BHM Newsletter
Volume 9      Number 11

November 21, 2007
 

INSIDE BHM

We're between deadlines at BHM. We'll get the proofs for the Jan/Feb 2008 issue back from the printer on Wednesday, then quick make any corrections and get them back to the printer by Monday. Ripon Printing of Ripon, Wisconsin, has printed Backwoods Home Magazine for many years. They also print our big anthologies. To put out a good magazine, you must have good, reliable partners like Ripon.

Here's the Feature lineup for the coming issue:

Building and tools

• A cabin for one By Lee Greiman
• I built my affordable beach home just over the border in Mexico By Allen Schwartz

Self-reliance

• The joys of idleness By Claire Wolfe
• Get to know your spiders By Jerry Hourigan
• Starting over, part 14 By Jackie Clay
• Wildlife tracking 101 By Len McDougall

Energy

• Solar power trailer: Part 2 By Jeffrey R. Yago, P.E., CEM

Farm and Garden

• Chickens - the most valuable animal on the homestead By Jackie Clay
• Feathered to finished in 15 minutes By Jackie Clay

Recipes

• Rhubarb - vegetable or fruit

In addition, Massad Ayoob writes about The .22 handgun, John Silveira offers A doomsday scenario to sleep on, Claire Wolfe's movie reviews list Eight sweets for you and your sweetie, and my editorial talks about Starting the hurricane.

Be sure not to miss Claire's The joys of idelness. Everyone in the office enjoyed it very much.

Subscribers can expect the new issue to begin arriving in their mailboxes around mid-December and it will hit the newsstands about two weeks later.

Subway

Subway is a week away from opening in the front of the BHM building. The whole town is looking forward to it. So far the franchise owners have poured nearly $250,000 into the remodel necessary to install a Subway. Wow! It sure does improve the looks of the BHM building, which I suppose will be called the Subway Building from now on by the townfolk. I think it will bring the magazine new subscribers from people who just happen to notice our office while they are next door buying a Subway sandwich. Our building is off the main north/south highway -- Highway 101 -- that runs along the Pacific Northwest coast.

Weather

We've had some big rains here already, with a few roads collapsing along their edges and trees falling on power and TV cable lines . The early winter storms shake things up quite a bit in this rugged mountainous area. If it's not firmly planted in the ground, the early rains simply wash it away.

Thanks

Thank you to all the subscribers, readers, writers, office and production staff who have helped to make Backwoods Home Magazine the best of it's kind.

We hope you all have a healthy, happy, and delicious Thanksgiving.

We'll be enjoying the 20-pound turkey Lenie got free at our local supermarket because we bought a hundred dollars worth of produce. Yum!

--Dave

SELF-RELIANCE TIPS

Helpful Hints for Everyday Things

Contributed by W.B.D. Jones

Editor's note: With the holidays upon us, and time to take it easy, we thought we'd offer a selection of "lite," fun tips for daily living. These sounded pretty good, but we've not tried any of them, and cannot vouch for their effectiveness. If you try any, please let us know whether or not they work.

Reheat Pizza

Heat up leftover pizza in a non-stick skillet on top of the stove. Set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy microwaved pizza.

Easy Deviled Eggs

Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, and keep mashing it up, mixing thoroughly. Cut the corner tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Throw bag away when done for easy clean up.

Expanding Frosting

When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar/calories per serving.

Refrigerated baked goods

To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

Newspaper weeds away

Begin putting in your plants, working the nutrients into the soil. Put layers of wet newspaper around the plants, overlapping as you go. Cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic but they will not get through wet newspapers.

Broken Glass

Use a dry cotton ball to pick up little broken glass pieces of glass. The fibers catch ones you can't see!

No More Mosquitoes

Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

Squirrel Away!

To keep squirrels from eating your plants sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.

Flexible vacuum

To get something out of a heat register or from under the fridge, add an empty paper towel roll or empty gif wrap roll to the end of your vacuum hose. The cardboard can be bent or flattened to get into narrow openings.

