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235
The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft
·
George Gissing
162
Thus
Nathaniel
Hawthorne,
at
Brook
Farm.
In
the
bitterness
of
his
disillusion
he
went
too
far.
Labour
may
be,
and
very
often
is,
an
accursed
and
a
brutalizing
thing,
but
assuredly,
it
is
not
the
curse
of
the
world;
nay,
it
is
the
world's
supreme
blessing.
Hawthorne
had
committed
a
folly,
and
he
paid
for
it
in
loss
of
mental
balance.
For
him,
plainly,
it
was
no
suitable
task
to
feed
cows
and
horses;
yet
many
a
man
would
perceive
the
nobler
side
of
such
occupation,
for
it
signifies,
of
course,
providing
food
for
mankind.
The
interest
of
this
quotation
lies
in
the
fact
that,
all
unconsciously,
so
intelligent
a
man
as
Hawthorne
had
been
reduced
to
the
mental
state
of
our
agricultural
labourers
in
revolt
against
the
country
life.
Not
only
is
his
intellect
in
abeyance,
but
his
emotions
have
ceased
to
be
a
true
guide.
The
worst
feature
of
the
rustic
mind
in
our
day,
is
not
its
ignorance
or
grossness,
but
its
rebellious
discontent.
Like
all
other
evils,
this
is
seen
to
be
an
inevitable
outcome
of
the
condition
of
things;
one
understands
it
only
too
well.
The
bucolic
wants
to
"better"
himself.
He
is
sick
of
feeding
cows
and
horses;
he
imagines
that,
on
the
pavement
of
London,
he
would
walk
with
a
manlier
tread.
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