Hopkins's Pond. 13 



would be no necessity for defence or re- 

 venge, and all /)f the energy that would 

 otherwise be diverted into such channels 

 could be utilized for accomplishing some- 

 thing of real importance. One would 

 expect of course to defend principles, but 

 separately from self. Under the hypothe- 

 sis there was no need to care for either 

 praise or blame, and one could laugh up 

 his sleeve and watch unmerited praise and 

 unwarranted blame striking a balance with 

 each other while he was engaged in doing 

 something useful. 



The more disagreeable a person was, 

 the more interesting he became as a speci- 

 men, but the most beautiful feature of the 

 hypothesis was the ability which it gave 

 one to forgive his worst enemies for any- 

 thing at any time and to find that insults 

 could neither be given nor received. 



If it had not been for the muskrat 

 crisis, which took place at Hopkins's 

 Pond, the boy might to this day be wast- 

 ing energy in complicated strife instead of 

 enjoying comfort and pleasure while work- 

 ing for himself and for others. The boy 