Reducing Static Cling

Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and - voila - static is gone.

Measuring Cups

Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill it with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry the cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.

Foggy Windshield?

Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!

Reopening envelope

If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Voila! It unseals easily.

Shave with Conditioner

Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's a lot cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair.

Goodbye Fruit Flies

To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass fill it 1/2-inch full with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dishwashing liquid. Mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

Get Rid of Ants

Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it home, and can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works and you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

Take Baby Powder to the Beach

Keep a small bottle of baby powder in your beach bag. When you're ready to leave the beach, sprinkle yourself (and kids) with the powder and the sand will slide right off your skin.

COMMENTARY

A Political Miracle Brings Hope for Freedom

By Dave Duffy

Last month I told you about the best candidate in the U.S. presidential race -- maybe the only good candidate in the race. Maybe the only good candidate in decades -- Ron Paul. We weren't planning on talking about him again so soon. But between last issue and today, we've witnessed a miracle.

On November 5, Guy Fawkes Day, an independent effort created by supporters pulled in $4.3 million in donations. That's in a single day. Consider the magnitude of that acheivment. The previous one-day fundraising record for a Republican in this campaign was $3.1 million, raised by one of the leaders of the pack, Mitt Romney. At the time he smashed that record, Paul was polling at about 3 percent, nationally. Even if you think poll results are biased (as I do, since they often are structured to exclude the people most likely to vote for Paul), it's astonishing that a bottom-of-the-heap candidate could draw that much support. And remember, no "official" campaign organization orchestrated this miracle. It was the work of music-promoter Trevor Lyman and nearly 40,000 Paul supporters.

The Guy Fawkes Day "money bomb" was only the beginning of the miracle.

Suddenly, the mainstream media, which had either ignored Paul or dismissed his supporters as merely a small group of "Internet spammers" woke up. In the following days, Paul got respectful coverage in The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Christian Science Monitor, US News and World Report, Rolling Stone, and the AP and Reuters news services. That's just a tiny sampling of the coverage -- and the news stories are still coming. Some people are even writing about why liberals might want to support Ron Paul.

I'm not saying all the coverage is positive. But much of it has been. And for the most part it has been honest and serious.

Since November 5, Paul's support has risen above five percent in several national polls, and Zogby has predicted that Paul might draw as much as 18 percent of the vote in the all-important New Hampshire primary. Five thousand people turned out to greet Paul at a Veteran's Day rally in Philadelphia. Nearly 350 college campuses now have "Students for Paul" chapters.

Do you ever hear about such enthusiastic popular support for any other candidate? No, and you won't because the rest of them, Rs and Ds, largely sound alike and spout a tired old message. Ron Paul is the only candidate who is unequivocally against the Iraq war, inflationary money, and gun control (among other things; visit his campaign site for more of his views on the issues).

High school and college students greet this simple, solemn, straight-talking 72-year-old physician as if he were a rock star. Weary political burnouts are re-registering to vote for the first time in years. And the Republican establishment, instead of realizing that it needs all this new blood and should return to its true conservative roots to encourage it, is simply flabbergasted. The party would probably like to see Dr. Paul just fade away. Many in the media are still trying to "disappear" Dr. Paul, too (as the above story on the Veterans Day rally shows).

But we shouldn't let that happen. We won't let that happen. On December 16, the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, supporters are planning another "money bomb." Organizer Trevor Lyman hopes to see 100,000 people pledge to contribute $100 apiece on that day for a total of $10 million dollars. If that many people put their money where their hopes are, it will be the biggest one-day fundraising event in all U.S. political history. Plus it will tell the media and the party establishment that Paul -- and we -- are for real and won't just go away and let corrupt politicians drive our country into the ground.

I hope you'll sign up for the December 16 Tea Party. Even if you can't pledge $100, plan to donate something on that Sunday -- even if all you can afford is $17.76 in honor of the American Revolution.

