
The Fultons and Watts
it.
believing in unity, saw that
and by
satisfying
(as
it
justice
satisfies
body), through a different disposition of
grouping
it
mountain, terror the
on a level instead of piling
— they have
of pol-
was a power,
it
it
make
contrived to
every-
society,
into a
of this
most harmless and energetic form
of a
State.
Yery
"y
Who
odious, I confess, are the lessons of Fate.
likes to
have a dapper phrenologist pronounc-
ing on his fortunes ? has, hidden in his
vices of a
to pull
Saxon or Celtic
hi'iT)
down,
and resolve he ing,
servile,
likes to believe that he
race,
is fired,
into
dodging animal? is
stated,
pelvis, all the
will be sure
of hope
selfish, huckster-
A
learned physi-
invariable with the Neapol-
when mature he assumes
the unmistakable scoundrel.
>
and
which
— with what grandeur — a
cian teUs us the fact itan, that
Who
skull, spine,
That
the forms of is
a
little over-
— but may pass.
But these are magazines and arsenals. "^ man must thank his defects, and stand in some terror of
his
talents.
A
transcendent talent draws
so
1
FATE.
39
largely on his forces as to lame
him revenues on the other which
is
him
;
a defect pays
The sufferance the Jew, has made him, in
the badge of
side.
these days, the ruler of the rulers of the earth.
Fate
is
ore and quarry,
ing, if limitation is ties, oppositions,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; we
if evil is
power that
If
good in the mak-
shall be, if calami-
and weights are wings and means,
are reconciled.
Fate involves the
melioratioii.
No
statement of ;
the Universe can have any soundness which does
not admit the whole
its
and
ascending
effort.
of the parts
The
direction of
toward
is
benefit,
and
Behind every individ-
in proportion to the health.
him opens liberty, The first and worse races Better, the Best. The second and imperfect races are dydead.
ual closes organization
;
before
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the are
ing out, or remain for the maturing of higher.
In
the latest race, in man, every generosity, every
new
perception, the love
and praise he
fellows, are certificates of
freedom.
extorts
from
his
advance out of fate into
Liberation of the will from the sheaths
and clogs of organization which he has outgrown, is
the end and aim of this world.
is
a spur and valuable hint
The whole
circle of
tooth, devouring war,
;
EffijEjt calamity
and where
animal
war for
and a grunt of triumph, until
life,
his endeav-
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; tooth
against
food, a yelp of pain at last the
whole me-
'
CONDUCT OF
40
LIFE.
mass
nagerie, the whole chemical
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; pleases
refined for higher use,
mellowed and
is
at a sufficient per-
spective.
But
dom
how
to see
fate slides into
into fate, observe
creature run, or find is
how
freedom and
you can a point where
if
Our
no thread of connection.
neons and far-related.
free-
far the roots of every there
life is consentar
This knot of nature
is
so
well tied that nobody was ever cunning enough
to
find the
two ends. Nature
is intricate,
interweaved and endless.
over-lapped,
Christopher
Wren
said
of the beautiful King's College chapel, that "
anybody would
tell
him where
to lay the first stone,
But where sLaO
he would build such another."
we
find the first
is all
atom
The web it
in this house of man, which
and balance
consent, inosculation, of relation
shown
is
When
in hibernation.
of parts
in habitat, shown
pid in winter, others were torpid in summer
The long
nation then was a false name.
not an effect of cold, but
the fruit or prey its
activity
Eyes are found in feet
on land
;
fins in
creature where
it
it
lives
when
light
water
:
tor-
hiber-
sleep
is
regulated by the supply
is
of food proper to the animal.
and regains
?
hibernation was observed,
was found that whilst some animals became
when
if
on
its
becomes
is
torpid
not in season,
food
is
ready.
ears in auricular air
;
;
It
wings in
was meant
air
;
and
;
each
to be, with a mutuaj
FATE. Every zone has
fitness. is
41
own Fauna.
its
adjustment between the animal and
enemy.
parasite, its
Balances are
There food, its
its
It is not
kept.'
V
allowed to diminish in numbers, nor to exceed.
The
like adjustments exist for
cooked when he arrives house ventilated
;
the
;
His food
man.
his coal in the pit
mud
is
the
;
of the deluge dried
;
his
companions arrived at the same hour, and awaiting
him with
love, concert, laughter
and
tears.
These
are coarse adjustments, but the invisible are not
There are more belongings to every creature
less.
than his air and his food.
His
must be
instincts
met, and he has predisposing power that bends and fits
what
is
He
near him to his use.
is
not possi-
ble until the invisible things are right for him, as well as the visible.
and
earth,
and
Of what changes then and
in finer skies
in sky
earths, does the
appearance of some Dante or Columbus apprise us!
How
is this
Nature
effected ?
But takes the shortest
way
no spendthrift, ^
is
As
to her ends.
the
general says to his soldiers, " If you want a fort, build a fort,"
^ nature makes every creature do its
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
is own work and get its living, or tree. The planet makes itself.
makes tare,
itself
;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; then, what
wren or dragon,
eoon as there
is life,
shall
there
it
animal
The animal
wants.
make
is
planet,
it
its
Every
own
lair.
self -direction
cell
crear
and
As ab-
Y~
i
CONDUCT OF
42
LIFE.
sorbing and using of material. the direct ratio of
life in
sure the new-born
man
its
is
Life
Do
amount.
The
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
be
Life works its
neighbor-
you suppose he can be estimated by
weight in pounds, or that he skin,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
not inert.
both voluntarily and supernaturally in hood.
freedom,
You may
is
his
contained in his
is
this reaching, radiating, jaculating fellow?
smallest candle
the papillae of a
When
there
knows how
fills
man run
is
a mile with
its rays,
out to every
star.
and
something to bo done, the world
to get
it
The
done.
vegetable eye
makes
leaf, pericarp, root, bark, or thorn, as the
need
;
is
the
world throws puts
converts itself into stomach,
first cell
mouth, nose, or
nail,
its life
him where he
according to the want
is
bus were Italians, in their time
come.
The adaptation
ulterior aim, the purpose
lation
is
;
they would be
Things ripen, new not capricious.
beyond
itself,
by which planets subside and
then animate beasts and men,
wiU work
the
Dante and Colum-
wanted.
Russians or Americans to-day.
men
;
into a hero or a shepherd, and
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
into finer particulars,
The
the correcrystallize,
wiU. not stop but
and from
finer to
finest. Thfe,se,cxefc,fif .the
and event.
The "
world
is
the
tie
between person
Person makes event, and event^^CTSon.
times," " the age," what
is
that but a few
profound persons and a few active persons who
FATE. epitomize the times?
43
— Goethe, Hegel, Metternich,
Adams, Calhoun, Guizot,
Peel, Cobden, Kossuth,
The same
Rothschild, Astor, Brunei, and the rest. fitness
must be presumed between a man and the
time and event, as between the sexes, or between a race of animals races
it
copula
uses. is
and the food Hethinks his
But the
hidden.
that shall befall
it
is
soul contains the event
;
what jve pray to
It fits
is ^proper
to him.
Events are the children
We learn
body and mind.
Fate
the soul of us, as Hafia sings, " Alas
!
tiE
My guide
now
for,
—
that the soul of
I had not known,
houses,
men and which
land, money,
two of illusion overlaid. rattles
new gauze or drums
of all the
by which men are made willing to have and are led out solemnly every
their heads broke,
morning
And
they
luxury, power,
fame, are the selfsame thing, with a
and
—
and fortune's guide are one."
All the toys that infatuate ji,'ay
jout;
The event js, the ^prjnt you like you£ skin. What
of his is
the inferior
always granted.
of your form.
eachdoes
eats, or
fate alien, because the
fos the.eyeiiC i" only the j«tual-
ization of its thoughts,,._§nd
^Ives for
it
to parade,
— the
most admirable
is this
by which we are brought to believe that events are arbitrary Juror's,
and independent
we
detect the hair
of actions.
At
the con-
by which he moves
his
CONDUCT OF
44 puppet, but
we have not
LIFE.
eyes sharp enough to de.
and
scry the thread that ties cause
Nature magically
--1
by making these the
suits the
man
effect.
to his fortunes,
Ducks
fruit of his character.
take to the water, eagles to the sky, waders to the sea margin, hunters to the forest, clerks to counting-
Thus events grow
rooms, soldiers to the frontier.
on the same stem with persons
The
pleasure of
life is
lives
it,
and not according
Life
is
an
ecstasy.
longs to love,
We
As
are sub-persons.
man
work or the
to the
that
place.
know what madness
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; what power
in hues of heaven.
;
according to the
be-
to paint a vile object
insane persons are
indiffei^
ent to their dress, diet, and other accommodations,
and
we do
as
absurd life
wiU
Each
in dreams, with equanimity, the most
acts, so
a drop more of wine in our cup
reconcile us to strange
of
company and work. its own consweats out its shmy
creature puts forth from itself
and sphere, as the slug
dition
house on the pear-leaf, and the woolly aphides on the apple perspire their
own
bed,
and the
fish its
shell.
In youth we clothe ourselves with rainbows
and go
as brave as the zodiac.
another sort of perspiration,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
tism, caprice, doubt, fretting
A man's fortunes
-^.-
A
In age we put out gout, fever, rheuma-
and
avarice.
are the fruit of his character.
man's friends are his magnetisms.
We
Herodotus and Plutarch for examples of Fate
go ;
to
but
FATE.
45
we are examples. " Quisque suos patimur manes." The tendency of every man to enact all that is in his constitution
expressed in the old belief that
is
we make
the efforts which
to escape
tiny only serve to lead us into
man
ticed a
likes better to
from our
des-
and I have no-
it:
be complimented on his
position, as the proof of the last or total excellence,
than on his merits.
X
A.^man wiU
see his jjharacter emitted
the
in
eyents that seem to meet,_but which exude ,jbom .
and accompany
As
acter.
now he growth
him., JE vents
expand with the char-
among
once he found himself
toys, so
plays a part in colossal systems, and his declared in his ambition, his companions
is
and
his performance.
but
is
He looks
a piece of causation
and ground
to
fit
each town there
into the
is
j
like
apiece ofjuck,
the mosaic, angulated
gap he
some man who
and performance, an explanation
fills.
is,
Hence
in
in his brain
of the tillage, pro-
duction, factories, banks, churches, ways of living
and
If you do not chance to
society of that town.
meet him, puzzled
;
if
all that
you
see
you him
see will leave
you a
little
become
plain.
We
it
will
know in Massachusetts who built New Bedford, who buUt Lynn, Lowell, Lawrence, Clinton, Fitchburg, Holyoke, Portland, and
many
another noisy mart.
Each
of these men, if they were transparent,
seem
to
you not
so
much men
would
as walking cities,
wherever you put them they would build one.
and
CONDUCT OF
46
History
is
the action
LIFE.
and reaction
of these two,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Nature
and Thought; two boys pushing each Everyother on the curbstone of the pavement. thing is pusher or pushed; and matter and mind are in perpetual
man
and balance,
tilt
weak, the earth takes up him.
is
his brain
up the
and
and have
earth,
Every
thought.
become
fluid
By and by
affections.
in the beautiful order
power
his gardens
He
plants
he will take
and vineyards of his
solid in the universe is ready to
on the approach of the mind, and
the
the measure of the mind.
If
to flux
thought.
"Whilst the
and productiveness
it is
the wall remain adamant,
new
so.
To a
accuses the want of
it
subtler force
will stream into
it
forms, expressive of the character of the mind.
What
is
the city in which
we
sit
here, but an aggre-
gate of incongruous materials which have obeyed the will of some
man?
The
granite was reluctant,
but his hands were stronger, and
it
came. Iron was
deep in the ground and well combined with but could not hide from his stuffs, fruits,
and
fires.
Wood,
stone,
lime,
gums, were dispersed over the earth
Here they are, within reach of what he wants of them.
sea, in vain.
every man's day-labor,
The whole world
is
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
the flux of matter over the
wires of thought to the poles or points where
would buUd.
The
races of
men
it
rise out of the
ground preoccupied with a thought which
rules
FATE.
47
them, and divided into parties ready armed and
angry to fight for
this metaphysical abstraction.
The
quality of the thought differences the
tian
and the Roman, the Austrian and the Amer-
The men who come on
ican.
the
Egyp-
stage at
one
period are all found to be related to each other.
Certain ideas are in the
able,
press them.
We
air.
we are made but some more than
sionable, for
of
them
others,
;
are
aU impres-
aU impression-
and these
neousness of inventions and discoveries. in the air,
is
will
announce
minutes
it first,
later.
man, that
is,
the
the time,
is
the
and
The truth
and the most impressionable brain but
all will
So women,
as
announce
it
a few
most susceptible, are
So the great
the best index of the coming hour.
irritable
first ex-
This explains the curious contempora-
man most imbued with the spiiit of impressionable man of a fibre ;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
He
delicate, like iodine to light.
the infinitesimal attractions.
His mind
is
feels
righter
than others because he yields to a current so feeble as can be felt only
The his
correlation
by a needle is shown in
delicately poised. defects.
Moller, in
Essay on Architecture, taught that the build-
ing which was fitted accurately to answer
its
end
would turn out to be beautiful though beauty had not been intended.
I find the like unity in
structures rather virulent
human
and pervasive; that a
crudity in the blood will appear lk the argument
;
CONDUCT OF
48 a
hump
LIFE.
in the shoulder will appear in the speech
and handiwork.
hump would his voice,
be seen.
wiU run
it
mind could be
If his
man
a
If
seen, the
has a seesaw
in
into his sentences, into his
poem, into the structure of his
fable, into his spec-
And
ulation, into his charity.
man is own dis-
as every
hunted by his own daemon, vexed by
his
ease, this checks all his activity.
V
So each man,
A
like each plant, has his parasites.
more
strong, astringent, bilious nature has
truc-
ulent enemies than the slugs and moths that fret
my
Such an one has
leaves.
knife-worms
;
curculios, borers,
a swindler ate him
first,
then a
ent,
then a quack, then smooth, plausible
men,
bitter
and
cli-
gentle-
Moloch.
selfish as
This correlation really existing can be divined. If the threads are there, thought can
show them. docile, as
Chaucer sings "
when a
Especially
Or Be
if
;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
And
it
men
wot what
is
foUow and quick and
find,
to come,
that he warueth all and
Of every
some
of their aventures,
By previsions But
is
the soul of proper kind
so perfect as
That
soid
or figures
;
that our flesh hath not might
It to understand aright
For
Some
it is
people are
warned too darkly."
made up
of rhyme, coincidence,
;
FATE.
49
omen, periodicity, and presage son they seek
say to them, they signs apprise
first say: to
them of what
Wonderful
:
they meet the per-
what their companion prepares
;
is
to
him; and a hundred about to
befall.
intricacy in the web, wonderful con-
stancy in the design this vagabond
"We wonder how the year after year,
we
fly finds
tie,
their best time within a
^d the moral
is
that
admits.
two men, two women,
find
without legal or carnal
life
mate, and yet
its
spend a great part of
few feet of each other,
what we seek we
shall find
what we flee from flees from us as Goethe said, " what we wish for in youth, comes in heaps on us ;
in old age," too often cursed with the granting of
our prayer: and hence thejy^^jgj^SfciflBvJJiaLsiBSS we are ^ure of having what we. wish, we beware Jto
askjonl^for high things.
One
key, one solution to the mysteries of
condition, one
knots of fate,
solution to the old
freedom, and foreknowledge, exists
human
;
the propound-
A man
ing, namely, of the double consciousness.
must ride alternately on the horses of
his private
and ^Eis~ public nature, as the equestriansjn^ the throw themselves
circus
nimbly from horse
horse, or plant one foot on the
the other foot on the back of the other.
a
man
loins
is
So when
the victim of his fate, has sciatica in his
and cramp in
vol, VI.
to
back of one and
4
his
mind; a
club-foot
and a
X
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; ;
CONDUCT OF
50
club In his wit; a sour face
a
is
and a
temper;
selfish
and ground to powder by the vice of his race
a conceit in his affection
strut in his gait
or
LIFE.
;
he
is to ralljL-QBL^S^.^S^i^SLJS .-&§-, JJaiierse, which his ruin benefits. Leaving; the daemon^ who
suffers,
he
is
to take sides
withjhe Deiij,yho
sfe
cures universal benefit by his pain.
To
offset
the drag of temperament and race,
which pulls down, learn
by the cunning co-presence is
namely
this lesson,
that
of two elements, which
throughout nature, whatever lames or paralyzes
you draws to repay.
in with
A
the divinity, in some form,
When
sudden power. chip or pebble
it
good intention clothes
with
itself
a god wishes to
ride,
any
wiU bud and shoot out winged
feet
and serve him for a Let us build
horse.
altars to the Blessed
Unity which
holds nature and souls in perfect solution, and compels every
atom
to serve
an miiversal end.
not wonder at a snow-flake, a
shell,
scape, or the glory of the stars of beauty is
;
but at the necessity
imder which the universe
and must be
pictorial
;
I do
a summer land-
lies
;
that
all
that the rainbow and the
curve of the horizon and the arch of the blue vault are only results from the organism of the eye.
There
is
no need for foolish amateurs to fetch me
to admire a garden of flowers, or a sun-gilt cloud,
or a waterfall,
when I cannot look without
seeing
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; FATE.
61
How
splendor and grace.
sparkle here or there,
idle to choose a random when the indwelling necesbeauty on the b rowof chao s,
sity
plants the rose^ of
and
discloses the central intention of
harmony and
joy.
Let us build If
Nature to be
altars to the Beautifid Necessity.
we thought men were
a
free in the sense that in
single exception one fantastical will could prevail
over the law of things,
it
were
hand could puU down the
all
sun.
one as
a child's
if
If ia the least par-
ticular one could derange the order of nature,
who would
accept the gift of
Let us build
and
all is
made
of one piece
that
;
and defendant, friend and enemy, animal
planet, food
tronomy
"
altars to the Beautiful Necessity,
which secures that plaintiff
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
life ?
is
and eater are of one kind.
In
vast space but no foreign system
as-
in
;
geology, vast time but the same laws as to-day.
Why should we be
afraid of Nature, which
no
is
other than " philosophy and theology embodied " ?
Why should we ments,
we who
fear to be crushed
are
made up
of the
by savage
ele-
same elements ?
Let us build to the Beautiful Necessity, which makes
man
brave in believing that he cannot shun a dan-
ger that
is
appointed, nor incur one that
is
not
the Necessity which rudely or softly educates to the perception that there are
that
Law rules
;
to
him
no contingencies
throughout existence
;
a
Law
;
which
CONDUCT OF
52 is
LIFE.
not intelligent but intelligence
nor impersonal
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
derstanding;
dissolves persons;
it
it
yet solicits the pure in heart to nipotence.
;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; not
personal
disdains words and passes unit Yivifies
draw on aU
nature; its
om-
n.
POWER.
His tongue was framed to music,
And
his
hand was armed with
skill
His face was the mould of beauty,
And
his heaxt the throne of will.
5
POWEE. There ulties,
is
not yet any inventory of a man's fao-
any more than a bible of
Who
f
human being ?
'-f
his opinions.
shall set a limit to the influence of a
There are men who by their sympathetic
them and lead the
tions carry nations with
of the
human
And
race.
mind
that wherever the
if
of
^
attrac-
activity
there be such a tie
man
goes, nature will
accompany him, perhaps there are men whose magnetisms are of that force to draw material and ele-
mental powers, and, where they appear, immense instrumentalities organize around them.
search after power
which the world
this is
so saturated,
is
or crevice in which est seeking goes
and
;
it is
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; there
not lodged,
unrewarded.
Life
is
a
is
no chink
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;^at no hon-
A man should prize
events and possessions as the ore in which this fine
mineral
is
found
;
and he can well afford to let and the breath of the body
events and possessions go, if their value has
shape of power.
If
been added to him in the
he have secured the
can spare the wide gardens from which tUled.
A
cultivated man, wise to
to perform, is the
l^
an element with
it
elixir,
was
know and
he
dis-
bold
end to which Nature works, and
y.
CONDUCT OF
66
the education of the will suit of all this geology
LIFE.
the flowering and
is
re-
and astronomy.
All successful^ menJiave agreed in one thing^ they were cawsaiiomsfs.^ They beUeye^UJiat
by
\^ent not
luck, but
by law ;
that there
tj^jjjgs
was
& weak or a cracked link in the chain _that the
first
and
A belief
last of things.
— not
Joins
in causality,
or strict connection between every pulse-heat and the principle of being, and, in consequence, in compensation, or that nothing
—
is
belief
got for nothing,
characterizes all valuable minds, and must con-
trol every effort that
one.
The most
made by an
is
valiant
men
" AU the great
in the tension of the laws. said
tains,"
industrious
are the best believers cap-
"have performed
Bonaparte,
vast
achievements by conforming with the rules of art,
— by adjusting
The key aU ages
is
majority of in
aU but
young
strong,
may be
men
;
or that, or the
certain eminent fear.
;
the key
to
imbecility in the vast
at all times,
and
this,
orators describe
— Imbecility
gravity, custom,
—
efforts to obstacles."
to the age
other, as the
the
and even
moments;
in heroes victims of
This gives force
that the multitude have no habit
to the
of
self-
reliance or original action.
"We must reckon Courage, the old
meaning
success a constitutional
physicians
taught (and
holds, if their physiology is a little
trait.
their
myth-
POWER.
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; courage, or
ical),
67
degree of
tlie
as the
life, is
degree of circulation of the blood ia the arteries. " During passion, anger, fury, trials of strength, wrestling, fighting, a large
amount
of blood
is
col-
lected in the arteries, the maintenance of bodily-
strength requiring veins.
and but
it,
This condition
Where
persons."
is
little is
the arteries hold their blood,
Where
courage and adventure possible. it
sent into the
constant with intrepid
unrestrained into the veins, the spirit
extraordinary health.
and has tion,
they pour is
For performance of great mark,
feeble.
weU, and
slept
and
If Eric is
is
low and it
wUl
needs
in robust health,
at the top of his condi-
thirty years old, at his departure
Gireenland he
is
steer west,
and
from
his ships will
But take out Eric and put Biorn, or Thorfin, in a stronger and bolder man, and the ships will, with just as much ease, saU six hundred, one thousand, fifteen hundred miles further, and reach Labrador and New England. reach Newfoundland.
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
Thpire js^jgp
chance in result s.
With
adults, as
with children, one class enter cordially into the
game and whirl with
the whirling world
;
the others
have cold hands and remain bystanders
;
or are
only dragged in by the humor and vivacity of those
who can
carry a dead weight.
health.
Sickness
any one
:
it
The first wealth is and cannot serve
is poor-spirited,
must husband
its
resources to live. But
CONDUCT OF
58
health or fulness answers
its
LIFE.
own ends and has
to
spare, runs over, and inundates the neighborhoods
and creeks of other men's necessities. All power is of one kind, a sharing of the nature
The mind that is parallel with the laws of nature wUl be in the current of events and strong with their strength. One man is made of the same stuff of which events are made is in
of the world.
;
sympathy with the course of things
Whatever
befalls, befalls
him
equal to whatever shall happen.
men, can talk weU on ligion.
;
can predict
it.
first
so that he
is
;
A man who knows
politics, trade, law, war, re-
For everywhere men are led
in the same
manners.
The advantage plied
by any
of a strong pulse
not to he sup-
is
labor, art, or concert.
It is like the
climate, which easily rears a crop which no glass,
or irrigation, or tillage, or manures can elsewhere rival.
It is like the opportunity of a city like
New
York or Constantinople, which needs no diplomacy to force capital or genius or labor to
of themselves, as the waters flow to
They come
it.
it.
So a broad,
healthy, massive understanding seems to
lie
on the
shore of unseen rivers, of unseen oceans, which are
covered with barks that night and day are drifted to this point.
other
men
lie
That
is
poured into
plotting for.
its
lap which
It is in everybody's
secret; anticipates everybody's discovery j
and
if it
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; POWER.
59
do not command every fact of the genius and the
and
scholar, it is because it is large
sluggish,
and
does not think them worth the exertion which you do.
This affirmative force
is
and
in one
is
not in
another, as one horse has the spring in him,
"
another in the whip.
On
the neck of the young
man," said Hafiz, " sparkles no as into
gem
so gracious as
Import into any stationary
enterprise."
an old Dutch population in
Pennsylvania, or
among
and
district,
New York
or
the planters of Virginia,
a colony of hardy Yankees, with seething brains, heads
steam-hammer, pulley, crank, and
full of
toothed wheel,
with values.
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and
What
and land in England or Brunei the active
!
everything begins to shine
enhancement to aU the water is
the arrival of James
In every company there
and passive
sex,
Watt
is
not only
but in both
men and
women a
deeper and more important sex of mind, namely the inventive or creative class of both men
and women, and the uninventive or accepting
Each plus man
represents his
set,
and
the accidental advantage of personal
which implies neither more nor merely the temperamental or
class.
he have
ascen^n^,
less of talent,
taming eye
or a schoolmaster (which one has, ,as
if
but
of a soldi er
and one has^not^
one has a black moustache and one a blonde),â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
then quite easny^and without envj;_or_reMgtaac&-aU_
/
CONDUCT OF
60
LIFE.
and feeders will admit big. rig3it_to_ absorb tSmI" The merchant works by book-keeper and cashier; the lawyer's authorities are hunted up by clerks the geologist reports the surveys of his his^coadjutors
;
Commander
subalterns;
"Wilkes appropriates the
results of all the naturalists attached to the Expe-
dition; Thorwaldsen's statue cutters
;
Dumas
finished
is
has journeymen
;
by
stone-
and Shakspeare
was theatre-manager and used the labor
many
of
young men, as well as the playbooks. >-
There
always room for a
is
he makes room for many. thinkers,
of force, and is
a troop of
and the best heads among them take
A feeble man can
best places.
are fenced and
The
man
Society
strong
tilled,
man
His eye makes
the
see the farms that
the houses that are buUt.
sees the possible houses
and farms.
estates, as fast as the
sun breeds
clouds.
When man
a new boy comes into school, when a
travels
and encounters strangers every
or when into any old club a new comer
Y
mesticated,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; that happens
strange ox
is
cattle are
kept
day,
is
do-
which befalls when a
driven into a pen or pasture where there
;
is at
once a
trial of strength
between the best pair of horns and the new comer,
and
it
is
settled
So now, there liourteous
is
thenceforth which
is
the leader.
a measuring of strength, very
but decisive, and an acquiescence thence-
;
POWER.
61
forward when these two meet.
fate
in the other's eyes.
Each reads his The weaker party finds
that
none of his information or wit quite sion.
He
knew
thought he
this or that
that he omitted to learn the end of that he
knows wiU
fits
it.
;
the occa-
he finds
Nothing
quite hit the mark, whilst all
the rival's arrows are good, and well thrown.
he knew
if
But
the facts in the encyclopedia,
all
would not help him
;
for this
an
is
ence of mind, of attitude, of aplomb
has the sun and wind, and, in every
the opponent
:
cast,
the choice
weapon and mark; and when he himself
of
matched with some other antagonist, fly
weU and
first,
The second man
— perhaps
stomach, as the
his
own
is
shafts
'T is a question of stomach and
hit.
constitution.
it
affair of pres-
better first
;
has,
as good as the
is
but has not stoutness or
and
so his wit seems over-
fine or under-fine.
Health
is
ease, poison,
good,
— power,
life,
that resists dis-
and aU enemies, and
as well as creative.
Here is
is
conservative
question, every spring,
whether to graft with wax, or whether with clay whether to whitewash, or to potash, or to prune ; but the one point
is
agrees with the
the thrifty tree. soil
wiU grow
bug, or priming, or neglect, all
weathers and
ship,
A
good tree that
in spite of blight, or
by night and by day,
all treatments.
in
Vivacity, leader,
must be had, and we are not allowed
to b«
X
CONDUCT OF
62
We
nice in choosing.
must fetch the pump with If we will cannot be had.
dirty water, if ditean
make
dough cost,
we must hare
bread,
what
ings, or
contagion, yeast, empty-
not, to induce fermentation into the
as the torpid artist seeks inspiration at any
;
by
by
virtue or
that where
is
and peccant, will
vice,
by friend or by
And we
prayer or by wine.
and
LIFE.
great amount of
it
has
its
be found at
own
fiend,
have a certain life,
by
instinct
though gross
cheeks and purifications,
last in
harmony with moral
laws.
-
We
watch in children with pathetic
interest the
degree in which they possess recuperative
When
force.
they are hurt by us, or by each other, or
go to the bottom of the prizes, or are
class,
or miss the annual
beaten in the game,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
if
they lose
heart and remember the mischance in their cham-
But
ber at home, they have a serious check.
they have the buoyancy and resistance that occupies
if
pre-
them with new interest in the new mowounds cicatrize and the fibre is the
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the
ment,
tougher for the hurt.
One comes
to value this
plus health when he
sees that all difficiilties vanish before
man,
the newspapers, party,
shuts
it.
A timid
listening to the alarmists in Congress
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; its
and observing the
and
in
profligacy of
sectional interests urged with a fury which
eyes to consequences, with a
mind made
POWER. up
63
to desperate extremities, ballot In one
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; might
hand and
rifle
in the other,
and
his country have seen their best days,
he
easily believe that
and he
hardens himself the best he can against the coming
But
ruin.
after this has
been foretold with equal
confidence fifty times, and government six per cents
have not declined a quarter of a
mill,
he discovers
that the enormous elements of strength which are
here in play
make our
politics unimportant.
Per-
sonal power, freedom, and the resources of nature strain every faculty of every citizen.
with such vigor that like thrifty
from the
and
which grow
borers, so
profligate
national treasury. parasites,
"We prosper
we do not swarms that fatten on the The huge animals nourish huge
in spite of ice, lice, mice, suffer
trees,
and the rancor of the disease
strength of the constitution. the Greek
Demos drew
attests the
The same energy
in
the remark that the evils
of
popular government appear greater than they
are
;
there
is
and energy
compensation for them in the it
awakens.
which belongs to a people of
style
farmers, and mechanics, has
educates the potentate.
spirit
The rough-and-ready its
sailors, foresters,
advantages.
As long as
Power
our people quote
English standards they dwarf their own proportions.
A
he wished lish
Western lawyer it
of eminence said to
me
were a penal offence to bring an Eng-
law-book into a court in this country, so perni-
'
CONDUCT OF
64 cious
had he found in
LIFE.
his experience our deference
The very word commerce
to English precedent.
'
has only an English meaning, and
is
pinched to the
cramp exigencies of English experience. The commerce of rivers, the commerce of railroads, and who knows but the commerce of air-balloons, must add an American extension to the pond-hole of admiralty.
As
long as our people quote English stand-
ards they win miss the sovereignty of power ; but let these
rough riders
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
legislators in shirt-sleeves,
Hoosier, Sucker, Wolverine, Badger, or whatever
hard head Arkansas, Oregon, or Utah sends, haK orator, half
assassin^ to represent its wrath
cupidity at Washington,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
and
let these drive as they
may, and the disposition of
territories
lands, the necessity of balancing
and pubHc
and keeping
bay the snarling majorities of German,
Irish,
at
and
of native millions, will bestow promptness, address,
and reason,
at
last,
on our buffalo-hunter, and
authority and majesty of manners. of the people is right.
whigs put into country,
much
office
less
Men
by the skill
who
first
Mexico,
own malcontent mem-
from some strong transgressor,
ferson or Jackson,
instinct
respectability of the
to deal with
Spain, Britain, or with our bers, than
The
expect from good
like Jef-
conquers his own gov-
ernment and then uses the same genius to conquer the foreigner.
The
senators
who
dissented from
POWER.
65
Mr. Polk's Mexican war were not those who knew
who from
better, but those
afford
it
This power to be sure 'Tis the power of pirates
But
and
;
it
brings
it
point,
political position could
not Webster, but Benton and Calhoun.
;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; that
the same time
mind with
;
Lynch
bullies the
own
its
all
is
not clothed in satin, law, of
soldiers
and
peaceable and loyal.
antidote
;
and here
my
is
kinds of power usually emerge at
good energy and bad
physical health
;
power of
;
the ecstasies of devo-
tion with the exasperations of debauchery.
The
same elements are always present, only sometimes these conspicuous,
and sometimes those
;
what was
yesterday foreground, being to-day background
what was
now a not less The longer the drought
surface, playing
part as basis.
more
The off
;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
effective lasts the
the atmosphere surcharged with water.
is
faster the ball falls to the sun, the force to fly is
by
so
much augmented.
And
in morals,
wild liberty breeds iron conscience; natures with great impulses have great resources, and return
from
In
far.
be whigs
;
politics,
the sons of democrats will
whilst red republicanism in the father is
a spasm of nature to engender an intolerable tyrant in the next age.
On
the other hand, conservatism,
ever more timorous and narrow, disgusts the chil-
dren and drives them for a mouthfiil of fresh air into radicalism.
V
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; CONDUCT OF
66
^
LIFE.
Those who have most of this coarse energy, ' bruisers,' who have run the gauntlet of caucus
the
and tavern through the county or the their
own
vices,
state,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; have
but they have the good-nature of
strength and courage.
Fierce and unscrupidous,
they are usually frank and direct and above
false-
Our politics fall into bad hands, and churchmen and men of refinement, it seems agreed, are
hood.
not
fit
persons to send to Congress.
deleterious profession, like
Men
crafts.
in
Politics is a
some poisonous handi-
power have no opinions, but may
be had cheap for any opinion, for any purpose;
and
if it
be only a question between the most
and the most
forcible, I lean to the last.
civil
These
Hoosiers and Suckers are reaUy better than the snivelling opposition.
Their wrath
bold and manly
They
cast.
is at least of
a
see, against the unan-
imous declarations of the people, how much crime the people will bear; they proceed from step to step,
their
and they have
and upon tors.
calctilated
but too justly upon
New England governors, Honors the New England legisla-
Excellencies the their
The messages
olutions
of the governors and the res-
the legislatures
of
expressing a
sham virtuous
the course of events,
is
are a proverb
for
indignation, which, ia
sure to be belied.
In trade
also this energy usually carries a trace
of ferocity.
Philanthropic and religious bodies do
;
POWER. not commonly make
their executive
The communities
of saints. socialists,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the
at
The
the
New Harmony,
at
The
Brook
by instaUiag Ju-
rest of the offices
by good burgesses.
filled
by
Port-Koyalists,
at Zoar, are only possible
das as steward.
out
officers
hitherto founded
the
Jesuits,
American communities Farm,
67
may be
pious and charitable
proprietor has a foreman not quite so pious and
The most amiable
charitable.
men has a
certain pleasure in the teeth of the bull-
dog which guards ciety
it
of country gentle-
his orchard.
was formerly a
Of
the Shaker so-
sort of proverb in the coun-
And
try that they always sent the devil to market.
in representations of the Deity, painting, poetry,
and popular religion have ever drawn the wrath from HeU. that a as
if
as
if
little
It is
an
esoteric doctrine of society
wickedness
is
good to make muscle
conscience were not good for hands and legs
poor decayed formalists of law and order can-
not run like wild goats, wolves, and conies as there
is
world cannot move without rogues spirit
;
that
a use in medicine for poisons, so the ;
that public
and the ready hand are as well found among
the malignants.
'T
is
not very rare, the coinci-
dence of sharp private and political practice with public spirit and good neighborhood.
burly Boniface
who
for
many
I knew a
years kept a public-
house in one of our rural capitals.
He
was a
CONDUCT OF
LIFE.
the town could
ill
68
knave
whom
He
spare.
a social, vascular creature, grasping and
was
selfish.
There was no crime which he did not or could not commit.
But he made good
friends of the select-
men, served them with his best chop when they supped at his house, and also with his honor the
Judge he was very introduced
all
cordial, grasping his hand.
He
the fiends, male and female, into
the town, and united in his person the functions of bully, incendiary, swindler, barkeeper, and bur-
He
glar. tails of
girdled the trees and cut off the horses'
the temperance people, in the night.
He
led the 'rummies' and radicals in town-meeting
Meantime he was civil, fat, and houÂťri, and precisely the most public-
with a speech. easy, in his spirited
citizen.
He
was active in getting
the
roads repaired and planted with shade-trees; he subscribed for the fountains, the gas, and the
tele-
graph he introduced the new horse-rake, the new scraper, the baby- jumper, and what not, that Con;
He
necticut sends to the admiring citizens. this
did
the easier that the peddler stopped at his his
new
Whilst thus the energy for originating and
exe-
house, and paid his keeping
by
setting
up
trap on the landlord's premises.
work deforms itself by excess, and axe chops off oxa own fingers, this evil cuting
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
without remedy.
so our is
not
All the elements whose aid man
"
POWER. calls in will
69
sometimes become his masters, espe-
cially those of
most subtle
renomice steam,
and
fire,
learn to deal with
them'
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
Shall he then
force.
electricity,
The plus
or shall he
rule for this whole
good ; only put
it
%
of this surcharge of arterial blood cannot
y
class of agencies is,
alt
is
in the right place.
Men live
on nuts, herb-tea, and elegies; cannot read
novels and play whist; cannot
wants at
satisfy
all
their
the Thursday Lecture or the Boston
They pine for adventure, and must Peak ; had rather die by the hatchet of a Pawnee than sit aU day and every day at a counting-room desk. They are made for war, for the sea, for mining, hunting, and clearing; for hair-breadth adventures, huge risks, and the joy of Athenaeum.
go
to Pike's
eventfid living.
Some men cannot endure an hour
of calm at sea.
I remember a poor Malay cook on
board a Liverpool packet, who, when the wind
blew a gale, could not contain his joy ; " Blow he cried, " me do teU you, blow " Their friends !
!
and governors must explosive complexion
who
see that is
some vent for
provided.
The
are destined for infamy at home,
if
their
roisters
sent to
Mexico wiU "cover you with glory," and come back heroes and generals. Californias,
and Exploring
There are Oregons, Expeditions enough
appertaining to America to find them in
files
to
CONDUCT OF
70
gnaw and
LIFE.
The young English when they have
in crocodiles to eat.
are fine animals, full of blood, and
no wars to breathe their riotous valors in, they seek for travels as dangerous as war, diving into Maelstroms ; swimming Hellesponts
snowy Himmaleh; hunting
wading up the
;
lion, rhinoceros, ele-
phant, in South Africa ; gypsying with Borrow in
Spain and
Algiers
;
riding alligators in South
America with Waterton
utilizing Bedouin, Sheik,
;
and Pacha, with Layard yachting among the icebergs of Lancaster Sound ; peeping into craters on ;
the equator
or running on the creases of Malays
;
in Borneo.
The
excess of virility has the same importance
in general history as in private
and
industrial
Strong race or strong individual rests at
life.
last
on
natural forces, which are best in the savage, who, like the beasts
around him,
is
still
in reception of
the milk from the teats of Nature.
Cut
off the
connection between any of our works and this aboriginal source,
and the work
ple lean on this,
shallow.
is
and the mob
is
an argument as we sometimes gooJ
"
side.
March without
The
peo-
not quite so bad say, for
it
has
this
the people," said a
French deputy from the tribune, " and you march into night
:
their instincts are a finger-pointing of
Providence, always turned
toward real
benefit,
But when you espouse an Orleans party, or a Bour.
POWER.
71
bon or a Montalembert party, or any other but an organic party, though you
mean
well,
you have a
personality instead of a principle, which will inevit-
ably drag you into a corner."
The
best anecdotes of this force are to be
from savage
But who
neers.
in explorers, soldiers,
life,
had
and bucca^
cares for faUings-out of assassins
and fights of bears or grindings of icebergs ? Physical force
Snow
has no value where there
ras is cheap. tries
to
is
nothing
in snow-banks, fire in volcanoes
The luxury
of ice
is
and
else.
solfata-
in tropical coun-
and midsummer days.
have a
little
The luxury of fire is on our hearth and of electricity, ;
not volleys of the charged cloud, but the manageable stream on the battery-wires.
energy ; the rests or remains of
moral
man
it
So of
spirit,
in the civil
or
and
are worth all the cannibals in the Pa-
cific.
In history the great moment is
just ceasing to
is
when the savage
be a savage, with
all his
hairy
Pelasgic strength directed on his opening sense of
beauty yet
:
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
-
and you have Pericles and Phidias, not
passed
over
into
the
Corinthian
civility.
Everything good in nature and the world
is
in n(
that
moment
still
flow plentifully from nature, but their astrin-
of trapsition,
gency or acridity ity.
is
when the swarthy
juices
got out by ethics and human-
CONDUCT OF
72
The
LIFE.
triumplis of peace have been in some prox.
