Page:Anti-slavery and reform papers by Thoreau, Henry David.djvu/110

 Paradise {kf be) Regained. 99 they serve man in but few ways. They turn a few tide- mills, and perform a few other insignificant and accidental services only. We all perceive the effect of the tide ; how imperceptibly it creeps up into our harbors and rivers, and raises the heaviest navies as easily as the lightest chip. Everything that floats must yield to it.

But man, slow to take nature's constant hint of assist- ance, makes slight and irregular use of this power, in careening ships and getting them afloat when aground.

This power may be applied in various ways. A large body, of the heaviest materials that will float, may first be raised by it, and being attached to the end of a balance reaching from the land, or from a stationary support, fastened to the bottom, when the tide falls, the whole weight will be brought to bear upon the end of the balance. Also, when the tide rises, it may be made to exert a nearly equal force in the opposite direction. It can be employed wherever a point cVapjJui can be obtained.

Verily, the land would wear a busy aspect at the spring and neap tide, and these island ships, these terrce injinnce, which realize the fables of antiquity, affect our imagination. We have often thought that the fittest locality for a human dwelling was on the edge of the land, that there the constant lesson and impression of the sea might sink deep into the life and chai*acter of the landsman, and perhaps impart a marine tint to his imagination. It is a noble word, that mariner — one who is conversant with the sea. There should be more of what it signifies in each of us. It is a worthy country to belong to — we look to see him not disgrace it. Perhaps we should be equally mariners and terreners^ and even