RECIPES

An International Thanksgiving

Tired of the same old holiday meal? Then go international this year -- or at least, add an ethnic variation or two to the usual Thanksgiving fare. Here are a few recipes to get you started.

Antipasto Platter (Italy)

1 jar (32 ounces) pepperoncinis, drained
1 can (15 ounces) garbanzo beans or chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 cups halved fresh mushrooms
2 cups halved cherry tomatoes
1/2 pound provolone cheese, cubed
1 can (6 ounces) pitted ripe olives, drained
1 package (3-1/2 ounces) sliced pepperoni
1 bottle (8 ounces) Italian vinaigrette dressing
Romaine or Red-leaf lettuce leaves

In a large bowl, combine the peppers, beans, mushrooms, tomatoes, cheese, olives and pepperoni. Pour vinaigrette over mixture; toss to coat. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or overnight. Arrange on a lettuce-lined platter. Serve with toothpicks. Yield: 14-16 servings.

Chicken Tortilla Soup (Mexico)
Courtesy of Brenda Palmer

2 cups cooked chicken meat, shredded or in bite-size pieces
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
4 to 6 cups chicken broth (depending on how thin you want the soup)
2 cups chunky medium hot salsa
1 can diced tomatoes (with green chilies, optional)
1 can sliced black olives
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt (or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon red or black pepper (or to taste)
Tortilla chips
2 - 3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Sour cream
Green onion minced, optional

In large saucepan (or crock pot) combine soups, broth, chicken, salsa, tomatoes, olives and garlic salt and pepper. Bring to a gentle boil. Simmer about 30 to 45 minutes, stirring occasionally (or cook on low 6 to 8 hours in crock pot).

To serve: lightly crush a couple of handfuls of tortilla chips in individual bowls, sprinkle 1/4 to 1/2 cup cheddar cheese over the chips. Ladle very hot soup mixture over the chips & cheese. Add a dollop of sour cream on top and minced green onion if desired.

This soup tastes even better the next day.

Serves 4 to 6

Steamed Yuca with Mojo (Cuba)

3 pounds frozen yuca
10 cloves garlic
4 cups oregano leaves
Juice of 2 limes
3/4 cup olive oil
1/4 Cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1/8 teaspoon cumin
Salt and pepper to taste

Steam the yuca in the basket of a vegetable steamer over medium-high heat for 30 minutes.

While the yuca is steaming, puree the garlic, oregano, lime juice, olive oil, orange juice, cumin, salt, and pepper in the jar of a blender or in a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Taste and adjust seasoning. Serve yuca hot with mojo sauce.

Candied Mango Sweet Potatoes (African)

2 sweet potatoes
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup mango juice

Boil cut-up sweet potatoes or bake at 350 degrees F whole sweet potatoes until tender.

In a frying pan, melt the butter and brown sugar together until bubbly. Add the mango juice and stir until smooth. Add the cut-up sweet potatoes and cook slowly, turning occasionally until the sweet potatoes are caramelized, about 20 minutes. If syrup is too thin, add a bit more brown sugar.

Stuffed Turkey with Lemon and Oregano (Italy)

For lemon butter

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup finely chopped shallots (2 large)
2 tablespoons finely chopped oregano
1-1/2 tablespoons grated lemon zest

For turkey

1 (14-pound) turkey at room temperature 1 hour, any feathers and quills removed with tweezers or needlenose pliers, reserving neck and giblets for stock (discard liver)
2 large red onions, each cut into 8 wedges, keeping root ends intact
About 5 cups unbaked Italian sausage and bread stuffing, at room temperature

For gravy

4 cups turkey giblet stock, heated to liquefy if gelled, or reduced-sodium chicken broth, divided
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Equipment: a 17- by 14-inch flameproof roasting pan with a V-rack; kitchen string; a 2-qt measuring cup; a fat separator (optional)

Garnish: oregano sprigs; lemon wedges

Make lemon butter and roast turkey:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F with rack in lowest position. Stir together all butter ingredients with 1 teaspoon salt and 3/4 teaspoon pepper. Rinse turkey inside and out, then pat dry. Put turkey on rack in roasting pan. Sprinkle turkey cavities with 1/2 teaspoon salt (total).

