350 
WALDEN. 
and slumbered many times. But why do I stay to men¬ 
tion these things ? When the finishing stroke was put 
to his work, it suddenly expanded before the eyes of the 
astonished artist into the fairest of all the creations of 
Brahma. He had made a new system in making a 
staff, a world with full and fair proportions; in which, 
though the old cities and dynasties had passed away, 
fairer and more glorious ones had taken their places. 
And now he saw by the heap of shavings still fresh at 
his feet, that, for him and his work, the former lapse 
of time had been an illusion, and that no more time had 
elapsed than is required for a single scintillation from 
the brain of Brahma to fall on and inflame the tinder 
of a mortal brain. The material was pure, and his art 
was pure ; how could the result be other than wonderful ? 
No face which we can give to a matter will stead us 
so well at last as the truth. This alone wears well. 
For the most part, we are not where we are, but in a 
false position. Through an infirmity of our natures, we 
suppose a case, and put ourselves into it, and hence are 
in two cases at the same time, and it is doubly difficult 
to get out. In sane moments we regard only the facts, 
the case that is. Say what you have to say, not what you 
ought. Any truth is better than make-believe. Tom 
Hyde, the tinker, standing on the gallows, was asked if he 
had any thing to say. “ Tell the tailors,” said he, “to re¬ 
member to make a knot in their thread before they take 
the first stitch.” His companion’s prayer is forgotten. 
However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do 
not shun it and call it hard names. It is not so bad as 
you are. It looks poorest when you are richest. The 
fault- finder will find faults even in paradise. Love 
your life, poor as it is. You may perhaps have some 
