The Solitudes of Nature and of Man: Or the Loneliness of Human Life (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from The Solitudes of Nature and of Man: Or the Loneliness of Human Life

Those who have the key for interpreting the signs of genuine thought and emotion will perceive that this book has sprung sincerely from the inmost life of the writer. His ambition has been to make it the Book of Solitude, whose readers may learn from it how at the same time to win the benefits and shun the evils of being alone. The subject - the conditions and in fluences of solitude in its various forms - is so largely concerned with disturbed feelings that it is difficult, in treating it, to keep free from everything unhealthy, ex cessive, or eccentric. In view of this, great pains have been taken to avoid every morbid extravagance, and stay close by the standards of sanity, truth, and cheer fulness. For an author ought not to dishearten, but to inspire his readers; not to exhale around them an infecting atmosphere of hates, griefs, and despairs, but to warm and strengthen them with his health, valor, and contentment. We grow old to trust and joy, and they become vapid. Doubt and sadness keep their fresh force, we are always young to them. They should, therefore, never be disseminated. In treating themes pertaining to the deepest emotions, the temptations to satire and to sentimentality are both strong; but for the exertion of a sound influence those temptations should be resisted. Faith, direct sincerity, undiseased tender ness, and the authority of well-mastered experience, are the best qualities in a teacher.

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