Whilst the hand was
imity to war.
familiar
still
with the sword-hilt, whilst the habits of the camp
were stiU
visible in the port
and complexion
of the
gentleman, his intellectual power cidminated
the
:
compression and tension of these stern conditions is
a training for the finest and softest
arts,
and
can rarely be compensated in tranquil times, except
by some analogous vigor drawn from occupations as hardy as war. 7^
We say that
success
constitutional
is
depends
;
on a plus condition of mind and body, on power work, on courage
that
;
it is
main
of
of
efficacy in car-
rying on the world, and though rarely found in the right state for an article of commerce, but oftener
in the supersattirate or excess which
gerous and destructive,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; yet
it
makes
it
Y and must be had in that form, and absorbents vided to take off
\
The
its
great feats.
They
originate
What
ekull of Napoleon
making
his
army
I
pro-
edge.
affirmative class monopolize the
mankind.
dan-
cannot be spared,
homage aU
and execute
of
the
a force was coiled up in the
Of
the sixty thousand
at Eylau,
it
men
seems some thirty
thousand were thieves and burglars.
The men
whom
if
in peaceful communities
we hold
with iron at their
legs, in prisons,
kets of sentinels,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
this
man
we
can
under the mus-
dealt with
hand
to
POWER.
73
hand, dragged them to their duty, and tories
by
won
his vic-
their bayonets.
This aboriginal might gives a surprising pleasure/
when
it
appears under conditions of supreme refine-
ment, as in the proficients in high
When
art.
Mi-
chel Angelo was forced to paint the Sistine Chapel
knew
in fresco, of which art he
down
nothing, he went
into the Pope's gardens behind the Vatican,
and with a shovel dug out
ochres, red
and yellow,
mixed them with glue and water with himself, climbed his
week
after week,
and prophets.
ladders,
and painted away,
after month, the sibyls
surpassed
his
successors
rough vigor, as much as in purity of
He was
refinement. left
unfinished at
intellect
fiesh,
and
in
and
not crushed by his one picture
Michel was wont to draw
last.
his figures first in skeleton, then to clothe
with
own
trials at last suited
month
He
his
many
hands, and having after
lastly to
drape them.
"
Ah
!
them " said
a brave painter to me, thinking on these things, " if
a
man
has failed, you wUl find he has dreamed in-
There
stead of working.
is
no way to success in
our art but to take off your coat, grind paint, and
work
like a digger
on the
railroad, all
day and
every day." Success goes thus invariably with a certain plus
or positive power
:
an ounce of power must balance
an ounce of weight.
And
though a
man
cannot
^
CONDUCT OF
74
return into his mother's ,,_
new amounts
LIFE.
womb and be bom
with
of vivacity, yet there are two econo-
mies which are the best succedanea which the case
The
>^ admits.
the stopping off decisively our
first is
miscellaneous activity and concentrating our force
on one or a few points
;
as the gardener, by severe
pruning, forces the sap of the tree into one or two vigorous limbs, instead of suffering
it
to spindle
into a sheaf of twigs.
"Enlarge not thy destiny,"
said the oracle,
" endeavor not to do more than
Thg^one prudence
V^ charge." X-
tionj the one evil
is
given thee
is
in life
is
dissipation; and
in
concentra-
it
makes no
difference whether our dissipations are coarse or fine
;
property and
its cares,
friends
habit, or politics, or music, or
thing
is
delusion
social
Every
good which takes away one plaything and
more and drives us home
of faithful work.
which cause
to
add one
stroke
Friends, books, pictures, lower
duties, talents, flatteries, hopes,
tions
and a
feasting.
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
all are distrac-
oscillations in our
giddy balloon,
and make a good poise and a straight course impossible. You must elect your work you shall take what your brain can, and drop all the rest. Only ;
so can that
amount
of vital force acciunulate which
can make the step from knowing to doing. matter
bow much
faculty of idle seeing a
the step from knowing to doing
is
man
No has,
rarely takea
POWER.
T
is
a step out of a chalk circle of imbecility into
Many an
fruitfulness. all
75
artist,
this, lacks
lacking
he sees the masculiae Angelo or Cellini with
;
He
despair.
too
up
is
to
and swing
his
Nature and the First
But the spasm
Cause in his thought.
whole being into one
act,
to coUeet
he has not.
The poet Campbell said that " a man accustomed to work, was equal to any achievement he resolved and that for himself,
on,
was the prompter Concentration tics,
of
necessity, not inspiration
of his muse." is
the secret of strength in poll-
aU management
in war, in trade, in short in
human
the world
affairs. is
— " By always tarch
;
of the high anecdotes of
the reply of
"how he had been
wiU have a
One
text
Newton
to the inquiry
able to achieve his discoveries?"
intending
from
my
Or
mind."
politics,
if
you
take this from Plu-
" There was, in the whole city, but one
street in
which Pericles was ever
seen, the street
which led to the market-place and the council house.
and
all
He
declined
all
invitations to
gay assemblies and company.
banquets,
During the
whole period of his administration he never dined at the table of a friend."
ple
from trade,
Rothschild,
money and wish that."
Or
— "I hope,"
if
we seek an exam-
said a good
man
to
"your children are not too fond of business
;
— "I am
I
am
sure you would not
sure I should wish that
j
I
V
CONDUCT OF
76
wish them to give mind, business,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; that
the
is
LIFE.
soul, heart,
way
and body
to be happy.
to
It re-
quires a great deal of boldness and a great deal of
caution to
make a
when you much wit to
great fortune, and
have got
it,
keep
If I were to listen to all the projects pro-
it.
requires ten times as
it
posed to me, I should ruin myself very soon. to one business,
young man.
Stick
Stick to your brew-
ery (he said this to young Buxton), and you
be the great brewer of London.
Be
will
brewer, and
banker, and merchant, and manufacturer, and you
be in the Gazette."
will soon
Many and y But
menaje^ksiiHaiig;, jiiaEy.are apprehensiye
tenacious,
but they .do not rush
in our flowing affairs, a decision
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the
best, if
you can, but any
is
to a decision.
must be made,
better than none.
There is
are twenty '^^gjof goingto a point, and one the shortest but set out at once on^one. "~A ;
man who
has that presence of mind which can
bring to him on the instant for action a dozen
only bring in the
it
House
is
he knows,
men who know
as
is
worth
much but
can
The good Speaker
to light slowly.
man who knows the theory tactics, but the man who decides
not the
of parliamentary off-hand.
all
The good judge
is
not he
who
does hair-
splitting justice to every allegation, but who, aim-
ing at substantial justice, rules something ble for the guidance of suitors.
intelligi-
The good
lawyer
POWER. is
not the
man who
77
has an eye to every side and
angle of contingency, and qualifies cations, but
who
aU
his qualifi-
throws himself on your part so
you out of a scrape. Dr. one of his flowing sentences, " Mis-
heartily that he can get
Johnson
said, in
aU names of wretchedness is that who are doomed to reduce beforethe principles of abstract reason aU the de-
erable beyond
unhappy hand
to
tails of little
pair,
There are cases where
each domestic day.
can be
and much must be done."
said,
The second
substitute for
temperament
is drill,
The hack
a better
the power of use and routine. roadster than the
Arab
barb.
In chemistry, the
galvanic stream, slow but continuous,
power to the electric spark, and a better agent.
So
spasm of energy we
We
in
human
is
is,
is
equal in
in our arts,
action, against
the
offset the continuity of drUl.
spread the same amount of force over
time, instead of condensing
it
into a
much
moment. 'T
is
the same ounce of gold here in a ball, and there in
a
leaf.
gineer,
At West
Point, Col. Buford, the chief en-
pounded with a hammer on the trunnions of
a cannon until he broke them of ordnance until
nion
it
?
Every
off.
some hundred times
burst.
Now
Every
stroke.
blast.
He
fired
a piece
in swift succession,
which stroke broke the trun-
Which
blast burst the piece ?
"Diligence passe sens,"
VIII. was wont to say, or great
is
drUl.
Henry John
^
CONDUCT OF
78
Kemble
LIFE.
said that the worst provincial
company
of actors would go through a play better than the
Basil Hall likes to show
best amateur company.
that the worst regular troops will beat the best volunteers.
mobs
is
A course of
Practice is nine tenths.
good practice for
All the great
orators.
speakers were bad speakers at
Stumping
first.
it
through England for seven years made Cobden a
consummate debater.
England
Stumping
through
it
New
for twice seven trained "Wendell Phillips.
The way to
learn
German
is to
read the same dozen
pages over and over a hundred times, tiU you know every word and particle in them and can pro-
No
nounce and repeat them by heart.
genius can
recite a ballad at first reading so well as medioc-
The
rity can at the fifteenth or twentieth reading.
rule for hospitality and Irish
'
help
'
is
to have the
same dinner every day throughout the last,
nicety, the host learns to carve
it
to a
and the guests
A humorous friend of mine thinks
are well served.
why Nature
that the reason
is
so perfect in her
and gets up such inconceivably she has learned how, at
same thing so very better on a topic
on one which
it,
At
year.
Mrs. O'Shaughnessy learns to cook
is
last,
often.
art,
fine sunsets, is that
by dint
of doing the
Cannot one converse
on which he has experience, than
new ?
Men
whose opinion
is
ued on 'Change are only such as have a special
val ex.
POWER. and
perience,
ground
off that
"More
79 their opinion is not
made good by exercitation than by nature," said Democritus. The friction in nature is so enormous that we cannot spare any
valuable.
are
It is not question to express our thought,
power.
overcome resistances of the
to elect our way, but to
medium and
material in everything
we
Hence
do.
the use of driU, and the worthlessness of amateurs
Six hours every day at
to cope with practitioners.
the piano, only to give facility of touch
;
six hours
a day at painting, only to give command of the odious materials,
by seeing the pose and
difficult
know a master
of the
an act
vital
To have
strimient.
The
ochres and brushes.
oil,
masters say that they
in music, only
hands on the keys is
the
command
;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; so
of the in-
learned the use of the tools,
thousands of manipulations
;
by
to have learned the
by endless adding and dividing, the mechanic and the clerk.
arts of reckoning, is
the power of
I remarked in England, in confirmation of a fre-
quent experience at home, that in literary the
men
editors, university too,
men
of the largest literary
but usually of a low and ordinary
lectuality,
working
intel-
with a sort of mercantile activity and
talent.
ties tower,
V
deans and professors, bishops
were by no means
talent,
circles,
and consideration, bookmakers,
of trust
Indifferent hacks
by pushing
and mediocri-
their forces to
a lucrative
''
'
CONDUCT OF
80
LIFE.
by working power, over multitudes men, in Old as in Ne^jr England.
point or perior
I Lave not forgotten
there are sublime con-
tliat
and
siderations which limit the value of talent perficial
We
success.
of su-
su-
can easily overpraise the
There are sources on which we have
vulgar hero.
not drawn.
know what
I
I abstain from.
I ad-
journ what I have to say on this topic to the chap-
But
on Culture and Worship.
ters
spirit,
this force or
being the means relied on by Nature for
bringing the work of the day about,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; as far
as
attach importance to household
and the
prizes
we must
of the world,
life
And
respect that.
economy may be applied to
that an
it
;
it is
a subject of exact law and arithmetic as gases are
man
;
it
may
is efficient
of this
is
achievement in history but
This
much
fluids
and
;
every
a container or
vessel
and never was
force,
I hold as
be husbauded or wasted
only as he
we
ajiy signal
by
act or
this expenditure.
not gold, but the gold-maker ; not the fame,
is
but the exploit. If these forces
and
this
husbandry are within
reach of our will, and the laws of them can be read,
we
infer that all success
fit
for
man,
is
and
all
conceivable bene-
or
last,
within his reach,
also, first
own sublime economies by which it may be attained. The world is mathematical, and has and has
its
no casualty in
all its
vast
and flowing
curve.
Sue-
;
POWER.
81
has no more eccentricity than the gingham
cess
and muslin we weave in our
more
England ries
brains, than to
I
know no
New
go into one of the facto-
with which we have lined
all
the watercourses
A man hardly knows how much
in the States. is
mills.
affecting lesson to our busy, plotting
he
a machine until he begins to make telegraph,
loom, press, and locomotive, in his
own image.
But in these he is forced to leave out his follies and hindrances, so that when we go to the mill, the machine is more moral than we. Let a man dare go to a loom and see if he be equal to it. Let machine confront machine, and see how they come
The
out.
ico-mill,
world-mill
and the
is
more complex than the
architect stooped less.
cal-
In the
gingham-miU, a broken thread or a shred spoils the
web through a
piece of a hundred yards,
traced back to the girl that wove
her wages.
The
rubs his hands with delight.
Mr.
Profitless,
it,
stockholder, on being
Are you
and do you expect
and
and
lessens
shown
is
this,
so cunning,
to svnndle
master and employer, in the web you weave
day
is
your ?
AV
a more magnificent cloth than any muslin,
the mechanism
that
makes
it
is
infinitely cun-
ninger, and you shall not conceal the sleezy, fraudulent, rotten hours
you have slipped
into the piece
nor fear that any honest thread, or straighter or
more
steel,
inflexible shaft, will not testify in the web.
III.
WEALTH, Who
shall tell
Far away Over the
lifeless
Hung idle What god Wings
of
what did
in time,
stars
when
befall,
once,
baU,
and suns ?
the element obeyed
?
what wind the lichen
bore.
Wafting the puny seeds of power, Which, lodged
in rock, the rock
abrade
?
And well the primal pioneer Knew the strong task to it assigned, Patient through Heaven's enormous year
To build in matter home for mind. From air the creeping centuries drew The matted thicket low and wide, This must the leaves of ages strew
The granite slab to clothe and hide. Ere wheat can wave its golden pride.
What
smiths,
and
in
what furnace,
(In dizzy aeons dim and mute
The
reeling brain can
Copper and
What
iron, lead,
oldest star the
ill
compute)
and gold
?
fame can save
rolled
: ;
CONDUCT OF
84
Of races perishing
The
to
; :
LIFE.
pave
planet with a floor of lime
?
pyramid and mole
Dust
is
Who
saw what ferns and palms were pressed
Under
their
the tumbling mountain's breast,
In the safe herbal of the coal?
But when the quarried means were All
is
waste and worthless,
Arrives the wise selecting
And, out
Draws the threads
The shop Then
of
of fair
rose,
toil,
flew the
will,
and chaos, Wit
of slime
Then temples
piled,
till
and
fit.
and towns, and marts,
the hall of arts across the seas
sail
To feed the North from tropic trees The storm-wind wove, the torrent span, Where they were bid the rivers ran
New
slaves fulfilled the poet's
dream,
Galvanic wire, strong-shouldered steam.
Then docks were
And
ingots
added
built,
and crops were
^ stored,
to the hoard.
But, though light-headed
man
forget,
Remembering Matter pays her debt Still,
through her motes and masses, draw
Electric thrills
Which bind
To the
and
ties of
Law,
the strengths of Nature wild
conscience of a child.
'
WEALTH. As
soon as a stranger
company, one of the to
have answered,
And
living ?
Society
is
How
is,
introduced into any
questions wMcli all wish
does that
He
with reason.
knows how
until he
first
is
man
get his
no whole man
to earn a blameless livelihood.
barbarous until every industrious
is
man
can get his living without dishonest customs.
Every man
He
producer.
is
a consmner, and ought to be a
fails to
make
his place
good in the
world unless he not only pays his debt but also
adds something to the common wealth.
do
justice to his genius without
Nor can he
making some
larger
demand on the world than a bare subsistence. He is by constitution expensive, and needs to be rich. Wealth has its source in applications of the mind to nature,
up
from the rudest strokes of spade and axe
to the last secrets of art.
between thought and better order
is
all
Intimate
ties subsist
production; because a
equivalent to vast amounts of brute
The forces and the resistances are Nature's, but the mind acts in bringing things from where labor.
they abound to where they are wanted; in wise
combining
;
ia directing the practice of the useful
CONDUCT OF
86
LIFE.
arts, and in the creation of finer values by fine art, by eloquence, by song, or the reproductions of memory. Wealth is in applications of mind to nature and the art of getting rich consists not in industry, ;
much
less in saving,
but in a better order, in time-
One man
being at the right spot.
liness, in
stronger arms or longer legs
has
another sees by the
;
course of streams and growth of markets where
land will be wanted, makes a clearing to the
river,
goes to sleep and wakes up rich.
is
stronger
but
now than
it
put to better use.
is
Steam
no
was a hundred years ago;
A
clever feUow was
acquainted with the expansive force of steam ; he also
saw the wealth of wheat and grass
in Michigan.
Then he cunningly
The steam time
it is
hungry
puffs
and expands as
dragging
New York
aU.
O
Puff now,
steam-pipe to the wheat-crop.
rotting
screws on the
Steam!
before, but this
Michigan
back
at its
and hungry England.
to
Coal lay
in ledges under the ground since the Elood, until a
laborer with pick and windlass brings
it
to the
face.
We may well call it black diamonds.
basket
is
power and
able climate.
For
civilization.
is
a port-
It carries the heat of the tropics to
Labrador and the polar of transporting itself
circle
;
and
secret, that
it is
whithersoever
Watt and Stephenson whispered kind their
coal
siu"-
Every
the means
it is
wanted.
in the ear of man-
a half-ounce of coal
will
WEALTH.
87
draw two tons a mile, and coal carries coal, by rail to make Canada as warm as Calcutta;
and by boat, and with
When
its
comfort brings
its
industrial power.
the farmer's peaches are taken from un-
der the tree and carried into town, they have a
new
look and a hundredfold value over the fruit which
grew on the same bough and
The
ground.
lies
fulsomely on the
craft of the merchant
ing a thing_from where
bring-
is this
to_ where it is'
abounds
it
costly.
Wealth begins and wind out
;
in a tight roof that keeps the rain
in a
plenty of sweet water
good pump that yields you ;
in two suits of clothes, so to
change your dress when you are wet ; in dry sticks to burn, in
meals
;
a good double-wick lamp, and three
in a horse or a locomotive to cross the land,
in a boat to cross the sea
in books to read tools
and
and
;
;
in tools to
work
on aU
so in giving
with,
sides
by
auxiliaries the greatest possible exten-
and eyes and
added
feet
and hands
blood, length to the day,
and knowl-
sion to our powers
;
as
if it
edge and good-wiU.
Wealth begins with these here we must recite the
And
articles of necessity.
iron law which
ture thunders in these northern climates.
she requires that each
man
happily his fathers hav e
must go
to work,
and by
Na-
First
should feed himself. JK^
left
him no
makmg
inheritance, he
his
wants
less or
'
CONDUCT OF
88
he must draw himseli-oufc^efjliat
his gains more,
pain and insult in which_she_forcesj^
state of
beggar to
done
;
She gives him no
lie.
away warmth,
laughter, sleep, friends,
and day^
he has fought his way to his own
him
loaf.
to the acquisition of such things as
Every wajsaboase^ and shop-wip -
belong to him.
dow, every
fruit-tree,
opens a new
the greatness of
man
hou^t
of every hour
It is of
no use
to
the philosophers have laid
:
man
in
making
his wants few,
content himself with a hut and a
handful of dried pease
?
He
is
;
and
is
thoroughly related
his appetites
t
to grati^.
argue the wants down but wiU a
every
wanFto hiin^hichjtrCaaefiCQS.h^
power and dignity
He
is
peremptorily but stiU with sting enough,
less
she urges
is
rest until this
she starves, taunts, and torments him, takes
light, until
Then,
LIFE.
and fancies
born to be
rich.
tempted out by
to the conquest of this
and that piece of nature, until he
finds his well-
being in the use of his planet, and of more planets
than his own. of bread
Wealth
and the
roof,
requires, besides the crust
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the
freedom of the
city,
the freedom of the earth, travelling, machinery, the benefits of science, music
culture
and the best company.
who can is fit
and
fine arts, the
best
He
man He
is
the rich
avail himself of all men's facidties.
the richest
man who knows how
to
draw a
from the labors of the greatest number
bene-
of men,
;
WEALTH. of
men
and in past
in distant countries
same correspondence that
89
is
between
Th^
times.
thirst in the
stomach and water in the spring, exists between the whole of
man and
The
ing the equator and the poles, offers aid
sea,
its
me,"
it
key to
to his craft
says, all
"but
if
and audacity.
an equal power.
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
it,
" Beware of
you can hold me, I Fire offers, on
the lands."
wash-
perilous
and the power and empire that follow
day by day
The
the whole of natm^e.
elements offer their service to him.
am
the
side,
its
Fire, steam, lightning, gravity,
ledges of rock, mines of iron, lead, quicksilver, tin
and gold mates
;
;
woods
forests of all
animals of aU habits
;
;
fruits of
aU
cli-
the powers of tillage
the fabrics of his chemic laboratory ; the webs of his
loom the masculine draught ;
of his locomotive,
the talismans of the machine-shop; all grand subtile
things,
minerals,
war, trade, government,
gases,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; are
and
ethers, passions,
his natural play-
mates, and according to the excellence of the ma-
chinery in each
human being
the instruments he tool-chest,
and he
is
is successful,
carried on just so far, as idties
his attraction for
is
to employ.
is
The world
is
his
or his education
is
the marriage of his fac-
with nature, or the degree in which he takes
up things into himself. The strong race is strong on these terms. Saxons are the merchants of the world
;
The
now,
foi
CONDUCT OF
90
LIFE.
and bj nothing
a thcmsamd ^earsjjbhejeadio
more than
their quality of personal independence,
and in
special modification, pecuniary in depen-
its
No
dence.
and games on
reliance for bread
government; no clanship, no patriarchal
by the revenues
living
must pay
man must
every self to
thank
suits
them but every man ;
The English
his scot.
and peaceable, with
no marrying-on,
of a chief,
no system of clientship
the
style of
are prosperous
their habit of considering that
take care of himself and has him-
he do not maintain and improve
if
his position in society.
The
economy mixes
subject of
inasmuch as
it is
itself
a peremptory point of virtue that
a man's independence be secured. alizes.
A man
with morals,
in debt
street thinks it easy for
is
Poverty demor-
so far a slave,
and Wall
a millionaire to be a man
man of honor, but that in failing circumstances no man can be relied on to keep his integrity. And when one observes iii_the_ hotels of his word, a
and palaces of expense, the
_our Atlantic capitals the habit of
riot
of
the
senses, the
absence of
bonds, clanship, fellow-feeling of any kind, ;â&#x20AC;&#x201D; he feels that
when a man or a woman
is
driven_to_the
wall, the chances of integrity are frightf idly dimin-
ished
;
as
if
virtue were
which few could
coming
afford, or, as
to
Burke
b^ a
luxury
sajdj^llS'l^
market almost too high for humanity."
He may
;
WEALTH.
91
inventory of necessities and of enjoyments
fix his
on what scale
lie
pleases, but
he wishes the
if
power and privilege of thought, the chalking out
own
his
career and having
must bring
terms, he
power
his
on
society
own
his
wants within his proper
to satisfy.
The manly part
to do with might and main The world is full of fops who never did anything and who have persuaded beau-
what you can and men
ties
is
do.
of genius to
and these wiU deliver
wear
their fop livery
fop op inion, that
t he
it^ is
not respectable to be seen earning a living ; that is
much more
it
respectable to spend without earn-
ing; and t]iis~Hoctrine of the snake wiU come also
from the wise at
elect sons of light
all
hours,
and
their taste or their
son.
his
gance
No
humor,
men
for wise
;
speak to
are not
five times
from
once from their rea-
The brave workman, who might betray
feeling of in
will
it
in his
forfeited,
manners
if
he do not succumb
must replace the grace or
practice,
by the merit
his
of
the
ele-
work done.
matter whether he makes shoes, or statues, or
laws.
which
It is
is
the privilege of any
well done to invest the doer with a cer-
tain haughtiness. ciliate,
human work
He
can well afford not to con-
whose faithful work will answer for him.
The mechanic
at his
bench carries a quiet heart
and assured manners, and deals on even terms
CONDUCT OF
92
men
with
of
statue
stain
The
any condition.
is
has made
it
disconcerts criticism.
tha^_it contracts no
that
from the market, but makes the market a
The
silent gallery for itself.
lawyer was pitiful to disgust, of buttons or tweezer-cases
youth saw in wedges, gotten,
the
artist
so beautiful
his picture so true
The
LIFE.
it
made
;
case of the young
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a paltry
matter
but the determined
an aperture to insert
his dangerous
the insignificance of the thing for-
and gave fame by
name and
and energy
his sense
to
the Tittleton snuff-box
affairs of
factory.
Society in large towns
made a tious
toy.
The
life
is
of
babyish, and wealth pleasure
is
that a shallow observer must
is
so ost enta-
believe that
this is the agreed best use of wealth, and, whatever is
pretended,
it
But
ends in cosseting.
were the main use of surplus
capital, it
if
thi s
would
bring us to barrioailes, burned towns and tomar
hawEs7 presently. -/Men
of sense esteem wealth to
be the assimilati(Sju-ef nature to themselves, the converting of the sap and juices of the planet to the incarnation and nutriment of
Power
is
what
they: want;_n ot
candy
their design. ;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; power
execute their design, power to give legs and
form and actuality
to their thought
;
to
feet,
which, to a
\clear-sighted man, appears the end for which the
Universe
exists,
and
all its
resources might be well
WEALTH. applied.
93
Columbus thinks that the sphere
/
problebij for practical navigation as
is
a
well as for
and looks on all kings and peolandsmen until they dare fit him Few men on the planet have more truly
closet geometry,
ples as cowardly out.
belonged to of his
But he was forced to leave much His successors inherited his
it.
map
blank.
map, and inherited
So the men
his fury to complete
it.
map
of the mine, telegraph, mill,
— the
monomaniacs who talk up their project in marts and offices and entreat men to
and survey, subscribe
:
— how did our
how
factories get built ?
did North America get netted with iron
rails,
except by the importunity of these orators
dragged
all
the prudent
men
in?
madness of many for the gain of a few? speculative genius
gain of the world.
but the public ists,
Jhis
the madness of a few for the
is
The
projectors are sacrificed,
the gainer.
is
who
Is party the
Each
of these ideal-
working after his thought, would make
tyrannical, if he could.
He
by other speculators as hot ^l'I!ILi^J2rf£^''"d
tree keeps
down
hy
i^ njeij
and a ntagonized
as he.
The _eg|uilib-
j^Qapj^nTTTTJjOT-gr;^^^
a,S
anotheriii_^e_forestf that
not absorb aU thesap in_the,.gKQua.d.
supply in
nature of
is
it
And
nTi|Q
may the
railroad-presidents, copper-
miners, grand-junctioners, smoke-burners, nihUators, &c.,
it
limited
fire-an-
by the same law which
\
i
CONDUCl OF
94
LIFE.
keeps the proportion in the supply of carbon, of alum, and of hydrogen.
To be
'
i
'
rich is to have a ticket of admission to
the master-works and chief is
to
have the
tains,
sea,
by voyaging
of each race. to visit the
;
to
;
see
Cosmos
eyes, ears,
galleries,
libraries,
The reader
nals, manufactories.
" foUows the marches of
and mind are armed by
arse-
of Humboldt's
a
all
man whose the science,
and implements which mankind have any-
arts,
where accumidated, and who
So
to the stock.
it is
is
using these to add
with Denon, Beckford, Bel-
Wilkinson, Layard, Kane, Lepsius and Liv-
zoni,
ingston.
"
The
man," says Saadi, " is every-
rich
The
where expected and at home."
up something more
They
rich take
of the world into man's
life.
include the country as well as the town, the
ocean-side, the
old
It
moun-
Niagara, the NUe, the desert, Kome, Paris,
ConstantiQople "
men
White HUls, the Far West and
European homesteads
of available material.
money
to
go over
it.
of
man, in
The world
He
and a sumptuous ship has
the
their notion
is his
who has
arrives at the sea-shore
floored
and carpeted
for
him the stormy Atlantic, and made it a luxurious The Persians hotel, amid the horrors of tempests. say " 'T is the same to him who wears a shoe, as if
the whole earth were covered with leather."
Kings are
said to have long arms, but every
WEALTH.
man
95
should have long arms, and should pluck his
power and his know-
living, his instruments, his
ing,
from the
the
demand
to
moon, and
stars.
I s not then
be rich legitimate?
Yet I have
sun,
I have never seen a man
never seen a rich man. as rich as
aU men ought
to be, or with
an adequate
command of nature. The pulpit and the press have many commonplaces denouncing the thirst for wealth but if men should take these moralists ;
at their
word and leave
moralists
would rush
aiming to be
off
to rekindle at
rich, the
aU hazards
this
love of power in the people, lest civilization should
be undone. quire the
Men
by
are urged
command
their ideas to ac-
over nature.
Ages derive a Csesars, Leo
Roman
culture from the wealth of
Tenths, magnificent Kings of France, of Tuscany,
Dukes
nons and Peels, in England proprietors.
It
Grand Dukes
of Devonshire, Townleys, Ver-
is
;
or whatever great
the interest of all
men
that
there should be Vaticans and Louvres full of noble works of art; British
Museums, and French
Gardens of Plants, Philadelphia Academies of Natural History, Bodleian, Ambrosian, Royal, Congressional Libraries.
It is the interest of all that
there should be Exploring Expeditions; Captain
Cooks to voyage round the world, Rosses, Franklins,
Richardsons and Kanes, to find the magnetic
and the geographic
poles.
We are
all
richer foi
CONDUCT OF
96
LIFE.
the measurement of a degree of latitude on the
Our
earth's surface.
chart.
How
tern of the
navigation
is
Universe rests on that
economy in a
safer for the
intimately our knowledge of the
state or
!
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and
sys-
a true
an individual wUl forget
its
frugality in behalf of claims like these.
Whilst
it is
each man's interest that notjoiily
ease and convenience of living, but also wealth surplus product should exist somewherej
be in his hands.
Goethe said
him.
Often well,
but those who understand to
:
their
own
ho can administer, 3al
;
need not
all
their possessions.
owning is not graceful
be a compromise of their character
o steal their
it
very undesirable to
"Nobody should be rich it." Some men are born
own, and can animate
Others cannot to
it is
or^
;
;
seems
they seem
They should own not they who hoard and con-
dividends.
not they who, the greater proprietors they
are, are only the greater beggars,
but they whose
work carves out work for more, opens a path for all. For he is the rich man in whom the people are rich, and he is the poor man in whom the people are poor and how to give all access to the masterpieces of art and nature, is the problem of civilization. The socialism of our day has done good service in setting men on thinking how certain civUiziag benefits, now only enjoyed by the opulent, can be enjoyed by all. For example, the ;
WEALTH. providing to each science
man
and of the
good for occasional own.
97
the means and apparatus of
There are many
arts.
use,
articles
which few men are able to
Every man wishes
to see the ring of Saturn,
the satellites and belts of Jupiter and Mars, the
mountains and craters in the moon can buy a telescope
would
like the trouble of
exhibiting ratus,
and
!
it.
So
keeping
of electrical
and many the
yet
;
how few
of those, scarcely one in order
it
and
and chemical appa-
Every man may
like things.
have occasion to consult books which he does not care to possess, such as cyclopedias, dictionaries, tables, charts,
maps, and public documents
;
pic-
tures also of birds, beasts, fishes, shells, trees, flowers,
whose names he desires to know.
There
is
a refining influence from the arts of
Design on a prepared mind which
is
as positive as
that of music, and not to be supplied from any
other source.
But
pictures, engravings, statues
and
casts, beside their first cost, entail expenses, as of
galleries
and keepers
for the exhibition
use which any-jnan can
make
of
them
their value too iv Jjjuch enhanced
of
men who can
Greek
cities it
;
and the
is rare,
and
by the numbers
share their enjoyment.
In the
was reckoned profane that any per-
son should pretend a property in a work of art,
which belonged to
all
who
could behold
it.
sometimes, could I only have music on VOL. VI.
7
I think
my own
CONDUCT OF
S8 terms
;
LIFE.
could I live in a great city and
know where
I could go whenever I wished the ablution and
undation of musical waves,
in-
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; that were a bath and
a medicine.
kind were owned by
If properties of this
states,
towns, and lyceums, they would draw the bonds
A town would exist to an
of neighborhood closer.
In Europe, where the feudal
intellectual purpose.
forms secure the permanence of wealth in certain families,
I
buy and preserve these them open to the public. But in
those families
things and lay
America, where democratic iastitutions divide every
smaU
estate into
portions after a few years, the
public should step into the place of these proprie,
f
tors,
and provide
this culture
and
inspiration for
the citizen.
Man rich
was born
by the use
to
be
rich, or inevitably grows
of his faculties
thought with nature.
;
by the union
of
^ojertyisanJnteUectual
The game requires coolness, right promptness and patience in the players.
production. reasoning,
Cultivated labor drives out brute labor. nite
number
of shrewd
men, in
An
infinite years,
infi-
have
arrived at certain best and shortest ways of doing,
and
this
vestings,
accumulated skiU in curings,
arts, cultures, har-
manufactures, navigations, ex-
changes, constitutes the worth of our world to-day. (
Commerce
is
a game of
skill,
which every man
WEALTH.
men can
cannot play, whiclt few right merchant faculties
we
call
is
what he has
play well.
The
one who has the just average of
common-sense
affinity for facts,
99
;
a
man
who makes up
seen.
He
is
the truths of arithmetic.
of a strong
his decision
on
thoroughly persuaded of
There
is
always a reason,
in the man, for his good. (a„had jc^uxie,_and. so in
making money. Men talk as__if_ tJiere_were_soine magic about thisj and believe.iii. magic, in all part^ He knows that aU. goes on the old road , of life. pound
for pound, centjor_cgit,
a perfect cause,
name
—for
every effect
— and that good luck
for tenacity of purpose.
He
is
\
another
insures himself
in every transaction, and likes small and sure gains.
Probity and closeness to the facts are the basis, but the masters of the art add a certain long arithmetic.
The problem
is
to
combine many and remote
operations with the accuracy and adherence to the facts
which
is
easy in near and small transactions
;
so to arrive at gigantic results, without any com-
promise of safety.
Napoleon was fond of
the story of the Marseilles banker visitor, surprised at the contrast
who
telling
said to his
between the splen-
dor of the banker's chS,teau and hospitality and the
meanness of the coimting-room in which he had seen him,
— " Young man,
you are too young to
understand how masses are- formed; the true and only power, whether composed, of money, water, or
\
CONDUCT OF
100
men
all alike
is
it
;
tre of motion, but
up
:
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and he
"
which
it
LIFE.
a mass
;
an immense
is
must be begun,
might have added that the way
must be begun and kept up
it
ceo'
must be kept
it
is
.
by
in
obedi-
ence to the law of particles.
Success consists in close appliance to the laws of the world, and since those laws are intellectual and moral, an iatellectual and moral obedience. ical
Economy
the life of
is
Polit-
as good a book wherein to read
man and
the ascendency of laws over
all
private and hostile influences, as any Bible which
has come
down
Money
to us.
is representa.tivfi^ a fid
and fortunes
of
fn^ OTy f the nature }
is a delicate Jhe owner. The social, and moral changes. The
coin
meter of
civil,
farmer
covetous of his dollar, and with reason.
is
He knows how many
no waif to him.
It is
of labor
His bones ache with
represents.
it
days'
work that earned
land
it
represents
you
so
;
much
lift all
foUows the change,
it
much
rain, frost,
and
that ia the dollar he gives
and patience, Try to lift his
that weight. skit of a
In the
city,
so
comes to be looked on as
for real bread
force for force.
;
hoe-
you
where money rise in ex-
light.
and would spend
it
dearer,
much
dollar
pen or a lucky
the farmer held ;
the
He knows how much
discretion
ing and threshing. miist
it.
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; how
He knows
sunshine.
strokes
I wish it
onlj
WEALTH. The light
on
farmer's dollar
and nimble
and
to cards
;
heavy aud the
is
clerk's is
jumps
leaps out of his pocket ;
faro-tables
is its susceptibility
101
but
:
still
more curious
to metaphysical changes.
It is
the finest barometer of social storms, and announces
J
revolutions.
Every
step of civil
advancement makes every
In California, the coun-
man's dollar worth more. try where
it
years since,
grew,
it
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; what would
it
buy ?
A few
would buy a shanty, dysentery, hun-
bad company and crime. There are wide countries, like Siberia, where it would buy little else toger,
day than some petty mitigation
Rome
it
of suffering.
wiU buy beauty and magnificence.
In
Forty
buy much in Bosbuy a great deal more in our
years ago, a dollar would not ton.
Now
will
it
old town, thanks to railroads, telegraphs, steamers,
and the contemporaneous growth and the whole country.
of
New York
Yet there are many goods
appertaining to a capital city which are not yet
purchasable here, no, not with a mountain of dollars.
A dollcr in Florida A doUar
Massachusetts.
is
not worth a dollar in not value, but repre-\^
is
sentative of value, and, at last, of moral values.
doUar
is
strictly,
rated for the corn
it
A
will buy, or to speak
not for the corn or house-room, but for
Athenian corn, and wit, probity,
Roman
house-room,
and power which we
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
for the
eat bread
and
CONDUCT OF
102
LIFE.
dwell in houses to share and exert.
mental; wealth
to bujr just things
value with world.
all
A
The
moral.
is
Wealth
a dollar goes on inc reasing
;
is
value_of_adoJlarjs, ija
the genius and all the yjrtue of the
dollar in a university
than a doUar in a
jail; in
worth more
is
a temperate, schooled,
law-abiding community than in some sink of crime, dice, knives and arsenic are in constant play. The " Bank-Note Detector " is a useful publication. But the current dollar, silver or paper, is itself the detector of the right and wrong where it circulates. Is it not instantly enhanced by the in-
where
crease of equity
If a trader refuses to sell his
?
vote, or adheres to
much more If
more worth,
is
he makes
right,
equity in Massachusetts
acre in the state action.
some odious
;
so
and every
in the hour of his
you take out of State Street the ten
honestest merchants and put in ten roguish persons controlling the
same amount of
of insurance will
indicate
banks
will
show
cure
the
schools
;
it
;
it
capital, the rates
the soundness of
;
the highways will be less
wiU
feel
se-
the children will
it,
bring home their
little
judge will
firmly on the bench, and his de-
cisions port,
be
and
sit less
less
pit will betray tree, if
upright
constraint, it,
dose of the poison
;
he has
which
all
need
you take out every day
;
the
much
sup-
and the
pul-
lost so
in a laser rule of
;
life.
for a
An
apple-
number
of
WEALTR.
103
days a load of loam and put in a load of sand about its roots,
wiU
find
An
it out.
pid kind of creature, but
sued for a short time I think
And
trust something.
apple-tree is a stu-
treatment be pur-
if this
would begin
it
to mis-
you should take out of
if
the powerful class engaged in trade a hundred good
men and put same
in a
himdred bad,
or,
what
would not the doUar, which
much
not
is
than an apple-tree, presentiy find value of a dollar ety]
just the
is
thing, introduce a demoralizing institution,
ii very
is
social, as it is
maSTwho ISmoves
it
stupider
out
created
The f
?
by
soci-
into this city with
any purchasable talent or skUl in him, gives to every man's labor in the city a talent is
new
worth.
If a
anywhere born into the world, the commu-
nity of nations is enriched
new degree
of probity.
;
and much more with a
The expense
of crime, one
of the principal charges of every nation, is so far
stopped.
In Europe, crime
is
observed to increase
or abate with the price of bread. childs at Paris
do not accept
If the Eoths-
bills,
the people at
Manchester, at Paisley, at Birmingham are forced into the highway,
Ireland.
The
and landlords are shot down
police-records attest
tions are presently felt in
and Chicago.
New
it.
York,
The
New
Orleans,
Not much otherwise the economical
power touches the masses through the lords.
in
vibra^
political
Eothschild refuses the Russian loan, and
CONDUCT OF
104 ttere
is
takes
it,
LIFE.
He
peace and the harvests are saved.
and there
is
war and an agitation through
a large portion oÂŁ mankind, with every hideous sult,
re-
ending in revolution and a new order.
Wealth brings with it its own cheeks and balThe basis of political economy is non-interThe only safe rule is found in the seKf erence. Do not adjusting met^r of demand and supply. Meddle, and you snap the sinews with legislate. your sumptuary laws. Give no bounties, make equal laws, secure life and property, and you need not give alms. Open the doors of opportunity to talent and virtue and they wUl do themselves jus-
1
ances.
j
I
1
tice,
free
and property will not be in bad hands. In a and just commonwealth, property rushes from
the idle and imbecile to the industrious, brave and persevering.
The laws
of nature play through trade, as a toy-
jbattery exhibits the effects
/level of the sea /
is
of
electricity.
not more surely kept than
equilibrium of value in society by the
supply
;
and
artifice or legislation
is
the
demand and
punishes
and bankruptcies.
reactions, gluts,
The
The
itself
by
sublime
laws play indifferently through atoms and galaxies.
Whoever knows what happens
in the getting and
spending of a loaf of bread and a pint of beer, that
no wishing
will
change the rigorous limits of pints
and penny loaves
;
that, for all that is
consumed
so
WEALTH.
