Studies in Classic American Literature. D. H. Lawrence

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СКАЧАТЬ in giving us that disturbance, they sent three of their counsellors to make their apology. The orator acknowledged the fault, but laid it upon the rum, and then endeavoured to excuse the rum by saying: 'The Great Spirit, who made all things, made everything for some use; and whatever he designed anything for, that use it should always be put to. Now, when he had made the rum, he said: "Let this be for the Indians to get drunk with." And it must be so.'

      And, indeed, if it be the design of Providence to extirpate these savages in order to make room for the cultivators of the earth, it seems not improbable that rum may be the appointed means. It has already annihilated all the tribes who formerly inhabited all the seacoast …

      This, from the good doctor with such suave complacency, is a little disenchanting. Almost too good to be true.

      But there you are! The barbed wire fence. 'Extirpate these savages in order to make room for the cultivators of the earth.' Oh, Benjamin Franklin! He even 'used venery' as a cultivator of seed.

      Cultivate the earth, ye gods! The Indians did that, as much as they needed. And they left off there. Who built Chicago? Who cultivated the earth until it spawned Pittsburgh, Pa?

      The moral issue! Just look at it! Cultivation included. If it's a mere choice of Kultur or cultivation, I give it up.

      Which brings us right back to our question, what's wrong with Benjamin, that we can't stand him? Or else, what's wrong with us, that we kind fault with such a paragon?

      Man is a moral animal. All right. I am a moral animal. And I'm going to remain such. I'm not going to be turned into a virtuous little automaton as Benjamin would have me. 'This is good, that is bad. Turn the little handle and let the good tap flow,' saith Benjamin, and all America with him. 'But first of all extirpate those savages who are always turning on the bad tap.'

      I am a moral animal. But I am not a moral machine. I don't work with a little set of handles or levers. The Temperance-silence-order-resolution-frugality-industry-sincerity-justice-moderation-cleanliness-tranquillity-chastity-humility keyboard is not going to get me going. I'm really not just an automatic piano with a moral Benjamin getting tunes out of me.

      Here's my creed, against Benjamin's. This is what I believe:

       'That I am I.'

       'That my soul is a dark forest.'

       'That my known self will never be more than a little clearing in the forest.'

       'That gods, strange gods, come forth from the forest into the clearing of my known self, and then go back.'

       'That I must have the courage to let them come and go.'

       'That I will never let mankind put anything over me, but that I will try always to recognize and submit to the gods in me and the gods in other men and women.'

      There is my creed. He who runs may read. He who prefers to crawl, or to go by gasoline, can call it rot.

      Then for a 'list'. It is rather fun to play at Benjamin.

      1. TEMPERANCE

      Eat and carouse with Bacchus, or munch dry bread with Jesus, but don't sit down without one of the gods.

      2. SILENCE

      Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you've got to say, and say it hot.

      3. ORDER

      Know that you are responsible to the gods inside you and to the men in whom the gods are manifest. Recognize your superiors and your inferiors, according to the gods. This is the root of all order.

      4. RESOLUTION

      Resolve to abide by your own deepest promptings, and to sacrifice the smaller thing to the greater. Kill when you must, and be killed the same: the must coming from the gods inside you, or from the men in whom you recognize the Holy Ghost.

      5. FRUGALITY

      Demand nothing; accept what you see fit. Don't waste your pride or squander your emotion.

      6. INDUSTRY

      Lose no time with ideals; serve the Holy Ghost; never serve mankind.

      7. SINCERITY

      To be sincere is to remember that I am I, and that the other man is not me.

      8. JUSTICE

      The only justice is to follow the sincere intuition of the soul, angry or gentle. Anger is just, and pity is just, but judgement is never just.

      9. MODERATION

      Beware of absolutes. There are many gods.

      10. CLEANLINESS

      Don't be too clean. It impoverishes the blood.

      11. TRANQUILITY

      The soul has many motions, many gods come and go. Try and find your deepest issue, in every confusion, and abide by that. Obey the man in whom you recognize the Holy Ghost; command when your honour comes to command.

      12. CHASTITY

      Never 'use' venery at all. Follow your passional impulse, if it be answered in the other being; but never have any motive in mind, neither offspring nor health nor even pleasure, nor even service. Only know that 'venery' is of the great gods. An offering-up of yourself to the very great gods, the dark ones, and nothing else.

      13. HUMILITY

      See all men and women according to the Holy Ghost that is within them. Never yield before the barren.

      There's my list. I have been trying dimly to realize it for a long time, and only America and old Benjamin have at last goaded me into trying to formulate it.

      And now I, at least, know why I can't stand Benjamin. He tries to take away my wholeness and my dark forest, my freedom. For how can any man be free, without an illimitable background? And Benjamin tries to shove me into a barbed wire paddock and make me grow potatoes or Chicagoes.

      And how can I be free, without gods that come and go? But Benjamin won't let anything exist except my useful fellow men, and I'm sick of them; as for his Godhead, his Providence, He is Head of nothing except a vast heavenly store that keeps every imaginable line of goods, from victrolas to cat-o'-nine tails.

      And how can any man be free without a soul of his own, that he believes in and won't sell at any price? But Benjamin doesn't let me have a soul of my own. He says I am nothing but a servant of mankind - galley-slave I call it - and if I don't get my wages here below - that is, if Mr. Pierpont Morgan or Mr. Nosey Hebrew or the grand United States Government, the great US, US or SOMEOFUS, manages to scoop in my bit, along with their lump - why, never mind, I shall get my wages HEREAFTER.

      Oh Benjamin! Oh Binjum! You do NOT suck me in any longer.

      And why, oh why should the snuff-coloured little trap have wanted to take us all in? Why did he do it?

      Out of sheer human cussedness, in the first place. We do СКАЧАТЬ