Page:Familiar letters of Henry David Thoreau.djvu/232

 208 GOLDEN AGE OF ACHIEVEMENT. [1849,

opinion (the articles appearing as anonymous, or editorial), and the author withdrew his MS. The letters of Greeley in this entertaining series are all preserved ; but Greeley seems to have given Thoreau s away for autographs ; and the only one accessible as yet is that just para phrased.

TO HARKISON BLAKE (AT MILTON).

CONCORD, August 10, 1849.

MR. BLAKE, I write now chiefly to say, be fore it is too late, that I shall be glad to see you in Concord, and will give you a chamber, etc., in my father s house, and as much of my poor company as you can bear.

I am in too great haste this time to speak to your, or out of my, condition. I might say, you might say, comparatively speaking, be not anxious to avoid poverty. In this way the wealth of the universe may be securely invested. What a pity if we do not live this short time according to the laws of the long time, the eternal laws ! Let us see that we stand erect here, and do not lie along by our whole length in the dirt. Let our meanness be our footstool, not our cushion. In the midst of this labyrinth let us live a thread of life. We must act with so rapid and resistless a purpose in one direc tion, that our vices will necessarily trail behind.