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235
The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft
·
George Gissing
210
Did
anyone
ever
imitate
the
admirable
precedent?
Were
I
a
young
man,
and
an
owner
of
land,
assuredly
I
would
do
so.
Choose
some
goodly
tree,
straight-soaring;
cut
away
head
and
branches;
leave
just
the
clean
trunk
and
build
your
house
about
it
in
such
manner
that
the
top
of
the
rooted
timber
rises
a
couple
of
feet
above
your
bedroom
floor.
The
trunk
need
not
be
manifest
in
the
lower
part
of
the
house,
but
I
should
prefer
to
have
it
so;
I
am
a
tree-worshipper;
it
should
be
as
the
visible
presence
of
a
household
god.
And
how
could
one
more
nobly
symbolize
the
sacredness
of
Home?
There
can
be
no
home
without
the
sense
of
permanence,
and
without
home
there
is
no
civilization--as
England
will
discover
when
the
greater
part
of
her
population
have
become
flat-inhabiting
nomads.
In
some
ideal
commonwealth,
one
can
imagine
the
Odyssean
bed
a
normal
institution,
every
head
of
a
household,
cottager
or
lord
(for
the
commonwealth
must
have
its
lords,
go
to!),
lying
down
to
rest,
as
did
his
fathers,
in
the
Chamber
of
the
Tree.
This,
one
fancies,
were
a
somewhat
more
fitting
nuptial
chamber
than
the
chance
bedroom
of
a
hotel.
Odysseus
building
his
home
is
man
performing
a
supreme
act
of
piety;
through
all
the
ages
that
picture
must
retain
its
profound
significance.
Note
the
tree
he
chose,
the
olive,
sacred
to
Athena,
emblem
of
peace.
When
he
and
the
wise
goddess
meet
together
to
scheme
destruction
of
the
princes,
they
sit
[Greek
text].
Their
talk
is
of
bloodshed,
true;
but
in
punishment
of
those
who
have
outraged
the
sanctity
of
the
hearth,
and
to
re-establish,
after
purification,
domestic
calm
and
security.
It
is
one
of
the
dreary
aspects
of
modern
life
that
natural
symbolism
has
all
but
perished.
We
have
no
consecrated
tree.
The
oak
once
held
a
place
in
English
hearts,
but
who
now
reveres
it?--our
trust
is
in
gods
of
iron.
Money
is
made
at
Christmas
out
of
holly
and
mistletoe,
but
who
save
the
vendors
would
greatly
care
if
no
green
branch
were
procurable?
One
symbol,
indeed,
has
obscured
all
others--the
minted
round
of
metal.
And
one
may
safely
say
that,
of
all
the
ages
since
a
coin
first
became
the
symbol
of
power,
ours
is
that
in
which
it
yields
to
the
majority
of
its
possessors
the
poorest
return
in
heart's
contentment.
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