he apple of to-morrow is earth, not apple, till it hangs on the
tree. Our knowing seems rather rejection than acceptance, so much is
husk in bulk. From eight thousand miles of geology the tree takes a few
drops of water and distils from these its own again. Vigor of mind is
judgment, which divides the meat from the shell, that which cumbers from
that which thrills. The act is simple, inevitable; let it be energetic
and final. We say, "This is valuable, it quickens me; the rest is
nonsense." A feeble mind needs now chiefly to be rid of rubbish, of
cheap admirations, an awe before the hair-pins and shoe-ties of society,
before the true church, the scholastic learning, dead languages, the
Fathers and the fashion. To set the savage of civilization free from his
superstition, these idols must be insulted before his face.

A little energy of demand displaces them from regard. The scholars are
busy with punctuation, chronology, and the lives of the little great, so
that their visit is a vastation, and I must turn them out of doors.
Genius will continue unable to spell, to read the German, to count the
Egyptian kings. There is royal ignorance, the preoccupation of gods. For
the wise, if no object is trifling, yet part of every object is foreign
to its best intent. Every nut is inwardly a man and a miracle, but
outwardly a shell. If it be a book, the thought is a shell, though God
be in the thought. The book is another thing, another world of power and
form, and the power will consume the form as a sword eats its sheath,
the soul the body, or fire the pan. The letter drops, for the spirit
must expand and be set free. The positive and negative poles of Nature
reappear in every creature, and the positive element must prevail. When
we have learned to live, we shall--or shall not--learn to spell.

The last refreshment is intercourse with a kingly mind, which has no
need to shift its centre, but lies abroad hemispheric, and sleeps like
sunshine, bathing silently the earth and sky. Such a mind is at home,
not in position, but in a vital relation to Nature, which leaves no
spaces dark and cold for wandering, and knows no change that is worth
the name of change. It is rest to be with one who is at rest, who
cannot go to or go from his happiness, for whom the meaning of Deity is
here and now. What stillness and depth of manner are communicated to all
who sound the deeps of life! what a refuge is their society from wit,
zeal, and gossip,