Starting at large cavity, gently slide your fingers between skin and flesh of breast and legs to loosen skin, being careful not to tear skin. Using a tablespoon measure, slide 2 tablespoons butter under skin of each breast half and 1 tablespoon on each drumstick (6 tablespoons total), pushing butter out of spoon with a finger on outside of skin.

Melt remaining lemon butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Toss onion wedges with 2 tablespoons melted lemon butter.

Spoon stuffing into large cavity of turkey. Fold neck skin under body, then tie drumsticks together with kitchen string and tuck wings under body. Brush turkey all over with half of remaining melted lemon butter and sprinkle with 1- 1/2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. Roast until skin is golden brown, about 30 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Rotate pan one half turn. Brush remaining melted lemon butter over turkey and roast 30 minutes more. Baste turkey and scatter onion wedges around it, then roast, basting turkey and rotating turkey 180 degrees every 30 minutes (if pan becomes completely dry, add 1/2 cup water; if skin becomes too dark, loosely cover turkey with foil) until an instant-read thermometer inserted into fleshy part of thighs (test both; close to but not touching bone) registers 170°F and stuffing registers at least 165 F, about 2 to 2 1/2 hours more (total roasting time: 3 to 3 1/2 hours). Transfer turkey and onions to a platter, reserving juices in pan. Let turkey stand, uncovered, 30 minutes (temperature of thigh meat will rise to 175 F).

To make gravy: Straddle roasting pan across 2 burners, then add 1 cup turkey stock and deglaze pan by boiling over high heat, stirring and scraping up brown bits, 2 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into 2-quart measuring cup and skim off and reserve fat. (If using a fat separator, strain pan juices through sieve into separator and let stand until fat rises to top, 1 to 2 minutes. Carefully pour pan juices from separator into measuring cup, reserving fat.)

Stir together flour and 6 tablespoons reserved fat (if you don't have enough fat, add butter) in a heavy medium saucepan, then cook roux over medium heat, whisking, until pale golden, about 3 minutes. Add pan juices and remaining 3 cups stock in a fast stream, whisking constantly to prevent lumps, then bring to a boil, whisking. Stir in any turkey juices from platter and briskly simmer, whisking occasionally, until gravy is thickened to desired consistency, 10 to 12 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.

Brown-Sugar and Mustard Glazed Ham
(Traditional American and African-American)

1 Ham
1 to 1-1/2 cups dark brown sugar
1/4 cup mustard

Prepare and heat ham according to package directions.

Combine brown sugar and mustard to make glaze.

Brush glaze on your ham 30 minutes before meat is done. Heat ham uncovered for final 30 minutes. Carve and serve. Optional: Top ham with pineapple or mandarin orange slices before glazing.

Vegatable Medley with Onion Dressing (Germany)

1 cup Soft bread crumbs
2 cups Green peppers; cut in strips
3 cups Shredded cabbage
2 cups Sliced cucumbers; halved
4 cups Tomato chunks
1 cup Diced celery

ONION SALAD DRESSING

1/2 cup Chopped onion
2 teaspoons Minced garlic
2 teaspoonss Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon Grated lemon rind
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon Oregano leaves; crushed
1/4 teaspoon Ground black pepper
1/4 cup Lemon juice
3/4 cup Vegetable oil

In a 3-quart straight-sided glass bowl spread half of the bread crumbs. Cover with half of the green peppers, cabbage, cucumbers, tomatoes, celery, and onion salad dressing.

Repeat layering using remaining bread crumbs, vegetables, and dressing. Cover and refrigerate for several hours or overnight. Sprinkle with chopped parsley just before serving, if desired.

For dressing: In blender, place onion, garlic, mustard, lemon rind, salt, oregano, black pepper, and lemon juice. Blend until pureed. Very slowly add oil . Continue blending until creamy and all of the oil is incorporated.

