The customs of some savage nations might,perchance,be profitably imitated by us,for they at least go through the semblance of casting their slough annually;they have the idea of the thing,whether they have the reality or not.Would it not be well if we were to celebrate such a “busk,”or “feast of first fruits,”as Bartram describes to have been the custom of the Mucclasse Indians?“When a town celebrates the busk,”says he,“having previously provided themselves with new clothes,new pots,pans,and other household utensils and furniture,they collect all their worn out clothes and other despicable things,sweep and cleanse their houses,squares,and the whole town,of their filth,which with all the remaining grain and other old provisions they cast together into one common heap,and consume it with fire.After having taken medicine,and fasted for three days,all the fire in the town is extinguished.During this fast they abstain from the gratification of every appetite and passion whatever.A general amnesty is proclaimed;all malefactors may return to their town.”
“On the fourth morning,the high priest,by rubbing dry wood together,produces new fire in the public square,from whence every habitation in the town is supplied with the new and pure flame.”
They then feast on the new corn and fruits,and dance and sing for three days,“and the four following days they receive visits and rejoice with their friends from neighboring towns who have in like manner purified and prepared themselves.”
The Mexicans also practised a similar purification at the end of every fifty-two years,in the belief that it was time for the world to come to an end.
I have scarcely heard of a truer sacrament,that is,as the dictionary defines it,“outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace,”than this,and I have no doubt that they were originally inspired directly from Heaven to do thus,though they have no Biblical record of the revelation.
For more than five years I maintained myself thus solely by the labor of my hands,and I found that,by working about six weeks in a year,I could meet all the expenses of living.The whole of my winters,as well as most of my summers,I had free and clear for study.I have thoroughly tried school-keeping,and found that my expenses were in proportion,or rather out of proportion,to my income,for I was obliged to dress and train,not to say think and believe,accordingly,and I lost my time into the bargain.As I did not teach for the good of my fellow-men,but simply for a livelihood,this was a failure.I have tried trade but I found that it would take ten years to get under way in that,and that then I should probably be on my way to the devil.I was actually afraid that I might by that time be doing what is called a good business.When formerly I was looking about to see what I could do for a living,some sad experience in conforming to the wishes of friends being fresh in my mind to tax my ingenuity,I thought often and seriously of picking huckleberries;that surely I could do,and its small profits might suffice,-for my greatest skill has been to want but little,-so little capital it required,so little distraction from my wonted moods,I foolishly thought.While my acquaintances went unhesitatingly into trade or the professions,I contemplated this occupation as most like theirs;ranging the hills all summer to pick the berries which came in my way,and thereafter carelessly dispose of them;so,to keep the flocks of Admetus.I also dreamed that I might gather the wild herbs,or carry evergreens to such villagers as loved to be reminded of the woods,even to the city,by hay-cart loads.But I have since learned that trade curses everything it handles;and though you trade in messages from heaven,the whole curse of trade attaches to the business.
As I preferred some things to others,and especially valued my freedom,as I could fare hard and yet succeed well,I did not wish to spend my time in earning rich carpets or other fine furniture,or delicate cookery,or a house in the Grecian or the Gothic style just yet.If there are any to whom it is no interruption to acquire these things,and who know how to use them when acquired,I relinquish to them the pursuit.Some are “industrious,”and appear to love labor for its own sake,or perhaps because it keeps them out of worse mischief;to such I have at present nothing to say.Those who would not know what to do with more leisure than they now enjoy,I might advise to work twice as hard as they do,-work till they pay for themselves,and get their free papers.For myself I found that the occupation of a day-laborer was the most independent of any,especially as it required only thirty or forty days in a year to support one.The laborer's day ends with the going down of the sun,and he is then free to devote himself to his chosen pursuit,independent of his labor;but his employer,who speculates from month to month,has no respite from one end of the year to the other.
In short,I am convinced,both by faith and experience,that to maintain one's self on this earth is not a hardship but a pastime,if we will live simply and wisely;as the pursuits of the simpler nations are still the sports of the more artificial.It is not necessary that a man should earn his living by the sweat of his brow,unless he sweats easier than I do.
