For, whatever happens, such work
must still be done until the end of time; and the more that mind and
soul awake, the less willing will men be to acquiesce in such uncheered
drudgery. If one could but educate the simpler hearts into a joyful and
tranquil consent to conditions which, after all, are simple and
wholesome enough; if one could implant the contented love of field and
wood, wide airs and flying clouds life, love, ease, labour, sorrow--all
that is best in our experience--could be tasted here and thus; while
the troubles bred by the covetous brain and the scheming mind would
find no place here. It is a better lot, after all, to live and feel
than to express life and feeling, however subtly and ingeniously, and I
for one would throw down in an instant all my vague dreams and
impossible hopes, my artificial cares and fretful ambitions, for a life
unconscious of itself and an unimpaired serenity of mood. The dwellers
in these quiet places neither brood over what might have been nor
exercise themselves over what will be. They live in the moment, and the
moment suffices them.
In the winter weather the Mareway, in its dreary and sodden bareness,
is to my mind an even more impressive place. The wind comes sharply up
over the shoulder of the down. The trees are all bare; the pasture is
yellow-pale. The water lies in the ruts and ditches.
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