or purifying
destruction of them, there was an _auction_, or increasing of them. The
neighbors eagerly collected to view them, bought them all, and
carefully transported them to their garrets and dust holes, to lie
there till their estates are settled, when they will start again. When
a man dies he kicks the dust.
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
