Page:The first and last journeys of Thoreau - lately discovered among his unpublished journals and manuscripts.djvu/155

 the influence of a goddess over me; cultivating my gentler humane nature; cultivating and preserving purity, innocence, truth.

We lose our friends when we cease to be friends, not when they die; then they depart; then we are sad and go into mourning for them. Death is no separation compared with that which takes place when we cease to have confidence in those with whom we have walked in confidence. When we cease to love one whom we had loved; when we know him no more; when we look for him and cannot find him,—how completely is he departed! No things can be farther asunder than friends estranged; our courses inevitably diverge, and we feel the fibres being rent. What can restore him to life for me? This miracle was never performed. Shall I never see him more? What fate has driven a wedge between us? Friends estranged are buried alive to one another; we miss them from their accustomed place. Let us endeavor, then, to save the lives of our friends as long as we can. Two were not made to stand in company always. Where are they who were once our friends, but are so no [107]