Page:Familiar letters of Henry David Thoreau.djvu/399

 2ET.40.] TO HARRISON BLAKE. 373

Men will tell you sometimes that &quot; money s hard.&quot; That shows it was not made to eat, I say. Only think of a man in this new world, in his log cabin, in the midst of a corn and potato patch, with a sheepf old on one side, talking about money being hard ! So are flints hard ; there is no alloy in them. What has that to do with his raising his food, cutting his wood (or breaking it), keeping in-doors when it rains, and, if need be, spinning and weaving his clothes ? Some of those who sank with the steamer the other day found out that money was heavy too. Think of a man s priding himself on this kind of wealth, as if it greatly enriched him. As if one strug gling in mid-ocean with a bag of gold on his back should gasp out, &quot; I am worth a hundred thousand dollars.&quot; I see them struggling just as ineffectually on dry land, nay, even more hopelessly, for, in the former case, rather than sink, they will finally let the bag go ; but in the latter they are pretty sure to hold and go down with it. I see them swimming about in their great-coats, collecting their rents, really getting their dues, drinking bitter draughts which only increase their thirst, becoming more and more water-logged, till finally they sink plumb down to the bottom. But enough of this.

Have you ever read Ruskin s books ? If not, I would recommend you to try the second and