Which of the two is most true to nature?
The first is an ideal being, for in no quarter of the globe has there
ever been found one analogous to the Robinson of De Foe; the other, on
the contrary, is to be met with every where, denying the dependence of
an isolated individual; but this dependence, even in the midst of a
prodigal nature, if it is not to the honor of man, is to the honor of
society at large.
Notwithstanding all that has been said, the solitary is a man
imbruted, vegetating, deprived of his crown. 'Solitude is sweet only
in the vicinity of great cities.'[1] By an admirable decree of
Providence, the isolated being is an imperfect being; man is completed
by man.
[Footnote 1: Bernardin de St. Pierre. Seneca had said: _Miscenda et
alternanda sunt solitudo et frequentia_.]
Notwithstanding the false maxims of a deceitful philosophy, it is to
the social state that we owe, from the greatest to the least, the
courage which animates and sustains us; God has created us to live
there and to love one another; it is for this reason that selfishness
is a shameful vice, a crime! It is, so to speak, an infringement of
one of the great laws of Nature.
THE END.
NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS
PUBLISHED BY TICKNOR, REED, AND FIELDS
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HENRY W.
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