105
mueli less remains in the basket and pot, but what is
gone out of these
not wasted but well spent
is
if
him to finish Ids task knows all of political economy that the budgets of empires can teach him. The interest of petty economy is this symbolization of the great economy the way in which a house and a private man's methods tally with the solar system and the
it
nourish his body and enable ;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
;
laws of give and take, throughout nature ever wary
we
are of the falsehoods
which we suicidally play
man
;
and how-
and petty
tricks
on each other, every
off
has a certain satisfaction whenever his dealing
touches on the inevitable facts
;
when he
things themselves dictate the price, as they always
tend to do, and, in large manufactures, are seen to do.
Your paper
is
will furnish
you want here
is
;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
not fine or coarse enough,
The manufacturer
too heavy, or too thin.
you with
his schedule
;
is
quite indifferent to
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; any
him
made up There
in is
costs so
A
rent,
much, and you may have
it
any pattern you fancy. in all our dealings
supersedes chaffering.
must have
;
variety of paper, as
cheaper or dearer, with the prices annexed.
pound of paper
is
says he
just that thickness or thinness
the pattern
it
cheap.
You
i
sees that
a self-regulation that
will rent a house, but
The owner can reduce
the
but so he incapacitates himself from making
proper repairs, and the tenant gets not the house he
,
CONDUCT OF
106
would have, but a worse one
LIFE. ;
besides that a
rela-
tion a little injurious is established between land-
lord
and
tenant.
You
dismiss your laborer, saying,
" Patrick, I shall send for you as soon as I cannot
do without you." Patrick goes off contented, for he knows that the weeds will grow with the potatoes, the vines must be planted, next week, and however unwilling you may
be,
the cantelopes,
Who
crook-necks and cucumbers wiU send for him.
but must wish that
all
labor and value should stand
on the same simple and surly market ? best of
its
kind,
We
it will.
If
it is
must have
the
joiner,
locksmith, planter, priest, poet, doctor, cook, weaver, ostler
;
each in turn, through the year.
If a St. Michael's pear sells for a shilling,
a shilling to raise ties offer
it.
If, in
twelve per cent, for money, they have just
six per cent of insecurity. fine
pear costs you a
munity
it costs
Boston, the best securi-
so
much.
You may not
shilling,
The
but
it
see that the
costs the com-
shilling represents the
n um-
ber of enenues the pear haSj^andTthe amount of risk in ripening
it.
Jheprice
ness of the coal-field,
of coal shows t he narrow-
and a compulsory con finement
of the miners to a certain district.
All
salaries
are reckoned on contingent as well as on actual' services.
" If the wind were always southwest by
west," said the skipper, " to sea."
One might
women might
take ships
say that aU things are of ono
WEALTH. price
that nothing
;
107
cheap or dear, and that the
is
apparent disparities that strike us are only a shop-
man's trick of concealing the damage in your bar-
A youth coming
gain. tive
New Hampshire
into the city
farm, with
its
from
his na-
hard fare
still
fresh in his remembrance, boards at a first-class
and
hotel,
believes
he must somehow have out-
witted Dr. Franklin and Malthus, for luxuries are
But he pays for the one convenience of a better dinner, by the loss of some of the richest social and educational advantages. He has lost what cheap.
guards
what incentives
!
by and by that he hotel,
He
!
left the
will perhaps find
Muses
and found the Furies
at the door of the
Money
inside.
much, and power and pleasure The ancient poet said " The gods
costs too
cheap.
often
are not sell all
things at a fair price."
There
is
an example of the compensations in the
commercial history of this country.
When
European wars threw the carrying -trade world, from 1800 to 1812, into
of
the the
American bottoms,
a seizure was now and then made of an American ship.
Of
course the loss was serious to the owner,
but the country was indemnified
;
for
we charged
threepence a pound for carrying cotton, sixpence for tobacco, loss,
and
so on
and brought
;
which paid for the risk and
into the country
an immense pros-
perity, early marriages, private wealth, the building
CONDUCT OF
108 of cities
and of
states
:
and
LIFE.
after the
war was
we received compensation over and above, by for all the seizures.
over,
treaty,
Well, the Americans grew rich
But the pay-day conies round. Britain, France, and Germany, which our extraordinary profits had impoverished, send out, attracted by the and
great.
fame of our advantages,
first their
thousands then
their millions of poor people, to share the crop.
At
we employ them, and
first
perity
;
increase our pros-
but, in the artificial system of society and
we also have adopted and come presently checks and stopThen we refuse to employ these poor men. pages. But they will not so be answered. They go into
of protected labor, which
enlarged, there
the poor-rates, and though
we
refuse wages,
we must
now pay
the same amount in the form of taxes.
Again,
turns out that the largest proportion of
it
crimes are committed by foreigners. the crime
and the expense
of courts
The
cost of
and of prisons
we must bear, and the standing army of preventive police we must pay. The cost of education of the posterity of this great colony, I wiU not compute. But the gross amount of these costs will begin to pay back what we thought was a net gain from our transatlantic customers of
fuse this payment. people,
We
1^^800.
and we cannot get
supported.
It is vain to re-
cannot get rid of these rid of their will to be
That has become an inevitable element
WEALTH. of our politics
;
109
and, for their votes, each of the
dominant parties courts and
assists
them
to get it
Moreover, we have to pay, not what
executed.
would have contented them at home, but what they have learned to think necessary here
;
so that opin-
and aU manner of moral considerations
ion, fancy,
complicate the problem.
There are few measures of economy which will bear to be named without disgust is
tender and
we may
easily
;
for the subject
have too much of
it,
and therein resembles the hideous animalcules of which our bodies are built up, which, offensive in
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
the particular, yet compose valuable and effective masses.
Our nature and genius force us to respect we use means. We must use the|| jj
ends,
whilst
means, and
how
yet, in
our most accurate using some-
screen and cloak them, as
we can only
give
them any beauty by a reflection of the glory of the end. That is the good head, which serves the end and commands the means. The rabble are corrupted by their means for them, 1.
The
;
the
means are
too strong
and they desert their end. first
of these measures is that each man's
expense must proceed from his character. as your genius buys, the investment
you spend
like
a monarch.
As
is safe,
long
though
Nature arms each
man
with some faculty which enables' him to do easily
f
>y
CONDUCT OF
110
some feat impossible
to
any
LIFE.
other,
and thus makes
him necessary to society. This native determinar. He wants tion guidesjds labor and his spending^ an equipment of means and tools proper to his^ tal-
And
ent.
to save
on
were to neutralise
this point
tE^ special strength and helpfulness, of eaeh
Do
work, and not
economy
its
aeceptableness.
This
that, rightly read, it is the
is
sum
so
much
of econ-
Profligacy consists not in spending years of
omy.
time or chests of money,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; but
men and
rupts
in spending them
The crime which bank-
the line of your career.
off
mifld..
your work, respecting the excellence of the
states is job-work;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; declining from
your main design, to serve a turn here or
Nothing
is
your
life
;
from
that.
beneath you, nothing
is
I think
straight line
if it is
great or desirable
we
there.
in the direction of if it is ofE
are entitled here to draw a
and say that
society can never prosper
but must always be bankrupt, until every
man
does
that which he was created to do.
Spend which
is
for your expense,
not yours.
to say that
and retrench the expense
Allston the painter was wont
he built a plain house, and
filled it
with
plain furniture, because he would hold out no bribe
him who had not similar tastes to "We are sympathetic, and, like children, want everything we see. But it is a large stride to
to
any
his
to visit
own.
independence,
when a man,
in
the discovery of
Ill
WEALTH. his proper talent,
As
expenses.
has sunk the necessity for false
the betrothed maiden byjone_secp-e
affection is relieved
from a system of
slaveries, -r-
the daily inculcated nec^sity^of pleasing the
has found what he canjdOj_can^ sgend
man who
^"ffiataiid leave ail other spending. said, "
'
allj_:;::;;;,so
When
Montaigne
he was a yoimger brother, he went
brave in dress and equipage, but afterward his chยง,teau
a
for him."
and farms might answer
man who
Let
belongs to the class of nobles, those
namely who have found out that they can do something, relieve himself of all vague squandering on objects not his.
realist
Let him delegate
ances. tesies
Let the
not mind appear-
to others the costly cour-
and decorations of
The
social life.
virtues
are economists, but some of the vices are also.
Thus, next to humility, I have noticed that pride is
A
a pretty good husband.
reckon
it,
worth from
dred a year. Pride eradicates so itself,
that
it
many
is
five
as I
hun-
handsome, economical
vices, letting
seems as
is,
fifteen
good pride
hundred to
LE it
;
pride
none subsist but
were a great gain to exPride can go without
change vanity for pride.
domestics, without fine clothes, can live in a house
with two rooms, can eat potato, purslain, beans, lyed corn, can work on the
can talk with poor men, or in fine saloons.
soil,
can travel afoot,
sit silent
But vanity
costs
well-contented
money, labor,
CONDUCT OF
112
LIFE.
men, women, health, and peace, and
horses,
nothing at last
one drawback
a long way
;
is still
Only
leading nowhere.
proud people are intolerably selfish, and the vain are gentle and giving. Art is a jealous mistress, and if a man have a ;
genius for painting, poetry, music, architecture, or
makes a bad husband and an ill proand should be wise in season and not fetter
philosophy, he vider,
himseK with duties which and
spoil
him
this region,
men, a
will embitter his days
We
for his proper work.
had
in
twenty years ago, among our educated
Arcadian fanaticism, a passionate
sort of
desire to go
upon the land and unite farming
Many
intellectual pursuits.
to
effected their purpose
and made the experiment, and some became downright
ploughmen
that scholarship
;
but aU were cured of their
and
faith
practical farming (I mean,
with one's own hands) could be united.
With brow
with firm intent, the pa^
bent,
scholar leaves his desk to
draw a
freer breath and
get a juster statement of his thought, in the garden-
walk. that
is
He
stoops to pull
two ; close behind the out his
up a puxslain or a dock
choking the young corn, and finds there are
hand
to
sand and one.
last is
a third
;
he reaches
a fourth, behind that are four thou-
He
is
heated and untuned, and by
and by wakes up from his idiot dream of chickweed and
red-root, to
remember
his
morning thought, and
WEALTH.
113
adamantine purposes he has
to find that wltli his
been duped by a dandelion. pernicious machineries
A garden
we read
Kke those
is
month in
of every
the newspapers, which catch a man's coat-skirt or his
hand and draw in
body
his arm, his leg
to irresistible destruction.
and
In an
he pulled down his wall and added a
No
homestead.
a
man own
land
is
bad, but land
land, the land
leave home,
if
owns him.
his whole evil
hour
field to his
is
worse.
he dare. Every tree and
graft, every
hiU of melons, row of com, or quickset hedge ;
he has done and
way The
If
Now let him all
he means to do, stand in his
all
when he would go out of his gate. devotion to these vines and trees he finds poisonous. Long free walks, a circuit of miles, free his brain and serve his body. Long marches are no like duns,
hardship to him.
He
on the
this pottering in
hills.
But
yards of garden
is
believes he composes easily
and
dispiriting
smell of the plants has drugged
He
drivelling. The him and robbed
him
of energy.
He
grows peevish and poor-spirited.
of reading
resiuous
strength
finds a catalepsy in his bones.
and of gardening are
and vitreous
trative in sparks ;
a few square
electricity.
and shocks
;
The genius
antagonistic, like
One
the other
so that each disqualifies its
is
concen-
is diffuse
workman
for
the other's duties.
An
engraver, whose hands must be of an exqui-
!
CONDUCT OF
114
site delicacy of stroke,
LIFE.
should not lay stone walls.
Sir David Brewster gives exact instructions for microscopic observation " Lie down on your back, :
and object over your eye," more the seeker of abstract who needs periods of isolation and rapt con-
and hold the
How much
&c. &c. truth,
single lens
centration
and almost a going out
of the
body
to
think
Spend after your genius, and hy system. Nature goes by rule, not by sallies and saltations. There must be system in the economies. Saving and unexpensiveness will not keep the most pathetic family from ruin, nor will bigger inconies make free 2.
spending in the
come
The
safe.
amount
to outgo
of ;
secret of
success lies never
money, but in the relation
of in-
a s, after expense has been fixed at
a certamnmnt, then new and steadg. rills_ of income
though
nevfiiLSo ima"Il"beihg
But in ordinary,
as
means
added, wealth bepns. increase, spending in-
creases faster, so that large incomes, in
and elsewhere, are found not
to help matters
the eating quality of debt does not relax ity.
When
the cholera
is
in the potato,
use of planting larger crops ?
England
its
what
;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
voracis
the
In England, the
richest country in the universe, I
was assured by
shrewd observers that great lords and ladies had no
more guineas liberality
away than other people that with money is as rare and as immediately to give
;
;
WEALTH. famous a virtue as
whom
giant
enough to
fair
manor,
as in Shakspeare's time.
told is
Want
is
a growing
Have was never
large
I remember in Warwickshire to
cover.
have been shown a
name
here.
it is
the coat of
115
in the
same
rent-roll
I was
still
The
some fourteen thousand pounds a year
;
but
when the second son of the late proprietor was born, the father was perplexed how to provide for him. The eldest son must inherit the manor what ;
to
do with
to breed
him
He
supernumerary ?
this
Church and
for the
was advised
him
to settle
in
the rectorship which was in the gift of the family
which was done.
a general rule in that coim-
It is
try that bigger incomes do not help ar^lso^. is
commonly observed
It
that a sudden wealthilike a
prize^drawn in a lottery^^ja_iajrg8_.beq,Tiegtjfco a
They
poor family, does not permanently enrich.
have served no apprenticeship to wealth, and with the rapid wealth come rapid claims which they do
not
know how
to deny,
and the treasure
is
quickly
dissipated.
A system must
be in every economy, or the best
single expedients are of
good thing when
it
no avaU.
A
farm
begins and ends with
and does not need a salary or a shop Thus, the cattle are a main
linlr
to eke
is
a
itselE, it
out.
in the chain-ring.
If the non-conformist or aesthetic farmer leaves out
the cattle and does not also leave out the want
CONDUCT OF
116
wliich tlie cattle
by begging or
LIFE.
must supply, he must
fiU the
When men now
stealing.
gap
alive
were born, the farm yielded everything that was
consumed on
The farm yielded no money, and
it.
the farmer got on without.
If he fell sick, his
neighbors came in to his aid; each gave a day's
work, or a half day his horse, toes,
and kept
mowed
that no
man
;
or lent his yoke of oxen, or
his
work even
;
his hay, reaped his rye
hoed ;
his pota^
well knowing
could afford to hire labor without
In autumn a farmer could
ing his land.
sell
sell-
an ox
little money to pay taxes withal. Now, the farmer buys almost aU he consumes,
or a hog and get a
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
tin- ware, cloth, sugar, tea, coffee, fish, coal, Railroad-
tickets
A
and newspapers.
master in each art
practice is never with
is
required, because the
still
or dead subjects, but
they change in your hands.
You
think farm-build-
ings and broad acres a solid property; but is
flowing like water.
ing as
if
It requires as
its
much
valu e
watch-
you were decanting wine from a
cask.
The farmer knows what to do with it, stops every leak, turns aU the streamlets to one reservoir and decants wine
Comhill, iÂŤ it
;
but a blunderhead comes out of
tries his
hand, and
it all
leaks away.
So
with granite streets or timber townships as
with fruit or flowers.
Nor
is
any investment
so
permanent_^ttg;J. it caaUie-alloged to remain with?
—
!
WEALTH.
117
out ince ssant watching^ as the history of each at-
tempt to lock up an inheritance through two generations for an unborn inheritor
When Mr. Cockayne takes and
try,
will
creature that
may
show.
a cottage in the coun-
keep his cow, he thinks a cow is
is
a
fed on hay and gives a pail of milk
But the cow that he buys gives milk three months ; then her bag dries up. What
twice a day. for to
do with a dry cow
he bought
also
?
who
will
buy her? Perhaps
a yoke of oxen to do his work ; but
they get blown and lame.
What
to
do with blown
The farmer fats his after the spring-work is done, and kUls them in the faU. But how can Cockayne, who has no pastures, and and lame oxen?
leaves his cottage daily in the cars at hours, be pothered with fatting
He
plants trees
will
He wiU
?
but there must be crops, to keep
;
the trees in ploughed land. crops ?
business
and kUling oxen
What
shall
have nothing to do with
have grass.
be the
trees,
but
After a year or two the grass
must be turned up and ploughed; now what crops? Credulous Cockayne 3.
Help comes
and the
rule of
in the custom of the country,
Impera parendo.
to dictate nor to insist
The
rule
is
not
on carrying out each of your
schemes by ignorant wilfubess, but to learn practi^"— ."""
cajly_^e jeeret_spoken, f rom
aU
'"
•*
""^'"'1'
'-II
'"-'-
I
nature, that things
themselves refuse to be mismanaged, and wiU'Sbow
\
i
CONDUCT OF
118
LIFE.
own law. Nobody need stir The custom of the country wiH do it all. I know not how to build or to plant neither how to buy wood, nor what to do with the house-lot, the field, or the wood-lot, when bought. Never fear it is all settled how it shall be, long to the watchful their
Land or
foot.
;
;
beforehand, in the custom of the country, to sand or whether to clay
how
it,
when
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; whether
to plough, and
to dress, whether to grass or to corn
;
and you
Nature has her own best mode of doing each thing, and she has somewhere told it plainly. If we will keep our eyes and ears cannot help or hinder
If not, she will not
open.
us when often
it.
we
prefer our
be slow in undeceiving
own way
we must remember the
How
to hers.
art of the surgeon,
which, in replacing the broken bone, contents
with releasing the parts from false position fly into
this art of
Of
by the action nature aU our arts
place
they
of the muscles.
On
rely.
the two eminent engineers in the recent con-
struction of railways in England, straight
from terminus
cal estates in two,
Mr. Brunei went
to terminus, through
tains, over streams, crossing
cellar
itself
;
and shooting through
and that man's
attic
this
company.
man's
window, and so arriving
at his end, at great pleasure to geometers,
cost to his
moun-
highways, cutting du-
but with
Mr. Stephenson on the
trary, believing that the river
knows the way,
con.
fol
;;
WEALTH. lowed
Ms
119
Western EaU-
valley as implicitly as our
road follows the Westfield Kiver, and turned out say
Well, there are worse
the cows laid out Boston.
Every pedestrian
surveyors.
We
and cheapest engineer.
to be the safest
in our pastures has
frequent occasion to thank the cows for cutting the best path through the thicket
and
buffalo-traU,
and over the
hills
and Indians know the value
travellers
which
is
of a
sure to be the easiest possible
pass through the ridge.
When a citizen
fresh
from Dock Square or Milk
Street comes out and buys land in the country, his first
thought
his library
is
to a fine outlook
from
his
windows
must command a western view
set every day,
;
a sun-
bathing the shoulder of Blue HUls,
Wachusett, and the peaks of Monadnoc and Uncanoonuc.
What,
thirty acres,
and
cence for fifteen hundred dollars
cheap at eyes
fifty
dim with
corner-stone.
ground thinks gravel to
fill
thousand.
He
all this
It
I
magnifi-
would be
proceeds at once, his
tears of joy, to fix the spot for his
But the man who is to level the wUl take many hundred loads of
it
The
the hollow to the road.
stone-
mason who should build the well thinks he shaU have to dig forty feet ; the baker doubts he shall never like to drive up to the door
;
the practical
neighbor cavils at the position of the the citizen comes to
know
bam
;
and
that his predecessor the
CONDUCT OF
120
LIFE.
farmer built the house in the right spot for the sun
and wind, the
spring,
and water-drainage, and the
convenience to the pasture, the garden, the
field
and the road. So Dock Square yields the point, and things have their own way. Use has made the farmer wise, and the foolish citizen learns to take his counsel.
From
step to step he comes at last to
surrender at discretion. his orders
;
as often as
for
The farmer afEects to take
but the citizen says.
You may
ask
you wiU, and in what ingenious forms,
an opinion concerning the mode of building
my
wall, or sinking
well, or laying out
but the ball will rebound to you. ters
my
my
acre,
These are mat-
on which I neither know nor need
anything.
me
to
know
These are questions which you and not
I shall answer.
Not less within doors a system settles itself parar mount and tyrannical over master andmistrggs, servant and child, cousin
andjcguainto^.
'T is
in vain that genius or virtue or energy of character strive 'tis
and cry against
it.
This
is
fate.
And
very well that the poor husband reads in a
book of a new way of
living, and resolves to adopt him ; go home and try it, if he dare. 4. Another point of economy is to look for _seed of the same kind as you sow, and not to hope to buy one kind with another kind. Friendship it
at
home
let
buys friendship
;
justice,
justice
;
military merit,
WEALTH.
121
Good husbandry finds wife, chilThe good merchant, large dren and household. The good poet, gains, ships, stocks, and money. military success.
fame and
literary credit
Yet there
is
;
but not either, the other.
commonly a confusion Hotspur
on these points. praises himself for
it,
is
poor,
and Furlong
The odd circumstance
a good provider.
Hotspur thinks
moment,
and despises Furlong, that he
Hotspur of course
does not.
of expectations
lives for the
is
that
a superiority in himself, this
it
improvidence, which ought to be rewarded with Furlong's lands. I have not at
aU completed
my
design.
But we
must not leave the topic without casting one glance into the interior recesses.
losophy that
man
is
It is a doctrine of phi-
a being of degrees
nothing in the world which
is
;
that there
not repeated in
body, his body being a sort of miniature or
his
summary in his
of the world
body which
sphere in his brain which his
is
is
mind
is
;
;
then that there
is
nothing
not repeated as in a celestial then, there is nothing in his
not repeated in a higher sphere in
moral system.
Now
5.
these things are so in
Nature.
All
things ascend, and the royal rule of economy that
it
must always have a higher aim.
maxim
is
should ascend also, or, whatev er we dp
that
money
is
Thus
it
another kind of blood.
is
a
Pe-
;
CONDUCT OF
122
cunia alter sanguis
:
LIFE.
a
or, the estate of
man
is
only
a larger kind of body, and admits of regimen
So there^is no
analogous to his bodily circulations.
maxim
merchant which does not admit of
of the
an extended
sense,
e. g.,
" Best use of
money
is t o"
" " Best
debtsV ^" Every^_h]i£iiess by " " The right iasestmeiuL is i s present time Hie counttools of your trade " and the like. itself
paj^
time^
;
'
in
;
maxims liberally jspfljoadfid ..are laws, of the Universe. The merchant's economy is a coarse symbol ofthe soul'.s economy. It is to spend for in g-room
power and not for pleasure.
come
that
;
generals
;
is
It
— of
its life,
is
to invest in-
up .particutes
days into integral eras
tive, practical its
to say to take
and
—
.
still
literary,
absorb and invest; he
is
emo-
to ascend in
The merchant has but
investment.
into
o ne rule,
to be cap italist;
th e
scraps and filings must be gathered back iato the crucible
;
the gas
and smoke must be burned, and
earnings must not go to increase expense, but to capital again.
Win he
Well, the
body and every organ
body '
man must be
is a jar in
is
?
His
imder the same law.
His
which the liquor of
Will he spend for pleasure ? short
and
power? tions,
capitalist.
spend his income, or will he invest
facile.
It
life is stored.
The way tormn
is
Will he not spend but hoardior
passes through the sacred fermenta-
by that law
of Nature
whereby everything
WEALTH.
123
climbs to higher platforms, and bodily vigor be-
comes mental and moral vigor. eats
is first
strength and animal spirits
in higher laboratories, imagery in
it
;
the right_compound interest
is
becomes,
and thought
higher results, courage and
stiU
This
The bread he
ital, doubled, quadrupled, centupled
;
;
;
and
endurance. this is cap-
man, raised
1Âť his highest power.
The plane
;
true thrift to invest
that he
is
always to spend on the higher
and
may spend
invest, with
augmenting animal existence. riched, in repeating
mal sensation
;
keener avarice,
in spiritual creation
Nor
is
and not
the
man
in
en-
the old experiments of ani-
nor unless through new powers and
ascending pleasures he knows himself by the actual experience of higher
the
way
to the highest.
good to be already on
CULTUEE.
Can
rules or tutors educate
The semigod whom we await ?
He
must be musical,
Tremulous, impressional, Alive to gentle influence
Of landscape and
And
of sky.
tender to the spirit-touch
Of man's or maiden's eye But, to his native centre
:
fast.
Shall into Future fuse the Past,
And
the world's flowing fates in his recast.
own mould
;;
CULTURE. The word of ambition at the present day WhUst all the world is in pursuit of
and
of wealth as a
means
the theory of success.
power. _
Cul-
is
power,
ture.
of power, culture corrects
A man is the prisoner of his
A topical memory makes him an almanac
a talent for debate, a disputant
makes him a miser, that
is,
skill to
;
a beggar,
get
money
iiilture-jce-
duces these inflammations by invoking the aid of other powers against the dominant talent, and by
appealing to the rank of powers. cess
.
/
It watches suc-
For performance. Nature has no mercy, and it done; makes a
sacnnces the performer to get
dropsy or a tympany of him.
thumb, she makes one at the
and any excess of power for at once
by some
she wants a
arms and
legs,
in one part is usually paid
defect in a contiguous part.
Our^^B^iencydeprads
so
much on our
concen-
Nature usually in the instances where
tration, that
a marked
If
cost of
man
is
sent into the world, overloads
him
with bias, sacrificing his symmetry to liis'working power.
and
if
It is said a
a
man have
pression on
aU
man
can write but one book
a defect,
it is
apt to leave
his performances.
its
im-
If she creates a
CONDUCT OF
128
LIFE.
made up of suspicions \and of plots to circumvent them. "The air," said The physician li'ouch^, "is full of poniards." policeman like Fouch^, he
Sanctorius spent his
is
life in
a pair of scales, weigh-
ing his food. Lord Coke valued Chaucer highly because the Canon Yeman's Tale illustrates the statute fifth Hen. IV. Chap. 4, against alchemy. I saw a man who believed the principal mischiefs in the English state were derived from the devotion to musical concerts.
A freemason,
set out to explain to this
not long since,
country that the principal
cause of the success of General Washington was
the aid he derived from the freemasons. "'^'itZS£££j''^"S-^— -^^EiSS-^S^®
stringjNature
has secured individualism by giving the private
person a high conceit of ,Ws_ weight_in_the systm.
The
pest of society
bright, sacred It
is
There are dull and
is egotists.
and profane, coarse and
a disease that like influenza
tutions.
falls
fine egotists.
on
all consti-
In the distemper known to physicians as
chorea, the patient sometimes turns round and continues to spin slowly on one spot.
Is egotism a
metaphysical variety of this malady?
The man
rims round a ring formed by his own talent, into
an admiration of
world^_^ It
is
it^,
and
a tendency in
annoying forms
is
falls
loses relation to the
all
OneoTlts sympathy. The
minds.
a craving for
sufferers parade their miseries, tear the lint froni
CULTURE.
their indictable crimes, that
their bruises, reveal
you
may
129
They
pity them.
like sickness, because
physical pain will extort some show of interest
from the bystanders, as we have seen children who
when grown peothey choke, to draw at-
finding themselves of no account ple
come
in, will
cough
till
tention.
This distemper tists,
word
aloof
for the nothing
"I
the scourge of talent,
am
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
of ar-
Eminent
spir-
have an incapacity of putting their
itualists shall
act or
is
inventors and philosophers.
from them and seeing
it is.
Beware
of the
on the eve of a revelation."
it
bravely
man who
says,
It is speedily
punished, inasmuch as this habit invites
men
to
humor it, and, by treating the patient tenderly, to shut him up in a narrower selfism and exclude him from the great world of God's cheerful
and women.
Let us rather be
Religious literature has eminent
are insultable.
examples, and
if
we run over our
poets, critics, philanthropists shall find
men we
fallible
insulted, whilst
them infected with
private
list
of
and philosophers, we this
dropsy and
ele-
phantiasis, which we ought to have tapped.
This goitre of egotism ble persons that sity in nature
which
the sexual attraction. cies
is
we must it
so frequent
infer
subserves
among
nota-
some strong neces;
such as we see in
The preservation
of the spe-
was a point of such necessity that Nature has
VOL. VI.
9
CONDUCT OF
130 secured
it
LIFE.
by immensely overloading
at all hazards
the passion, at the risk of perpetual crime and disorder.
necessity
what he
So egotism has its root in the cardinal by which each individual persists to be
is.
This individuali^^is not only not mconsistent with culture, but nature
is
the basis oÂŁ
is
there in
its
own
right,
Every valuable
it.
and the student we
speak to must have a motherwit invincible by his culture,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; which uses
all
books, arts,
elegancies of intercourse, but lost in
them.
He
only
is
a good determijiation. ^ not to destroy
this,
a well-made
And
God
and
facilities,
never subdued and
is
man who
has
the end of culture
forbid
!
is
but to train away
aU impediment and mixture and leave nothing but pure power. Our s tudent must have a style and determiaation, and be^a master in his own specialty.
Bi^ having
this,
he must^ put
it
must have a cathoKcity, a power and disengaged look every
behind him.
object.^
Yet
is this pri-
vate interest and self so overcharged that
seeks a companion
who can
He
to see with a free
if
a
man
look at objects for their
own sake and without affection or self-reference, he will find the fewest who will give him that satisfaction whilst most men are afflicted with a coldness, ;
an
iQcuriosity, as soon as
nect with their self-love.
any object does not
Though they
con-
talk of the
object before them, they are thinking of themselves^
CULTURE. and
their vanity
laying
is
131
little
traps for your ad^
miration.
But
man
after a
has discovered that there are
limits to the interest
which his private history has
for mankind, he stiU converses with his family, or
a few companions,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; perhaps with half a dozen per-
sonalities that are
famous in his neighborhood.
Boston the question of
In
the names of some
life is
Have you seen Mr. AUston, Doctor Channing, Mr. Adams, Mr. Webster, Mr. Greenough? Have you heard Everett, Garrison, Father Taylor, Theodore Parker ? Have you
eight or ten men.
talked with Messieurs Turbinewheel, Summitlevel,
and Lacofrupees
New York
Then you may as
?
the question
is
Have you
ten, or twenty.
merchants and brokers,
two or three
New York
conversation
is
at
well die.
some other
In
eight, or
seen a few lawyers,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; two
capitalists,
newspapers ?
of
or three
scholars,
two or three editors of is
a sucked orange.
AU
an end when we have discharged
ourselves of a dozen personalities, domestic or imported, which
make up our American
Nor do we expect anybody
existence.
to be other than a faint
copy of these heroes. Life
is
very narrow.
of intelKgent
and
if
me
men
Bring any club or company
together again after ten years,
presence of some penetrating and calm-
ing genius could dispose them to frankness, what
CONDUCT OF
132''
LIFE.
a confession of insanities would come up
The we have sacrificed, Tariff or Democracy, Whigism or Abolition, Temperance or !
" causes " to which
Socialism would show like roots of bitterness and
dragons of wrath chievous as
if
and our
;
talents
bird of prey which had whisked
from
fortune,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; some
are as
mis-
each had been seized upon by some
truth,
him away from
from the dear
society of the
and only when he was now gray and nerveless was it relaxing its poets
;
zeal,
some
bias,
claws and he awaking to sober perceptions.
/
Culture
is
thoughts, that
suggestion,
the
a
man
from certain
has a range of
best
affinities
through which he can modulate the violence of any master-tones that have a droning preponderance in his scale,
and succor him against himself.
redresses his balance, puts
and
him among
Culture
his equals
superiors, revives the delicious sense of sympa-
thy and warns him of the dangers of solitude and repulsion. It
is
not a compliment but a disparagement to
consult a
man
theatres, or
only on horses, or on steam, or on
on eating, or on books, and, whenever
he appears, considerately to turn the conversation to the
bantling he
known
is
to fondle.
In the
Norse heaven of our forefathers, Thor's house had five five
hundred and forty
floors
hundred and forty
;
floors.
and man's house has His excellence
iu
CULTURE. facility of
many
points,
Culture
wide contrasts and ex-
to
kills his
exaggeration, his conceit
We must leave our pets
of his village or his city. at
through
adaptation and of transition
related
tremes.
133
home when we go
into the street,
and meet men
on broad grounds of good meaning and good
No
performance
is
worth
sense.
'T
loss of geniality.
is
a cruel price we pay for certain fancy goods called
and philosophy.
fine arts
In the Norse legend, All-
fadir did not get a drink of Mimir's spring
(*;he
fountain of wisdom} until he left his eye in pledge.
And
here
a pedant that cannot unfold
is
wrinkles, nor conceal his wrath at interruption
the best, tinency, alities.
them
if
their conversation do not
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; here
afflict
by
his imper-
us with his person-
'Tis incident to scholars that each of
fancies he
is
Draw him
nity.
he to
is
fit
his
pointedly odious in his
commu-
out of this limbo of irritability.
Cleanse with healthy blood his parchment skin.
You at
restore to
him
Mimir's spring.
doing,
who
his eyes
If
cares what
which he
left in
you are the victim you do?
We
pledge
of your
can spare
your opera, your gazetteer, your chemic analysis, your history, your syllogisms. pays dear for his distinction. into a spire,
and
of genius
His head runs up
and instead of a healthy man, merry
wise, he is
less of
Your man
some mad dominie.
Nature iu^ck-
the_ individual^ _When she has
points to
",
CONDUCT OF
134
To wade
carry, she carries them.
sea-margins
in marshes and
the destiny of certain birds, and they
is
are so accurately
made
for this that they are im-
Each animal out
prisoned in those places.
To
habitat would starve.
each woman,
LIFE.
of
its
the physician, each man,
A
an amplification of one organ.
is
a locksmith, a bank-clerk and a dancer
soldier,
And
could not exchange functions.
thus
we
are
victims of adaptation.
The
antidotes against this organic egotism are
the range and variety of attractions, as gained by
men
acquaintance with the world, with
of merit,
with classes of society, with travel, with eminent persons, and with the high resources of philosophy art,
and
religion
The hardiest
;
books, travel, society, solitude.
who has who has
skeptic
a pointer trained, or
seen a horse broken, visited a menagerie
or the exliibition of the Industrious Fleas, wiU not
deny the Plato, "
and
validity of
in the
same
coigne says, "
The
taught."
manners
;
"
education.
the most vicious of
is
A
spirit the old
boy
is
all
the
;
army a
unborn than im-
fourth.
an army which can be confided in discipline
;
may be made
that
by systematic
heroes
:
;
one kind of speech and
the back country a different style
sea another
by
boy," says
English poet Gas-
better
city breeds
A
wild beasts
;
the
We
know
may
be formed
discipline
that
aU men
Marshal Lannes said
to a
CVLTVUE. French
"
officer,
Know,
135
Colonel, that none but a
poltroon will boast that he never was afraid."
great part of courage
the thing before.
Owen
said,
him."
'T
" Give
And me
inhuman
is
human
in all
action those
a
and I
tiger,
to
want
;
and men are valued precisely
onward or meliorating poltroonery
Robert
will educate
faith in the
of education, since to meliorate is the
ture
A
the courage of having done
is
be strong which are used.
faculties will
'
On
force.
power
law of na-
as they exert
the other hand,
the acknowledging an inferiority to
is
be incurable. Incapacity of melioration
temper.
the only mortal dis-
is
There are people who can never imder-
stand a trope or any second or expanded sense
given to your words, or any humor literalists, after
rhetoric
and wit
;
but remain
hearing the music and poetry and of seventy or eighty years.
They
are past the help of surgeon or clergy.
But even
pitchforks and
the cry of
these can understand
Fire
!
and I have noticed in some
marked
of this class a
dislike of earthquakes.
Let us make our education brave and Politics is
an after-work, a poor patching.
We
The
law
are always a is
preventive.*'
little late.
evil is done, the
we begin the up-hiU agitation for of which we ought to have prevented
passed, and
repeal of that the enacting.
We shall one
day learn to supersede
CONDUCT OF
136 polities
LIFE.
What we
by education.
call
our root-and-
branch reforms, of slavery, war, gambling, intemWe perance, is only medicating the symptoms.
must begin higher up, namely in Education.
Out arts and tools give to him who can handle them much the same advantage over the novice as if
you extended
And
years.
his life, ten, fifty, or a
I think
it
hundred
the part of good sense to
provide every fine soul with such culture that shall '
This which I might do
my
it
thirty or forty years, have to say
not, at
is
made
hopeless through
want of weapons.'
But
it
fails of
rare
;
is
conceded that much of our training
effect
;
that all success
is
hazardous and
that a large part of our cost and pains
thrown away.
is
Nature takes the matter into her
own hands, and though we must not omit any jot of our system, we can seldom be sure that it has availed much, or that as
much good would
not
have accrued from a different system. f
Books, as containing the finest records of human
wit,
must always enter into our notion of
The
best heads that ever existed, Pericles, Plato,
Julius
Caesar,
culture.
Shakspeare, Goethe, MUton, were
well-read, universally educated
men, and quite too
wise to undervalue
Their opinion has
â&#x20AC;˘
weight, because they posite opinion.
letters.
had means
We look
of
knowing the op
that a great
man
should
CULTURE.
137
be a good reader, or in proportion to the spontane-
Good
ous power should be the assimilating power. criticism
is
very rare and always precious.
always happy to meet persons transcendent superiority of I like people
other writers.
who
am
I
perceive the
Shakspeare over aU
who
Be-
like Plato.
cause this love does not consist with self-conceit.
But books are good only
He
for them.
You
as far as a
boy
is
^
ready
sometimes gets ready very slowly.
send your child to the schoolmaster, but
'tis
who educate him. You send him to the Latin class, but much of his tuition comes, on his way to school, from the shop-windows. You the schoolboys
like the strict rules
and the long terms
finds his best leading in a
refuses
any companions but
hates the
is
right,
up ing.
and
if
horses,
and
and you are not
and he
loves guns,
Well, the boy
boats. fit
He
of his choosing.
grammar and Gradus, and
fishing-rods,
;
by-way of his own, and
to direct his bringing-
your theory leaves out his gymnastic
train-
Archery, cricket, gun and fishing-rod, horse boat, are all educators, liberalizers
;
and
so are
dancing, dress, and the street-talk; and provided
only the boy has resources, and
is
of a noble
ingenuous strain, these wiU not serve him
and
less
than
the books.
He
learns chess, whist, dancing
and
theatricals.
The
father observes that another
boy
has learned algebra and geometry in the same time.
CONDUCT OF
138
But the
boy has acquired much more than
first
these poor
LIFE.
He
games along with them.
ated for weeks with whist and chess
wiU the
find out, as
game
you
did, that
too long played, he
and despises his
is
rises
and has
plishments, for example
from
vacant and forlorn
its
These miaor
experience.
but presently
when he
Thenceforward
himself.
place with other things,
;
is infatu-
takes
it
due weight in
skills
and accom-
dancing, are tickets of
admission to the dress-circle of mankind, and the
being master of them enables the youth to judge intelligently of
much on which
give a pedantic squint. fered more from
my
otherwise he would
Landor
said, " I
have
bad dancing than from
misfortunes and miseries of
my
Provided always the boy
teachable (for
not proposing to ball,
cricket,
make a
is
life
suf-
all
the
put together."
we
are
statue out of punk), foot-
archery, swimming,
skating, climb-
iug, fencing, riding, are lessons in the art of power,
which
it
is
specially, of
"
A good
his
main business
to learn
;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
riding,
which Lord Herbert of Cherbury
rider on a
himself and others as the
said,
much above world can make him."
good horse
as
is
Besides, the gun, fishing-rod, boat,
and
horse, con-
among aU who use them, secret freemasonThey are as if they belonged to one club.
stitute, ries.
There
is
also a negative value in
Their chief use to the youth
is
these
arts.
not amusement,
CULTURE.
139
but to be
known
main
him occasions of heart-burn.
to
what they
for
Each
superstitions.
full of
the advantages
it
has not
;
are,
We
are
on
the refined, on rude
the democrat, on birth and breeding.
;
One
the benefits of a college
show the boy
man
to re-
class fixes its eyes
strength of
and not
its little avail.
I
education
knew a
is
to
leading
in a leading city, who, having set his heart
on an education at the university and missed could never quite feel himself the equal of his brothers
who had gone
him
this
Balls, riding, wine-parties
and
own
His easy superi-
thither.
ority to multitudes of professional
quite countervail to
it,
men
could never
imaginary defect. billiards pass to
a
poor boy for something fine and romantic, which they are not
;
equal footing, twice,
and a if
it
free admission to
them on an
were possible, only once or
would be worth ten times
its cost,
by unde-
ceiving him.
I
am
observe
,
much an advocate for travelling, and I that men run away to other countries be-
not
cause they are not good in their own, and rim back to their
new
own because they
pass for nothing in the
For the most
part, only the light char-
places.
acters travel.
