There was no mistake about it,--I was on the move; and, of course, as I
was bound to Old England, I ought to have been in ecstatics. But there
is no such thing as "of course," in human affairs. Of them, the tide
is subject to so many perturbations, that, like Mrs M'Stinger, there
is no saying which way they may head at any moment. For myself, I have
ever been somewhat of a cosmopolite, and felt it to be bad policy for
a creature of condition so erratic as man, to circumvent too closely
with particulars of locality his idea of home. It is a narrowing of
our capabilities to anchor our hopes in some village or county, and
to persuade ourselves that thence they cannot be started without
shipwreck. If ever any of the sons of men were senseless of ambition,
and the _auri sacra fames_--those circulating forces that draw men
from the native hearth, and prevent the stagnation of societies--they
would need a triple defence against Necessity to fortify such a
position. When this "Daughter of Jove" descends in her might, and hurls
them from their strongholds--when go from home they must, even then
will men sometimes go resistingly, which is the same thing as to go
painfully. A man who should cling to some particular post or pillar
till torn thence by mechanical force, would probably be wounded in the
struggle. And so is it that the mental lacerations which some emigrants
exhibit as the work of cruel necessity, are but the effect of their
own obstinate clinging to some spot or outward object from which the
fiat of necessity has separated them. Such men are cruel to themselves,
and must often move the pity of their fellow-wayfarers. Such men are
to be seen nursing their sorrows, blinding their eyes, and denying
the sympathies of their immortal and infinite spirits. _The World_ is
man's habitation; and a good Providence has so adorned its every part,
that no where can we be called to dwell where a wise man may not be
happy and at home. The sacred asylum of home, is of no geographical nor
material limitation. Its building is of love, and faith, and peace;
and these foundations may be laid any where, for they dwell within the
spirit of man, and are evoked by the voice of wisdom. Be wise, then,
oh wanderer from the land of thy sires! Open thine arms to thy new
brethren and sisters, and live no longer as though possessing no higher
innate powers than an oyster or a cauliflower. Here, where you are, you
have what may serve your present aptitude; for aught more you must wait
till hereafter.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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