BRIEF ESSAYS 219 



cities, but a craving for a vain superficial elegance, 

 the pride of dress, of equipage, of fashion, of fast 

 living, and the shams and follies of the world. 

 The more simple and refined taste loves the serious- 

 ness and sobriety of the country. 



People find country life dull because they are 

 empty and frivolous; having only themselves on 

 their hands, they can extract no entertainment from 

 such a subject. How can a man profitably com- 

 mune with himself if the self is small and frivolous 

 and unworthy 1 He will not go to his own garden 

 for fruit if there be only thorns there. 



The finest spirits are not gregarious; they do not 

 love a crowd. Crows and wolves go in flocks and 

 packs, but the eagle and the lion are solitary in 

 their habits. 



Solitude is not for the young; the young have 

 no thoughts or experience, but only unsatisfied de- 

 sires; it is for the middle-aged and the old, for 

 a man when he has ripened and wants time to mel- 

 low his thoughts. A man who retires into solitude 

 must have a capital of thought and experience to 

 live upon, or his soul will perish of want. This 

 capital must be reinvested in the things about him, 

 or it will not suffice. Either as a farmer or as a 

 student and lover of nature, or as both, can he live 

 as it were on the interest of his stored-up wisdom. 



"There are things that never show themselves 

 till you are alone," said an old recluse in Mexico 

 to an American traveler who had claimed the hos- 

 pitality of his hut; "but if you once make up your 