Who
keep you at home?
are
you that have no task
captious things about travel tice.
to
I have been quoted as saying ;
but I mean to do
jus-
I think there is a restlessness in our people
CONDUCT OF
140
LIFE.
AH
which argues want of character. Americans, cause
it is
first
or last, go to
Europe
educated
perhaps be-
;
their mental home, as the invalid habits
of this country might suggest.
An
eminent teacher
" the idea of a girl's education
of girls said,
Can
whatever qualifies her for going to Europe."
we never extract
tape-worm of Europe from the
this
brain of our countrymen ? their fate
must
be.
One
He He
sees very well
that does not
fill
what
a place at
only goes there to hide
home, cannot abroad. his insignificance in
is,
You
a larger crowd.
do not
think you will find anything there which you have not seen at the same.
home ? The
Do you
stuff of
aU
suppose there
countries is
is
just
any country
where they do not scald mUk-pans, and swaddle the infants,
What let
and burn the brushwood, and true anywhere
is
him go where he
is
will,
broil the fish
?
And
true everywhere.
he can only find so much
beauty or worth as he carries.
Of
course, for
some men, travel may be
Naturalists, discoverers,
men
are
made
and
sailors are
usefid.
bom. Some
for couriers, exchangers, envoys, mis-
sionaries, bearers of despatches, as others are for
farmers and working-men. light
and
social turn,
And
if
the
man
and Nature has aimed
is of
to
a
make
a legged and winged creature, framed for locomotion,
we must
follow her hint and furnish
him with
that breeding which gives currency, as sedulouslj
CULTURE. as with that
141-
which gives worth.
be pedantic, but allow to travel
But
let
us not
The
its full effect.
boy grown up on a farm, which he has never is
had no chance, and
said in the country to have
boys and
on a
men
of that condition look
railroad, or
left,
drudgery in a
city, as
upon work opportunity.
Poor country boys of Vermont and Connecticut formerly owed what knowledge they had to their
peddling trips to the Southern States.
and the Pacific Coast
is
now
the university of this
class, as
Virginia was in old times.
chance
is
'
And
their word.
the world,' or to travel,
is
California
'
To have some to know
the phrase
'
synonymous with
doubt, to a
man
all
No
men's ideas of advantage and superiority.
of sense, travel offers advantages.
As many languages as he has, as many friends, as many arts and trades, so many times is he a man.
A
foreign country
from
is
a point of comparison where-
to judge his own.
One
use of travel
is
to
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
recommend the books and works of home, we go to Europe to be Americanized; and another, to find men. For as Nature has put fruits apart in latitudes, a new fruit in every degree, so knowledge and
fine
moral quality she lodges in distant men.
And thus, of the six or seven teachers whom each man wants among his contemporaries, it often happens that one or two of them live on the other side of
the world.
CONDUCT OF
142
Moreover, there solstice
when the
is
in every constitution a certain
stars stand still in our
firmament, and when there
is
inward
required some foreign
alterative to prevent stag-
some diversion or
force,
LIFE.
And, as a medical remedy, travel seems
nation.
Just as a
one of the best.
mirable effect of ether to
man
witnessing the ad-
lull pain,
and meditating
on the contingencies of wounds, cancers, lockjaws, rejoices in
man who says,
'
Dr. Jackson's benign discovery, so a
looks at Paris, at Naples, or at London,
If I should be driven
here at least
my
from
my own
home,
thoughts can be consoled by the
most prodigal amusement and occupation which
human
the
race in ages could contrive and accmnu-
late.'
Akin
to the benefit of foreign travel, the aesthetic
value of railroads
and country
life,
is to
unite the advantages of town
neither of which
A man should live in or let his
quite as
we can
spare.
near a large town, because,
own genius be what it may, it wiU repel much of agreeable and valuable talent as it
draws, and, in a
city,
the total attraction of
all
the
citizens is sure to conquer, first or last, every repulsion, its
and drag the most improbable hermit within
walls some day in the year.
find
the
In town he can swimming - school, the gymnasium, the
dancing-master, the shooting-gallery, opera, theatre^
and panorama ; the chemist's shop, the museum
oi
CULTURE. natural history
the gallery of fine arts
;
tional orators, in their turn libraries
solitude
and
and reading, manly
and groves
;
labor, cheap living,
moors for game,
;
the na-
;
foreign travellers, the
In the country he can find
his club.
his old shoes
143
Aubrey
for devotion.
and
geology
hills for
writes, " I
have
heard Thomas Hobbes say, that, in the Earl of
Devon's house, in Derbyshire, there was a good library
and books enough' for him, and
his lordship
stored the library with what books he thought to be bought.
fit
But the want of good conversation
was a very great inconvenience, and, though he
weU
conceived he could order his thinking as another, yet he foxmd a great defect. try, in
as
In the coun-
long time, for want of good conversation,
one's understanding
and invention contract a moss
on them, like an old paling in an orchard." Cities give us collision.
New York
great part of our education cial.
It is said,
London and
take the nonsense out of a man.
Boys and
girls
is
sympathetic and
A so-
who have been brought up
with weU-informed and superior people show in their
manners an inestimable grace.
Fuller says
that " William, Earl of Nassau, won a subject
from the King of Spain, every time he put hat."
You
cannot have one well-bred
a whole society of such. to
any high
point.
man
They keep each
Especially
women
â&#x20AC;˘,
it
oÂŁf his
without
other
up
requires
CONDUCT OF
144
LIFE.
a great many cultivated women, elegant, reading
— saloons of bright,
women, accustomed
and
to ease
re-
finement, to spectacles, pictures, sculpture, poetry,
and
to elegant society,
Madame
have one
—
you should
in order that
de Stael.
The head
of a com-
mercial house or a leading lawyer or politician
brought into daily contact with troops of the country,
all parts of
wheels, the 'business
is
men from
and those too the
driving-
of each section,
and one
men
can hardly suggest for an apprehensive
man
a more
searching culture. Besides, we must remember the high social possibilities of a million of men. The
London
best bribe which
agination
offers to-day to the im-
that in such a vast variety pf people
is
and conditions one can believe there
is
room
for
persons of romantic character to exist, and that the poet, the mystic
and the hero may hope
to confront
their counterparts.
I wish
cities
could teach their best lesson,
quiet manners.
ican youth,
— pretension.
of the world
not
make a
is
all,
hugs his
The mark
of
Amer-
of the
man
He
does
absence of pretension.
speech, he takes a low business-tone,
avoids all brag,
not at
It is the foible especially of
—
is
nobody, dresses plainly, promises
performs much, speaks in monosyllables, fact.
He
caUs his employment by
its
lowest name, and so takes from evil tongues their sharpest weapon.
His conversation clings
to the
CULTURE.
145
weather and the news, yet he allows himself to be surprised into thought and the unlocking of his learning-
and philosophy.
How
the imagination
piqued by anecdotes of some great
man
cognito, as a king in gray clothes
;
is
passing in-
Napoleon
of
affecting a plain suit at his glittering levee
of
;
Burns or Scott or Beethoven or Wellington or Goethe, or any container of transcendent power, passing for nobody
;
of Epaminondas, "
who never
says anything, but will listen eternally;" of Goethe,
who preferred
and common expres-
trifling subjects
sions in intercourse with strangers, worse rather
than better clothes, and to appear a
little
more
ca-
pricious than he was.
There are advantages in the
old hat and box-coat.
I have heard that through-
out this country a certain respect broadcloth ; but dress makes a will not
it
they think.
unlocks the tongue, and
An
paid to good
restraint ;
men
But the box-coat
commit themselves.
like wine,
is
little
old poet says,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
men
is
say what
" Go far ajid go sparing,
For
you'll find
it
certain,
The poorer and the baser you appear, The more yon'U look through stiU." *
Not much otherwise Milnes the Humble,"
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
^
Beaumont and Fletcher
VOL. VI.
10
:
writes in the "
Lay
The Tamer Tamed.
of
CONDUCT OF
146 "
It is
LIFE.
To me men are for what they are, They wear no masks with me."
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; not water
odd that our people should have
on the brain, but a
little
A shrewd for-
gas there.
eigner said of the Americans that " whatever they
say has a the traits
little
down
Anglo-Saxon be sure, in
good coats a
and you
man
of
in the books as distinguishing the
is
old,
Yet one
the air of a speech."
To
a trick of self-disparagement.
dense countries, among a million of
fine coat
comes to be no
distinction,
In an English party a
find humorists.
with no marked manners or features, with a
face like red dough, unexpectedly discloses wit, learning, a wide range of topics
good men in
miliarity with until
you think you have
Can
trious personage.
it
all
fa-
parts of the world,
fallen
upon some
illus-
be that the American
some weeds of old Pictish
forest has refreshed
barism just ready to die out, scarlet feather, of
and personal
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the
beads and tinsel
?
bar-
love of the
The
Italians
are fond of red clothes, peacock plumes and em-
broidery; and I remember one rainy morniag in the city of Palermo the street was in a blaze with scarlet umbrellas.
The equipages
The English have a
of the grandees are plain.
Pitt, like
good against
A gor-
new and awkward city wealth. Mr. Pym, thought the title of Mister any king in Europe. They have
geous livery indicates
Mr.
plain taste.
CULTURE.
147
piqued themselves on goyerning the whole world in the poor, plain,
dark Committee-room which the
House of Commons Whilst we want
sat in, before the fire.
the centres where the
cities as
best things are found, cities degrade us by magnify-
ing
trifles.
The countryman
He
house, a barber's shop.
^andeur
tribe,
to public opinion.
and
He
elevation.
a supple, glib-tongued
town a chop-
has lost the lines of
of the horizon, hills,
them sobriety and vile
finds the
who
Life
is
plains,
and with
has come
live for
among
show, ser-
dragged down to
a fracas of pitiful cares and disasters.
You
say
the gods ought to respect a life whose objects are their
own
a cloud of
;
but in
cities
they have betrayed you to
insignificant annoyances
:
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
" Mirmidons, race feconde,
Mirmidons, Enfin nous commaudons Jupiter livre le
:
moude
Aux mirmidons, aux mirmidons." * 'T is heavy odds Against the gods,
When they
match with myrmidons.
will
We spawning,
spawning myrmidons.
Our turn to-day
!
we
take commaudj
Jove gives the globe into the hand
Of myrmidons, '
of m^yrmidous.
B&anger.
;
CONDUCT OF
148
What
is
LIFE.
odious but noise, and people
and bewail ? people whose
who scream
vd,ne points always east,
who send for the doctor, who coddle themselves, who toast their feet on the register, who intrigue to secure a padded chair and a who
live to dine,
corner out of the draught.
them once to infirmities and the
Suffer
begin the enumeration of their
sun will go down on the unfinished
Let
tale.
these triflers put us out of conceit with petty comforts.
To a man
at work, the frost
the rain, the wind, he forgot them
Let us learn to hard.
The
is
but a color
when he came
in.
and
lie
live coarsely, dress plainly,
least habit of
dominion over the palate
has certain good effects not easily estimated. ther
win we be driven
ness.
All is '-""
'T is a superstition to
made
^ man
wants.
at last of the
insist
on a
special diet.
same chemical atoms.
in pursuit of greatness feels no
How
Nei-
into a quiddling abstemious-
can you mind
diet,
salutes or compliments, or the figure
little
bed, dress, or
you make in
company, or wealth, or even the bringing things
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
to pass, when you think how paltry are the machinery and the workers? Wordsworth was praised to me in Westmoreland for having af-
forded to his country neighbors an example of a
modest household where comfort and culture were secured without display.
And
a tender boy who
wears his rusty cap and outgrown coat, that he
CULTURE.
may
149
secure the coveted place in college
right in the library,
There
is
is
and the
educated to some purpose.
a great deal of self-denial and manliness
in poor and middle-class houses in town and country, that
has not got into literature and never
but that keeps the earth sweet perfluities,
and spends on
rusty and educates the boy
but builds the school
two looms but pays
;
essentials ;
;
that goes
that sells the horse
works early and
;
will,
that saves on su-
late,
takes
in the factory, three looms, six looms,
off
the mortgage on the paternal farm,
and then goes back cheerfully to work again. We canjU sjiareJJiEUJQaunaiiding social_lDenefits of cities
they must be used, yet cautiougly, and
;
haugEEity5~-^'and'
wiU
yield their best values to
himwho
best can do without them.
town for
occasions, but the habits should
to retirement.
the
Solitude, the safeguard of medioc-
rity, is, to genius,
shelter
Keep
be formed
the stem friend, the cold, obscure
where moult the wings which will bear
it
He who should
inspire
and lead his race must be defended from
travel-
from
living,
farther than suns
ling with the
and
stars.
souls of
other men,
breathing, reading and writing in the daily, time-
worn yoke solitude
;
of their opinions.
" said
Pythagoras
" In the morning, ;
that
Nature
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
may
speak to the imagination, as she does never in
company, and that her favorite
may make
ac-
CONDUCT OF
150
quaintance with
LIFE. strengths which di*
tJiose divine
and abstracted thought
close themselves to serious
'T is very certain that Plato, Plotinus, Archimedes,
Hermes, Newton, Milton, Wordsworth, did not live in
a crowd, but descended into
it
from time
to
time as benefactors; and the wise instructor will
young
press this point of securing to the
soul in
the disposition of time and the arrangements of living, periods
and habits of
advantage of university chanical one, I
and
fire,
may
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; which
call
it,
The high
solitude.
life is
often the mere me-
chamber
of a separate
parents will allow the boy with-
out hesitation at Cambridge, but do not think
We
needful at home.
;
but
shared between two or more than two,
and not
less noble.
We four,"
"
mark
say solitude, to
character of the tone of thought
the
can be
if it
happier
it is
wrote Neander to
his sacred friends, " will enjoy at Halle the inward
blessedness of a civitas Dei, whose foundations are
forever friendship.
more I
dissatisfy
companions.
The more
and must
I
know
dissatisfy
aU
you, the
my
wonted
Their very presence stupefies me.
The common understanding withdraws aU existence."
itself
from
the one centre of
Solitude takes off the pressure of present importunities, that
may
appear.
more
The
catholic saint
and hmnane
relations
and poet seek privacy
ends the most public and universal, and
it
is
to
the
CULTURE.
151
man
secret of c ulture to interest the
E!jML?™tk?S«lB«Jii§ PlilSte^Jiaiity..
poem, which
elicits
many
a good
journals and in conversation.
,
more
Here
in his
a new
is
cormnents in the
From
these
it
is
easy at last to gather the verdict which readers
passed upon
The
able.
it
and that
;
is,
in the main, unfavor-
poet, as a craftsman, is only interested
in the praise accorded to him, and not in the cen-
though
sure,
be
it
And
just.
the poor
poet
little
hearkens only to that, and rejects the censure as proving incapacity in the
But the poet
critic.
cul-
tivated becomes a stockholder in both companies,
— say Mr. Curfew the Curfew the humanity stock — and, in
in
;
in the demonstration of the
stock,
last,
his
in the
much
unsoundness of Curfew,
as his interest in the former gives
the currency of Curfew.
and
exults as
him pleasure
For the depreciation
in
of
Curfew stock only shows the immense values
of the
humanity
stock.
As
soon as he sides with
his critic against himself, with joy,
he
a
culti-
all
prop-
is
vated man.
We must have erty and in
aU
an intellectual quality in
.
social state
Ijuust
action, or they are naught.
have children, I must. .have_^ vents,
and
have 3
my
thinking and speak-
But
to give these acces-
history, or
ing want body or basis.
L must
sones^ any value, I must .know
them
as._cpntingeni
and rather showy possessions^^ which pass
for.
more
;
CONDUCT OF
152
LIFE.
We
to the people than to me.
in scholars, as a matter of course
see this abstraction ;
but what a charm
adds when observed in practical men.
it
parte, like Csesar,
was
at every object for itself,
an
egotist
Bona-
and could look without affection. Though
intellectual,
d outrance, he could criticize a play, a on universal grounds, and
building, a character,
give a just opinion.
a celebrity in our esteem
A
if
we
to us only as
discover that he has some intel-
lectual taste or skUl
Fairfax, the
man known
politics or in trade gains largely in
Long
;
as
when we
learn of Lord
Parliament's general, his pas-
sion for antiquarian studies
;
or of the French reg-
icide Garnet, his sublime genius in
mathematics
or of a living banker, his success in poetry
;
or of
a partisan journalist, his devotion to ornithology. So,
if
in travelling in the dreary wildernesses of
Arkansas or Texas we should observe on the next seat a
man
deron,
we should wish
reading Horace, or Martial, or Calto
hug him.
"We only vary the phrase, not the doctrine, when we say that culture opens the sense of beauty. A man is a beggar who only lives to the useful, and however he may serve social machine, cannot self-possession.
as a pin or rivet in the
be said to have arrived at
I sufEer every day from the want
They do moments and
of perception of beauty in people.
not
know
ob-
the charm with which all
CULTURE. jects
153l>
can be embellished, the charm of manners, of
self-command, of benevolence.
The Greek
in energy.
Kepose and cheer-
badge of the gentleman,
fulness are the
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; repose
calm
battle-pieces are
;
the
heroes, in whatever violent actions engaged, retain
a serene aspect without speed.
end of
culture,
;
as
we
A
cheerful intelligent face
and success enough.
cates the purpose of
When
say of Niagara that
For
Nature and wisdom
it falls
is
it
the
indi-
attained..
our higher faculties are in activity we are
domesticated, and awkwardness and discomfort give
place to natural and agreeable movements.
It is
noticed that the consideration of the great periods
and spaces
of astronomy induces a dignity of
and an indifference
to death.
scenery, the presence of irritations
and
The
mind
influence of fine
mountains, appeases our
elevates our friendships.
Even a
high dome, and the expansive interior of a cathedral,
have a sensible
heard that
stiff
effect
on manners.
I have
people lose something of their awk-
wardness under high ceilings and in spacious haUs. I think sculpture and painting have an effect to
teach us manners and abolish hurry.
But, over
all,
culture
must reinforce from higher
influx the empirical skills of eloquence, or of politics,
or of trade and the useful arts.
certain loftiness of thought
and adjust
particulars,
and power
There to
is
a
marshal
which can only come from
CONDUCT OF
154
an insight of
who
LIFE.
their whole connection.
The
orator
has once seen things in their divine order will
never quite lose sight of
this,
and
come
wiU.
to
from a higher ground, and though he wiU say nothing of philosophy, he wiU have a certain mastery in dealing with them, and an incapableness affairs as
of being dazzled or frighted, which will distinguish his handling
A
from that of attorneys and
man who
factors.
stands on a good footing with the
heads of parties at Washington, reads the rumors of the newspapers politicians with a
and the guesses of provincial key to the right and wrong
each statement, and sees well enough where
vnU end.
all this
Archimedes wUl look through your Con-
necticut machine at a glance,
And much more
ness.
in
a wise
and judge
of
its fit-
man who knows
not
only what Plato, but what Saint John can show
him, can easily raise the affair he deals with to a certain majesty.
Plato says Pericles owed this
elevation to the lessons of
Anaxagoras.
Burke
descended from a higher sphere when he would fluence son,
human
affairs.
Washington, stood on a
fine
humanity, before
which the brawls of modern senates are but house
in-
Franklin, Adams, Jeffer-
pot-
politics.
But there are higher
secrets of culture,
which are
not for the apprentices but for proficients. are lessons only for the brave.
These
We must know our
CULTURE.
The
friends under ugly masks. friends.
Muse
:
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
" Get
Ben Jonson
him the
155 calamities are our
specifies in his address to the
time's long grudge, the court's ill-mil,
And, reconciled, keep him suspected
Make him
lose all his friends, and,
Almost
ways
all
to
any hetter course
With me thou leav'st a
And
We
stUl,
what
hetter
is
worse,
;
Muse than
thee,
which thou hrought'st me, hlessed Poverty.''
wish to learn philosophy by
But the wiser God
heroism.
rote,
says,
and play
at
Take the shame,
the poverty and the penal solitude that belong to
Try the rough water as well as Rough water can teach lessons worth
truth-speaking.
the smooth.
When
knowing.
qualities are
the state
more than ever
is
unquiet, personal
decisive.
Fear not a
revolution which will constrain you to live five
years in one.
enemy now and
Don't be so tender at making an then.
Be
willing to go to Coven-
try sometimes, and let the populace bestow on you their coldest contempts.
The
his hatreds also at arm's length, spite.
values
He men
He who
man of the He must hold
finished
world must eat of every apple once.
and not remember
has neither friends nor enemies, but only as channels of power.
aims high must dread an easy home and
popular manners. Heaven sometimes hedges a rare character about with ungainliness and odium, as
CONDUCT OF
156
LIFE. If there is any
the burr that protects the fruit.
great and good thing in store for you,
come
will not
it
at the first or the second call, nor in the shape
and
of fashion, ease,
city drawing-rooms.
phyry, "is the path of the gods." cus Antoninus.
Popu-
" Steep and craggy," said Por-
larity is for dolls.
Open your Mar-
In the opinion of the ancients he
was the great man who scorned
to shine,
contested the frowns of fortune.
They
and who preferred
the noble vessel too late for the tide, contending
with winds and waves, dismantled and unrigged, to
her companion borne into harbor with colors flying
and guns that
may
firing.
There
is
none of the
goods
social
not be purchased too dear, and mere ami-
ableness must not take rank with high aims and self-subsistency.
Bettine replies to Goethe's mother,
her disregard of dress,
who
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; "If I cannot do
chides
as I have
a mind in our poor Frankfort, I shall not carry things far."
And
the youth must rate at
its
true
mark the inconceivable levity of local opinion. The longer we live the more we must endure the elementary existence of men and women and ;
every brave heart must treat society as a child, and
never allow it to dictate. " All that class of the severe and restrictive
vir-
tues," said Burke, " are almost too costly for hu-
manity."
Who
wishes to be severe
?
Who wishes
CULTURE. to resist the
eminent and
157
polite, in behalf of the
And who
poor,
and low, and impolite ?
do
can keep his temper sweet, his
it
The high
virtues are not debonair, but have their
What
redress in being illustrious at last. of laurel
we
who
those
that dares
frolic spirits ?
bring,
and the
tears of
forests
mankind, to
stood firm against the opinion of their
contemporaries
!
The measure of a master is his aU men round to his opinion
success in bringing
twenty years
later.
Let me say here, that culture cannot begin too In talking with scholars I observe that they
early. lost
on ruder companions those years of boyhood
which alone could give imaginative literature a
and
ligious
too that the chance for appreciation
is
re-
I find
infinite quality in their esteem.
much
in-
by being the son of an appreciator, and that these boys who now grow up are caught not only creased
years too late, but two or three births too late, to
make
the best scholars
And
of.
I think
it
a pre-
sentable motive to a scholar, that, as in an old com-
munity a weU-bom proprietor
is
after the first heats of youth, to
usually found,
be a careful hus-
band, and to feel a habitual desire that the estate shall shall
suffer
no harm by his administration, but
be delivered down to the next heir in as good
condition as he received
man
it
;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
so
a considerate
will reckon himself a subject of that secular
;
CONDUCT OF
158 melioration
and
refined
;
LIFE.
by which mankind is mollified, cured, and will shun every expenditure of his
on pleasure or gain which
forces
The
will jeopardize
and secular accumulation.
this social
fossil strata
show us that Nature began with
rudimental forms and rose to the more complex as
was fit for their dwelling-place and that the lower perish as the higher appear. fast as the earth
Very few
of our race can be said to be yet finished
We
men.
sttU carry sticking to us
some remains
of the preceding inferior quadruped organization.
We
call these millions
men.
man
men
Half-engaged in the
;
but they are not yet
soil,
pawing
to get free,
needs aU the music that can be brought to
dis-
engage him. If Love, red Love, with tears and joy; if
Want with
ade ;
if
Christianity with
money
its
his scourge
;
if
Art with
;
War with
if
its
charity
:
his cannon-
if
its portfolios
;
Trade with if
Science
with her telegraphs through the deeps of space and time can set his dull nerves throbbing, and by loud taps on the tough chrysalis can break the
let
new
way and to
go
creature emerge erect
sing paean
out, the
!
and
its
walls
free,
and
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; make
^Thejge_ofJ;heLJC|xiadruped_i3
age of the brain and of the heart
is to
The time will come when the evil forms we have known can no more be organized. Man's
come
in.
culture can spare nothing, wants all the material
He
is
to convert all
impediments into instruments,
CULTURE. all
enemies into power.
will only
make
The
159 formidalDle
the more useful slave.
miscMef
And
if
one
shall read the future of the race hiated in the or-
ganic effort of Nature to mount and- meliorate, and the corresponding impulse to the Better in the hu-
man
being,
we
shall dare affirm that there is noth-
ing he will not overcome and convert, until at last culture shall absorb the chaos
and gehenna.
He
and the
hells
will convert the Furies into Muses,
into benefit.
: ;
V.
BEHAVIOR.
Grace, Beauty, and Caprice
Build
tliis
golden portal,
Graceful women, chosen
men
Dazzle every mortal
Their sweet and lofty countenance
His enchanting food
He
need not go
to them, their
forms
Beset his sohtude.
He
looketh seldom in their face,
His eyes explore the ground.
The green grass is a looking-glass Whereon their traits are found. Little
he says to them.
So dances
his heart in his breast,
Their tranquil mien bereaveth him
Of wit, of words, of rest. Too weak to win, too fond to shun The tyrants oi Lis doom. The much deceived Endymiom Shps behind a tomb. 11
BEHAVIOR. The
wHch
soul
animates Nature
is
not less
sig-
nificantly published in the figure,
movement and
gesture of animated bodies, than in
its last
guage
Manners
is
A
presses.
Good
;
vehicle
This silent and subtile lan-
of articulate speech.
not what, but how.
statue has
Life ex-
no tongue, and needs none.
tableaux do not need declamation.
Nature
man
she tells
teUs every secret once.
Yes, but in
aU the time, by form, attitude, gesture, mien, face and parts of the face, and by the whole action of the machine. The visible carriage or action of it
the individual, as resulting from his organization
and
his will combined,
we caU manners. What
they but thought entering the hands and trolling the
movements
are
feet, con-
of the body, the speech
and
behavior ?
There
is
always a best way of doing everything,
if it
be to boil an egg.
way
of doing things
;
Manners are the happy
each, once a stroke of genius
or of love,
now
They form
at last a rich varnish with
repeated and hardened into usage.
washed and
which the
its
details adorned.
If they are superficial, so are the
dew drops which
routine of life
is
CONDUCT OF
â&#x20AC;˘)164
LIFE.
Man-
give such a depth to the morning meadows. ners are very communicable
;
men
catch them from
Consuelo, in the romance, boasts of
each other.
the lessons she
on the stage ;
had given the nobles in manners,
and
in real life.
leon the arts of behavior.
Talma taught Napo-
Genius invents
fine
man.
which the baron and the baroness copy very
ners,
by the advantage of a palace, better the instruction. They stereotype the lesson they have and,
fast,
learned, into a mode.
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
an eleThe power of manners is incessant, ment as unconcealable as fire. The nobility cannot in any country be disguised, and no more in a republic or a democracy than in a kingdom.
can
resist their influence.
No man
There are certain man-
ners which are learned in good society, of that force that
if
a person have them, he or she must be con-
sidered,
and
is
everywhere welcome, though with-
Give a boy adand dress accomplishments and you give him the mastery of palaces and fortunes where he goes.
out beauty, or wealth, or genius.
He
has not the trouble of earning or owning them,
they
solicit
girls of
him
to enter
and
possess.
We
send
a timid, retreating disposition to the board-
ing-school, to the riding-school, to the ball-room, or
wheresoever they can come into acquaintance and nearness of leading persons of their
they
may
learn address, and see
own
it
sex
;
where
near at hand.
BEHAVIOR.
The power to daunt
woman
of Âť
and
165
of fashion to lead and also
repel, derives
from
their belief that
she knows resources and behaviors not known to them; but when these have mastered her secret
they learn to confront her, and recover their seMpossession.
Every day bears witness
to their gentle rule.
People who would obtrude, now do not obtrude.
The mediocre
circle learns to
demand
that which
belongs to a high state of nature or of culture.
Your manners are always under examination, and by committees little suspected, a police in citizens' clothes, who are awarding or denying you very high prizes when you least think of it. We talk much of utilities, but 'tis our manners In hours of business we go to that associate us. him who knows, or has, or does this or that which we want, and we do not let our taste or feeling stand in the way. But this activity over, we return to the indolent state, and wish for those we can be at ease with those who will go where we ;
go,
whose manners do not offend
tone chimes with ours.
us,
When we
persuasive and cheeriag force;
whose
how
ners
manners make the members
make
;
;
how, in
how man-
the fortune of the ambitious youth
for the most part, his
their
they recom'
mend, prepare, and draw people together all clubs,
social
on
reflect
;
that,
manners marry him, and,
for
;
CONDUCT OF
166
LIFE.
the most part, he marries manners
what keys they lessons
vey,
and to what
are,
when we think
;
secrets
;
what high
and inspiring tokens of character they con-
and what divination
required in us for the
is
reading of this fine telegraph,
— we
see
what range
the subject has, and what relations to convenience,
power and beauty. Their
fixst service is
the minor morals
—
make
to
We prize force
;
;
us, I
them
but
is
— when they
the beginning of
to get people out of the
be clean
other.
for their rough-plastic, abstergent
quadruped
and
clothed,
set
state
;
to
up on end
;
to
slough their animal husks and habits to
are
civility,
mean, endurable to each
them washed,
get
't
very low,
;
compel them
overawe their spite and meanness
;
teach them to
stifle
the base and choose the gener-
ous expression, and
make them know how much
happier the generous behaviors are.
Bad
behavior the laws cannot reach.
infested with rude, cynical, restless
persons, lic
who prey upon
the rest, and
Society
and
whom
opinion concentrated into good manners
accepted by the sense of aU tradictors
who
— can reach
:
who
conceive
it
a pub-
— forms the con-
and raUers at public and private
are like terriers,
is
frivolous
tables,
the duty of a
any passer-by and do the honors of the house by barking him out of sight. I dog of honor
have seen
to growl at
men who
neigh like a horse when you
;
BEHAVIOR. contradict
167
them or say something which they do
not understand
:
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; then
the overbold,
own invitation to your hearth who gives you his society in
their
;
talker,
doses
large saturating
the pitiers of themselves, a perilous class
;
who
the frivolous Asmodeus,
him
who make
the persevering
;
short, every stripe of absurdity inflictions
on you to find
relies
in ropes of sand to twist
the monotones ;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; these are
;
in
social
which the magistrate cannot cure or de-
fend you from, and which must be intrusted to the
and proverbs and
restraining force of custom
miliar rules of behavior impressed on
fa-
young people
in their school-days.
In the hotels on the banks of the Mississippi they print, or used to print, house, that "
come
the rules of the
gentleman can be permitted to
to the public table without his coat
in the little
No
among
;
" and
same country, in the pews of the churches
placards plead with the worshipper against the
fury of expectoration. ficingly
Charles Dickens
manners in unspeakable lesson
self-sacri-
undertook the reformation of our American
was not quite
lost
particulars. ;
that
I think the
held bad man-
it
ners up, so that the churls could see the deformity.
Unhappily the book had
its
own
deformities.
It
ought not to need to print in a reading-room a caution to strangers not to speak loud
who
â&#x20AC;˘,
nor to persons
look over fine engravings that they should be
CONDUCT OF
168
handled like cobwebs and to
LIFE.
butterflies'
who look at marble not smite them with canes.
persons
shall
wings
;
nor
statues that they
But even
in the
perfect civilization of this city such cautions are
not quite needless
in
the
Athenaeum and City
Library.
Manners are
factitious,
and grow out
stance as well as out of character.
If
of circum-
you look
at
the pictures of patricians and of peasants of differ-
how
ent periods and countries, you will see
The
they match the same classes in our towns.
modern
aristocrat not only is well
Venetian doges and in
Roman
drawn coins
well
in Titian's
and
statues,
but also in the pictures which Commodore Perry brought home of dignitaries in Japan.
and great
Broad lands
interests not only arrive to such heads as
can manage them, but form manners of power.
A
keen eye too wiU see nice gradations of rank, or see in the is
manners the degree of homage the party
wont to
receive.
A
prince
who
is
accustomed*
every day to be courted and deferred to by the highest grandees, acquires a corresponding expectation
and a becoming mode of receiving and
reply-
ing to this homage.
There are always exceptional people and modes. English grandees affect to be farmers. house
is
Claver-
a fop, and under the finish of dress and
levity of behavior hides the terror of his war.
But
BEHAVIOR.
Nature
169
and Destiny are b ftP'^'^'j ^^^ to_ h ang out a si p;n
leave their mark,
for every quality. face,
It
is
much
tipva^ fpil
f.n
and
for each
conquer one's
to
and perhaps the ambitious youth thinks he
has got the whole secret when he has learned that
disengaged manners are commanding.
Tender men some-
deceived by a facile exterior.
"We had an old statesman who had sat all
times have strong wills.
and in chairs of treme
Don't be
state without
irritability of face, voice,
in Massachusetts his life in courts
overcoming an ex-
and bearing
he spoke, his voice would not serve him ; it
broke,
knew his
wheezed,
it
that
it
had got
argument and
it
piped
;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
little
it
cared he
When
his indignation.
held on to his chair with both hands all this irritability
and method
he
he sat fit,
and
but underwill,
firm
lay in order
like geologic strata every fact of his
and under the control
Manners
:
was a puissant
and advancing, and a memory in which history,
;
to pipe, or wheeze, or screech
down, after speaking, he seemed in a sort of neath
when
;
cracked,
RT"
p^H^y
of his wiU.
H''*-^^^^"'', T^"t. Tin^,in1y JihAr-A
must be capacity
for culture in the bloo d;__JEilaa-all
cidtureisyain.
The
obstinat e pre j udice in favor of
blood, which Jies at the base of the_feudal,and_mo-
narchicsd^^brics of the Ol d World, has so mejrga-
son injgoni^pn experience.
E very
man,
matician, artist, soldier, or merchant,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; mathe-
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; looks
with
CONDUCT OF
170
LIFE.
confidence for some traits and talents in his
own
child which he would not dare to presume in the child of a stranger.
thodox on
this point.
The Orientalists are very or" Take a thorn-bush," said
the emir Abdel-Kader, " and sprinkle
year with water;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
it
it
for a whole
will yield nothing but thorns.
Take a date-tree, leave it without culture, and it wiU always produce dates. Nobility is the datetree and the Arab populace is a bush of thorns." A main fact in the history of manners is the wonderful expressiveness of the it
were made of
glass, or of air,
were written on
body.
If
and the thoughts
steel tablets within, it could not
p ublish more truly
men read very
human
its
m eanin g
than now^^JWise
sharply all your pr ivate history in
The whole economy of nature is bent on expression. The tell-tale bodyTs all tongues. Men are like Geneva watches
yourlopk and
gait
and behavior^
with crystal faces which expose the whole move-
ment.
down
They carry
the liquor of life flowing up and
in these beautiful bottles
the curious
how
it
eyes reveal what the spirit
what aims
it
has.
The
of the soul, or through
already ascended. ties if
we say above
It
and announcing
with them.
is
is
doing,
to
The face and how old it is,
eyes indicate the antiquity
how many forms
it
has
almost violates the proprie-
the breath here what the con-
fessing eyes do not hesitate to utter to every street
passenger.
BEHAVIOR.
Man
cannot
fix Lis
seems imperfect.
men who their
171
eye on the sun, and so far
In Siberia a
late traveller
found
could see the satellites of Jupiter with
unarmed
eye.
In some respects the animals
The birds have a longer sight, beside the advantage by their wings of a higher observatory. A cow can bid her calf, by secret signal, probably of the eye, to run away or to lie down and hide itself. The jockeys say of certain horses that " they look over the whole ground." The out-door life and hunting and labor give equal vigor to the huexcel us.
man
eye.
A farmer
looks out at you as strong as
the horse ; his eye-beam
An
is
like the stroke of
a
staff.
eye can threaten like a loaded and levelled
gun, or can insult like hissing or kicking altered
mood by beams
of
kindness
it
;
or ia
can
its
make
the heart dance with joy.
The eye obeys
When
exactly the action of the miud.
fix and remain gazing at a distance ; in enumerating the names of persons or of countries, as France, Germany, Spain, Turkey, the eyes wink at each new
name. the
"
a thought strikes us, the eyes
There
is
no nicety of learning sought by
mind which the eyes do not
An
artist," said
measuring
and there
tools not in the hand, is
vie in acquiring;
Michael Angelo, " must have his but in the eye
no end to the catalogue of
its
" ;
perform-
ances, whether in indolent vision (that of health
CONDUCT OF
172
and beauty), or
LIFE.
and
in strained vision (that of art
labor).
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
roving, running, leapEyes are bold as lions, They speak all ing, here and there, far and near. They wait for no introduction ; they languages.
are no Englishmen
ask no leave of age, or rank;
;
they respect neither poverty nor riches, neither learning nor power nor virtue nor sex trude,
you in a moment of time. life
;
but
in-
and come again, and go through and through
and thought
What
inimdation of
discharged from one soul into
is
The glance The mysterious commiinicatign
another, through
mage.
them
is
!
natural
established
across a house between two entire strangers,
aU the springs the glance
is
of wonder.
in the greatest partjoot subjegtjtothe It is the bodily
control of the will. tity of nature.
this other not^lie,
form
We is
symbol of iden-
look into the eyes to know^if
another
self,
and
the.,
eyes
wiU
but make a faithful confession what inhab-
itant is there. rific!
moves
The communication by
The
revelations are sometimes ter-
TEe~confession of a low, usurping devil
is
there made, and the observer shall seem to feel the stirring of owls
and bats and horned
hoofs,
he looked for innocence and simplicity.
markable too that the
spirit that
windows of the house does in
a new form of
holder.
his
own
where
'Tis
re-
appears at the
at once invest himself to the
mind
of the be-
BEHAVIOR.
The
eyes
men
of
173
converse as mucli
as their
tongues, with the advantage that the ocular lect
needs no dictionary, but
When
world over.
the eyes
first.
show
it.
the
all
the eyes say one thing and the
tongue another, a practised
guage of the
understood
is
dia^-
If the
You
man man
on the lan-
relies is
off his centre,
can read in the eyes of
your companion whether your argument hits him,
though his tongue will not confess look by which a
man shows he
is
There
it.
good thing, and a look when he has said
and forgotten are aU the of hospitality,
How many
if
there
is
fine
a
offers
it.
Vain
and
offices
no holiday in the eye.
avowed by the
furtive inclinations
though dissembled by the
is
going to say a
lips
from a company in which,
it
eye,
One comes away may easily happen, !
he has said nothing and no important remark has
been addressed to him, and
yet, if in
sympathy
with the society, he shall not have a sense of this fact,
such a stream of
life
has been flowing into
him and out from him through the eyes. There are eyes, to be sure, that give no more admission into the
man
and deep, â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
than blueberries. wells that a
others are aggressive
Others are liquid
man might
fall into
and devouring, seem
out the police, take aU too
much
notice,
;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
to call
and require
crowded Broadways and the security of millions to protect individuals against them.
The military eye
;!
CONDUCT OF
174
now darkly
I meet,
under rustic brows. 'tis
LIFE.
'T
the city of LacedsBmon
is
There are asking
a stack of bayonets.
and eyes
asserting eyes, prowling eyes ;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; some
of
good and some of
alleged power to in beasts,
is
now
sparkling under clerical,
charm down
sinister
eyes,
full of fate,
The
omen.
insanity, or ferocity
a power behind the eye.
victory achieved in the will, before
It it
must be a
can be
signi-
It is very certain that each
man
carries in his eye the exact indication of his
rank
fied in the eye.
immense
in the
learning to read
no auxiliaries to
scale of it.
men, and we are always
A complete
man
should need
his personal presence.
Whoever
looked on him would consent to his wiU, being
The reason why men do not obey us see the
mud
If the
is
room
because they
at the bottom of our eye.
organ of sight
is
such a vehicle of power,
the other features have their own. in the
traits of
cer-
aims were generous and universal.
tified that his
aU
A man
finds
few square inches of the face for the his ancestors
all his history
and
for the expression of
;
his wants.
The
sculptor
and
Winckelmann and Lavater wiU tell you how signia feature is the nose how its forms express
ficant
;
strength or weakness of will, and good or bad temper.
The nose
Pitt, suggest
of Julius Caesar, of Dante,
"the
terrors of the beak."
and of
What
refinement and what limitations the teeth betray
BEHAVIOR. "
Beware you don't laugh,"
" for then you show
Balzac
left
all
175
said the wise mother,
your faults."
says,
/'
The
which he
in manuscript a chapter
called /" TTiSorie de la dSTnarche,"
in which he
look, the voice, the respiration,
attitude or walk, are identical.
been given to
man
But, as
it
and the has not
the power to stand guard at
once over these four different simultaneous expressions of his thought,
watch that one which speaks
out the truth, and you will
know
the whole man."