Serves 8.

Apple Bread Pudding (Ireland)

4 small apples (about 1 lb.), cored and sliced (peel only if the skins are unsightly or sprayed)
1/4 cup apple juice
Thin slices of bread (not a heavy bread), hard crusts removed
2 tablespoons dried currants or raisins
1-3/4 cup reduced-fat soymilk
1/3 cup sugar or Sucanat
1-1/2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
Sprinkle of ground nutmeg

Brown Sugar Sauce:

1 cup water
1/2 cup brown sugar or Sucanat
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

Poach the apples for 10 minutes in the apple juice.

In a lightly oiled, 9 inch square pan, place 4 slices of bread, cut to fit the bottom of the pan. Place the poached apples and the currants or raisins over the bread. Top with the remaining bread.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the soymilk sugar, nutritional yeast, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt. Pour over the bread and apples. Let sit for 20 minutes while you preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Sprinkle the top of the pudding with nutmeg. Place the pan inside of a larger one with hot water in the bottom. Bake for 30 minutes.

To make the Brown Sugar Sauce, mix together all of the sauce ingredients except the vanilla in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring, and simmer 5 minutes. Stir in the vanilla.

Serve warm over the hot bread pudding.

Serves 6.

Jule Glogg (Norway)

To round up, here's a nice, hot holiday beverage to warm the heart. You don't have to tell your Thanksgiving guests that this is actually a Christmas delight.

1 - 750 milliliter bottle (3 1/4 cups) dry red wine
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup aquavit or vodka
1 - 6 inch cinnamon stick - broken
12 whole cloves
1/4 teaspoon cardamon seed
1/3 cup blanched whole almonds
1 orange (optional garnish)
8 - 6 inch cinnamon sticks

Tie spices in a piece of cheese cloth. In a large pan, stir together all ingredients except for almonds and the orange. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Stir occasionally. Remove from heat. Remove spices. Stir in almonds. Serve in heat proof cups. Garnish with orange slices or bits of orange peel and a cinnamon stick. Makes 8 half cup servings.

HUMOR

The Guys' Rules

We always hear the rules from the female perspective. (See below!) Here, now, are the rules from the male side. Ladies, these are our rules!

Please note... these are all numbered 1 ON PURPOSE!

1. Men are NOT mind readers, no matter how much we love you.

1. Learn to work the toilet seat. You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down. We need it up, you need it down. You don't hear us complaining about you leaving it down.

1. Sunday sports. It's like the full moon or the changing of the tides. Let it be.

1. Shopping is NOT a sport. And no, we are never going to think of it that way.

1. Crying is blackmail.

1. Ask for what you want. Let us be clear on this one: Subtle hints do not work! Strong hints do not work! Obvious hints do not work! Just say it!

1. Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.

1. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.

1. A headache that lasts for 17 months is a Problem. See a doctor.

1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become null and void after 7 Days.

1. If you won't dress like the Victoria 's Secret girls, don't expect us to act like soap opera guys.

1. If you think you're fat, you probably are. Don't ask us..

1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of them makes you sad or angry, then we meant the other one

1. You can either ask us to do something, or tell us how you want it done. Not both. If you already know best how to do something, just do it yourself.

1. Whenever possible, please say whatever you have to say during commercials.

1. Christopher Columbus did NOT need directions and neither do we.

1. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not A color . Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.

1. If it itches, it will be scratched. We do that.

1. If we ask what is wrong and you say, "Nothing," We will act like nothing's wrong. We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle. Besides we know you will bring it up again later.

1. If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, expect an answer you don't want to hear.

1. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine. Really.

1. Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as baseball, the shotgun formation, transmissions, and golf.

1. You have enough clothes.

1. You have too many shoes.

1. I am in shape. Round IS a shape!

1. Thank you for reading this. Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight, but the truth is, men really don't mind it at all? We just think of it as camping.

Contributed by Jerry Poole

Women's Rules For Men

1. Call.

2. