A Yankee in Canada, with Anti-slavery and reform papers.Thoreau, Henry David
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A Yankee in Canada, with Anti-slavery and reform papers.
Thoreau, Henry David
Brown, John, 1800-1859; Québec (Province) -- Description and travel; Slavery -- United States
“The walks may be covered with porticos adorned with magnificent
columns, statues, and sculptural works; all of vitrified substance, and
lasting forever. At night the roof, and the inside and outside of the
whole square, are illuminated by gas-light, which, in the mazes of
many-colored crystal-like colonnades and vaultings, is reflected with a
brilliancy that gives to the whole a lustre of precious stones, as far
as the eye can see. Such are the future abodes of men.... Such is the
life reserved to true intelligence, but withheld from ignorance,
prejudice, and stupid adherence to custom.”
Thus is Paradise to be Regained, and that old and stern decree at length
reversed. Man shall no more earn his living by the sweat of his brow.
All labor shall be reduced to “a short turn of some crank,” and “taking
the finished articles away.” But there is a crank,—O, how hard to be
turned! Could there not be a crank upon a crank,—an infinitely small
crank?—we would fain inquire. No,—alas! not. But there is a certain
divine energy in every man, but sparingly employed as yet, which may be
called the crank within,—the crank after all,—the prime mover in all
machinery,—quite indispensable to all work. Would that we might get our
hands on its handle! In fact, no work can be shirked. It may be
postponed indefinitely, but not infinitely. Nor can any really important
work be made easier by co-operation or machinery. Not one particle of
labor now threatening any man can be routed without being performed. It
cannot be hunted out of the vicinity like jackals and hyenas. It will
not run. You may begin by sawing the little sticks, or you may saw the
great sticks first, but sooner or later you must saw them both.
We will not be imposed upon by this vast application of forces. We
believe that most things will have to be accomplished still by the
application called Industry. We are rather pleased after all to consider
the small private, but both constant and accumulated force, which,
stands behind every spade in the field. This it is that makes the
valleys shine, and the deserts really bloom. Sometimes, we confess, we
are so degenerate as to reflect with pleasure on the days when men were
yoked liked cattle, and drew a crooked stick for a plough. After all,
the great interests and methods were the same.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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