Palaces interest us mainly in the exhibition of
manners, which, in the idle and expensive society dwelling in them, are raised to a high
maxim
of courts
is
that
manner
is
The
art.
A
power.
calm
and resolute bearing, a polished speech, an embellishment of
trifles,
and the art
of hiding
aU uncom-
fortable feeling, are essential to the courtier
;
and
Saint Simon and Cardinal de Eetz and Eoederer
and an encyclopaedia of Memoires if
you wish, in those potent
point of pride with kings to
names.
had the
It is reported of air of leaning
humble the crowd.
will instruct you,
secrets.
Thus
remember
came down had
just
late
and
one prince that his head
downwards, in order not to
There are people who come in
ever like a child with a piece of good news.
was said of the
a
it is
faces
Lord Holland
that he always
to breakfast with the air of a
met with some
It
man who
signal good-fortune.
In
;
CONDUCT OF
176 " Ndtre
Dame"
the grandee took
dais with the look of one
thing
LIFE.
who
Ms
place on the
thinking of some-
is
But we must not peep and eavesdrop
else.
at palace-doors.
Fine manners need the support of
A
in others.
he
may
scholar
The
not.
may
manners
fine
be a well-bred man, or
enthusiast
ished scholars in society and
introduced to pol-
is
is
chilled
and
silenced
by finding himself not in their element. They aU have somewhat which he has not, and, it seems,
But
ought to have.
if
he finds the scholar apart
from
his companions,
turn,
and the scholar has no defence, but must deal
on his terms.
Now
it
they must fight the battle out
on their private strength. that character so
the world
rooms ?
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
common
Manners
:
He knows ;
man
of
and drawing-
manners of power
as they are handled at first just
the talent of
is
successful
and manners up
approach his man.
;
What
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the
in all marts, senates,
see his advantage,
cret
then the enthusiast's
is
to
it.
;
sense to
See him
that troops behave
that
is his
cheap
se-
what happens to every two persons who
meet on any
affair,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; one instantly perceives
he has the key of the prehends the other's
and he has only
that
situation, that his will com-
will, as
the cat does the mouse
to use courtesy
and furnish good-
natured reasons to his victim to cover up the chain, lest
he be shamed into resistance.
;
BEHAVIOR.
The
177
theatre in which this science of manners
has a formal importance
is
not with us a court, but
dress-circles, wherein, after the close of the day's
business,
men and women meet
mu-
at leisure, for
tual entertainment, in ornamented drawing-rooms.
Of
course
it
has every variety of attraction and
merit ; but to earnest persons, to youths or maidens
who have each
is
great objects at heart,
A
highly.
we cannot extol it company where
well-dressed talkative
bent to amuse the other,
Turk who came
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; yet the high-born woman
hither fancied that every
seemed to be suffering for a chair; that aU the talkers were brained
genated air all
on
;
stilts.
it
and exhausted by the deoxy-
spoiled the best persons
Yet here are the
The
written and read.
it
;
put
secret biographies
aspect of that
man
is
repul-
The other is irritable, shy, and on his guard. The youth looks humble and manly I choose him. Look on this woman. There is not beauty, nor brilliant sive
;
I do not wish to deal with him.
;
sayings, nor distinguished all see
her gladly
;
power
to serve
you
;
but
her whole air and impression
Here come the sentimentalists, and the invalids. Here is Elise, who caught cold in coming into the world and has always increased it are healthful.
siuce.
Here are creep-mouse manners, and thiev" Look at Northcote," said Fuseli
ish manners. "
he looks like a rat that has seen a VOL. VI.
12
cat."
In the
CONDUCT OF
178
LIFE.
shallow company, easily excited, easily tired, here is
the columnar Bernard
the Alleghanies do not
;
Here
are
seemed
al-
express more repose than his behavior. the sweet following eyes of Cecile
;
ways that she demanded the heart.
it
Nothing can
be more excellent in kind than the Corinthian grace of Gertrude's manners,
and yet Blanche, who has
no manners, has better manners than she
;
for the
movements of Blanche are the sallies of a spirit which is sufficient for the moment, and she can
by instant action. Manners have been somewhat cynically defined
afford to express every thought
men
to be a contrivance of wise
Fashion
distance.
is
do not belong to her Society
attentions.
and,
if
train, is
rages the party attacked
transaction
is
is
fools at
a
and seldom wastes her
it,
;
resists
The
you, or quietly drops you.
but
keep
very swift in
you do not belong to
effective,
to
shrewd to detect those who
its instincts,
and sneers
first
the second
weapon
at
en-
more
is still
not to be resisted, as the date of the
not easily found.
and grow old under
People grow up
this infliction,
and never
sus-
pect the truth, ascribing the solitude which acts on
them very injuriously
to
any cause but the right
one. ,
The
N
basis of
cessity is the
good manners
law of
all
who
is
self-reliance.
)
Ne-
are not self-possessed.
Those who are not self-possessed obtrude and pain
BEHAVIOR.
179
Some men appear to feel that they belong to a Pariah caste. They fear to ofEend, they bend and US.
apologize,
and walk through
As we sometimes dream
life
that
dressed
company without any
ever as
if
hero
is
coat, so
Godfrey
acts
find himself
at
home,
and good-nature to aU beholders.
own The
A person of
strong
wherever he security
step.
are in a weU-
he suffered from some mortifying circum-
The hero should
stance.
with a timid
we
is
should impart comfort by his
;
suffered to be himself.
mind comes
to peraeJ-p-A
tTia^:
fny
him
J'^T^lIIIlilXJ"
qiTi
secured so long as he renders to society that service
which
is
om
all
fr
native and proper to him.
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; an unmunity
the observances, yea, and _djuitieSj_ which
society so tyrannjcaUxim poses of its members.,
on the rank and
file
" Euripides," says Aspasia, " has
not the fine manners of Sophocles
;
but," she adds
good-humor edly, "the movers and masters of our souls
have surely a right to throw out their limbs
as carelessly as they please, on the world that be-
longs to them, and before the creatures they have
animated."
^
Manners require gar than haste.
time, as nothing
is
more
vul-
Friendship should be surrounded
with ceremonies and respects, and not crushed into corners.
busy
Friendship requires more time than poor
men can *
usually
Landor
:
command.
Pericles
Here comes
and Aspasia.
to
CONDUCT OF
180
me
LIFE.
Roland, with a delicacy of sentiment leading
and inwrapping him
like a divine cloud or holy
'T is a great destitution to both that this
ghost.
should not be entertained with large leisures, but
by importunate
contrariwise should be balked
af-
fairs.
But through ever shining.
this lustrous varnish the reality is
'T
is
hard to keep the what from
breaking through this pretty painting of the how.
The
core will
come
to the surface.
Strong wiU
and keen perception overpower old manners and create
new
and the thought of the present mo-
;
ment has a greater value than
we do
persons of character
all
because of their instantaneousness. prised
the
by the thing done, out
way
of
it.
Yet nothing
of all
civil presidents,
sors, or great lawyers,
power
are surto
watch
which runs through
and connections,
as
or senators, or profes-
and impose on the
and a good deal on each least it is
We
People masquerade before us
in their fortunes, titles, offices,
academic or
In
more charming than
is
to recognize the great style
the actions of such.
the past.
not remark manners,
other,
by
frivolous,
these fames.
At
a point of prudent good manners to treat
these reputations tenderly, as
if
But the sad realist knows these and they know him as when ;
they were merited. fellows at a glance, in Paris the chief
of the police enters a ball-room, so
many diamonded
BEHAVIOR. pretenders shrink and spicuous as they can,
181
make themselves as inconor give him a supplicating
" I had received," said a sibyl,
look as they pass.
" I had received at birth the fatal gift of penetration
"
;
and these Cassandras are always bom.
Manners impress
man who
as they indicate real power.
And
contented expression, which everybody reads.
you cannot rightly train one to an
air
except by making him the kind of that
manner
ever puts a
A
sure of his point, carries a broad and
is
is
and manner,
man
premium on
What is
reality.
effect is seen to
be done for effect
for love
be done for
is felt to
love.
;
of
whom
Nature
the natural expression.
for-
done for
what
is
done
A man inspires
and honor because he was not lying in
affection
The things of a man for which We him were done in the dark and the cold. A integrity is better than any career. So deep
Wait for these. Hsit little
are the sources of this surface-action that even the size of
dom
your companion seems to vary with his free-
of thought.
Not only
is
he larger, when at
ease and his thoughts generous, but every thing
around him becomes variable with expression. carpenter's rule, no rod
and chain
dimensions of any house or house-lot house ring
;
if
'tis
the proprietor
of
is
;
go into the
constrained and defer-
no importance how large
beautiful his grounds,
No
measure the
will
his house,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; you quickly come
how
to the
CONDUCT OF
182
end of
and
at
all
but
:
man
the
if
home, his house
LIFE.
is
dome buoyant
large and interesting, the roof and
Under
as the sky. est
the humblest roof, the
person in plain clothes
ful, yet
happy
self-possessed,
is
deep-founded, indefinitely
common-
there massive, cheer-
sits
formidable, like the Egjrptian colossi.
Neither Aristotle, nor Leibnitz, nor Junius, nor
ChampoUion has this dialect,
down
set
the
not yet read English, can read
this.
when they meet
other's measure,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and
every time they meet.
this rapid
grammar -rules
Men
take each
for the first time,
How
do they get
knowledge, even before they speak, of
each other's power and dispositions
One would
?
say that the persuasion of their speech
what they
of
older than Sanscrit; but they who can-
say,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
men do
or that
by
their argument, but
is
not in
not convince by
by who
their personality,
they are, and what they said and did heretofore.
A
man
already strong
thing he says
is
is
and every
listened to,
Another opposes him
applauded.
with sound argument, but the argument until
by and by
weighty person
;
it
gets into the
then
it
begins to
is
miud tell
scouted
of
some
on the com-
munity. SelÂŁd;eliance4s/-tlie-lmsis-of -behavior, as it is the
guaranty that the powers are not squandered in too
much
demonstration.
school education
is
In this country, where
universal,
we have a
superficial
BEHAVIOR. milture,
and a profusion
We
expression.
and
183
of reading
and writing and
parade our nobilities in poems
working them up into hap-
orations, instead of
a whisper out of the ages to him " Whatever is known to who can understand it,
There
piness.
is
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
There
thyself alone, has always very great value." is
some reason
to believe that
write his poetry
it
when a man does not
escapes by other vents through
him, instead of the one vent of writing his
form and manners,
.whilst poets
clings to
;
have often
nothing poetical about them except their verses. Jaeobi said that " when a man has fully expressed his thought, he has
One would sistibly
somewhat
say, the rtde
is,
less possession of it."
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; What a man
urged to say, helps him and
is irre-
In ex-
us.
plaining his thought to others, he explains himself, but
when he opens
it
for show,
it
to
corrupts
it
him. Society
shown
;
is
the
stage
on which
novels are their literature.
manners
are
Novels are
the journal or record of manners, and the
new im-
portance of these books derives from the fact that
and more worthily. TM novels and had a quite vulgar tone.
the novelist begins to penetrate the surMce treat this part of life
used to be
The
all alike,
novels used to lead us on to a foolish interest
in the fortunes of the
The boy was
boy and
to be raised
girl they described.
from a humble
to
a high
CONDUCT OF
184
He
position.
was in want of a wife and a
and the object of
tlie
We
one or both.
by
LIFE.
watched sympathetically, step point
step, his climbing, until at last the
gained, the wedding day
home
the gala procession
is fixed,
by
so
is left
much
in our face
and the
outside in the cold, not enriched
an idea or a virtuous impulse.
as
But the
is
and we foUow
to the bannered portal,
when the doors are slammed poor reader
castle,
him with
story was to supply
and
victories of oharacter are iastant,
victories for all.
Its greatness enlarges
We
all.
by every heroic anecdote. The novels are as useful as Bibles if they teach you the secret that the best of life is conversation, and the greatare fortified
est success is confidence, or perfect understanding
'T is a French definition
between sincere people. of friendship, rien que
The
ing.
fellow,
highest compact
is, -4-
forevermore. els,
as
the
he^s
it
s' entendre, good understand-
is
we can make with our
Let there be truth between us two
'
That
I
is
the
charm
in all
good nov-
the charm in all good histories, that
mutually understand, from the
first,
and
deal iBally and with a profound trust in each other,
m
sublime to feel and say of another,
is
I need never meet or speak or write to
him
;
we
need not reinforce ourselves, or send tokens of
remembrance
;
I rely on
did thus or thus, I
know
him it
as
was
on myself
right.
;
if
ha
BEHAVIOR. In
185
the superior people I have
all
spoken more
directness, truth
met I
notice
truly, as if every-
thing of obstruction, of malformation, had been
What
trained away.
persona there
What
have they to conceal ?
Between simple and noble
have they to exhibit ?
always a quick intelligence
is
they
;
recognize at sight, and meet on a better groimd
than the talents and
namely on
possess, it is
is
chance to
For
and uprightness.
not what talents or genius a
how he and
may
they
skills
sincerity
man
has, but
to his talents, that constitutes friendship
The man that stands by himself, by him also. It is related of
character.
the universe stands the
monk
Basle, that
being excommunicated by
the Pope, he was, at his death, sent in charge of an
angel to find a
fit
place of suffering in heU
but
;
such was the eloquence and good-humor of the
monk, that wherever he went he was received gladly and civilly treated even angels
and when he came
;
by the most uncivU
to discourse with them,
instead of contradicting or forcing him, they took his part,
angels
and adopted
came from
abode with him.
his
manners
far to see
and even good him and take iip their
The angel
;
that was sent to find
a place of torment for him attempted to remove
him
to
a worse
pit,
but with no better success
such was the contented spirit of the
monk
;
for
that he
found something to praise in every place and com-
;
CONDUCT OF
186
pany, thougli in of
At
it.
hell,
LIFE.
and made a kiad
of heaven
last the escorting angel returned
his prisoner to
with
them that sent him, saying that no
phlegethon could be found that would burn him for that
whatever condition, Basle remained
in
incorrigibly Basle.
The legend
was remitted, and
he was allowed to go into
heaven and was canonized as a
There
is
says his sentence
saint.
a stroke of magnanimity in the corre-
spondence of Bonaparte with his brother Joseph, v^hen the latter was
King of Spain, and complained
that he missed in Napoleon's letters the affectionate
marked
tone which had
" I
ence.
am
their childish correspond-
Napoleon, " you
sorry," replies
think you shall find your brother again only in the
Elysian Fields.
It is natural that at
forty he
should not feel toward you as he did at twelve.
But
his feelings
and
toward you have greater truth
His friendship has the features
strength.
of
his mind."
How much we
forgivejoJiiQse who, yield_us _tiie
rare spectacle of"^rOTC manners
them the want gentler^virtues.
them
!
with
me
Here in
!
We will pardon,
of books, of arts, ji,nd_even_.ofJiha,
is
How
tenaciously
we
remember.
a lesson which I brought along
boyhood from the Latin School, and
which ranks with the best of
Roman
anecdotes.
Marcus Scaurus was accused by Quintus
Variiis
BEHAVIOR. Hispanus, that
had excited the
lie
But
arms against the Republic. ness
ner
:
and
187 allies to
he, full of firm-
gravity, defended himself in this
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; " Quintus
Varius
take
man-
Hispanus alleges that
Marcus Scaurus, President of the Senate, excited the allies to arms Marcus Scaurus, President of :
the Senate, denies
do you
When
ritesf"
it.
There
Romans ?
believe,
"
is
no witness. Which
" Utri creditis,
Qui-
he had said these words he was
absolved by the assembly of the people.
make a
I have seen manners that
similar im-
pression with personal beauty ; that give the like exhilaration,
and
refine us like that
and in memo-
;
rable experiences they are suddenly better than
make
beauty, and
that superfluous and ugly.
But
they must be marked by fine perception, the acquaintance with real beauty.
show seK-control; you getic, or leaky,
They must always
shall not
be
facile, apolo-
but king over your word ; and every
and action shall indicate power at rest. Then they must be inspired by the good heart.
gesture
There
is
no
beautifier of complexion, or form, or
behavior, like the wish to scatter joy and not pain
around
us.
It
is
good to give a stranger a meal,
or a night's lodging. to his good
meaning and thought, and give courage
to a companion.
man
as
we
It is better to be hospitable
We must
be as courteous to a
are to a picture, which
we
are willing
CONDUCT OF
188
to give the advantage of a
LIFE.
good
show a duty as paramount as that of now, and yet I will write
it,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; that
topic peremptorily forbidden to
slept, or if
have headache, or
will
my whim
aU
just
there is one well-bred, to
namely, their distempers.
all rational mortals,
you have not
the talent of
;
Eveiy hour
them aU.
well-doing contains
Special
light.
precepts are not to be thought of
you have
sciatica,
If
you
or leprosy, or thun-
you by
derstroke, I beseech
slept, or if
all
angels to hold
your peace, and not pollute the morning, to which all
the housemates
thoughts,
bring
serene
and
by corruption and groans.
pleasant
Come
out of
Love the day. Do not leave the sky The oldest and the most deserving person should come very modestly into any newly awaked company, respecting the divine the azure.
out of your landscape.
communications out of which to have
newly come.
An
all
old
must be presumed
man who added
an
elevating culture to a large experience of Hfe, said
When you come into the room, I think I wiU study how to make humanity beautiful to
to me, "
you."
As
respects the delicate question of culture I do
not think that any other than negative rules can be laid
down.
For
positive rules, for suggestion. Na-
ture alone inspires
it.
Who
dare assume to guide
a youth, a maid, to perfect manners
?
the golden
BEHAVIOR.
mean
is
so delicate, difficult,
What
tainable.
finest
189
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; say frankly, unat-
hands would not be clumsy
to sketch the genial precepts of the
demeanor success;
?
The chances seem
and yet success
is
young
girl's
against
infinite
continually attained.
There must not be secondariness, and
't is
a thou-
sand to one that her air and manner wiU at once betray that she
is
not primary, but that there
some other one or many of her
and without knowing
bilities,
and we are
whom
But Nature
habitually postpones herself. easily
class to
it
lifts
is
she
her
over these impossi-
continually surprised with
graces and felicities not only unteachable but undescribable.
:
: :
VI.
WORSHIP.
This
is
he,
who, felled by
foes.
Sprung harmless up, refreshed by blows
He
to captivity
was
s
sold,
But him no prison-bars would hold Though they sealed him in a rock, Mountain chains he can imlock
Thrown to lions for their meat. The crouching lion kissed his feet Bound to the stake, no flames appalled. But arched o'er him an honoring vault. This
is
men
he
miscall Fate,
Threading dark ways, arriving
late,
But ever coming in time to crown
The
He
truth, is
and hurl wrongdoers down.
the oldest, and best known.
More near than aught thou Yet greeted
caU'st thy
in another's eyes.
Disconcerts with glad surprise.
This
is
Jove, who, deaf to prayers,
Floods with blessings unawares.
Draw,
if
thou canst, the mystic
line,
Severing rightly his from thine,
Which
is
human, which
divine.
own.
WORSHIP.
Some
of
my
when
friends have complained,
preceding papers were read, that we
the
discussed Fate,
Power and Wealth on too low a platform; gave
much line to the evil many cakes to Cerberus ;
risk of making,
by
times
spirit of the
too
that
too
;
we ran Cudworth's argument
excess of candor, the
of atheism so strong that he could not answer I have
no fears of being forced in
to play as
we say
infirmity of faith
my own
I have no
the devil's attorney.
no
;
belief that
portance what I or any
of
it is
man may
say
it.
despite
:
I
much
am
im-
sure
that a certain truth will be said through me, though
I should be dumb, or though I should try to say
Nor do I fear
the reverse. soul.
A just
skepticism.
cause I
am
skepticism for any good
thinker will allow full swing to his I dip
my pen
in the blackest ink, be-
not afraid of falling into
I have no sympathy with a poor
when
suicides aboimded, told
at his razor.
We are of
ferent hours, but
13
my
inkpot.
I knew, who,
he dared not look
different opinions at dif-
we always may be
heart on the side of truth. VOL. VI.
me
man
said to be at
;
CONDUCT OF
194 I see not
why we
LIFE.
should give ourselves such
If the Divine Providence has hid
sanctified airs.
from men neither disease nor deformity nor rupt society, but has stated
cor-
out in passions, in
itself
war, in trade, in the love of power and pleasure,
and need,
in hunger arts,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
these facts
but there
down is
we cannot
coarsely as they stand, or doubt
at,
and which, beiag
put, will
The solar system has no anxiety reputation, and the credit of truth and
all square.
about
its
honesty
as safe ; nor have I
is
tical bias
any fear that a skep-
can be given by leaning hard on the sides
of fate, of practical power, or of trade,
of that principle
pounds
;
it
is
The
spirit will
:
"
return and
much fill
It counterbalances
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
and
we
line as
us.
can.
It drives the
any accumulations
Heaven kindly gave our blood a moral
are born loyal.
of hooks
We
tyrannizes at the centre of Nature.
well give skepticism as
power
strength
not measured in ounces and
may
drivers.
which the
The
doctrine of Faith cannot down-weigh.
We
write
a counter - statement as ponderous,
which we can arrive
make
and
in tyrannies, literatures
us not he so nice that
let
The whole
of
flow."
creation
is
made
eyes, of bitumen, of sticking-plaster
and whether your conununity
is
made
in Jerusalem
or in California, of saints or of wreckers, in a perfect baU.
Men
as naturally
it
coheres
make a
state,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; WORSHIP.
195 If they were
or a church, as caterpillars a web.
more
refined,
it
woiild be less formal,
it
would be
nervous, like that of the Shakers, who, from long habit of thinking and feeling together affected in the
and
to play ;
same way,
at the
it is
same time,
said are to
work
and as they go with perfect sympathy
to their tasks in the field or shop, so are they in-
clined for a ride or a journey at the
same
instant,
and the horses come up with the family carriage unbespoken to the door.
We are born believing. A man bears beliefs as A self-poise belongs to every
a tree bears apples. particle,
and a rectitude
to every mind,
Nemesis and protector of every
and
society.
is
I and
the
my
neighbors have been bred in the notion that unless
we came soon
to
some good church,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Calvinism,
or Behmenism, or Romanism, or Mormonism, there would be a universal thaw and dissolution.
No
Isaiah or Jeremy has arrived.
Nothing can
exceed the anarchy that has followed in our skies.
The
stern old faiths have
aU
pulverized.
'Tis a
whole population of gentlemen and ladies out in 'T is as
search of religions.
ecclesiastic realms as that
flat
anarchy in our
which existed in Massa-
chusetts in the Revolution, or which prevails
now
on the slope of the Rocky Mountains or Pike's Peak.
Yet we make
Nature has
shift to live.
self-poise
in
all
Men
are loyal.
her works; certain
'
CONDUCT OF
196
LIFE.
proportions in whicli oxygen and azote combine,
and not
less
a harmony in faculties, a fitness in
the spring and the regulator.
The
decline of the
Calvin, or F^nelon, or "Wesley, or
influence of
Channing, need give us no uneasiness. The builder of heaven has not so iU constructed his creature as
that the religion, that
should
fall
is,
the public nature,
out: the public and the private
ele-
ment, like north and south, like inside and outcentrifugal
side, like
and
centripetal, adhere
to
every soul, and cannot be subdued except the soul is dissipated.
God
builds his temple in the heart
on the ruins of churches and
religions.
we
treated some particulars
of the question of culture.
But the whole state of and its flowering and
In the
man
is
last chapters
a state of culture
completion
may be
;
described as Religion, or "Wor-
There is always some religion, some hope and fear extended into the invisible, from the ship.
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
blind bodiag which nails a horseshoe to the mast
up to the song of the Elders in But the religion cannot rise above the state of the votary. Heaven always bears some proportion to earth. The god of the cannibals wiU be a cannibal, of the crusaders a crusader, and of the merchants a merchant. In aU ages, souls out of time, extraordinary, prophetic, or the threshold,
the Apocalypse.
are born,
who
are rather related to the system of
WORSHIP.
197
the world than to their particular age and locality.
These announce absolute
truths, which, with what-
ever reverence received, are speedily dragged
The
into a savage interpretation.
down
interior tribes of
our Indians and some of the Pacific islanders flog their gods
The Greek
when things take an unfavorable
turn.
poets did not hesitate to let loose their
Laomedon, in
petulant wit on their deities also.
his
anger at Neptune and Apollo, who had built Troy for
him and demanded
to
menace them that he
Among
their price, does not hesitate will cut
their ears ofE.^
our Norse forefathers, King Olaf's mode of
converting Eyvind to Christianity was to put a pan of glowing coals on his beUy,
"
WUt
which burst asunder.
thou now, Eyvind, believe in Christ
?
" asks
Another argument was
Olaf, in excellent faith.
an adder put iato the mouth of the reluctant ciple
Eand, who refused to
Christianity, in the romantic ages, signified
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the
ropean culture,
in a crab forest.
dis-
believe.
Eu-
grafted or meliorated tree
And
to
marry a pagan wife or
husband was to marry Beast, and voluntarily to take a step backwards towards the baboon " Hengist
had verament
A daughter both fair and gent, But she was heathen Sarazine,
And 1
Vortigeru for love fine
Iliad,
Book
xxi.
1.
465.
:
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
:
CONDUCT OF
198
Her took
to fere
And was
cursed in
For he
may
wed
heathen,
our blood as flesh and mathen."'
Gothic mixtures the Christian creed drew
from the pagan icle of
to wife,
all his life;
let Christian
And mixed
What
and
LIFE.
Richard
sources,
Richard of Devizes' chron-
crusade, in the twelfth century,
I.'s
King Richard taunts God with forsaking him " O fie O how unwilling should I show.
:
!
m
be to forsake thee, position,
In
mine.
so forlorn
and dreadful a
were I thy lord and advocate, as thou
my
sooth,
my
despised, not through
fault,
but through thiae
in sooth not through any cowardice of
my
fare art thou thyself,
art
standards wiU in future be
king and
my
my
war-
God, con-
quered this day, and not Richard thy vassal."
The
religion of the early English poets is anoma*
devout and so blasphemous, in the same
lous, so
Such
breath.
sion of heaven
Chaucer's extraordinary confu-
is
and earth
in the picture of
" She was so
So young, so
lusty,
Dido
:
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
fair,
with her eyen glad,
if that God that heaven and earthe made Would have a love for beauty and goodness, And womauhede, truth, and seemUness,
That
Whom should he There
With
n' is
no
loven but this lady sweet ?
woman
to
these grossnesses, 1
him
half so meet."
we complacently
Moths or worms.
com-
;
WORSHIP.
199
We
pare our o-wn taste and d«corum.
think and
speak with more temperance and gradation, is
— but
not indifferentism as bad as superstition ?
We faiths
a transition period, when the old
live in
which comforted nations, and not_onJ^so
but joadfi.flg'tionSj seem to have spent thgir force. I do not find the religions of
men
at this
moment
very creditable to them, but either chUdish and insignificant or fatal
the divorce^ between religion and
trait is
Here are know-nothing
morality.
The
unmanly and effeminating.
or
religions,
churches that proscribe intellect; scortatory religions
;
and,
and slave-trading
slave-holding
even in the decent
populations,
religions idolatries
wherein the whiteness of the ritual covers scarlet indulgence.
The
lover of the old religion com-
plains that our contemporaries, scholars as well as
merchants, succumb to a great despair,
— have
cor-
rupted into a timorous conservatism and believe in nothing.
In our large
godless, materialized,
no enthusiasm. thirsts, fevers
cities
and appetites walking.
them is
—
How
is it
so aimless as they
After their pepper-corn aims are gained,
seems as
if
the lime
together,
is
fellow-feeling,
These are not men, but hungers,
people manage to live on, are ?
the population
— no bond, no
in
it
their bones alone held
and not any worthy purpose. There
no faith in the
intellectual,
none
in the
moral
.
CONDUCT OF
200
There
Tiniverse.
is
LIFE.
in chemistry, ia meat
faith
and wine, in wealth, in machinery, in the steamengine,'
turbine-wheels, sewing-
galvanic battery,
machines, and in public opinion, but not in divine
A
causes.
silent revolution
of the old religious sects, ity
has loosed the tension
and in place
and permanence of those
of the grav-
societies of opinion,
they run into freak and extravagance.
never was such levity
;
In creeds
witness the heathenisms in
Christianity, the periodic "revivals," the Millen-
nium mathematics, the peacock
ritualism, the retro-
gression to Popery, the maundering of
Mormons,
the squalor of Mesmerism, the deliration of rappings, the
rat
table-drawers,
and mouse and black
revelation, art.
The
thumps in
architecture,
the music, the prayer, partake of the madness arts sink into shift
ing what to do,
and make-believe.
we ape our ancestors mummeries
;
stagger backward to the
By
Ages.
;
the
Not knowthe churches of the
Dark
the irresistible maturing of the general
mind, the Christian traditions have
lost their hold.
The dogma of the mystic offices of Christ being dropped, and he standing on his genius as a moral teacher, sis
it is
impossible to maintain the old empha-
of his personality
;
and
it
recedes, as
aU
per-
sons must, before the sublimity of the moral laws.
From
this change,
and
in the
momentary absence
of any religious genius that could offset the im.
WORSHIP. mense material religion
is
"
article
activity,
When
gone.
Dieu "
manque
a feeling that
is
Paul Leroux offered his
replied, "
d'actualitS."
said of the late
there
the conductor of
to
French journal, he
201
King
In
La
a leading
question de
Dieu
Mr. Gladstone
Italy,
of Naples, "It has been a
God
proverb that he has erected the negation of into a system of government."
In
this country
the like stupefaction was in the air, and the phrase
" higher law " became a political jibe. of infidelity like the toleration of slavery ?
What,
What,
What
proof
and propagandism
like the direction of education ?
What,
like the facility of conversion?
like
the externality of churches that once sucked the roots of right
away
and wrong, and now have perished
tiU they are a speck of whitewash on the
What
wall?
proof of skepticism like the base
rate at which the highest mental
are held?
Let a man
attain
and moral
gifts
the highest and
broadest ctdture that any American has possessed,
then
let
him
die
by sea-storm,
railroad collision, or
other accident, and all America will acquiesce that the best thing has happened to the education has gone far, such ness of
him is
;
that, after
the expensive-
America that the best use to put a is to drown him to save his board.
fine
person to
Another scar of
human
virtue.
It
this skepticism is the distrust in is
believed by well-dressed pro-
CONDUCT OF
202
no more virtue than they po*
prietors that there is sess
;
that the
LIFE.
solid portion of
the arts of comfort
that life
;
society exist for
an
is
affair to put
somewhat between the upper and lower mandibles.
How prompt the
suggestion of a low motive
tain patriots in
England devoted themselves
years to creating a public
opinion that
Cer-
!
for
should
break down the corn -laws and establish free trade. '
man
Well,' says the
a stipend out of ocean to try
if
it.'
in the street,
Kossuth
'
he could rouse the
New World
a sympathy with European liberty.
New
York,
enough
to
'
Cobden got
fled hither across the
'Aye,' says
he made a handsome thing of
make him comfortable
for
to
it,
life.'
See what allowance vice finds in the respectable
and well -conditioned
class.
If
a pickpocket
in-
trude into the society of gentlemen, they exert what
moral force they have, and he finds himself uncomfortable
and glad
to get away.
But
an adven-
if
turer go through all the forms, procure himself to
be elected to a post of dent, though house-thief,
trust, as of senator or presi-
by the same arts as we detest in the the same gentlemen who agree to
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
discountenance the private rogue will be forward to
show
lic
one
;
civilities
and marks of respect
and no amount
to the pub-
of evidence of his crimes
wUl prevent them giving him ovations, complimentary dinners, opening their
own houses
to
him and
WORSHIP.
203
We were
priding themselves on his acquaintance.
not deceived by the professions of the private adventurer, faster
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the louder
he talked of his honor, the
we counted our spoons
;
but
we appeal
to
the sanctified preamble of the messages and proc-
lamations of the public sinner, as the proof of It
sincerity.
must be that they who pay
age have said to themselves.
know about the band
Even
this that
you
On
call
this
hom-
we
don't
the whole,
honesty
;
a bird in
is better.
well-disposed,
touched with the same
good sort of people are infidelity,
and, for brave,
straightforward action, use half-measures and com-
Forgetful that a
promises.
little
measure
is
a
great error, forgetful that a wise mechanic uses a
sharp
they go on choosing the dead
tool,
men
of
But the official men can in nowise help you in any question of to-day, they deriving entirely from the old dead things. Only those can help in counsel or conduct who did not make a routine.
party pledge to defend this or that, but appointed by
God
who were
Almighty, before they came into
the world, to stand for this which they uphold. It has
been charged that a want of siacerity in
the leading
men
ican society.
not
make
is
a vice general throughout Amer-
But the multitude
of the sick shall
us deny the existence of health.
of our imbecility
and
terrors,
In spite
and "universal decay
CONDUCT OF
204
LIFE.
of reKgion," &c. &c., the moral sense reappears to-
day with the same morning newness that has been from of old the fountain of beauty and strength.
You
say there
is
no religion now.
in rainy weather, There
is
'Tis like saying
no sun, when
at that
moment we are witnessing one of his superlative effects. The religion of the cultivated class now, an avoidance of
to be sure, consists in
engagements which
But
assume.
it
was once
this avoidance
ous forms in their due hour.
which
is
and
will yield spontane-
There
a principle
is
the basis of things, which all speech aims
and aU action
to say,
acts
their religion to
to evolve, a simple, quiet,
undescribed, undescribable presence, dwelling very peacefully in us, our rightful lord do, but to let
upon
;
and
do
to this
homage
thoughtful and just
To
this sentiment
ments of power.
:
we
are not to
not to work, but to be worked
;
men
there
is
in all ages
a consent of aU
and
conditions.
belong vast and sudden enlarge'Tis remarkable that our faith
in ecstasy consists with total inexperience of is
It
it.
the order of the world to educate with accuracy
the senses and the understanding; and the enginery
work
draw out these powers in priority, no doubt has its office. But we are never without a at'
to
hint that these powers are mediate that
we
and
servile,
are one day to deal with real being,
sences with essences.
Even
and
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
es-
the fury of materia]
WORSHIP. activity has
The
some
205
results friendly to
moral health.
energetic action of the times develops individ-
ualism, and the religious appear isolated. this
with us on no representative system.
The
saved in bundles. '
How
is it
is it ill ?
'
with thee
man,
Spirit saith to the
For a great nature
escape a religious training, is
deals
Souls are not
thee personally ?
?
I esteem
Heaven
a step in the right direction.
so apt to be invaded.
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
it is
is it
well
religion of character
Eeligion must always be
a crab fruit;
it
wild beauty.
" I have seen," said a traveller
cannot be grafted and keep
nature in
all its
same, but the wilder
We
forms
it is,
;
it is
everywhere the
the more virtuous."
say the old forms of religion decay, and that
a skepticism devastates the community. think
it
I do not
can be cured or stayed by any modification
much
of theologic creeds, pline.
its
who
of society, " I have seen
had known the extremes
human
?
a happiness to
The cure
less
by theologic
disci-
for false theology is mother-wit.
Forget your books and traditions, and obey your
moral perceptions at
this hour.
That which
is sig-
nified by the words " moral " and " spiritual,"
a lasting essence, and, with whatever have loaded them,
illusions
will certainly bring
is
we
back the
words, age after age, to their ancient meaning.
know no words tions we grope
that
mean
so
much.
after the spiritual
In our
I
defini-
by describing
it
CONDUCT OF
206
The
as invisible.
LIFE.
true meaning of spiritual
that law which executes
itself,
Is
which works without
means, and which cannot be conceived as not
Men
ing.
much
as
if
talk of "
exist-
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; which
mere morality,"
one should say,
real;
I find the omnipresence and the
to help him.'
is
Poor God, with nobody
'
al-
mightiness iu the reaction of every atom in Nature. I can best indicate
by examples those
reactions by
which every part of Nature replies to the purpose of the actor,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; beneficently
to the good, penally to
the bad.
Let us replace sentimentalism by
and dare
to uncover those simple
and
realism,
terrible laws
which, be they seen or unseen, pervade and govern.
Every man takes care that
his neighbor shall not
But a day comes when he begins care that he do not cheat his neighbor. Then cheat him.
He
goes well.
to all
has changed his market-cart into a
What
chariot of the sun.
a day da wns when we
have taken to heart the doctrine^offaith!to_pref er, as
to
-a
-better"
seeming
year to the day
performance tice
investment, being to doing; being
logic to rhytlua^
;
;
;
the
life to
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and have
win be done us
;
and
and to_diaaLay; the
the year
come if
to
;
character to
know
our genius
that jusis
slow,
the term will be long. It is certain that worship stands in
manding
relation to the health of
some com-
man and
highest powers, so as to be in some
to his
manner
the
WORSHIP. source of intellect.
All the great ages have been
when
I mean,
ages of belief.
207
there was any ex-
traordinary power of performance,
movements began, when
tional
heroes existed,
man on
soul
when
arts appeared,
when poems were made,
was in
earnest,
great na-
and had fixed
when
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the hu-
its
thoughts
spiritual verities with as strict a grasp as that
on the sword, or the
of the hands
pencil, or the
It is true that genius takes its rise out of
trowel.
the mountains of rectitude
;
that all beauty
and
power which men covet are somehow born out of that Alpine district;
gree of beauty in
Thus
charm. other
man a
woman
or
we very
involves a moral
slowly admit in an-
higher degree of moral sentiment than
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;a
our own,
I think
any extraordinary de-
that
man
finer conscience,
more impressionable
or which marks minuter degrees; an ear to hear acuter notes of right and
think we
wrong than we can. I and veiy slowly to any
listen suspiciously
evidence to that point. superiority,
we
his genius.
set
But, once satisfied of such
no limit to our expectation of
For such persons are nearer
to the se-
cret of
God
waters
they hear notices, they see visions, where
;
than others
others are vacant. fers
We
;
are bathed
by sweeter
believe that holiness con-
a certain insight, because not by our private
but by our public force can we share and know the nature of things.
CONDUCT OF
208
There
is
an intimate interdependence of intellect
Given the equality of two
and morals.
— which
LIFE.
form the most
will
the good, or the bad hearted
intellects,
reliable judgments,
"
?
The heart has
arguments, with which the understanding
is
its
not
For the heart is at once aware of the health or disease, which is the controlling
acquainted." state of
state, that is,
—
of sanity or of insanity; prior of
course to all question of the ingenuity of argu-
ments, the amount of facts, or the elegance of rhet-
So intimate
oric.
is
alliance of
this
mind and
heart, that talent uniformly sinks with character.
The
away men
bias of errors of principle carries
into perilous courses as soon as their will does not
Hence
control their passion or talent.
the extraor-
dinary blunders and final wrong head into which
men
spoiled
remedy
by ambition usually
fall.
Hence the
for aU. blunders, the cure of blindness, the
cure of crime,
is
love.
"
As much
mind," said the Latin proverb. that has no superior of souls, as
it is
;
is
much
superiority
the redeemer and instructor
their primal essence, is love.
The moral must be your eye
love, so
The
the measure of health.
on the eternal, your
and your opinions and actions
intellect
will
If
vdU grow,
have a beauty
which no learning or combined advantages of other
men can
rival.
The moment
of your loss of faith
and acceptance of ^ the_^u£ratiye standard
wiU^e
WORSHIP. marked- in the pausg^or quent retrogression,
209
solstice of genius,
f'^'Lt^^l^.fX^^jfcEIlfl^''
fion to other minds.
Th&'^^g^^
^i"ÂŽ
these-
<>f f^ttr^'?-
sensible of the
change in you, and of your descent, though they clap you on the back and congratulate you on your
increased common-sense.
Our
recent culture has been in natural science.
We have learned the manners of the sun and of the moon, of the rivers and the
and elemental kingdoms,
Man
moment
of
an
eclipse,
fraction of a second. history, the
book
and animals.
The path
its
weight
of a star, the
can be determined to the
Well, to him the book of
of love, the lures of passion
commandments
next lesson taught ible
of plants
has learned to weigh the sun, and
neither loses nor gains.
the
rain, of the mineral
is
of duty are opened
;
and
and the
the continuation of the inflex-
law of matter into the subtile kingdom of wiU
and of thought; that if and projection keep their loses its
way
in sidereal ages gravity craft,
and the
ball never
in its wild path through space,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;a
secreter gravitation, a secreter projection rule not less tyrannically in
human
history,
and keep the
balance of power from age to age unbroken.
though the new
For
element of freedom and an indi-
vidual has been admitted, yet the primordial atoms are prefigured and predetermined to moral issues, are in search of justice, and ultimate right VOL. TI.
