34 THE CHARM 



best nerved arm upon the farther spread and per- 

 fection of it ; so that we may not have the ignoble 

 name of the " idle generation;" but make our 

 children still more indebted to us than we are to 

 our fathers. 



But though the obligation on us to do that be 

 of the clearest and, at the same time, of the most 

 imperative and binding character, it does not 

 thence follow that we too should not have our full 

 share of enjoyment. Indeed, that is absolutely 

 necessary to the successful execution of the other ; 

 for it is matter of common observation, that the 

 miserable work miserably, and' spread misery around 

 them, as an unclean thing spreads corruption. 



And we really have the key to that enjoyment, 

 in the character and conduct of those mountain 

 races, to whom allusion has been made, inasmuch 

 as their love of nature, and nature which is barren 

 as compared with ours, is really greater than our 

 love of all the nature and all the art which we 

 possess. The Grecian fable of Antseus, the earthly 

 giant, wrestling with Hercules, the giant of celes- 

 tial descent, is far from an uninstructing one ; 

 because it may show us, and probably was in- 

 tended to show us, how we may most successfully 

 wrestle with the giant of our cares, under what 

 form or circumstances soever that giant may 

 assail us. When Antseus was in danger of being 

 worsted, he "touched the earth;" and the instant 

 he touched that, he became renovated, and more 

 mighty than his antagonist. So also, when we 

 are worn out by business, when we are exhausted 

 by study, when we " don't know what to do with 

 ourselves" with listless idleness ; nay, even when 

 our limbs are pained, and our temples throbbing 



