Page:Familiar letters of Henry David Thoreau.djvu/237

 JET. 32.] TO HARRISON BLAKE. 213

TO HARRISON BLAKE (AT MILTON).

CONCORD, April 3, 1850.

MR. BLAKE, I thank you for your letter, and I will endeavor to record some of the thoughts which it suggests, whether pertinent or not. You speak of poverty and dependence. Who are poor and dependent ? Who are rich and independent ? When was it that men agreed to respect the appearance and not the reality ? Why should the appearance appear ? Are we well acquainted, then, with the reality? There is none who does not lie hourly in the respect he pays to false appearance. How sweet it would be to treat men and things, for an hour, for just what they are ! We wonder that the sinner does not confess his sin. When we are weary with travel, we lay down our load and rest by the wayside. So, when we are weary with the burden of life, why do we not lay down this load of falsehoods which we have volun teered to sustain, and be refreshed as never mortal was ? Let the beautiful laws prevail. Let us not weary ourselves by resisting them. When we would rest our bodies we cease to support them ; we recline on the lap of earth. So, when we would rest our spirits, we must recline on the Great Spirit. Let things alone ; let them weigh what they will ; let them soar or