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walking-第6章

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in which it thrives。



The West is preparing to add its fables to those of the East。 The

valleys of the Ganges; the Nile; and the Shine having yielded

their crop; it remains to be seen what the valleys of the Amazon;

the Plate; the Orinoco; the St。 Lawrence; and the Mississippi

will produce。 Perchance; when; in the course of ages; American

liberty has become a fiction of the pastas it is to some extent

a fiction of the presentthe poets of the world will be inspired

by American mythology。



The wildest dreams of wild men; even; are not the less true;

though they may not recommend themselves to the sense which is

most common among Englishmen and Americans today。 It is not every

truth that recommends itself to the common sense。 Nature has a

place for the wild Clematis as well as for the cabbage。 Some

expressions of truth are reminiscentothers merely SENSIBLE; as

the phrase is;others prophetic。 Some forms of disease; even;

may prophesy forms of health。 The geologist has discovered that

the figures of serpents; griffins; flying dragons; and other

fanciful embellishments of heraldry; have their prototypes in the

forms of fossil species which were extinct before man was

created; and hence 〃indicate a faint and shadowy knowledge of a

previous state of organic existence。〃 The Hindus dreamed that the

earth rested on an elephant; and the elephant on a tortoise; and

the tortoise on a serpent; and though it may be an unimportant

coincidence; it will not be out of place here to state; that a

fossil tortoise has lately been discovered in Asia large enough

to support an elephant。 I confess that I am partial to these wild

fancies; which transcend the order of time and development。 They

are the sublimest recreation of the intellect。 The partridge

loves peas; but not those that go with her into the pot。



In short; all good things are wild and free。 There is something

in a strain of music; whether produced by an instrument or by the

human voicetake the sound of a bugle in a summer night; for

instancewhich by its wildness; to speak without satire; reminds

me of the cries emitted by wild beasts in their native forests。

It is so much of their wildness as I can understand。 Give me for

my friends and neighbors wild men; not tame ones。 The wildness of

the savage is but a faint symbol of the awful ferity with which

good men and lovers meet。



I love even to see the domestic animals reassert their native

rightsany evidence that they have not wholly lost their

original wild habits and vigor; as when my neighbor's cow breaks

out of her pasture early in the spring and boldly swims the

river; a cold; gray tide; twenty…five or thirty rods wide;

swollen by the melted snow。 It is the buffalo crossing the

Mississippi。 This exploit confers some dignity on the herd in my

eyesalready dignified。 The seeds of instinct are preserved

under the thick hides of cattle and horses; like seeds in the

bowels of the earth; an indefinite period。



Any sportiveness in cattle is unexpected。 I saw one day a herd of

a dozen bullocks and cows running about and frisking in unwieldy

sport; like huge rats; even like kittens。 They shook their heads;

raised their tails; and rushed up and down a hill; and I

perceived by their horns; as well as by their activity; their

relation to the deer tribe。 But; alas! a sudden loud WHOA! would

have damped their ardor at once; reduced them from venison to

beef; and stiffened their sides and sinews like the locomotive。

Who but the Evil One has cried 〃Whoa!〃 to mankind? Indeed; the

life of cattle; like that of many men; is but a sort of

locomotiveness; they move a side at a time; and man; by his

machinery; is meeting the horse and the ox halfway。 Whatever part

the whip has touched is thenceforth palsied。 Who would ever think

of a SIDE of any of the supple cat tribe; as we speak of a SIDE

of beef?



I rejoice that horses and steers have to be broken before they

can be made the slaves of men; and that men themselves have some

wild oats still left to sow before they become submissive members

of society。 Undoubtedly; all men are not equally fit subjects for

civilization; and because the majority; like dogs and sheep; are

tame by inherited disposition; this is no reason why the others

should have their natures broken that they may be reduced to the

same level。 Men are in the main alike; but they were made several

in order that they might be various。 If a low use is to be

served; one man will do nearly or quite as well as another; if a

high one; individual excellence is to be regarded。 Any man can

stop a hole to keep the wind away; but no other man could serve

so rare a use as the author of this illustration did。 Confucius

says;〃The skins of the tiger and the leopard; when they are

tanned; are as the skins of the dog and the sheep tanned。〃 But it

is not the part of a true culture to tame tigers; any more than

it is to make sheep ferocious; and tanning their skins for shoes

is not the best use to which they can be put。







When looking over a list of men's names in a foreign language; as

of military officers; or of authors who have written on a

particular subject; I am reminded once more that there is nothing

in a name。 The name Menschikoff; for instance; has nothing in it

to my ears more human than a whisker; and it may belong to a rat。

As the names of the Poles and Russians are to us; so are ours to

them。 It is as if they had been named by the child's

rigmarole;IERY FIERY ICHERY VAN; TITTLE…TOL…TAN。 I see in my

mind a herd of wild creatures swarming over the earth; and to

each the herdsman has affixed some barbarous sound in his own

dialect。 The names of men are; of course; as cheap and

meaningless as BOSE and TRAY; the names of dogs。



Methinks it would be some advantage to philosophy if men were

named merely in the gross; as they are known。 It would be

necessary only to know the genus and perhaps the race or variety;

to know the individual。 We are not prepared to believe that every

private soldier in a Roman army had a name of his ownbecause we

have not supposed that he had a character of his own。



At present our only true names are nicknames。 I knew a boy who;

from his peculiar energy; was called 〃Buster〃 by his playmates;

and this rightly supplanted his Christian name。 Some travelers

tell us that an Indian had no name given him at first; but earned

it; and his name was his fame; and among some tribes he acquired

a new name with every new exploit。 It is pitiful when a man bears

a name for convenience merely; who has earned neither name nor

fame。



I will not allow mere names to make distinctions for me; but

still see men in herds for all them。 A familiar name cannot make

a man less strange to me。 It may be given to a savage who retains

in secret his own wild title earned in the woods。 We have a wild

savage in us; and a savage name is perchance somewhere recorded

as ours。 I see that my neighbor; who bears the familiar epithet

William or Edwin; takes it off with his jacket。 It does not

adhere to him when asleep or in anger; or aroused by any passion

or inspiration。 I seem to hear pronounced by some of his kin at

such a time his original wild name in some jaw…breaking or else

melodious tongue。







Here is this vast; savage; hovering mother of ours; Nature; lying

all around; with such beauty; and such affection for her

children; as the leopard; and yet we are so early weaned from her

breast to society; to that culture which is exclusively an

interaction of man on mana sort of breeding in and in; which

produces at most a merely English nobility; a civilization

destined to have a speedy limit。



In society; in the best institutions of men; it is easy to detect

a certain precocity。 When we should still be growing children; we

are already little men。 Give me a culture which imports much muck

from the meadows; and deepens the soilnot that which trusts to

heating manures; and improved implements and modes of culture

only!



Many a poor sore…eyed student that I have heard of would grow

faster; both intellectually and physically; if; instead of

sitting up so very late; he honestly slumbered a fool's

allowance。



There may be an excess even of informing light。 Niepce; a

Frenchman; discovered 〃actinism;〃 that power in the sun's rays

which produces a chemical effect; that granite rocks; and stone

structures; and statues of metal 〃are all alike destructively

acted upon during the hours of sunshine; and; but for provisions

of Nature no less wonderful; would soon perish under the delicate

touch of the most subtle of the agencies of the universe。〃 But he

observed that 〃those bodies which underwent this change during

the daylight possessed the power of restoring themselves to their

original conditions during the hours of night; when this

excitement was no longer influencing them。〃 Hence it has been

inferred tha
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