"Life Without Principle" - читать интересную книгу автора (Thoreau Henry David)

solitary path across lots will turn out the higher way of the two.

Men rush to California and Australia as if the true gold were to
be found in that direction; but that is to go to the very opposite
extreme to where it lies. They go prospecting farther and farther away
from the true lead, and are most unfortunate when they think
themselves most successful. Is not our native soil auriferous? Does
not a stream from the golden mountains flow through our native valley?
and has not this for more than geologic ages been bringing down the
shining particles and forming the nuggets for us? Yet, strange to
tell, if a digger steal away, prospecting for this true gold, into the
unexplored solitudes around us, there is no danger that any will dog
his steps, and endeavor to supplant him. He may claim and undermine
the whole valley even, both the cultivated and the uncultivated
portions, his whole life long in peace, for no one will ever dispute
his claim. They will not mind his cradles or his toms. He is not
confined to a claim twelve feet square, as at Ballarat, but may mine
anywhere, and wash the whole wide world in his tom.

Howitt says of the man who found the great nugget which weighed
twenty-eight pounds, at the Bendigo diggings in Australia: "He soon
began to drink; got a horse, and rode all about, generally at full
gallop, and, when he met people, called out to inquire if they knew
who he was, and then kindly informed them that he was 'the bloody
wretch that had found the nugget.' At last he rode full speed
against a tree, and nearly knocked his brains out." I think,
however, there was no danger of that, for he had already knocked his
brains out against the nugget. Howitt adds, "He is a hopelessly ruined
man." But he is a type of the class. They are all fast men. Hear
some of the names of the places where they dig: "Jackass Flat"-
"Sheep's-Head Gully"- "Murderer's Bar," etc. Is there no satire in
these names? Let them carry their ill-gotten wealth where they will, I
am thinking it will still be "Jackass Flat," if not "Murderer's
Bar," where they live.

The last resource of our energy has been the robbing of graveyards
on the Isthmus of Darien, an enterprise which appears to be but in its
infancy; for, according to late accounts, an act has passed its second
reading in the legislature of New Granada, regulating this kind of
mining; and a correspondent of the "Tribune" writes: "In the dry
season, when the weather will permit of the country being properly
prospected, no doubt other rich guacas [that is, graveyards] will be
found." To emigrants he says: "do not come before December; take the
Isthmus route in preference to the Boca del Toro one; bring no useless
baggage, and do not cumber yourself with a tent; but a good pair of
blankets will be necessary; a pick, shovel, and axe of good material
will be almost all that is required": advice which might have been
taken from the "Burker's Guide." And he concludes with this line in
Italics and small capitals: "If you are doing well at home, STAY
THERE," which may fairly be interpreted to mean, "If you are getting a