CONCLUSION. 
353 
settle, to gravitate toward that which most strongly and 
rightfully attracts me ; -— not hang by the beam of the 
scale and try to weigh less, — not suppose a case, but 
take the case that is; to travel the only path I can, 
and that on which no power can resist me. It affords 
me no satisfaction to commence to spring an arch before 
I have got a solid foundation. Let us not play at kit- 
tlybenders. There is a solid bottom every where. We 
read that the traveller asked the boy if the swamp be¬ 
fore him had a hard bottom. The boy replied that 
it had. But presently the traveller’s horse sank in up 
to the girths, and he observed to the boy, “ I thought 
you said that this bog had a hard bottom.” “ So it has,” 
answered the latter, “ but you have not got half way to 
it yet.” So it is with the bogs and quicksands of so¬ 
ciety ; but he is an old boy that knows it. Only what 
is thought said or done at a certain rare coincidence is 
good. I would not be one of those who will foolishly 
drive a nail into mere lath and plastering; such a deed 
would keep me awake nights. Give me a hammer, and 
let me feel for the furrowing. Do not depend on the 
putty. Drive a nail home and clinch it so faithfully 
that you can wake up in the night and think of your 
work with satisfaction, — a work at which you would 
not be ashamed to invoke the Muse. So will help you 
God, and so only. Every nail driven should be as 
another rivet in the machine of the universe, you car¬ 
rying on the work. 
Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me 
truth. I sat at a table where were rich food and wine 
in abundance, and obsequious attendance, but sincerity 
and truth were not; and I went away hungry from the 
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