14
is
done.
CONDUCT OF
210
Religion or worsliip
is
this unity, intimacy,
LIFE.
the attitude of those
and
who
sincerity;
who
see
see that
against all appearances the nature of things works
and right
for truth It
is
forever.
a short sight to limit oiir faith in laws to
those of gravity, of chemistry, of botany, and so forth.
Those laws do not stop where our eyes
lose
them, but push the same geometry and chemistry
up
into the invisible plane
life,
where we
so that look
or in the
of social
of
strifes
will, in
races,
and
rational
a boy's game,
a perfect reaction, a
And
judgment keeps watch and ward.
perj)etual
this appears in a class of facts
which concerns
all
men, within and above their creeds. ' '
Shallow
stances
:
men
believe in luck, believe in circum-
was somebody's name, or he happened
it
to be there at the time, or i
other day
men
it
was so then and an-
it
would have been otherwise.
born to do father of
and
it,
him and
his father
of his deed
;
Strong
The man was
believe in cause and effect.
was born
to be the
and by looking nar-
rowly you shall see there was no luck in the matter
;
but
it
was
all
a problem in arithmetic, or an
experiment in chemistry. of the
moth
number,
rule,
Skepticism
man
is
The curve
preordained, and
all
of the flight
things go by
and weight. is
A
unbelief in cause and effect.
does not see that as he eats, so he thinks
;
aa
WORSHIP. he deals, so he
is,
see that his son
of his actions
but fruits
and is
so he appears
fortunes
that relation
;
;
he does not
the son of his thoughts and
that
;
211
not exceptions
are
and connection are not
somewhere and sometimes, but everywhere and
ways
;
but method, and an even web that was put do, so
is it
fortunes
;
;
and what comes
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
out,
As we are, so we do and as we we are the builders of our
in.
;
done to us
;
cant and lying and the attempt to secure
a good which does not belong to all,
al-
no miscellany, no exemption, no anomaly,
balked and
vain.
us, are,
once for
human mind,
But, in the
this
made alive. The law is the basis of human mind. In us, it is inspiration out there in Nature we see its fatal strength. We call
tie of fate is
the
it
;
the moral sentiment.
We owe to the Hindoo Scriptures a definition of Law, which compares well with any in our Western "Law
books.
it
is,
which
color, or hands, or feet least, all
;
without name, or
is
which
and largest of the large
smallest of the
is ;
all,
things; which hears without
and knowing
ears, sees with-
out eyes, moves without feet, and seizes without
hands." If
any reader tax
ditional phrases, let
me me
with using vague and
tra-
him by a few is, and how real.
suggest to
examples what kind of a trust
this
Let me show him that the dice are loaded; that
;
CONDUCT OF
212
LIFE.
the colors are fast, because they are the native ors of the fleece
cause every atom
;
that the globe is
a magnet
;
is
and that the
police
by God's
sincerity of the Universe are secured
and
col-
a battery, be-
delegating his divinity to every particle ; that there is
no room for hypocrisy, no margin for cEoice
The countryman leaving the
time and going abroad, finds aU his habits
first
broken up. sect, as
.
his native village for
In a new nation and language, his
Quaker, or Lutheran,
What
is lost.
!
it is
not then necessary to the order and existence of
He
ciety?
misses this, and the
of his neighborhood, which held
This
is
the peril of
New
so-
commanding eye him to decorum.
New
York, of
London, of Paris, to young men.
But
Orleans, of
after a little
experience he makes the discovery that there are
no large
cities,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; none
large enough to hide in
that the censors of action are as niunerous and as
near in Paris, as in Littleton or Portland gossip
is
as prompt and vengeful.
;
that the
There is no con-
cealment, and for each offence a several vengeance that reaction, or nothing
for nothing,
are as hroad as they are long,
is
or,
things
not a rule for
Littleton or Portland, but for the Universe.
We cannot spare the coarsest muniment of vii^ tue. We are disgusted by gossip, yet it is of importance to keep the angels in their proprieties.
The
smallest fly will
draw
blood,
and gossip
is a
WORSHIP. weapon impossible
to exclude
213
from the
privatest,
Nature created a police .of jpany
highest, selectest.
God_haÂŁ delegated himself to a mUlion dep-
rag ks.
^tieS;__ From these low external penalties the scale
Next come
ascends.
which injustice
the resentments, the fears,
calls out
in which the offender
;
then the false relations
put to other
is
men
;
and the
reaction of his fault on himself, in the solitude and
devastation of his mind.
You
cannot hide any
his flagging spirits
characterize itself If
secret.
you make a picture or a
holder in that state of
made
If
it.
If the artist succor
by opium or wine, his work will as the effect of opium or wine. statue,
it
sets the be-
mind you had when you
you spend for show, on building, or it wiU aU physiognomists and peneand things themselves are de-
gardening, or on pictures, or on equipages,
We are
so appear.
trators of character,
If
tective.
you follow the suburban fashion in
buUding a sumptuous - looking house for a money,
it
wiU appear
house.
There
trated.
No
world.
Society
is
na
privacy that cannot be pene-
secret can is
little
to all eyes as a cheap dear
be kept in the
a masked
ball,
civilized
where every one
hides his real character, and reveals
it
by hiding.
man wish to conceal anything he carries, those whom he meets know that he conceals somewhat, If a
and usually know what he
conceals.
Is
it
other-
CONDUCT OF
214 wise
there be some belief or some purpose he
if
'T is as hard to hide as
would bury in his breast ?
He
fire.
LIFE.
is
a strong
A
opinion.
man
man who
can hold down his
cannot utter two or three sen-
tences without disclosing to intelligent ears precisely
where he stands in
life
and thought, namely,
whether in the kingdom of the senses and the understanding, or in that of ideas and imagination,
and duty.
in the realm of intuitions
People seem
not to see that their opinion of the world
We
confession of character. are,
and
fame '
if
we misbehave we
Kempis
or of Bonaparte, characterizes
give
As
gas-light is
also a
The Thomas a those who
suspect others.
of Shakspeare or of Voltaire, of
it.
is
can only see what we
found to be the best noc-
turnal police, so the universe protects itself by
piti-
less publicity.
Each must be armed ket and pike.
Happy,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; not if,
necessarily vrith mus-
seeing these, he can feel
that he has better muskets and pikes in his en-
ergy and constancy.
To every
creature
is his
own
weapon, however skilfully concealed from himself,
a good while.
His work
Let him accuse none,
way
to
world.
mend Here
let
is
him
the bad world is
is
sword and injure none.
shield.
The
to create the right
a low political economy plotting
to
cut the throat of foreign competition and establish
our
own
;
excluding others by force, or making
;
WORSHIP. war on them
215
or by cunning tariffs giving prefer-
;
But the
ence to worse wares of ours.
lasting victories are those of peace
The way kill
to conquer the foreign artisan
And
him, but to beat his work.
World
Palaces and
and prizes on
real
and
and not of war. not to
is,
the Crystal
Fairs, with their committees
kinds of industry, are the re-
all
The American workman who hammer whilst the for-
sult of this feeling.
strikes ten blows with his
eign
workman only
strikes one, is as really van-
quishing that foreigner as at
and
if
the blows were aimed
on his person.
told
as happy, who,
looks into his
when
work
I
ther e
is
^
^<^<
,
on th ^t rnn n
ques tion of success,
for a reply, not into the market,
not into opinion, notTrit6"paEroiiage.
In every va-
ried of liuman employment, in the mechanical and in the fine arts, in navigation, in farming, in legis-
among the numbers who do their we say, or just to pass, and
lating, there are,
task perfunctorily, as
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; there
as badly as th§y dare,
men, on
whom
who done who those
;
the burden of the business falls
and love
love work,
of such finishers.
*
is
it
;
it
;
and
happy that has the most
it
felt
justice
cannot otherwise.
acquired the ability
making
rightly
own sake
The world wiU always do
at last to such finishers
occasion of
to see
finish their task for its
the state and the world
who has
are the working-
may
He
wait securely the
and appreciated, and
CONDUCT OF
216
know
that
LIFE.
Men talk as if vicWork is victory.
will not loiter.
it
tory were something fortunate.
Wherever work is done, victory is obtained. There You want but one is no chance, and no blanks. verdict if you have your own you are secure of ;
And
the rest.
yet, if vntnesses are
wanted, wit-
There was never a man
nesses are near.
bom
so
wise or good but one or more companions came
who
into the world with him,
and report
man
divine assessors
like
man
thinks alone and no
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; now
delight in his faculty
I cannot see without
it.
awe
that no
acts alone, but the
who came up with him
into
a police in
kingdom
This reaction, this sincerity
To make our word
all things.
must make
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; walk with
citizens' clothes,
step for step, through all the
it real.
what language you
of time.
or act sublime,
hold
will,
it
back.
making up
me
What
I
What
I
am
am and what
my
to tell
I
efforts to
has been secretly con-
to another, whilst
my mind
Use
you can never say any-
conveyed to you, in spite of
veyed from
we
It is our system that counts,
thing but what you are. is
him,
the property of
is
not the single word or unsupported action.
think
life,
under one disguise, now under another,
him
it.
I
was vainly
He
has heard
from me what I never spoke.
As men sincerity,
get on in
life,
and somewhat
they acquire a love for
less solicitude to
be
lulled
WORSHIP.
In the progress of the character, there
or amused. is
217
an increasing faith in the moral sentiment, and
Young
a decreasing faith in propositions.
people
As we
admire talents and particular excellences.
grow older we value
powers and
total
the spirit or quality of the man. sight,
and a new standard
gards what doer
;
is
effects, as
We have another
an insight which
;
disre-
done for the eye, and pierces to the
an ear which hears not what men
say, but
hears what they do not say.
There was a wise, devout man who the
Catholic
many
is called,
Church, St. Philip Neri, of
in
whom
anecdotes touching his discernment and be-
Among
nevolence are told at Naples and Rome. the nuns in a convent not far from
Rome, one had
appeared who laid claim to certain rare gifts of inspiration
and prophecy, and the abbess advised
Rome
the Holy Father at
shown by her what
to
make
novice. of these
of the wonderful powers
The Pope did not well know new claims, and Philip com-
ing in from a journey one day, he consulted him. Philip undertook to
her character.
He
visit
nun and
ascertain
threw himself on his mule, aU
travel-soiled as he was,
mud and
the
and hastened through the
mire to the distant convent.
He
told the
abbess the wishes of his Holiness, and begged her to
summon
the
nun without
sent for, and as soon as she
delay.
came
The nun was into the apart-
;
CONDUCT OF
218
LIFE. leg, all bespattered
ment, Philip stretched out his
with mud, and desired her to draw
off his hoots.
The young nun, who had become the object of much attention and respect, drew back with anger, and refused the office his
:
Philip ran out of doors, mounted
returned instantly to the Pope
mule and
" Give yourself no uneasiness. Holy Father, any longer : here
We need
is
no miracle, for here
not
much mind what
is
no humility."
people please to
say,
but what they must say; what their natures
say,
though their busy,
ings try to hold back
artful,
Yankee understand-
and choke that word, and
to articulate something different.
what they ought
quietly,
will or against their
to say
We
will.
you, let us pretend what
we may
If
we
:
will
sit
with their
is said,
do not care for
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; we are always
looking through you to the dim dictator behind you.
Whilst your habit or whim
chatters,
we
civilly
and
impatiently wait until that wise superior shall speak again.
Even children
are not deceived by the false
reasons which their parents give in answer to their questions, whether touching natural facts, or religion,
or persons.
how
thinking
it
When reaUy
the parent, instead of
is,
puts them
off
with a
traditional or a hypocritical answer, the children
perceive that
it is
traditional or hypocritical.
sound constitution the defect of another manifest
;
and the marks
of
it
is
To a at once
are only concealed
WORSHIP. from us by
own
oiir
219
An
dislocation.
anatomical
observer remarks that the sympathies of the chest,
abdomen, and on aU
its
waste, but
at last
pelvis, tell
features.
leaves
it
on the
face,
Physiognomy and phrenology are not new but declarations of the soul that
new
certain
it
And
so for ourselves
it is
sciences,
aware of
is
And now
sources of information.
up behind
sciences of broader scope are starting these.
and
Not only does our beauty word how it went to waste.
really of little
importance what blunders in statement we make,
we make no
so only truth.
How
after
we have
comes
from the
wilful departures
a man's truth comes to mind, long forgotten
aU
words
his
How
!
to us in silent hours, that truth is
armor in
all
passages of
cheap, and anger
is
cheap
life ;
and death
but
if
!
it
our only
Wit
is
you cannot argue
or explain yourself to the other party, cleave to the truth, against
me
against thee, and you gain a
from which you cannot be dislodged.
station
The
other party wiU forget the words that you spoke,
but the part you took continues to plead for you.
Why
should I hasten to solve every riddle which
life offers
tioner
me ?
who
I
brings
am well assured that the me so many problems will
the answers also in due time. tent,
Very
very cheerful Giver that he
all his
own way,
for me.
is,
rich,
Quesbring
very po-
he shall have
Why should
it
I give up
CONDUCT OF
220
my
LIFE.
thought, because I cannot answer an objection
Consider only whether
to it? life
the same
it
we see because we harbor
within, can it is
remains in
it
my
That only which we have without. If we meet no gods,
was.
none.
If there
is
grand-
eur in you, you will find grandeur in porters and
He
sweeps.
only
is
none
is
whom
rightly immortal to
things are immortal.
all
I have read somewhere that
accomplished so long as any are incom-
plete ; that the happiness of one cannot consist with
the misery of any other.
The Buddhists its
No
Where
seed will grow.
escape
say, "
seed wiU die
" every
the service which can
is
What
remuneration ?
:
is
vulgar,
and the
essence of aU. vulgarity, but the avarice of reward
'T
is
?
the difference of artisan and artist, of talent
and genius, of sinner and
saint.
The man whose
eyes are nailed, not on the nature of his act but on
the wages, whether is
it
almost equally low.
be money, or
He
is
office,
or fame,
great whose eyes are
opened to see that the reward of actions cannot be escaped, because he is transformed into his action,
and taketh
its
nature, which bears
like every other tree.
dered of the effect of his ate.
The genius
its
own
fruit,
A great man cannot be hin-
of life
act, is
because
it is
immedi-
friendly to the noble,
and in the dark brings them friends from far. Fear God, and where you go, men shall think they walk in hallowed cathedrals.
;
WORSHIP.
And
221
make
so I look on those sentiments wlieli
human
the glory of the
being, love, humility, faith,
as being also the intimacy of Divinity in the atoms
and that as soon as the man
is
right, assurances
and previsions emanate from the
body and ripeness,
his
mind
;
when
as,
incense exhales from
beautiful atmosphere
is
interior of
his
flowers reach their
them, and
as a
generated from the planet
by the averaged emanations from aU
its
rocks and
soils.
Thus man
is
made equal
He
to every event.
can face danger for the right.
A
poor, tender,
painful body, he can run into flame or bullets or pestilence, with
duty for his guide.
insurance of a just employment. of accident as long as I
am
in
I
He feels the am not afraid
my
It
place.
is
strange that superior persons should not feel that
they have some better resistance against cholera
than avoiding green peas and salads. Life respectable,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
is it ? if it
is
hardly
has no generous, guaran-
teeing task, no duties or affections that constitute
Every man's task
a necessity of existing. life-preserver.
The
conviction that his
work
is his is
to God and cannot be spared, defends him.
lightning-rod that disarms the cloud of is
the
his
body in
its
duty.
A
its
dear
The threat
high aim reacts on
means, on the days, on the organs of the
body.
A
high aim
is
curative, as
weU
as arnicar
CONDUCT OF
222
LIFE.
"Napoleon," says Goethe, "visited those sick of
man who
the plague, in order to prove that the
could vanquish fear could vanquish the plague
and he was
also;
body and puts
it
aU hurtful
pels
incredible what
It is
right.
force the will has in such cases
:
it
penetrates the
in a state of activity which reinfluences
whilst fear
;
invites
them." It is related of
WiUlam
of Orange, that whilst
he was besieging a town on the contiuent, a gentleman sent to him on public business came to his
camp, and, learning that the King was before the he ventured to go where he was.
walls,
him
He
foirnd
and
directing the operation of his gunners,
having explained his errand and received his answer, the King said, " Do you not know, sir, that
moment you spend here
every life?"
is at
the risk of your
" I run no more risk," replied the gentle-
man, " than your Majesty." " Yes," said the King, " but
my
duty brings
me
here,
In a few minutes a cannon-ball
and yours does fell
on the
not."
spot,
and
the gentleman was kiUed.
Thus can the
faithful student reverse
all
the
warnings of his early jastinct, undeir the guTSance of a deeper instinct.
_He
learns to welcome mis-
fortune, learns that adversity
the great.
He
shall
He work
learns the
is _ the
prosperity of
greatness- of__humyityj>
in the dark,
work against
failure
,
WORSHIP. and
pain,
msulted writes,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
If
ill-will.
alibis
;
The moral
equalizes
men
wear
shall
as ornament
;
enriches,
all,
empowers
and which
Under the whip
and
In the greatest destitution and calamity
it
heroes.
surprises
with a feeling of elasticity which makes noth-
ing of
loss.
I recall some life
all.
all find in
of the driver, the
slave shall feel his equality with saints
man
Hafiz
trust."
aU
which buys
their pocket.
he can be
their heads the dust,
As ensign and Of their lowly
It is the coin
insulted,
affair is not to insult.
" At the last day,
On
is
lie
223
and
traits of
a remarkable person whose
discourse betrayed
this sentiment.
inspirations of
Benedict was always great in the
He
present time.
many
had hoarded nothing from the memory.
past, neither in his cabinets, neither in his
He had
no designs on the
he should do to men, nor for what for him.
He
said, " I
am beaten. whom I have no
that I to
have defeated me. I
am
I
what
future, neither for
men
should do
am never beaten until I know meet powerful brutal people
skill to reply.
It is so
They think they
published in society, in
the journals
;
men's
sight,
perhaps on a dozen different
ledger
may show that I am
defeated in this fashion, in lines.
in debt, cannot yet
aU.
My
make
;
224
CONDUCT OF
my
ends meet and vanquish the enemy
may
race
not be prospering
I seem is
to
in
say,
my
all
;
we
My children
obscure, unpopular. to fail in
LIFE.
friends
and
My
so.
are sick, ugly,
may be
worsted.
clients, too.
That
encounters that have yet
the
chanced, I have not been weaponed for that particular occasion,
and have been
and yet I know been beaten
all
historically beaten
the time that I have never
have never yet fought, shall certainly
;
when my hour comes, and shall beat." " A man," says the Vishnu Sarma, " who having weU
fight
compared
own
his
of others, after
strength or weakness with that
aU doth not know the
difference, is
easUy overcome by his enemies." " I spent," he said, " ten months in the counThick-starred Orion was
try.
Wherever a I can go.
I kept
these,
When
security,
I went abroad,
company with every man on the
that
my
evil
and
my
road, for I
good did not come from
but from the Spirit, whose servant I was.
For I could not stoop did
only companion.
go with
I ate whatever was set before me; I
touched ivy and dogwood.
knew
my
squirrel or a bee can
who put
company. about in for one.
to
be a circumstance, as they
their life into their fortune
and
their
by casting my memory for a thought, nor by waiting If the thought come, I would give it I would not degrade myself
entertainment.
It should, as it ought,
go
into
my
WORSHIP. hands and feet it
but
;
if it
comes not rightly at
225
come not spontaneously,
all.
If
can spare me, I
it
am sure I can spare it. It shall be the same with my friends. I will never woo the loveliest. I will not ask any friendship or favor. When I come to my own, we shall both know it. Nothing will be to be asked or to be granted."
Benedict went out to
seek his friend, and met him on the
way
other hand,
if
;
but he
On
expressed no surprise at any coincidences.
the
he called at the door of his friend
and he was not
at
home, he did not go again;
concluding that he had misinterpreted the intimations.
He had
the
whim
same individual
not to
whom
make an apology
he had wronged.
to the
For
he said was a piece of personal vanity
;
this
but he
woidd correct his conduct, in that respect in which he had faulted, to the next person he should meet. Thus, he
said, universal justice
Mira came
to ask
poor Genesee
work
was
satisfied.
what she should do with the
woman who had
hired herself to
for her, at a shilling a day, and,
ening, was like to be
Should she keep
But Benedict
said,
when
"Why
One
ask?
the hour comes.
Is
whether to put her into the street vol. VI.
15
sick-
bedridden on her hands.
her, or should she dismiss
clear itself as the thing to be done, other,
now
?
it
her?
thing will
and not ana question
Just as
much
CONDUCT OF
226
LIFE.
little Jenny on your arm into The milk and meal you give the beg-
whether to thrust the the street.
gar will fatten Jenny.
woman
Thrust the
out,
you thrust your babe out of doors, whether
seem
to
it
so
you or not."
In the Shakers, so lief,
and
ia the doctrine
one piece of be-
called, I find
which they faithfully hold that
encourages them to open their doors to every way-
man who
faring
among them
proposes to come
;
for,
they say, the Spirit will presently manifest to the
man
himself and to the society what manner of is,
and whether he belongs among them.
They do not
receive him, they do not reject him.
person he
And
not in vain have they worn their clay coat,
and drudged in
their fields,
and
Bruia dance, from year to year, learned thus
shuffled in their
they have truly
if
much wisdom.
Honor him whose
life is
perpetual victory
who, by sympathy with the invisible and support in labor, instead of praise
and would rather
shine,
makes the choice tuous
;
of
cords to virtue
is
who does
;
With
him not
eyes open, he
which outrages the
vir-
which churches stop their
dis-
of virtue
religion
bum
not.
;
real, finds
and exterminate
;
forj^a^ljighest
always against the law.
Miracle comes to the miraculous, not to the arithmetician.
moderately.
Talent and success interest
The
great class, they
who
me
but
affect our
WORSHIP. imagination, the
men who
hands meet around their the fools of ideas,
227
could not
make
their
objects, the rapt, the lost,
— they suggest what
they can-
They speak to the ages, and are heard from afar. The Spirit does not love cripples not execute.
and malformations.
If there ever was a good
man,
be certain there was another and wiU be more.
And
so in relation to that future hour, that spec-
tre clothed with beauty at our curtain
our table by day,
— the
ance of a coming change.
have always offered at the gift of existence,
by
night, at
apprehension, the assur-
The
mankind
race of
least this implied
— namely,
thanks for
the terror of
its
being taken away ; the insatiable curiosity and appetite for its continuation.
that
is
vouchsafed us
is
The whole
revelation
the gentle trust, which, in
our experience we find wiU cover also with
fl.owers
the slopes of this chasm.
Of
immortality, the soul
incurious. well.
It asks
The son
of Antiochus asked
sure
it
is
wiU be
hear the trumpet
?
his father
when he
" Dost thou fear," replied the
King, " that thou only in "
fide that if it is best 't is
well employed
it is
no questions of the Supreme Power.
would join battle ?
—
when
It is so well, that
'T
is
all
the
army
wilt not
a higher thing to con-
we should
live,
we
shall live,
higher to have this conviction, than to have
the lease of indefinite centuries and millenniums and
CONDUCT OF
228 seons.
LIFE.
Higher than the question of our duration
come
to such as are
fit
for
it,
is
Immortality will
the question of our deserving.
and he who would be
a great soul in future, must be a great soul now. It is a doctrine too great to rest is,
on any legend, that
on any man's experience but our own.
be proved,
at aU,
if
designs, which imply
from our own
must
It
activity
and
an interminable future for
their play.
What is
called religion effeminates
Such
izes.
as
not help you.
you
are, the
Men
are too often unfit to live, from
their obvious inequality to their
they suffer from sickness,
and demoral-
gods themselves could
politics,
own
necessities; or
or bad neighbors, or from
and they would
.gladly
know
that they
were to be dismissed from the duties of the wise instinct asks,
'How will
life.
But
death help them?'
These are not dismissed when they
die.
You
shall
The weight
not wish for death out of pusillanimity.
down on the shoulders of each moral agent to hold him to his task. The only path of escape known in aU the worlds of Grod of the Universe
is
performance.
you
shall
is
pressed
You must do your
be released.
And
tion of fact respecting the verse,
work, before
as far as
it is
a ques-
government of the Uni-
Marcus Antoninus summed the whole
word, " It sad to live
is if
pleasant to die there be none."
if
in a
there be gods, and
WORSHIP.
And
229
so I think that the last lesson of
life,
the
choral song which rises from all elements and all angels, is
a voluntajj[__obedience, a
freedom.
Man
made
is
wOTldJsjJie^ shares, the
and
sitions,
natfid,
.when _Hs h eart
religion
is
same
tl]g
mind
his
stongs.do
by
gr^d
which
scientific
dpes,..ffiil3i_
fulfil it
be,
and the
must be
mind must have a
Mahomet, " which I abhor, the learned delities,
the pres-
faith
" There are two things," said
science.
is
Ulumi-
structure.
which is to guide and
The
is
kind, he throws himself
ent and coming ages, whatever else Intellectual.
necessitated at oms as the
impression.Sjj3red.ispo-
sublime order,
joyfully into the
The
same
When
destiny.
kapwledge, what
oi the
in his infi-
Our
fool in his devotions."
times
are impatient of both, and specially of the
own
evi-
surely enough lorTEe" heart
and
Let us have nothing now which 4ence;^__TEre
is
last.
imagination in the religion
is
not
itself.
its
Let us not be
pestered with assertions and half-truths, with emotions
and
There
snuffle.
will
be a new church founded on moral
science ; at first cold
and naked, a babe
in a
man-
ger again, the algebra and mathematics of ethical law, the church of
men
to come, without
or psaltery, or sackbut
and earth feymbol
for
and
its
;
but
beams and
illustration
;
it
it
will
rafters;
will fast
shawms,
have heaven science for
enough gather
CONDUCT OF
230
LIFE.
Was
beauty, music, picture, poetry.
cism so stern and exigent as send
man home
social,
that
tliis
never
shall be.
stoi-
It shall
shame these supplicating manners, and make him know
much
friend.
to his central solitude,
of the time he
He
shall expect
must have himself no co-operation, he
to his shall
The nameless Thought,
walk with no companion.
the nameless Power, the super-personal Heart,
he shall repose alone on
own
verdict.
No good fame The Laws
can hurt him.
He
that.
good Laws themselves are
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
needs only his
can help, no bad fame are his consolers, the alive,
they
know
if
he
have kept them, they animate him with the leading of great duty,
fortune
and an endless
exist to
horizon.
him who always
neighborhood of the great,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; always
in the presence of high causes.
Honor and
recognizes the feels himself
;
:
VII.
CONSIDERATIONS BY THE WAY.
Hear what
British Merlin sung,
Of keenest eye and Say
not, the chiefs
Usurp the
The
truest tongue.
who
seats for
first
which
forefathers this land
arrive
all strive
who found
Failed to plant the vantage-ground
;
Ever from one who comes to-morrow
Men But
wait their good and truth to borrow.
wilt thou
measure
all
thy road,
See thou
lift
Who
has
little,
And
thou, Cyndyllan's son
the lightest load. to
him who has
Ponderous gold and
To
falter ere
!
less,
stuffs to bear.
thou thy task
fulfil,
Only the light-armed cUmb the
The
can spare,
beware
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
hill.
richest of all lords is Use,
And ruddy
Health the
loftiest
Live in the sunshine, swim the
Drink the wild
Where
the star
Muse. sea.
air's salubrity
Canope shines
in
May,
Shepherds are thankful, and nations gay.
:
CONDUCT OF
232
The music
And
cure
LIFE.
that can deepest reach,
all
cordial speech
ill, is
Mask thy wisdom
-with delight.
Toy with the bow,
yet hit the white.
Of aU
wit's uses, the
Is to live well with
all fruits
Fool and foe
Loved and
may
;
has none.
the round year
and
virtues here
harmless roam,
lovers bide at
A day for toil, But
main one
who
Cleave to thine acre Will fetch
:
home.
an hour for
for a friend
is life
sport,
too short
CONSIDERATIONS BY THE WAY.
Although this garrulity of us, I confess that life is rather
advising
is
born with
a subject of wonder
So much fate, so much irresistfrom temperament and unknown in-
than of didactics. ible dictation
spiration enters into
it,
that
we doubt we can
say
anything out of our own experience whereby to
AU
help each other.
and expectant
agencies.
the professions are timid
The
priest is glad if his
prayers or his sermon meet the condition of any soul
;
if
of two, if of ten, 'tis a signal success.
But
he walked to the church without any assurance that he
knew
the distemper, or could heal
The
it.
physician prescribes hesitatingly out of his few resources the same tonic or sedative to this
new and
pecidiar constitution which he has applied with
various success to a hundred patient
mends he
yer advises the jury and leaves
much
is
and teUs
has a verdict.
it
The
law-
his story to the
with them, and
relieved as the client if
If the
before.
glad and surprised.
client, it
men
is
as gay
and as
turns out that he
The judge weighs
the arguments
and puts a brave face on the matter, and,
since
CONDUCT OF
234
LIFE.
there must be a decision, decides as he can, and
hopes he has done justice and given satisfaction to the community
And
all.
so
;
but
is
is all life
only an advocate
after
a timid and unskilful spec-
We do what we must, and call it by names. We like very well to be praised
tator.
the
best
for
our action, but our conscience says, " Not unto us." '
T is
little
we can do
for each other.
We
accom-
pany the youth with sympathy and manifold old sayings of the wise to the gate of the arena, but
by strength
certain that not
'tis
of ours, or of the
old sayings, but only on strength of his own, UU'
known
to us or to any, he
by which a man conquers
must stand or in
That
fall.
any passage
is
a pro-
found secret to every other being in the world, and it is
only as he turns his back on us and on
men and draws on
this
any good can come
to him.
fore to say of
life, is
all
most private wisdom, that
What we
have there-
rather description, or
if
you
please, celebration, than available rides.
Yet vigor
is
contagious,
and whatever makes us
either think or feel strongly, adds to our
and enlarges our
field of action.
We have a
to every great heart, to every fine genius
who have put
life
and fortune on the
;
debt
to those
cast of
an
who have added new sciwho have refined life by elegant 'Tis the fine souls who serve us, and
act of justice
;
ences; to those pursuits.
power
to those
CONSIDERATIONS BY THE WAY. not what
is called
Fine
fine society.
235
society is
only a self-protection a gainst the vulgarities of the
Fine,..SQ-ciety, in the common
street jnd_^e_taYe m.
acceptation, has neither ideas nor aims.
It ren-
ders _thfi__aej:Yice- of a perfumery ot a laundry^ not of a farm or factory.
'Tis an exclusion and a said, "
Sydney Smith
precinct.
London cement
;
an
and elegance
There are other measures of than the number
of clean shirts he puts
I wish that
to be amused.
loaded, fragrant.
Now we
by some debt which
ter;
we have it
to
is
reckon them as bankto be paid us or
is
we
which
are to taste.
do to draw the breath in and
out again?
"Life
on every
I do not wish
should not be cheap,
are to pay, or some pleasure
Is all
man
a
I wish the days to be as centuries,
but sacred.
days,
life
an
and
in trifles.
self-respect for
Society wishes to be amused.
day.
It is
affair of clean linen
coaches, of gloves, cards,
blow
few yards in
or dissolve friendship."
unprincipled decorum
we
A
Porphyry's definition
is
bet-
that which holds matter together."
The ba^in arms is a channel thrpugkjyhich-Jihe energies we call fate, love and reason, visibly stream. See what a cometary train of auxiliaries
man
car-
ries with him, of animals, plants, stones, gases and
imponderable elements.
from
this
pomp
of means.
Let us infer
Mirabeau
his
ends
said, "
Why
should we feel ourselves to be men, unless
it
be
to
CONDUCT OF
236
LIFE.
You must
succeed in everything, everywhere. of nothing,
That
is
Nothing
thing can be out of your power.
man who
possible to the
That shall he
sary ?
Whoever
success."
key.
men
But
:
can
—
said
will.
it,
In the
The men we meet finest wits
im-
is
Is that neces-
law of
this is the only
the right
this is in
this is not the tone
in the street.
say
beneath me, nor feel that any-
and genius of the
streets
we grow
cynical.
The
are coarse and torpid.
"What quantities
have their sediment.
of fribbles, paupers, invalids, epicures, antiquaries, politicians, thieves,
and
triflers of
be advantageously spared into
self tors.
two
classes,
The second
A person
seldom
both sexes, might
Mankind
!
— benefactors
divides
it-
and malefac-
class is vast, the first a handful. falls sick
but the bystanders are
animated with a faint hope that he will die
:
—
quantities of poor lives, of distressing invalids, of cases for a gun.
Franklin said, " Mankind are
very superficial and dastardly
:
they begin upon a
thing, but, meeting with a difficulty, they fly it
discouraged
;
but they have capacities,
would employ them." try
Shall
they
we then judge a
coun-
by the majority, or by the minority ?
minority, surely.
from
if
By
the
'Tis pedantry to estimate na-
by the census, or by square miles of land, or other than by their importance to the mind of the tions
time.
CONSIDERATIONS BY TEE WAY. Leave
this hypocritical prating
237
about the masses.
Masses are rude, lame, unmade, pernicious in their
demands and
and need not
influence,
thing to them, but to tame,
drill,
divide and break
them up, and draw individuals out
is
Masses! the
the masses.
I do not wish any mass
men
only, lovely, sweet, accom-
at aU, but honest
women
plished
The
of them.
that the lives you are asked to
is
preserve are not worth preserving.
calamity
be flattered
I wish not to concede any-
but to be schooled.
worst of charity
to
only,
and no shovel-handed, narrow-
brained, gin-drinking mUlion stockingers or lazzaroni at
all.
If
government knew how, I should
like to see it check, not multiply the population.
When
it
that
born will be
this
is
reaches
its
true law of action, every
man
Away
with
hailed as essential.
hurrah of masses, and
let
us have the consid-
men spoken on
erate vote of single
In old Egypt
their conscience.
it
their
honor and
was established
law that the vote of a prophet be reckoned equal to a hundred hands.
I think
it
was much
under-esti-
mated.
" Clay and clay differ in dignity," as
discover
by our preferences every day.
vicious practice is this of our politicians at
ington pairing off
!
as
if
one
man who
we
What
votes
a
Washwrong
going away, could excuse you, who mean to vote right, for
not
tell in
going away
;
or as
more ways than
if
your presence did
in your vote.
Suppose
CONDUCT OF
238
LIFE.
the three hundred heroes at Thermopylse had paired off
with three hundred Persians
been
all
;
would
it
the same to Greece, and to history ?
poleon was called by his
men Cent
Mille.
have
Na-
Add
honesty to him, and they might have called him
Hundred
Million.
Nature makes is
poor melons for one that
fifty
down^a
good, a nd_shakes
tree full of gnarled,
wormy, unripe crabs, before you can find a dozen
d^ert
apples
;
and she scaIters^ations_ of naked
Indians and nations
^_^othed
or three good heads
Christians,
among them.
with two
Nature works
very hard, and only hits the white once in a million throws.
In mankind she
is
contented
if
she yields
The more difficulty there good men, the more they are used
one master in a century. is
in creating
when they come.
I once counted in a
little
borhood and found that every able-bodied
neigh-
man had
say from twelve to fifteen persons dependent on
him
for material aid,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
to
whom
he
to
is
be for
spoon and jug, for backer and sponsor, for nursery
and hospital and many functions beside it
:
nor does
seem to make much difference whether he
bachelor or patriarch;
if
he do not violently de-
cline the duties that fall to him, this
helpfulness will in one
home
to him.
pay.
The good men
This
is
is
way
amount
of
or another be brought
the tax which his abUitiea
are employed for private cen-
CONSIDERATIONS BY THE WAY. tres of use, lations,
and for larger
239
All reve-
influence.
whether of mechanical or intellectual or
moral science, are made, not to communities but to All the marked events of our day,
single persons.
may be
the colonizations,
all the cities, all
back
to their origin in a private brain.
feats
which make our
civility
traced
AU
the
were the thoughts of
a few good heads.
Meantime
this
spawning productivity
ious or needless.
You would
But
nations might be spared.
counted and depended on.
is
say this
not noxrabble of
no, they are all
Fate keeps everything
alive so long as the smallest thread of public necessity
holds
it
on to the
The coxcomb and
tree.
bully and thief class are allowed as proletaries,
every one of their vices being the excess or acridity of a virtue.
The mass
is
are animal, in pupilage,
and
units whereof this
mass
composed, are neuters, every one of which
may
near chimpanzee.
But the
be grown to a queen-bee. as brute atoms rest.
The
until we think
Nature tu rns
all
:
is^i
malfeasance to good.
ture provided for real needs. distrusts himself.
Weare used then we use all the
rule
No
His existence
swer to aU sentimental
cavils.
sane is
If
man
Na-
at last
a perfect an-
he
is,
he
is
wanted, and has the precise properties that are required. to be here.
That we are here,
We have as
good
is
proof
right,
we ought
and the same
CONDUCT OF
240
sort of right to
Cod
or Sandy-
are wicked,
means no
be here, as Cape
Hook have to be there. To say then, the majority bad heart
malice, no
LIFE.
in the observer, but simply
and have not yet
that the majority are unripe,
come That,
if
they
But
aU.
do not yet know their opinion.
to themselves,
it, is
in the passing
terest is very
whilst
knew
moment
the quadruped in-
and
this beast-force,
discipline of
the world, the
prone to prevail
makes the
it
an oracle for them and for
;
school of heroes, the glory of martyrs, has provoked in every
age the satire of wits and the tears of
They
good men.
find the journals, the clubs, the
governments, the churches, to be in the interest and
And
the pay of the devil.
wise
men have met
this
obstruction in their times, like Socrates, with his
famous irony tion
;
FoUy
like ;
like Bacon, with life-long dissimulaErasmus, with his book " The Praise of ;
" like Rabelais, with his satire rending the
nations.
"
They were
the fools
who
cried against
me, you will say," wrote the Chevalier de Boufflers to
Grimm
;
" aye, but the fools have the advantage
of numbers, and
't
is
that which decides.
no use for us to make war with them
weaken them There of
will not
;
;
we
It is of shall not
they wiU always be the masters.
be a practice or an usage introduced,
which they are not the authors."
In front of these
sinister facts, the first lesson of
CONSIDERATIONS BY THE WAY. history
Good
the good of e vil.
is
but BaS* is sometime s a
better.
is
241
a good doctor
The
oppressions
of William the Norman, savage forest -laws and
made
crushing despotism of
Magna Gharta
money, armies,
castles,
and
was necessary to
It
get.
possible the inspirations
under John. as
Edward I. wanted much as he could
call the people together
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
and the House of Comby shorter, swifter ways, mons arose. To obtain subsidies, he paid in priviIn the twenty-fourth year of his reign he
leges.
decreed " that no tax should be levied without consent of Lords and Commons ; " which is the
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
basis of the English Constitution.
Plutarch
firms that the cruel wars which followed the
af-
march
of Alexander introduced the civility, language, and arts of
Greece into the savage East; introduced
marriage
;
buUt seventy
cities,
tions under one government.
Roman
Vroke up the too soon.
and united hostile na-
The barbarians who
empire did not arrive a day
Schiller says
the Thirty Years'
War
made Germany a nation. Rough, selfish despots serve men immensely, as Henry VIII. in the contest with the Pope as the infatuations no less than ;
the
wisdom
of
Russian czars
;
icides of 1789. pf
Cromwell
;
as the ferocity of the
as the fanaticism of the
The
frost
which
French reg-
kills the
harvest
a year, saves the harvests of a century, by de-
stroying the weevil or the locust. VOL.
VI.
16
Wars,
fires,
CONDUCT OF
242
LIFE.
up immovable
plagues, break
routine, clear the
ground of rotten races and dens of distemper, and open a
new men.
fair field to
in things to right themselves, Intion or
Htere
is
and the
bantrupteytha^hattCTS^
anew and
allows_things_to take
a tende ncy
'
w
ar or revo-
roflte
natural order^_^The
sharpest evils are bent intq_that periodicity which
makes the
errors of planets
tempers of men, antagoni sm.
and the fevers and Nature
self -limiting.
dis-
upheld by
is
Passions, resistanc e, danger, are edu-
We acquire the strength we have overcome.
cators.
Without war, no
The sun were
And
opaque.
soldiers
insipid,
;
without enemies, no hero.
if
the
universe were not
the glory of character
is
in affront-
ing the horrors of depravity to draw thence nobilities of
power
;
as
Art
lives
and
thrills in
new new
use and combining of contrasts, and mining into the dark evermore for blacker pits of night.
would painter do, or what would poet or for crucifixions
world
is this
and
hells?
and
rats.
poor washer-woman said, " lion
;
saint,
but
evermore in the
marvellous balance of beauty and dis-
gust, magnificence
more
And
What
that
's
my
Not Antoninus, but a The more trouble, the
principle."
