The Violence Of Love Is As Much To Be Dreaded As That Of Hate.
When It Is Durable It Is Serene And Equable.
Even its famous
pains begin only with the ebb of love, for few are indeed lovers,
though all would fain be.
It is one proof of a man's fitness for
Friendship that he is able to do without that which is cheap and
passionate. A true Friendship is as wise as it is tender. The
parties to it yield implicitly to the guidance of their love, and
know no other law nor kindness. It is not extravagant and
insane, but what it says is something established henceforth, and
will bear to be stereotyped. It is a truer truth, it is better
and fairer news, and no time will ever shame it, or prove it
false. This is a plant which thrives best in a temperate zone,
where summer and winter alternate with one another. The Friend
is a _necessarius_, and meets his Friend on homely ground; not on
carpets and cushions, but on the ground and on rocks they will
sit, obeying the natural and primitive laws. They will meet
without any outcry, and part without loud sorrow. Their relation
implies such qualities as the warrior prizes; for it takes a
valor to open the hearts of men as well as the gates of castles.
It is not an idle sympathy and mutual consolation merely, but a
heroic sympathy of aspiration and endeavor.
"When manhood shall be matched so
That fear can take no place,
Then weary _works_ make warriors
Each other to embrace."
The Friendship which Wawatam testified for Henry the fur-trader,
as described in the latter's "Adventures," so almost bare and
leafless, yet not blossomless nor fruitless, is remembered with
satisfaction and security. The stern, imperturbable warrior,
after fasting, solitude, and mortification of body, comes to the
white man's lodge, and affirms that he is the white brother whom
he saw in his dream, and adopts him henceforth. He buries the
hatchet as it regards his friend, and they hunt and feast and
make maple-sugar together. "Metals unite from fluxility; birds
and beasts from motives of convenience; fools from fear and
stupidity; and just men at sight." If Wawatam would taste the
"white man's milk" with his tribe, or take his bowl of human
broth made of the trader's fellow-countrymen, he first finds a
place of safety for his Friend, whom he has rescued from a
similar fate. At length, after a long winter of undisturbed and
happy intercourse in the family of the chieftain in the
wilderness, hunting and fishing, they return in the spring to
Michilimackinac to dispose of their furs; and it becomes
necessary for Wawatam to take leave of his Friend at the Isle aux
Outardes, when the latter, to avoid his enemies, proceeded to the
Sault de Sainte Marie, supposing that they were to be separated
for a short time only. "We now exchanged farewells," says Henry,
"with an emotion entirely reciprocal.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 154 of 221
Words from 80677 to 81181
of 116321