I do not think very respectfully of the designs or the doings of the people
1849.
It
who went
to California in
was a rush and a scramble of needy
ad-
venturers, and, in the western country, a general
;
CONSIDERATIONS BY THE WAY.
243
jail-delivery of all the rowdies of the rivers.
Some
of
them went with honest purposes, some with very
bad
and
ones,
all of
them with the very common-
place wish to find a short
Nature watches over
all,
way
and turns
to wealth. this
California gets peopled and subdued,
to good.
civilized in this
immoral way, and on
a real prosperity
is
coy-duck
;
't is
rooted and grown.
And out of
this fiction
'T is a de-
tubs thrown to amuse the whale
but real ducks, and whales that yield
real
But
malfeasance
oil,
are caught.
Sabine rapes, and out of robbers' forays,
Romes and
their heroisms
come
in fulness of
time.
In America the geography
men
are not
:
Inventors one cies
sublime but the
is
the inventions are excellent but the is
sometimes ashamed
by which events
so
of.
The agen-
grand as the opening of
and the junction
California, of Texas, of Oregon,
of the two oceans, are effected, are paltry, selfishness,
fraud and conspiracy
;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; coarse
and most of the
great results of history are brought about
by
dis-
creditable means.
The benefaction derived in Illinois and the great West from railroads is inestimable, and vastly exceeding any intentional philanthropy on record.
What or
is
the benefit done
by a Howard, or
or Florence
by a good King Alfred,
Pestalozzi, or Elizabeth Fry,
Nightingale,
or any lover,
less
or
;
CONDUCT OF
244 larger,
compared
LIFE.
with the involuntary blessing
wrought on nations by the built the Illinois, Michigan,
Mississippi-valley roads
;
selfish capitalists
who
and the network of the
which have evoked not
only aU the wealth of the
soil,
but the energy of
miUions of men. It is a sentence of ancient wis= dom that " God hangs the greatest weights on the smallest wires."
What
happens thus to nations, befalls every day
When
in private houses.
man
the friends of a gentle-
brought to his notice the
follies
of his sons,
many hints of their danger, he replied that he knew so much mischief when he was a boy, and with
had turned out on the whole
so successfully, that
he was not alarmed by the dissipation of boys 't
was dangerous water, but he thought they would
soon touch bottom, and then swim to the top. is
bold practice, and there are
many
This
failures to a
good escape.
Yet one would say that a good understanding would suffice as well as moral sensibility to
keep one erect
;
the gratifications of the pas-
sions are so quickly seen to be damaging,
what men
like least
social rank.
Then
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
seriously lowering
all talent
and
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
them in
sinks with character.
" Croyez moi, Verreur aussi a son mSrite," said Voltaire.
We
see those
who surmount, by
dint of
some egotism or infatuation, obstacles from which the prudent recoil.
The
right partisan is a headj
"
CONSIDERATIONS BY THE WAY.
245
narrow man, who, because he does not see many things, sees
and
tion,
some one thing with heat and exaggera-
if
he
falls
among
on objects which have a
other narrow men, or
it
to the
and seems inspired and a godsend to to magnify the matter and carry
universe,
those
some
brief importance, as
trade or politics of the hour, he prefers
who wish
a point.
Better, certainly,
strength and
fire
if
we could
secure the
which rude, passionate men bring
But who
into society, quite clear of their vices.
dares draw out the linchpin from the wagon-wheel?
'T
is
so manifest that there is
no moral deformity
butjs a good pas sion out of place
man who
is
;
that there
not indebted to his foibles
;
is
no
that, ae-
cordiag to the old oracle, "the Furies are the bonds of
men
icines,
;
" that the poisons are our principal med-
which kiU the disease and save the
the high prophetic phrase.
man
to praise him,
men
life.
In
causes the wrath of
twists
and wrenches our
Shakspeare wrote,
evil to our good. " 'T is said, best
and
He
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
are moulded of their faults
;
and great educators and lawgivers, and especially generals and leaders of colonies, mainly rely on this stuff, and esteem men of irregular and passional force the best timber.
the late head of the bor, said to me, " I
A man of sense and energy, Farm School in Boston Har-
want none of your good boys,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
CONDUCT OF
246 give
me
the bad ones."
LIFE.
And
this is the reason, 1
suppose, why, as soon as the children are good, the
mothers are scared, and think they are going to die. Mirabeau said, " There are none but men of strong passions capable of going to greatness
;
none
but such capable of meriting the public gratitude." Passion, though a
Any
spring.
deliver 't is
bad
regulator, is
a pbwerful
absorbing passion has the effect to
from the
coUs and cares of every day:
little
the heat which sets our
human atoms
spinning,
overcomes the friction of crossiag thresholds and first
addresses in society, and gives us a good start
and speed, easy In short there
when once it is begun. no man who is not at some time
to continue
is
indebted to his vices, as no plant that
from manures. rate,
is
not fed
We only insist that the man melio-
and that the plant grow upward and convert
the base into the better nature.
The wise workman
will not regret the poverty or
the solitude which brought out his working talents.
The youth
is
charmed with the
fine air
and accom-
plishments of the children of fortune. great
men come
better for the head
;
't is
so-called
heartless
;
all
'T
is
better for the heart.
Marcus Antoninus says that Fronto " the
But
out of the middle classes.
told
him
that
high-born are for the most part
" whilst nothing
is so
indicative of deep,
est culture as a tender consideration of the igno-
;
CONSIDERATIONS BY THE WAY. Charles James
rant.
Fox
said of England, "
we
history of this country proves that
expect from ilance,
men
247
The
are not to
in affluent circumstances the vig-
and exertion without which the
energy,
House of Commons would lose its greatest force and weight. Human nature is prone to indulgence, and the most meritorious public
services
have always been performed by persons in a con-
what we ask
'
my
of the ring
whom
!
my
this defect in
fortunes, which puts
supply
:
it,
and
let
address, in
me
me
be
yet
Supply,
be conventional.
daily, is to
most kind gods form, in
And
removed from opulence."
dition of life
a
little
my out
like the rest
I admire, and on good terms with them.
But the wise gods
By
for thee.
say.
No, we have better things
humiliations,
by
defeats,
by
loss of
sympathy, by gulfs of disparity, learn a wider truth and humanity than that of a fine gentleman.
A Fifth-Avenue landlord, a West-End householder, is
not the highest style of
man
;
and though good
and sound minds are of no condition, yet he who is to be wise for many must not be protected. He must know the huts where poor men lie, and hearts
the
chores
men
which poor
minds, ^sop,
Socrates,
do.
The
Cervantes,
first-class
Shakspeare,
Franklin, had the poor man's feeling and mortification.
A rich man was never insulted in his life
but this
man must be
stung.
A
rich
man was
CONDUCT OF
248
LIFE.
never in danger from cold, or hunger, or war, at
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and you can
ruf&ans,
see
and
to be cockered
is
to eat too
much
manhood could he stand ?
tests of
of his protections.
he
he was not, from the
'T is a fatal disadvantage
moderation of his ideas.
He
is
What
cake.
Take him out
a good book-keeper
a shrewd adviser in the insurance
office
;
;
or
per-
haps he could pass a college examination, and take his degrees
;
perhaps he can give wise counsel in
Now
a court of law.
plant
him down among
mers, firemen, Indians, and emigrants.
on him
set
;
a highwayman on him ; try him with
a course of mobs Peak, to Oregon
may be
far-
Set a dog
;
;
send him to Kansas, to Pike's and,
if
he have true faculty, this
the element he wants, and he
wiU come
with broader wisdom and manly power.
out of
it
.ffisop,
Saadi, Cervantes, Eegnard, have been taken
by
corsairs, left for dead, sold for slaves,
the realities of
Bad
human
and know
life.
times have a scientific value.
These are
occasions a good learner would not miss.
go gladly to Faneuil Hall
to
As we
be played upon by
the stormy winds and strong fingers of enraged patriotism, so is
a fanatical persecution,
national bankruptcy or revolution central
tones
What had tinent,
civil
war,
more rich in the
than languid years of prosperity.
been, ever since our
yawns apart and
memory,
solid con-
discloses its composition
CONSIDERATIONS and
We learn
genesis.
BY TEE WAY.
249
geology the morning aftei
moun-
the earthquake, on ghastly diagrams of cloven tains,
upheaved
In our
and the dry bed
of the sea.
and culture everything
life
up and comes
plains,
in use,
ruptcy, and not
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; passion, war,
less, folly
nui and bad company.
and blunders,
Nature
is
worked
is
bank-
revolt,
insult, en^
a rag-merchant,
who works up every shred and ort and end into new creations like a good chemist whom I found ;
Ms
the other day in his laboratory, converting shirts into
pure white sugar.
Life
is
and when you pay for your
privilege,
old
a boundless ticket
and
get into the car, you have no guess what good com-
pany you
greatness unawares,
now
If
Men
when working
down the
I wiU not here repeat the
that
is
achieve a certain to another aim.
in this connection of discourse
venture on laying life,
You buy much
shall find there.
not rendered in the biU.
we should
first
obvious rules of
first
rule of economy,
already propounded once and again, that every
man
shall maintain himself,
health.
No
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; but I
exercise, that can gain
it,
must be grudged.
sickness is a cannibal which eats
and youth
it
will say, get
labor, pains, temperance, poverty, nor
can lay hold
sons and daughters.
of,
I figure
up aU the
and absorbs it
its
For life
own
as a pale, wailing,
distracted phantom, absolutely selfish, heedless of
what
is
good and
great, attentive to its sensations,
CONDUCT OF
250 losing
its soul,
and
LIFE.
a rascal as soon as he
is
cant,
to its vorac-
Dr. Johnson said severely, " Every
ity of trifles.
man
with mean-
afflicting other souls
ness and mopings and with ministration
and treat
it
Drop
sick."
is
We must
drunken, we do not affect to be drunk. treat the sick with the
of course every aid,
same firmness, giving them
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; but
withholding ourselves.
I once asked a clergyman in a retired town,
were his companions ? what
He
of ability he
I said he seemed to
other company, and for
men
if
aU the more
me
we would
that he
leave all
and go
had
this
;
sometimes
much more
to them, but as far as I
frivolous, as the rest,
frivolous."
our companions not to spare us.
woman who me."
position.
said to her friends, "
And It is
and
Let us engage I
knew a wise
When
the best part of health
more
the works of talent.
I
am
old,
is fine dis-
essential than talent, even in
Nothing
of sunshine to peaches, uable,
and
need quite
people were sick and dying to any purpose,
had observed they were as
rule
to
who
saw ?
replied that he spent his time with the sick
the dying.
the
In dealing with the
sanely.
will supply the
want
and to make knowledge
val-
you must have the cheerfulness of wisdom.
Whenever you are sincerely pleased, you are nourThe joy of the spirit indicates its strength.
ished.
All healthy things are sweet-tempered.
works in
sport,
and goodness smiles
Genius
to the last;
:
CONSIDERATIONS BY THE WAY. and for the reason that whoever
251
law which
sees the
distributes things, does not despond, but is ani-
mated
to great desires
and endeavors.
sponds betrays that he has not seen
He who
de-
it.
'Tis a Dutch proverb that "paint costs noth-
damp cliWeU, sunshine costs less, yet is finer pigAnd so of cheerfulness, or a good temper,
ing," such are its preserving qualities in
mates.
ment.
the more
it is
latent heat of haustible.
spent, the
more
of
it
remains.
an ounce of wood or stone
You may rub
is
The inex-
the same chip of pine to
the point of kindling a hundred times and the power of happiness of any soul is not to be com;
puted or drained.
It
of spirits develops the uals
and
It is
" Aliis
is
observed that a depression
germs of a plague in individ-
nations.
an old commendation of right behavior, sapiens sibi,"
Icetus,
which our English
Be merry and wise." I know men of the world to look grave
proverb translates, "
how
easy
it is
to
and sneer
at your sanguine youth
dreams.
But I
and
its glittering
find the gayest castles in the air
that were ever pUed, far better for comfort and for
use than the dungeons in the air that are daily dug
and caverned out by grumbling, discontented peo-
know those miserable fellows, and I hate them, who see a black star always riding through ple.
I
the light and colored clouds in the sky overhead
"
CONDUCT OF
252
;
LIFE.
waves of light pass over and hide
it
for a
moment,
But
but the black star keeps fast in the zenith.
power dwells with cheerfulness working mood, whilst despair
been bom.
When
us, or
he had better never
the political economist reckons
up the unproductive head
hope puts us in a
no muse, and un-
A man should make life
tunes the active powers.
and Nature happier to
;
is
classes,
he should put at the
this class of pitiers of themselves, cravers of
sympathy, bewailing imaginary disasters.
French verse runs, in "
Some
my
of your griefs
And the
translation
:
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
An
old
you have cured,
sharpest you
still
have survived;
But what torments of pain you endured
From
evils that
never arrived
1
There are three wants which never can be fied
:
that of the rich,
satis-
who wants something more
who wants something different; traveller, who says, 'Anywhere but
that of the sick,
and that of the here.'
The Turkish
cadi said to Layard, " After
the fashion of thy people, thou hast wandered from
one place to another, until thou art happy and content in none."
My countrymen
are not less infat-
uated with the rococo toy of Italy.
All America seems on the point of embarking for Europe. But
we
shall not always traverse seas
light purposes,
and for
and lands with
pleasure, as
we
say.
One
day we shall cast out the passion for Europe by the
CONSIDERATIONS BY THE WAY. passion for America.
and domestic
253
Culture will give gravity
rest to those
who now
travel only as
not knowing
how
who provoke
pity like that excellent family party
else to
spend money.
Already,
just arriving in their well-appointed carriage, as
far
from home and any honest end as ever ?
nation has asked successively, for ?
'
'
Each
"What are they here
until at last the party are shamefaced,
and
anticipate the question at the gates of each town.
Genial manners are good, and power of aceom:^
modation to any circumstance of
life,
;
but the high prize
the crowning fortune of a man,
is
to be
bom
with a bias to some pursuit which finds him in em-
ployment and happiness,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; whether
it
be to make
baskets, or broadswords, or canals, or statutes, or
I doubt not this was the meaning of Soc-
songs. rates,
when he pronounced
artists the
only truly
wise, as being actually, not apparently so.
In childhood we fancied ourselves walled in by the horizon, as by a glass beU, and doubted not
by distant travel we should reach the baths descending sun and rizon flies before us
common, strange
sheltered
how
On
stars.
experiment the ho-
and leaves us on an endless
by no
tenaciously
we
glass
beU.
Yet
same
illusion
'tis
cling to that bell-as-
tronomy of a protecting domestic horizon. the
of the
in the search
after
I find
happiness
which I observe every summer recommenced in
this
:
CONDUCT OF
254
neighborhood, soon after
The young people do not
LIFE. pairing of the birds.
tlie
like the town,
the sea^shore, they will go inland
do not
like
find a dear cot-
;
tage deep in the mountains, secret as their hearts.
They set
forth on their travels in search of a
they reach Berkshire look at the farms
near
;
but where
sides;
— good farms, high
is
they
mountainis
they have got far from
;
They explore a farm, but
there
and are gone
much
out-doors
;
;
;
When
the
discontented people lived
— there
too public.
's
too
much
sky, too
The youth aches
for
he comes to the house he passes
That does not make the deep
through the house. recess he sought. 'it
;
near Albany, or near Burlington,
't is
small, old, thin
solitude.
home
The farm
the seclusion?
is
or near Montreal.
house
they reach Vermont
near that
this, 't is
Boston, but
;
Ah now I perceive,'
he says, must be deep with persons; friends only can !
Yes, but there
give depth.'
year, of friends
when found
'
:
;
hard to
is
find,
a great dearth, this
and hard to have
they are just going away
are in the whirl of the flitting world,
gagements and
necessities.
for Wisconsin; have letters
you again, soon.
They
;
they too
and have
en-
are just starting
from Bremen;
—
see
Slow, slow to learn the lesson
that there is but one depth, but one interior, and
that
is
—
his purpose.
genius shaU show
him
When it,
joy or calamity or
then woods, then farms,
;
CONSIDERATIONS BY THE WAY.
255
then city shopmen and cabdrivers, indifferently with
prophet or friend, will mirror back to him
fathomable heaven,
The
;
and
finds,
it
this is
when
a main function of
whom we
he to
and bereave us and imprison
of the
us.
conversa-
life.
What
minds
a
Inestimable
!
power of thought, impound
As, when there
man
are wise, so a blockhead
companion.
When
is
sympathy,
company and
in a
makes a blockhead of
Wonderful power
sesses this brother.
to
benumb
he comes into the
or public room, the society dissolves other slips out, and the apartment
What
it, is
can say what we cannot say to
there needs but one wise
his
un-
Others are involuntarily hurtful to us
ourselves.
all
finds
it
difference in the hospitality of is
its
populous solitude.
uses of travel are occasional, and short ; but
the best fruit tion
its
;
is at
one after anhis disposal.
A fly is
is incurable but a frivolous habit ?
as untamable as a hyena.
Yet
pos-
office
folly in the sense
of fun, fooling or dawdling can easily be borne as Talleyrand said, " I find nonsense singularly re-
freshing
;
"
but a virulent, aggressive fool taints
the reason of a household.
I have seen a whole
family of quiet, sensible people unhinged and be-
For the
side themselves, victims of such a rogue.
steady wrongheadedness of one perverse person ritates the best
;
since
we must withstand
ir-
absurdity.
But resistance only exasperates the acrid
fool,
who
:
CONDUCT OF
256
and
that Nature
believes
wrong, and he only
LIFE. are quite
gravitation
Hence
is right.
all
the dozen
inmates are soon perverted, with whatever virtues
and industries they have, into contradictors, accusers,
explainers and repairers of this one malefactor;
like
a boat about to be overset, or a carriage run
away
with,
— not
only the foolish pUot or driver,
but everybody on board
and ridiculous
is
forced to assume strange
and
attitudes, to balance the vehicle
For remedy, whilst the yet mUd, I recommend phlegm and truth
prevent the upsetting. case
is
let all
the truth that
spoken or done be at the
is
zero of indifferency, or truth itself will be foUy.
But when the only safety shall cut
is
case
— for
spent
;
seated
How
and run.
ions ?
is
in amputation
with such,
;
and malignant, the as
seamen
to live with unfit
life
is
and experience teaches
for the little
you
say,
compan-
most part
better than
our earliest instinct of self-defence, namely not to engage, not to
them, but
mix
let their
Conversation
mankind all
is
yourself in any
madness spend
manner with
itself
an art in which a
for his competitors, for
it is
unopposed.
man
has
Our
are practising every day while they live.
habit of thought satisfying
;
— take men as they
in the
poor and squalid.
them
is
all
that which
rise,
—
is
not
common experience I fear it is The success which will conten t
a bargain, a Jucraiisa^employmentj_an_ad-.
CONSIDERATIONS BY THE WAY.
257
vantage gained over a competitor, a marriage, a
p atrimony, a
and
With
tlie like .
trade, personal defects, exaggerated
tics,
and the and
legacy,
th ese ob-
conversation deals with surfaces
jects, their
rain.
This
sensitive.
Now
is forlorn,
poli-
:
bad news,
and they
feel sore
one comes who can illumi-
if
nate this dark house with thoughts, show them
what gifts they have, how
their native riches,
pensable each
is,
indis-
what magical powers over nature
and men ; what access
to poetry, religion,
character, â&#x20AC;&#x201D; he
powers which constitute
and the
wakes in
them the
feeling of worth, his suggestions require
new ways
of living,
and
sciences
;
new
new men, new
books,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; then we come out of
existence into the great dome,
and
over and the nadir under us.
arts
our egg-shell see the zenith
Instead of the
tanks and buckets of knowledge to which we are daily confined, sea,
'T
we come down
and dip our hands in
is
wonderful the
are not the
men
to
is
it.
Ask what
VOL. VI.
They They have all been to have come back millionaires. on the company.
effect
is
life
comparable
best in our experience,
and we
a few pieces of plain-dealing with wise
Our
prised us that
have yet
miraculous waves.
no book and no pleasure in
shall say,
people.
to the shore of the
they were.
California and all
There
its
conversation o nce and again has ap;
we
belong tojbetter circles than we
,b^.dd.;,,,tli^__a 17
mental power invites us
\
CONDUCT OF
258
whose
LIFE.
more worth
geneajalizations. are
for effect than anything that is
phy or
literature.
for joy
now called
and
philoso-
In excited conversation we have
glimpses of the Universe, hints of power native to the soul, far-darting lights and shadows of an
landscape, such as
Here are
itation.
to
we can hardly attain in
Andes
lone med-
oracles sometimes profusely given,
which the memory goes back in barren hours.
Add
the consent of will and temperament, and
Our chief make us do
there exists the covenant of friendship.
want in
life is
what we
can.
With him we attraction in
somebody who
shall
Thls^ is the service of are easily great.
him
There
!
How
What
ques-
!
!
!
leb, writes
"
a sublime
we ask of him what an understanding we how few words are needed It is the only society. An Eastern poet, All Ben Abu Tar
tions
real
"a "friend'.
to whatever virtue is in us.
he flings wide the doors of existence
have
is
with sad truth
:
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare, And he who has one enemy shall meet him everywhere."
But few writers have
said anything better to this
who
indicates this relation as the
point than Hafiz, test of
mental health
until thou
:
"
Thou
learnest
no
secret
knowest friendship, since to the unsound
no heavenly knowledge
enters."
long enough for friendship.
That
Neither is
is
life
a serious and
;;
CONSIDERATIONS
BY THE WAT.
259
majestic affair, like a royal presence, or a religion,
and not a There
be eaten on the run.
postilion's dinner to
a pudency about friendship as about love,
is
and though
fine souls never lose sight of
they do not
name
With
it.
the
first class
it,
of
yet
men
our friendship or good understanding goes quite
behind aU accidents of estrangement, of condition,
And
of reputation. greatest good of
we
lay
yet
we do not provide
"We take care
life.
up money we make our roof ;
clothing sufficient; but
who
for the
of our health tight,
and our
provides wisely that
he shall not be wanting in the best property of
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; friends? fit
"We know that
us for this,
all,
is
to
and we do not take the step towards
How long
it.
our training
all
shall
we
sit
and wait for these ben-
efactors ? It
makes no
difference, in
years, how you have
looking back five
been dieted or
whether you have been lodged on the the attic
good
;
dressed
first floor
or
whether you have had gardens and baths,
cattle
and horses, have been carried in a neat
equipage, or in a ridiculous truck
:
these things are
forgotten so quickly, and leave no effect.
But
it
much whether we have had good companin that time, almost as much as what we
counts ions
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
have been doing.
And
see the overpowering im-
portance of neighborhood in aU association. it is
marriage,
fit
As
or unfit, that makes our home,
;
CONDUCT OF
260 SO it is
who
lives
LIFE.
near us of equal social degree,
a few people at convenient distance, no matter
bad company, your
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
companions
life's
and these
these,
and
;
all
how
only, shall be
those
who
are na-
and by many an oath of the heart
tive, congenial,
sacramented to you, are gradually and totally
You
lost.
cannot deal systematically with this fine
ement of
come
of
and debating
But
it.
el-
and one may take a good deal
society,
of pains to bring people together ize clubs
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
it is
and
to organ-
and yet no
societies,
certain that there
deal of g ood_ in us tha^jdoes not
know
is
result
a great
itself,
and
that a habit of union and^competition brings people up^
and ke^is them
that life
up_ to their highest poiiiF;
would be twice or ten times hfe
spent
if
The obvious a-littla-nsp.fnl-ije liberatio n and^pre-
with wise and fruitful companions. inference
is.
coacertj3ien,fflae,goes to bu y house and land.
But we
we
live
live
whom we
;
are to teach all
the advantages
who
with people on other platforms
with dependents
we have
serve us directly,
rules hold good.
though the service
not only with the young
we know and
earned, but also with those
and
for money.
Let not the is
tie
Yet the old
be mercenary,
measured by money!
yourself necessary Jto somebody.
EardT fo any.
clothe with
This point
tance in American social
is
acquiring
life.
ISake
DonoFmake
life
new impor-
Our domestic
ser.
CONSIDERATIONS BY THE WAY.
261
vice is usually a foolish fracas of unreasonable de-
mand on one side and man of wit was asked,
He
errand in the city ?
shirking on the other.
A
was
his
in the train, wliat replied, " I
have been sent
to procure
an angel to do cooking."
plained to
me
A
lady com-
that of her two maidens, one was
absent-minded and the other was absent-bodied.
And
the evil increases from the ignorance and hos-
tility of
every ship-load of the immigrant population
Few
swarming into houses and farms. cern that
what
man
comes from the
service
people
dis-
with the master or the mistress
it rests
or the maid;
that this identical hussy was a tutelar spirit in one
house and a haridan in the other. people are contract to
selfish,
make
and nature
the terms of
All sensible
tugging at every
is
it fair.
If you are
proposing only your own, the other party must deal
a
little
other,
hardly by you.
though
If
you deal generously, the
and unjust, wUl make an ex-
selfish
ception in your favor, and deal truly with you.
When
I asked an iron-master about the slag and
ciader in railroad iron,
always good in the iron
it
iron is
to
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; " O," he be had
:
if
said,
there
" there 's
's
cinder
because there was ciader in the
pay."
But why multiply trations,
his
these topics,
which are endless
task,
and whatever
?
art
and their
illus-
Life brings to each
you
select,
algebra,
!
CONDUCT OF
262
LIFE.
—
planting, architecture, poems, commerce, politics, all
are attainable, even to the miraculous triumphs,
on the same terms of selecting that for which you are apt
by
step
begia at the beginning, proceed in order,
;
step.
'T
is
and braid cannons
as easy to twist iron anchors
as to braid straw ; to boil granite
boU water, if you take all the steps in order. Wherever there is failure, there is some giddiness,
as to
some superstition about luck, some step omitted,
The happy
which Nature never pardons.
may be had on
tions of life
attraction for
How
is
fine things,
of life are fair
but wiU you stick
Not
?
full of people, or, in
and
objects
and commendable
one, I fear, in that
treachery,
:
—
Com:
and
and remiad
of their high resolutions, they have forgotten
that they tive,
its
your theories
a thousand, but one
when you tax them with them
There
are prophets.
respectable the life that clings to
and plans
Their
and there must be adherence.
fidelity,
Youthful aspirations are
mon
the same terms.
the pledge that they are within
Our prayers
your reach.
must be
you
condi-
made a vow.
The
individuals are fugi-
and in the act of becoming something irresponsible.
but the
men
who
immovably
is
The
whiffling
race
is
else,
great, the ideal fair,
The hero is he The main difference
and unsure.
centred.
between people seems to be that
»)ne
come under obligations on which you can
man rely,
can
—
is
CONSIDERATIONS BY THE WAY. obligable
;
and another
law within him, there It
As he
not.
nothing to
's
name
inevitable to
is
is
tie
him
to.
But aU
on that integrity which dwarfs
can spare
has not a
particulars of virtue and
of condition, and to exaggerate them. at last
263
rests
and
talent,
Sanity consists in not being subdued
it.
by your means. _and for the
Fancy prices are paid
culturg_i)f_jtalmtj^
for position
but_t^ The
interests, superficial success Js^ofjio^account.
man, —
it is
his attitude,
— not
feats,
but forces,
not on set days and public occasions, but at hours,
and in repose
— aU.
alike as in energy, stiU for-
midable and not to be disposed of. The populace says, with Home Tooke, " If you would be powerful,
pretend to be powerful."
with the see k
I,.pEgfer_to_say,
oldp rophet, LSgeksst_thau ^eat_things .
'
them not
"
:
^
or^
?
what^was said of a Spanish
prince, "
The mo re you took from him, the greater he looked;" Plus on lui 6te, plus il est grand. The secret of culture is to learn that a few great points steadily reappear, alike in the poverty of the
obscurest farm itan
life,
garded ; to be
and
in the miscellany of metropol-
and that these few are alone
— the
escape from aU. false ties
what we
and beautiful
;
are,
and love of what
;
is
be re-
courage simple
independence and cheerful relation,
these are the essentials, serve, to
to
add somewhat
—
these,
and the wish to
to the weU-being of
men.
vm. BEAUTY.
Was
never form and never face
So sweet
to
Setd
as only grace
WMch did not slumber like
a stone
But hovered gleaming and was gone. Beauty chased he everywhere,
In flame, in storm,
He
With
He
in clouds of air.
smote the lake to feed his eye the beryl
beam
of the
broken wave.
flung in pebbles well to hear
The moment's music which they
gave.
Oft pealed for him a lofty tone
From nodding
He
pole and belting zone.
heard a voice none
From
else could
hear
centred and from errant sphere.
The quaking
earth did quake in rhyme,
Seas ebbed and flowed in epic chime.
In dens of passion, and
pits of
woe.
He saw strong Eros struggling through, To sun the dark and solve the curse, And beam to the bounds of the universeb While thus
to love
he gave
his
days
CONDUCT OF
266
In loyal worship, scorning
How
LIFE. praise,
spread their lures for him, in vain,
Thieving ambition and paltering Gain
I
He
thought
To
die for Beauty, than live for bread.
it
happier to be dead,
BEAUTY,
The
spiral tendency of vegetation infects edu-
cation also.
Our books approact very
things
we most wish
make
of our science,
length
it is
from
its
names, not powers
:
to
know.
What
and how far objects!
off
slowly the
a parade we
and at arm's
Our botany
is
aU
poets and romancers talk of
herbs of grace and healing, but what does the botanist
know
gist lays
of the virtues of his weeds ?
his fingers; but does he
into the effect
man who
know what
builds his house in
geoloall
on
effect passes
them ? what
on the race that inhabits a granite shelf?
what on the iuhabitants
We
The
bare the strata and can teU them
of
marl and of alluvium ?
should go to the ornithologist with a new
feeling if he could teach us
what the
social birds
autumn council, talking together in the trees. The want of sympathy makes His result is a dead his record a duU dictionary. bird. in its ounces and inches, The bird is not but in its relations to Nature and the skin or skeleton you show me is no more a heron, than a heap say when they
sit
in the
;
of ashes or a bottle of gases into which his body
CONDUCT OF
268
has been reduced, naturalist
led
is
is
LIFE.
The
Dante or Washington.
from
the road by the whole dis-
tance of his fancied advance.
The boy had
juster
views when he gazed at the shells on the beach
them
or the flowers in the meadow, unable to call
by
nomenclature. -
man
their names, than the
man
Astrology interested us, for
to the system.
^the farthest
in the pride of his tied
it
Instead of an isolated beggar,
star felt
him and he
felt
the
star.
However rash and however falsified by pretenders and traders in it, the hint was true and divine, the soul's avowal^ rf_ its large relations,
and that
cli-
mate, century, remote natures as well,as.neajfj_are part of
but
it
Chemistry takes to pieces, ^lchemy,3^hich sought (
biography.
its
does not construct.
to transmute one element into another, to prolong life,
to
arm with power,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; that
was in the right
All our science lacl^ a huroan_sid,e.
direction.
The tenant
is
more than the house.
Bugs and
stamens and spores, on which we lavish so years, are not finalities
;
many
and man, when his powers
unfold in order, will take Nature along with him,
and emit
light into all her recesses.
The human
heart concerns us more than the poring into microscopes,
and
pompous
We
is
by the
larger than can be measured
figures of the astronomer.
Men man is
are just so frivolous and skeptical.
hold themselves cheap and vile
;
and yet a
BEAUTY.
All the elements pour
a fagot of thunderbolts.
through his system; he
and
fire
of the fire
is
the flood of the flood
he feels the antipodes and the
;
pole as ,drops of his blood of his personality.
269
;
they are the extension
His duties are measured by that
instrument he is; and a right and perfect
would be
felt to
tem.
is
we
'T
Uve.
we only
curious that
We
man
the centre of the Copernican sysbelieve as deep as
do not think heroes can exert any
more awful power than that surface -play which amuses us. A deep man believes in miracles, waits for them, believes in magic,
believes
that
the orator will decompose his adversary; believes that the evil eye can wither, that the heart's bless-
ing can heal
come
all
;
that love can exalt talent
From
odds.
;
can over-
a great heart secret magnet-
isms flow incessantly to draw great events.
we
prize very
humble
utilities,
But
a prudent husband,
and deprecate any
a good son, a voter, a
citizen,
mance money
and perhaps reckon only his
of character
;
value, his intellect, his afEection,
ro-
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; as a sort
of biU of exchange easily convertible into fine cham-
and wine.
bers, pictures, music,
The motive on
of science
all sides, into
was the extension of man,
Nature, tiU his hands should touch
the stars, his eyes see through the earth, his ears
understand the language of beast and bird, and the sense of the wind
;
and, through his sympathy,
I
CONDUCT OF
270
LIFE.
But
heaven and earth should talk with him. is
not our science.
astronomies, seem to
where they found
that
These geologies, chemistries,
us.
make wise, but they leave us The invention is of use to
the inventor, of questionable help to any other.
The formulas
of science are like the papers in your
pocket-book, of no value to any but the owner. Science in England, in America, ory, hates the
name
jealous of the-
is
and moral purpose.
of love
What
There's a revenge for this inhumanity.
manner
of
man
not attracted.
a kind of
man
does science
He as
says, I
my
make ?
The boy
is
do not wish to be such
professor
The
is.
collector
has dried aU the plants in his herbal, but he has
He has got
weight and humor.
lost
all
lizards in his phials, but science has also,
and has put the
liance
man
on the physician
selves.
The
seem a
certificate
thought
it
is
snakes and
done for him
into a bottle.
Our
re-
a kind of despair of our-
clergy have bronchitis, which does not
came
of spiritual health.
Macready
of the falsetto of their voicing.
An
Indian prince, Tisso, one day riding in the for-
est,
saw a herd
he
said, " these
of elk sporting.
" See
browsing elks are
how happy,"
!
Why should
not priests, lodged and fed comfortably in the temples, also
amuse themselves
he imparted
?
"
Returning home,
this reflection to the king.
The
king,
on the next day, conferred the sovereignty on him.
BEAUTY.
271
saying, " Prince, administer this empire for seven
days
;
at the termination of that period I shall put
thee to death."
At
the end of the seventh day
the king inquired, " From what cause hast thou be-
come so emaciated ? "
He
answered, " From the
The monarch rejoiaed, "Live, and be wise. Thou hast ceased to take
horror of death."
my
child,
In seven days I shall
recreation, saying to thyself,
be put to death.
These
priests in the
santly meditate on death
healthful diversions ? "
temple inces-
how can they But the men of ;
enter into science or
the doctors or the clergy are not victims of their
more than
pursuits
The miUer,
others.
and the merchant, dedicate themselves details,
and do not come out men of more
Have they soul,
divination,
and the equality
mand
the lawyer,
to their
in
own
force.
grand aims, hospitality of
any event which we de-
to
man, or only the reactions of the miU, of
the wares, of the chicane
?
No object reaUy interests us but man, and in man only his superiorities and though we are ;
aware of a perfect law in Nature,
it
has fascination
for us only through its relation to him, or as it is
rooted in the mind.
At
the birth of Winckel-
mann, more than a hundred years ago,
side
by
side
with this arid, departmental, post mortem science, rose
an enthusiasm
in the study of
perhaps some sparks from
it
may
Beauty; and
yet light a con-
CONDUCT OF
272
LIFE.
Knowledge
flagration in the other.
edge of_ manners, the power
of
of form,
bility to personaljaflufinyeanever
men, knowl-
and our
sensi-
go out of fashion.
These are facts of a science which we study without book, whose teachers and subjects are always
near us.
So inveterate
is
our habit of criticism that
knowledge in
of our
much
this direction belongs to the
The crowd
chapter of pathology.
in the street of-
tener furnishes degradations than angels or redeemers,
but they aU prove the transparency.
spirit
makes
house, and
its
we can
give a shrewd
guess from the house to the inhabitant. less
Every Butjaot
does Nature furnish jjs^^thjjejy.sign of^grace
and goodness.
The
delicious f§.cgs_of jjhiMrenj the
beauty of2 school-girls, ".th£_ sweet seriousness jpf .
.
sixteen," the lofty air of well-born, well-i)ie(iJ2Sys,
the passionate histories in the looks
and manners of
youth and early manhood, and the varied power in well-known company that escort us through
all that life,
— we
know how
provoke, inspire,
these forms thrill, paralyze,
and enlarge
us.
Beauty isjhe form under whiqh. the fers to study the
beauty
;
world.
ners, of brain or method, of the soul.
is
that of
many beauties as, of genhuman face and form, of man-
for there are
eral nature, of the
intellect pre-
All privilege ;
moral beauty or beauty
BEAUTY. The
273
ancients believed that a genius or
demon
took possession at birth of each mortal, to guide
him
;
that these genii were sometimes seen as a
flame of
fire
partly immersed in the bodies which
they governed ; on an evil man, resting on his head | in a
They
good man, mixed with his substance.
thought the same genius, at the death of
ward,
its
new-bom child, and they pretended to guess the pilot by the sailing of the ship. We recognize obscurely the same fact, though we give our own names. We say that every man is enentered a
ii;
titled to
be valued by his best moment.
We meas-
We know they have intervals we take no heed, but wait the reappeariags of the genius, which are sure and beautiful. On the other side, everybody knows people who appear beridden, and who, with aU ure our friends
so.
of foUy, whereof
degrees of ability, never impress us with the air
They know
of free agency.
their eyes to see if
fancy, could
you detect
it too,
and peep with
we pronounce the solving word and
disenchant them, the cloud would roU up, the rider
We
their sad plight.
little
would be discovered and unseated, and they
woidd regain their freedom. never to be far lifts this
off,
The remedy seems
since the first step into thought
mountain of
necessity.
Thought
is
the
pent air -ball which can rive the planet, and the
beauty which certain objects have for him VOL. VI.
18
is
the
CONDUCT OF
274
wMch
friendly fire
LIFE.
expands the thought and
ac-
quaints the prisoner that liberty and power await
him.
The
question of Beauty takes us out of surfaces
Goethe
to thinking of the foundations of things. said, "
The
beautiful
a manifestation of secret
is
laws of Nature which, but for this appearance, had.
been forever concealed from us."
And
the work-
ing of this deep instinct makes aU the excitement
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; much
a,bout
of
superficial
it
works of
and absurd enough
which leads armies of vain
art,
travellers every year to Italy, Greece,
Every man values every
and Egypt.
acquisition he
makes
the science of beauty, above his possessions.
most useful man
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
most useful wprld,
in the
in
The
so long
edmmoditywas "served, would remain unsatisfied. But as last^as he sees beauty, Jifg, afc^ as only
quires a very high value.
I
am warned by the ill
fate of
many
not to attempt a definition of Beauty.
enumerate a few of to that
which
;
which has no superfluous
parts; which exactly answers related to all things
extremes.
It is the
most ascending
which
its is
end; which stands
the
mean
of
many
most enduring quality, and the
We say love is blind, and drawn with a bandage round
quality.
the figure of Cupid bis eyes.
;
I will rather
We ascribe beauty
its qualities.
simple
is
philosophers
Blind
:
is
yes, because
he does not see wha*
BEAUTY. he does not like in the universe
275
;
but the sharpest-sighted hunter
is
Love, for finding what he seeks,
and only that; and the mythologists Vulcan was painted lame and Cupid attention to the fact that one
the other is
aU
us that
blind, to call
all limbs,
and
In the true mythology Love
eyes.
an immortal
was
tell
'
child,
and Beauty leads him as a
nor can we express a deeper sense than
guide:
when we say. Beauty is the pilot of the young soul. Beyond their sensuous delight^, the forms and colors of^ature have a new charm for us in our perception that not one ornament was added for
"ornament, but each or
more
'^
a sign of some better health
is
Elegance of form in bird
excellent action.
or beast, or in the human, figure, marks some excellence of structure
:
or,
from what belongs
tion
anytEat in plants the forms.
beauty
is
only an inyiter
'Tis a law of bot-
to us.
saioae virtues
follow the same
a rule of largest application, true in
It is
_
a plant, true in a loaf of bread, that in the construction of
any fabric or organism any
crease of fitness to its end
The
lesson taught
Gothic ing,
art, of
an increase of beauty.^
by the study
all
the research,
beauty must_be_ organic is
/
of
Greek and
of
antique and of Pre-Raphaelite paint-
was worth
ment
is
,
real in-
defÂŁami^^
bones that ultimates
;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; namely, that
all
that outside embellish-
It is the soundness of itself in
the
a peach-bloom com-
^
!
CONDUCT OF
276 plexion
;
LIFE.
health of constitution that
sparkle and the power of the eye.
ment
of the size
makes the
'Tis the adjust-
and of the joining of the sock-
ets of the skeleton that gives grace of outline
The
the finer grace of movement.
deer cannot move or
sit
The dancing-
inelegantly.
master can never teach a badly buUt well.
The
root,
and the
its
of
to
an^all
its
sea-shell begin with
and shows the
shifts,
walk
from
E[enÂŁeour taste in building
existence.
paint,
man
tint of the flower proceeds
lustres of the
and
and the
cat
rejects
originai grain
and^lumnsjhat
the wood: refuses pilasters
support nothing, and allows the real supporters of the house honestly to show themselves,
"^very
necessary or organic action pleases the beholder.
A man
leading a horse to water, a farmer sowing
seed, the labors of
haymakers in the
the car-
field,
penter building a ship, the smith at his forge, or
becoming to the wise
whatever useful labor,
is
But
be seen,
if it
is
done
to
beautiful are ships theatre,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; or
Virginia
on the sea
it !
is
mean.
eye.
How
but ships in the
ships kept for picturesque effect on
Water by George
IV., and
men
hired to
stand in fitting costumes at a penny an hour
What
a difference in effect between a battalion of
troops marching to action, and one of our inde-
pendent companies on a holiday a military show and a
!
In the midst of
festal procession
gay with
BEAUTY.
277
banners, I saw a boy seize an old tin pan that lay rusting under a wall, and poising
turning and
stick, lie set it
on tbe top of a
it
made
describe the
it
most elegant imaginable curves, and drew away attention
from the decorated procession by
this
startling beauty.
Another
text
from
the
The
mythologists.
Greeks fabled that Venus was born of the foam of the sea.
Nothing
interests us
which
bounded, but only what streams with in act or endiayor to .cgach
is
stark or
life,
what
is
somewhat beyond. The
pleasure a palace or a temple gives the eye
that
is,
an order and method has been communicated to stones, so that they
speak and geometrize, become
Beauty
tender or sublime with expression.
moment^^f^ transition, as ready
to_, flow-
if
the
the form were jjist
into -Other for ms^
Any
fixedness,
heaping, or concentration on one feature, nose, a sharp chin, a hump-back,
of the flowing,
is
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a long
is
the reverse
and therefore deformed.
Beautiful
as is the symmetry of any form, if the form can move we seek a more excellent symmetry. The
interruption of equilibrium stimulates the eye to desire the restoration of symmetry,
the steps through which
it is
and
attained.
charm of running water, sea-waves, the birds
and the locomotion
of animals.
to
This
watch is
the
flight of
This
is
the
theory of dancing, to recover continually in changes
CONDUCT OF
278
LIFE.
the lost equilibrium, not by abrupt and angular
but by gradual and curving movements.
I have
been told by persons of experience in matters of
law of gradation,
taste that the fashions follow a
and are never
only a step onward last
The new mode
arbitrary.
in the
mode, and a cultivated eye
predicts the
new
always
is
same direction as the is
prepared for and
This fact suggests the
fashion.
reason of all mistakes and offence in our
modes.
It is necessary in music,
a discord, to
down the
let
ear
when you
own
strike
by an intermediate
and many a good experiment, born of good sense and destined to sue note or two to the accord again
ceed, faUs only because
it is
suppose the Parisian miUiaer
from her imperious boudoir oncile the
and make
;
offensively sudden.
who will
know how
it
triumphant over Punch himself, by I need not say
the same law ranges, and
can be hoped to
effect.
All that
is
a
how much little
claimed by progressive parties
may
be conceded without question,
if this
served.
causes, legislate,
woman may
it
harshly
come
to
rule be obeasily im-
speak, vote, argue
and drive a coach, and aU the most
naturally in the world, this
easily
Thus the circumstances may be
agined in which
To
to rec-
Bloomer costume to the eye of mankind,
interposing the just gradations.
how wide
I
dresses the world
if
only
it
come by
degrees.
streaming orflowing belongs iheJieaut5L,that
BEAUTY. movement has;
all circTilar
279
as the circulation of
waters, the circulation of the blood, the periodical
motion of planets, the annual wave of vegetation, the action it
deman d
onward action
One more on
is^
text
i
the argmnent jot^ the imuiojtal-
from the mythologists
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Beauty rides on a
same purpose, rests
of Nature ; and if we follow n our thought for an ever-
and reaction
out, this
The
necessities.
The
cell of
the bee
is
which gives the most strength
built at that angle
with the least
Beauti^;^
line of_beautj_isJibe're-
econom y.
sult of _ÂŁerfect
lion.
to the
is
wax
;
the bone or the quill of the
bird gives the most alar strength with the least weight.
" It
is
the purgation^ of superfluities," said
Michael Angelo.
There
in natural structures.
is
not a particle to spare
There
is
a compelling rea-
son in the uses of the plant for every novelty of color or
form
;
and our
art saves material
by more
skUful arrangement, and reaches beauty by taking
every superfluous ounce that can be spared from a wall,
and keeping
columns.
In
all its
strength in the poetry of
omission
rhetoric, this art of
chief secret of power, and, in general,
it
is
is
a
proof
of high culture to say the greatest matters in the
simplest way.
yCTacitjjfirst_ofall,_andja^
que
le
vraL
In
Mien de heau making your
all design, art lies in
CONDUCT OF
280
object prominent, but there
LIFE.
is
a prior art in choos-
ing objects that are prominent.
The
fine arts
have
nothing casual, but spring from the instincts of the nations that created them.
Beauty is the quality which makes to endure. In a house that I know, I have noticed a block of spermaceti lying about closets and mantel-pieces, for twenty years together, simply because the tal-
low-man gave pose
it
may
it
Let an
for a century. figures
paper is
the form of a rabbit
artist scrawl
on the back of a
letter,
rescued from danger,
is
;
and I sup-
continue to be lugged about unchanged
a few lines or
and that scrap
of
put in portfolio,
is
framed and glazed, and, in proportion
to the
beauty of the lines drawn, will be kept for centuries.
them
Burns writes a copy of verses and sends to
a newspaper, and the human race take
charge of them that they shall not perish.
As the flute is heard farther than how surely a beautiful form strikes men, and
is
How many
the cart, see the fancy of
copied and reproduced without end. copies
are there
Belvedere
the
of
ApoUo, the Venus, the Psyche, the Warwick Vase, the Parthenon and the
Temple
are objects of tenderness to
ugly building peated, but
is
all.
of
Vesta?
In our
soon removed and
any beautiful building
is
is
These
cities
never
an re-
copied and
unproved upon, so that aU masons and carpenters
BEAUTY. work
281
and preserve the agreeable forms,
to repeat
whilst the ugly ones die out.
The
of design in art or in works of
felicities
Nature are shadows or forerunners of that beauty which reaches All
men
and
ates joy to
are
its
hilarity,
Wherever
say the Mahometans, "
A
beauty."
beautiful
goes
it
and everything
It reaches its height in
it.
human
perfection in the
its lovers.
cre-
permitted
is
"
woman.
form. it
To Eve,"
God gave two thirds of all woman is a practical poet,
taming her savage mate, planting tenderness, hope,
and eloquence in
all
whom
serenity
is essential,
am
ter
but we love
since a certain
its
reproofs
woman
and
should
man, yet she often cunningly moulds into
her face a I
it,
Nature wishes that
superiorities.
attract
Some
she approaches.
favors of condition must go with
little
sarcasm, which seems to say,
'
Yes,
willing to attract, but to attract a little bet-
kind of
man
than any I yet behold.'
French
mSmoires of the sixteenth century celebrate the
name
of Pauline de Viguier, a virtuous
plished
maiden who
and accom-
so fired the enthusiasm of her
contemporaries by her enchanting form, that the citizens of her native city of
Toulouse obtained the
aid of the civil authorities to compel her to appear
publicly on the balcony at least twice a week, as often as she
gerous to
life.
showed
Not
herself, the
less in
and
crowd was dan-
England
in the last
CONDUCT OF
282
LIFE.
century was the fame of the Gunnings, of
whom
Elizabeth married the Duke of Hamilton, and Maria,
"Walpole says,
the Earl of Coventry.
concourse was so great,
was presented
ilton
when
at court,
the Duchess of
"The Ham-
on Friday, that even
the noble crowd in the drawing-room clambered on chairs
and
tables to look at her.
at their doors to see
them get
There are mobs
into their chairs,
known they wiU be
it is
"
there."
and
when
people go early to get places at the theatres,
Such crowds,"
he adds elsewhere, " flock to see the Duchess of Hamilton, that seven hundred people sat up
all
and about an inn in Yorkshire, to see her mto her post-chaise next morning." But why need we console ourselves with the
night, in
get
fames of Helen of Argos, or Corinna, or Pauline of Toulouse, or the Duchess of Hamilton?
We
know
it.
this
magic very
well, or
can divine
all
It
does not hurt weak eyes to look into beautiful eyes
never so long.
Nature aroimd their
Women us,
stand related to beautiful
and the enamored youth mixes
form with moon and
waters,
and the pomp
of
stars,
summer.
awkwardness by their words and
with woods and
They heal us
We
looks.
of
ob-
serve their intellectual influence on the most serious student.
him
They
refine
and
clear his
mind; teach
to put a pleasing method into what
difficult.
We talk to them and
is
dry and
wish to be listened
;
BEAUTY. to
we
;
fear to fatigue them,
283
and acquire a
facility
wMcli passes from conversation into
of expression
habit of style.
That Beauty
is
the normal state
shown by the
is
perpetual effort of Nature to attain
Mirabeau
it.
had an ugly face on a handsome ground see faces every
;
and we
day which have a good type but
have been marred in the casting
;
a proof_that we
are jll_entitled to beauty, should have been beau-
our ancestors had kepttSe Ta^f^ as every
tiful if
and every rose
lily
legs
is
But our bodies do not
weU.
but caricature and
fit us,
satirize us.
Thus, short
which constrain us to short mincing steps are
a kind of personal insult and contumely to the
owner
and long
;
stilts
disadvantage, and force
mankind.
level of
of his
of a
again put him at perpetual
him
to stoop to the general
Martial ridicules a gentleman
day whose countenance resembled the face
swimmer seen under
Saadi describes
water.
a schoolmaster " so ugly and crabbed that a sight of
him would derange the
dox."
ecstasies of the ortho-
Faces are rarely true to any ideal type, but
are a record in sculpture of a thousand anecdotes of
whim and
faces
foUy.
Portrait-painters say that most
and forms are irregular and unsymmetrical
have one eye blue and one gray straight,
;
the nose not
and one shoulder higher than another; the
hair unequally distributed, etc.
The man
is
phys-
CONDUCT OF
284
LIFE.
ically as well as metaphysically
a thing of shreds
and patches, borrowed unequally from good and bad ancestors, and a misfit from the start.
A
among
beautiful person
the
Greeks
was
thought to betray by this sign some secret favor of the immortal gods
when a woman
and we can pardon
;
pride,
possesses such a figure that wher-
ever she stands or moves or leaves a shadow on the wall, or
sits
for a portrait to the artist, she
And
confers a favor on the world.
/not beauty
that
the
inspires
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
yet
deepest
said of the President
for nothing but to
sit
Le
tires.
Bailleul that " he
A
epigram intimates that the force of love of beauty, but
like desire is inflamed for
And siiffer
or
is
not
when the
some intolerable weariness from pretty peowho have seen cut flowers to some profusion,
who
see, after
a world of pains have been suc-
take in sentiment takes clothes, sists
fit
Greek
who is ill-favored. who have chanced to
cessfully taken for the costume,
'
was
one
petulant old gentlemen,
ple, or
bait.
Abb^ Manage
for his portrait."
shown by the courting
is
passiom.
Beauty without gracejs-iifi-lipok without the Beauty, without expression,
it
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; affirm
all
how
the least mis-
the beauty out of your
that the secret of ugliness con-
not in irregularity, but in being uninterest-
ing.
We
love any forms, however ugly, from which
BEAUTY. command, eloquence,
If
great qualities shine.
285 art
or invention exist in the most deformed person,
usually displease, please, and
all the accidents that
The
esteem and wonder higher.
raise
great orator
was an emaciated, insignificant person, but he was "
With
De
Cardinal
all brain.
the physiognomy
an eagle."
spicacity of
friend of Newton, "
the least, of any so ugly," said
man
Du
of an ox, he
in
BouUlon,
had the
per-
was said of Hooke, the
It
He
De
Ketz says of
is
the most, and promises
" Since I
England."
Guesclin, "
it
am
behooves that I be
Sir Philip Sidney, the darling of mankind,
bold."
Ben Jonson
tells
us,
" was no pleasant
man
in
countenance, his face being spoiled with pimples,
Those who have
and of high blood, and long." ruled
human
destinies like planets for thousands
of years, were not
handsome men.
raise a small city to
If
a,
man can
be a great kingdom, can make
bread cheap, can irrigate deserts, can join oceans by canals, can
subdue steam, can organize victory, can
lead the opinions of mankind, can enlarge knowledge,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
't
is
no matter whether
his nose is parallel
ought to be, or whether he has
to his spine, as
it
a nose at
whether his legs are
all;
whether his legs are amputated will
come
to
:
straight,
or
his deformities
be reckoned ornamental and advan-
tageous on the whole.
This
is
the triumph of
expression, degrading Beauty, charming us with a
CONDUCT OF
286
LIFE.
power so fine and friendly and intoxicating that it makes admired persons insipid, and the thought of passing our lives with them insupportable. There are faces so fluid with expression, so flushed and rippled
by the play
of thought that
what the mere features
find
we can hardly
When
really are.
the
delicious beauty of lineaments loses its power, it is
because a more delicious beauty has appeared ; that
an
and durable form has been
interior
Still,
Beauty rides on her
lion, as before.
jiiaslpsed.
StiU, "
The
was for beauty that the world was made." lives of the Italian artists,
who
it
established a despot-
ism of genius amidst the dukes and kings and mobs of their stormy epoch, prove
how
loyal
men
in all
times are to a finer brain, a finer method than their
own.
If a
man
can cut such a head on his stone
gate-post as shall all
day,
by
meaning
;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
draw and keep a crowd about
if
a
man
can build a plain cottage
make
with such symmetry as to aces look cheap
and vulgar
;
all
the fine pal-
can take such advan-
him;
tages of Nature that all her powers serve
making use
of geometry, instead of expense
ping a mountain for his water-jet
and moon tate
;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
to
this
it
beauty, good nature, and inscrutable
its
;
still
the
tap-
causing the sun
seem only the decorations of is
;
his es-
legitimate dominion
of
beauty.
The radiance
of the
human
form, though some>
BEAUTY. times astonishing,
287
only a burst of beauty for a
is
few years or a few months at the perfection of youth, and in most, rapidly declines.
main
lovers of
it,
And
interior excellence.
in singular
and
But we
re-
only transferring our interest to it is
salient talents,
not only admirable
but also in the world
of manners.
But the sovereign
attribute remains to be noted.
Things are pretty, graceful,
rich,
elegant,
hand-
some, but, imtil they.speak to the imaginatiffli, not \^ This is the reason why beauty is yet beautiful. still
escaping out of
possessed,
it
all analysis.
swims on the light of forms." It
session,
and flies
^ could put
my hand
as beautiful ? in
it
to
The
is
not yet
Proclus says, " It
cannot be handled.
the form, but in the mind.
It
is
properly not in
It instantly deserts pos-
an object in the horizon.
on the North Star, would sea
is lovely,
If I it
be
but when we bathe
the beauty forsakes all the near water.
For
the imagination and senses cannot be gratified at
Wordiworth rightly speaks of " a light that never was on sea or land," meaning that it was supplied by the observer; and the Welsh bard warns his countrywomen, that
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; " Half The new is
of their
virtue
charms with Cadwallon
shall die."
which constitutes a thing beautiful
a certain cosmical quality, or a power to suggest
\^
CONDUCT OF
288 f
relation jtoLtbe^jviole^wprld,
\out
LIFE.
Every natural
of a pitiful individuality.
ture,
— sea,
has in
it
so lift the object
and
somewhat which
soul of Nature,
is
and thereby
men and women
speech,
is
which
the
is
And
beautiful.
in
I find somewhat in form,
and manners, which
is
and family, but of a humane,
not of their person
catholic,
and we love them
character,
—
not private but uni-
versal, speaks of that central benefit
chosen
fear
sky, rainbow, flowers, musical tone
and
spiritual
They
as the sky.
have a largeness of suggestion, and their face and
manners carry a certain grandeur,
like time
and
justice.
The ^feat-flf—4h®~iHi-»gination
is
in showing the
convertibility of every thing into every other thing.
Facts which had never before
mon
left their stark
com-
sense, suddenly figure as Eleusinian mysteries.
My boots
and chair and candlestick are
disguise, meteors
and
constellations.
in
Nature are nouns of the
the
grammar
All the facts
intellect,
of the eternal language.
fairies in
and make
Every word
has a double, treble, or centuple use and meaning.
"What has !
my stove
and pepper-pot a false bottom ?
I cry you mercy, good shoe-box
you were a sparkle,
And
jewel-case.
!
I did not
know
ChafE and dust begin to
and are clothed about with immortality.
there is a joy
n perceiving the representative
i
or symbolic character of a fact, which no bare fact
;
BEAUTY. or event can ever give. life so
289
There are no days in
memorable as those which vibrated
some
to
stroke of the imagination.
The
poets are quite right in decking their mis-
tresses
with the spoils of the landscape, flower-
gardens, gems, rainbows, flushes of morning stars of night, since all
and
beauty points at identity
and whatsoever thing does not express to me the sea and sky, day
and wrong. ters
as
night, is
somewhat forbidden
Into every beautiful object there en-
somewhat immeasurable
much
tains
and
into
an^ divine,
form bounded by
and
outlines, like
juSt
moun-
on the horizon, as into tones of music or
depths of space.
Polarized light showed the secret
and when the second-sight mind is opened, now one color or form or gesture and now another has a pungency, as if a more interior ray had been emitted, disclosing its architecture of bodies
;
of the
deep holdings in the frame of things.
The laws
why one
of this translation
we do not know, or why one word
feature or gesture enchants,
or syllable intoxicates; but the fact
is
familiar that
the fine touch of the eye, or a grace of manners, or
a phrase of poetry, plants wings at our shoulders as
if
the Divinity, in his approaches,
lifts
away
mountains of obstruction, and deigns to draw a truer line, which the is
mind knows and owns.
that haughty force of beauty, VOL. VI.
19
" vis
This
superha
:
CONDUCT OF
290
LIFE.
—
under -ealra formoe" which the poets praise, and precise outline the immeasurable and divine; Beauty hiding aU wisdom and power in its calm sky.
All high_beauty has a moral element in
it,
and
I find the antique sculpture as ethical as Marcus
Antoninus
;
and the beauty ever
the depth of thought.
Ghross
in proportion to
and obscure natures,
however decorated, seem impure shambles character
gives
splendor to
wrinkled skin and gray hairs.
we cannot choose but
An
obey, and the
woman who
sensation which a sparkling affords the eye,
gem
up through fair
— her
Thus there
climbing scale of culture, from the
to
adorer of truth
has shared with us the moral sentiment, locks must appear to us sublime.
but
;
awe
youth and
first
is
a
agreeable
or a scarlet stain
outlines
of the landscape, features of the
and
human
details
face
and
form, signs and tokens of thought and character in
manners, up to the ineffable mysteries of the lect.
Wherever we
intel-
begin, thither our steps tend
an ascent from the joy of a horse in his trappings, up to the perception of Newton that the globe on which we ride is only a larger apple falling from a larger tree up to the perception of Plato that globe and universe are rude and early expressions ;
of
an
all-dissolving Unity,
scale to the temple of the
— the
Mind.
first stair
on the
:
;
IX.
ILLUSIONS.
Flow, flow the waves hatedj Accursed, adored,
The waves
of mutation.
No anchorage Sleep
Who
is not,
seem
is.
death
i^
not
to die live.
House you were
bom
in,
Friends of your spring-time,
Old man and young maid, Day's
toil
They
are
and all
its
guerdon,
vanishing,
Fleeing to fables.
Cannot be moored. See the
stars
through them.
Through treacherous marbles.
Know, the
The Are
And
stars yonder,
stars everlasting.
fugitive also.
emulate, vaulted,
The lambent
And
heat-lightnings
fire-fly's flight.
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 292
CONDUCT OF
LIFE.
When thou dost return On the wave's circulation, Beholding the shimmer,
The wild
dissipation,
And, out
of endeavor
To change and
to flow
The gas become
soKd,
And phantoms and Return
And
to
nothings
be things,
endless imbroglio
Is law
Then
and the world,
first shalt
thou know.
That in the wild turmoil,
Horsed on the Proteus,
Thou
And
ridest to power.
to endurance.
";
ILLUSIONS.
Some
years ago, in
company with an agreeable summer day in exploring
party, I spent a long
Mammoth Cave
the
in Kentucky.
We traversed,
through spacious galleries affording a solid masonry foundation for the town and county overhead, the six or eight black miles from the
mouth
of the
cavern to the innermost recess which tourists
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a niche or grotto made of one seamless and
called,
light of pits
less
I believe, Serena's Bower.
I lost the
I saw high domes and bottom-
one day. ;
visit,
stalactite,
heard the voice of unseen waterfalls
paddled three quarters of a mile in the deep Echo River, whose waters are peopled with the blind fish
crossed the streams " Lethe "
;
and " Styx
;
with music and guns the echoes in these
plied
alarming galleries
;
saw every form of stalagmite
and
stalactite in the sculptured
bers
;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
icicle,
We
snowball.
and
fretted
cham-
orange-flower, acanthus, grapes,
and
shot Bengal lights into the vaults
and groins of the sparry cathedrals and examined all
the masterpieces which the four combined en-
gineers,
could
water,
make
limestone,
in the dark.
gravitation
and time
,
CONDUCT OF
294
LIFE.
The mysteries and scenery
of the cave
same dignity that belongs to
and which shames the pishly compare them.
all
had the
natural objects,
fine things to
which we fop-
I remarked especially the-
mimetic habit with which Nature, on new instru-
hums her
making night to mimic But I then took notice and still chiefly remember that the best thing which the cave had to offer was an illusion. On arriving at what is called the " Star-Chamber," our lamps were taken from us by the guide and
jments,
old tunes,
and chemistry
day,
to ape vegetation.
extinguished or put aside, and, on looking upwards, (T
saw or seemed to see the night heaven thick
with stars glimmering more or
less brightly
over
I
\our heads,
and even what seemed a comet flaming
among them.
All the party were touched with
astonishment and pleasure.
Our musical
friends
sung with much feeling a pretty song, " The stars
down on the picture. Some crys-
are in the quiet sky," &c., and I sat
rocky
floor to enjoy the serene
tal specks in the
black ceiling high overhead,
re-
flecting the light of a half-hid lamp, yielded this
magnificent
effect.
I^own I did not out
its
like the cave so well for
eking
But before and
sublimities with this theatrical trick.
many experiences and we must be content
I have had
like
since
to be pleased with-
;
it,
out too curiously analyzing the occasions.
Our
ILLUSIONS. conversation with Nature
The
is
295
not just what
and sunset
cloud-rack, the sunrise
bows and Northern Lights are not quite as our childhood thought them,
them
organization plays in
with aU they report
is
their
The senses own structure
In admiring the sunset
we do not yet dedjict-4he'Tounding, powers of the
so spheral
and the part our
Once we fancied the earth
of.
a plane, and stationary.
pictorial
seems.
too large.
and mix
interfere everywhere
it
glories, rain-
eo-i
eye.
The jaaie interference from our organization cremosLsf our_pleasure aind pain, Our first
ates the
mistake
is
the belief that the circumstance gives the
which we give to the circumstance. festasy.
Life
is
Life
sweet as nitrous oxide
sherman dripping
all
;
is
an
and the
day over a cold pond, the
switchman at the railway intersection, the farmer in the field, the negro in the rice-swamp, the fop in
the street, the hunter in the woods, the barrister
with the jury, the beUe at the baU, aU ascribe a certain pleasure to their employment,
themselves give ithe
;hat
it.
which they
Health and appetite impart
sweetness to sugar, bread, and meat.
We fan^
our civilization has got on far, but we ^iU.
ime back to our primers.
We live by our imaginations, by our adipirations, byVur
sentiments.
illusions,
The
child walks
which he does not
amid heaps of
like to hafve disturbed.
;
CONDUCT OF
296
The boy, how sweet
to
him
LIFE. his fancy
is
the story of barons and battles
his to imaginative
books
He
!
how dear
What a hero he What a debt is
!
whilst he feeds on his heroes
is,
!
!
has no better friend
or influence than Scott, Shakspeare, Plutarch,
Homer.
The man
Even
dare affirm that they are more real? prose of the streets life of
the dreariest alderman, fancy enters into all
and
details
colors
and
raised in
is
debt quicker to a rich
He
He imiwhom he adhis own eyes. He pays a man than to a poor man.
them with rosy hue.
and actions
tates the air
mires,
the
In the
of refractions.
is full
and
but who
lives to other objects,
wishes the
of people
bow and compliment
in the state or in society
;
of
some leader
weighs what he says
perhaps he never comes nearer to him for that, but dies at last better contented for this
his eyes
and
amusement
of
his fancy.
The world
roUs, the din of life is never hushed.
In London, in Paris, in Boston, in San Francisco, the carnival, the masquerade
body drops
his domino.
of the piece
it
The chapter paint
;
nay,
No-
would be an impertinence to break.
God
is
the painter
who
Society does not love
somewhat
height.
unities, the fictions
of fascinations is very long.
accuse the critic
if
is at its
The
bitterly
;
Grreat is
and we
destroys too
unmaskers.
many
rightly
illusions.
was wittily said by D'Alembert, " qu'wii its
It
297
ILLUSIONS. ^tat de qu'il
vapeur
Stait
un
Stat tres fdcheux, parce-
nous faisait voir les choses comme
elles sont."
ILfind men-^sdctims of illusion in, all .parts of life.
CHldren, youths, adults and old men,
all
are led
Yoganidra, the goddess
by one bawble or another. of illusion, Proteus, or Momus, or GyM's Mocking,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
for the
Power has many names,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
is
stronger
Few
than the Titans, stronger than Apollo.
have
overheard the gods or surprised their secret. is
a succession of lessons which must be lived to be
understood. is
Life
All
is
riddle,
and the key
to a riddle
There are as many pillows of
another riddle.
il-
lusion as flakes in a snow-storm.
We
wake from
one dream into another dream.
The
toys to be
sure are various,
and are graduated in refinement
to the quality of the dupe.
The
intellectual
man
requires a fine bait; the sots are easily amused.
But everybody is drugged with
own
frenzy,
and
the pageant marches at all hours, with music
and
his
banner and badge.
Amid vari,
the joyous troop
who
give ia to the chari-
comes now and then a sad - eyed boy whose
eyes lack the requisite refractions to clothe the
show
in
due glory, and who
is afflicted
with a ten-
dency to trace home the glittering miscellany of fruits
and flowers
after identity, all corners.
to one root.
and the
At
scientific
Science i^a search
whim
is
lurking in
the State Fair a friend of mine
CONDUCT OF
298
complained that
all
LIFE.
the varieties of fancy pears in
our orchards seem to have been selected by some-
body who had a whim
for a particular
kind of pear,
and only cultivated such as had that perfume they alike. And I remember the quarrel of an;
were aU
other youth with the confectioners, that
when he
racked his wit to choose the best comfits in the shops, in all the endless varieties of sweetmeat he
What
could find only three flavors, or two.
Pears and cakes are good for something
;
then ?
and be-
cause you unluckily- have an eye or nose too keen,
why need you
spoil thg^ comfort
which the rest of
knew a humorist who
us find in them?
I
good deal of
had a grain or two of
He
rattle
in a sense.
shocked the company by maintaining that the
— power and
attributes of
God were
and that
was the duty of every pious man to
it
And
keep up the comedy.
men
two,
of great stake in the
sympathies were cold,
I have
known
to sign every
gentle-
community, but whose
— presidents of — who held
colleges
governors and senators,
bound
risibility,
and
themselves
temperance pledge, and act
with Bible societies and missions and peace-makers,
and cry Hist-a-hoy !
to every
not carry jcpmity too far, but pulses in this direction.
my yard for
good dog.
we
When
aU.
We must
have kind im-
the boys come into
leave to gather horse-chestnuts, I
own
I enter into Nature's game, and affect to grant the
299
ILLUSIONS.
moment
permission reluctantly, fearing that any
they will find out the imposture of that showy chaff.
But
this tenderness is quite unnecessary
chantments are laid on very thick.
is
Bare and grim
thatched with them.
life is
the en-
;
Their young to tears
the lot of the children in the hovel I saw yester-
day
;
hung
yet not the less they
it
round with
frip-
pery romance, like the children of the happiest fortune,
and talked of " the dear cottage where so
many joyful hours had ing of hovels
more than
all,
are the element
this thatch-
Women,
and kingdom of
They
fascinated, they fascinate.
And how
through Claude-Lorraines.
dare any
he could, pluck away the coulisses, stage
one, if effects
Well,
flown."
the custom of the country.
^^ing
illusion,
see
is
and ceremonies, by which they
live ?
pathetic, too pitiable, is the region of affection,
Too and
atmosphere always liable to mirage.
its
We
are not very
marriages.
much
to
especial trap is laid to trip all
are tripped
up
first
or
Mother who had been so that she
up our
last.
sly
;
and
and some great
in the beauty
and But the mighty
with us, as
if
some deep and
joys.
this
feet with,
she felt
owed us some indemnity, insinuates
the Pandora-box of marriage benefits
blame for our bad
We live amid hallucinations
We
into
serious
find a delight
and happiness of children that makes
the heart too big for the body.
In the worst-aS'
CONDUCT OF
300
sorted connections there
relations of
some
just
mutual
respect, kindly observation,
and
fostering of each other
;
is
lis jade get
learn something, and would
carry themselves wiselier
'T
ever some mixture of
is
Teague and
true marriage.
LIFE.
they were
if
now to
begin.
fine for us to point at one or another fine
madman, as if
there were
in his library
is
any exempts. The scholar
none.
I,
who have
all
my
liEe
heard any number of orations and debates, read
poems and miscellaneous books, conversed with many geniuses, am still the victim of any new
Marmaduke, or Hugh, or Moosehead, or any other, invent a new style or mythology, I fancy that the world will be all brave and right if dressed in these colors, which I had not thought of. TJien at once I will daub with this new paiat but page ; and
if
;
it
will not stick.
peddler
sells at
ery hold with bit of the is
'T is like the cement which the
the door
it,
;
he makes broken crock-
but you can never buy of him a
cement which wiU make
it
hold when he
gone.
Men who make
themselves
felt in
the world avail
themselves of a certain fate in their constitution
which they know how to
use.
deeply interest us unless they
lift
But they never a corner of the
curtain, or betray, never so slightly, their penetration of tical
what
men
is
behind
it.
'T is the charm of prac-
that outside of their practicality are a
801
ILLUSIONS.
and Power by the
certain poetry
play, as if they led the
horse
bridle,
though they can ride so
and preferred
;
and the best
is in-
soldiers,
and railway men have a gentleness
sea-captains
when
Bonaparte
fiercely.
tellectual, as well as Caesar
good
to walk,
off duty,
are Ulusions,
a good-natured admission that there
and who
he
shall say that
is
not their
"We stigmatize the cast-iron fellows who
sport?
cannot so detach themselves, as "dragon-ridden," " thunder-stricken," and fools of fate, with whatever powers endowed.
Since our tuition rections, it is well to it,
is
through emblems and indi-
know
that there
is
method in
a fixed scale and rank above rank in the phan-
We begin low with
tasms. to the
told
most subtle and
coarse masks and rise
The red men
beautiful.
Columbus " they had an herb which took away
fatigue
;
" but he found the illusion of " arriving
from the east
at the Indies"
his lofty spirit than
more composing
any tobacco.
in the impenetrability of matter
narcotics ?
You
Is
not our
to
faith
more sedative than
play with jackstraws, balls, bowls,
horse and gun, estates and politics
;
but there are
finer
games before you.
Jjife
wUl show you masks that are worth aU your Yonder moimtain musl; migrate into
Is not time a pretty toy ?
carnivals.
your mind.
The
fine star-dust
and nebulous blur
in Orion, "the portentous year of
Mizar and Al-
CONDUCT OF
302
LIFE.
must come down and be dealt with In your houseliold tliought. What if you shall come to cor,"
(discern that the play
pompous
and playground of all this from yourself, and
history are radiations
that the sun borrows his questions
we
What
beams?
are learning to ask
terrible
The former men
!
by which temples, cities, and, men were swallowed up, and all trace of them gone. We are coming on the secret of a magic which sweeps out of men's minds all vestige of theism and beliefs which they and their fathers held and were framed upon. believed in magic,
There are deceptions of the
senses, deceptions of
the passions, and the structural, beneficent illusions of sentiment and of the intellect. illusion of love,
person
all" which
f amily, sex,
mind
itself.
is
the
'thaTperson shares with his or her
age, or condition, nay, with the human 'T is these which the lover loves, and
Anna Matilda shut
There
which attributes to J;he_ be^y^[_
up always
gets th e credit ofthe m. in a tower, with one
As
if
one
window through
which the face of heaven and earth could be seen, should fancy that
all
the marvels he beheld be-
longed to that window.
There
time, which is very deep
who has disposed
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; or come
;
is
to the conviction that
succession of thought
is
wholes into causal series ?
the illusion of of
it ?
what seems the
only the distribution of
The
intellect sees that
303
ILLUSIONS. every atom carries the whole of Nature
that the
;
mind opens to omnipotence that, in the endless striving and ascents, the metamorphosis is entire, ;
so.
that the spid doth not
when
know
There
that act is perfected.
shall deceive shall deceive
even the
itself in its is
There
elect.
own
act
illusion that
is illusion
that
even the performer of the miracle.
Though he make his body, he denies that he makes it. ThougE tEe^orld exist from thought, thought is
One
daunted in presence of the world.
the other
we
after
accept the mental laws, stiU resisting
those which follow, which however must be ac-
But aU our
cepted.
new
profusion.
concessions only compel us to
And what
avails it that
science
has come to treat space and time as simply forms of thought,
and the material world
and withal our pretension
as hypothetical,
of property
self-hood are fading with the rest,
our thoughts are not
finalities,
if,
and even of at last, even
but the incessant
flowing and ascension reach these also, and each
thought which yesterday was a
finality,
yielding to a larger generalization
"With such ydatile^elements to work
wonder
if
to-day
in,
'tis
our estimates are loose and floating.
no
We
but we have no guess of the
must work and
affirm,
value of what
we say
as big as your hand,
is
?
or do.
and now
That story of Thor, who was
The cloud it
is
now
covers a county.
set to drain the drink-
!
CONDUCT OF
304
ing-hom in Asgard and
woman and
to
to
LIFE. wrestle
with the old
run with the runner Lok, and pres-
had been drinking up the sea, and wrestling with Time, and racing with Thought, describes us, who are contending, amid these ently found that he
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
seeming ture.
with the supreme energies of Na-
trifles,
We fancy we
have fallen into bad company
and squalid condition, low debts, glass to
pay
milk, and coal.
'
and I win show good Heaven coats
and
;
'
hats,
and
;
.humility and as !
shall see it
jgalaxy which
me some
great task, ye gods
my
spirit.'
'
Not
so,'
says the
vamp your
plod and plough,
weave a shoestring; great Well,
by.'
old
affairs 'tis
all
we weave a yard of tape in all well as we can, long hereafter we if
was no cotton tape
we
broken
Set
and the best wine by and phantasm
shoe-bills,
buy, butcher's meat, sugar,
for, pots to
braided,
at all but
some
and that the threads were
Time and Nature.
We cannot write the order of the variable winds. How can we penetrate the law of our shifting moods and susceptibility? Yet they differ as all and nothing. Instead of the firmament of yesterday, which our eyes shell
require,
which coops us in
or where our stars of
day the
capital facts of
our eyes.
it
is
to-day an egg-
we cannot even see what destiny are. From day to human life are hidden from
;
Suddenly the mist
rolls
up and
reveals
305
ILLUSIONS. them, and we think
how much good time
that might have been saved
A
things been shown.
had any hint
sudden
gone
is
of these
the road
rise in
shows us the system of mountains, and
all the
mits, which have been just as near us
all
sum-
the year,
But these alternations are order, and we are parties to our If life seem a succession of
but quite out of mind. not without their various fortune.
dreams,, .yeljpoetic justice
The bad
wiU
that
When we
fortunes.
;
it is
break theJaws, we lose
Like sick
reality.
we change only from bed
one folly to another
what becomes
also.
the undis-
whipped with bad thoughts and
is
our hold on the central hospitals,
done in dreams
good men are good
visions of
ciplined
is
and
;
it
men
in
to bed,
from
cannot signify
much
of such castaways, wailing, stupid,
comatose creatures, lifted from bed to bed, from the nothing of
In stays
and
this
life to
kingdom
the nothing of death.
of illusions^ we grope eagerly for
and foundations.
faithful dealing at
There
is
none but a
home and a
out of aU duplicity or illusion there.
games are played with
us,
strict
severe barring
Whatever
we must play no games
with ourselves, but deal in our privacy with the last honesty and truth.
I look upon the simple and
childish virtues of veracity
of aU. that think, be VOL. VI.
is
and honesty as the root
sublime in character.
what you 20
are,
Speak
pay your debts of
as
you
all kinds.
CONDUCT OF
306 I prefer to be
word
as
owned
as sound
my bond,
good as
LIFE.
and
and
solvent,
and
be what cannot
to
be skipped, or dissipated, or undermined, to This reality
Sclat in the universe.
my
is
and
tion of friendship, religion, poetry,
all
the
the founda-
At the
art.
top or at the bottom of all illusions, I set the cheat
which stUl leads us to work and ances that
;
live for appear-
in spite of our conviction, in all sane hours,
it is
what we reaUy are that
avails,
with friends,
with strangers, and with fate or fortune.
One would
men
think from the talk of
that
and poverty were a great matter ; and our civilization mainly respects it. But the Indians say
riches
that they do not think the white man, with his of care, always toiling, afraid of heat
and
brow and
cold,
keeping within doors, has any advantage of them.
The permanent
interest of every
man
never to
is
be ia a false position, but to have the weight of
Nature to back him in
all that
he does.
and poverty are a thick or thin costume life
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the
transcend
life of
all of
us
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
identical.
the circumstance continually
the.Egal quality of^^xisteuce
;
as^ in
Eiches
; '
and our For we
and
taste
our employ-
ments, which only differ in the manipulations but express the same laws
;
or in o ur thoughts, which
w;ear
no sUks and jaste no ice-creams.
God
face to face every hour,
of Nature.
We
see
and know the savor
ILLUSIONS.
The
Greek philosophers Heraclitus and
early
Xenophanes measured of identity.
807
on
their force
this
problem
Diogenes of ApoUonia said that un-
atoms were made of one
stuff,
they could
never blend and act with one another.
But the
less the
Hindoos, in their sacred writings, express the liveliest feeling,
both of the essential identity and of
that Dlusion which they conceive variety to be.
"The
notions, '/ win,'
and 'This
is mine,'
which
influence mankind, are but delusions of the mother
Dispel,
of the world.
conceit of knowledge
rance."
And
O
Lord
of
the beatitude of
man
the
!
they hold to
lie
by the statement
of
in being freed f rom~fascination.
The
aU creatures
which proceeds from igno-
intellect is stimulated
"
wiU by clothing the laws But the unities of Truth and of
truth in a trope, and the of life in illusions.
Eight are not broken by the disguise. never be any confusion in these. life
of
many
parts
and performers, on a stage of
nations, or in the obscurest California, the to each
he
same elements
new comer,
There need
In a crowded
hamlet in Maine or offer the
same choices
and, according to his election,
fixes his fortune in absolute
Nature.
It
would
be hard to put more mental and moral philosophy than the Persians have thrown into a sentence " Fooled thou must be, though wisest of the wise
Then be the
fool of virtue, not of vice."
:
:
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
CONDUCT OF
308
no chance and no anarchy in the uniAll is system and gradation. Every god
There verse. is
LIFE.
is
The young mortal
there sitting in his sphere.
enters the hall of the firmament
;
there
is
he alone
with them alone, they pouring on him benedictions
and
On
gifts,
and beckoning him up
to their thrones.
the instant, and incessantly, fall snow-storms
of illusions.
which sways
He this
fan cies himself in a vast crowd
way and
that and whosejnove-
BoenFimd doiags he must obey poor,
:
he fancies himself
The mad crowd now furiously^ command-
orphaned, insi^ificant.
drives hither
and
thither,
ing this thing, to be _done,
now
that.
"What
is
he
that he should resist their will, and think or act for
Every mpnteat new changes and new showers of deceptions to baffle and distract him. And when, by and by, for an instant, the air clears and the cloud lifts a little, there are the gods stiU
himself ?
sitting
around him on their thrones,
with him alone
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; they alone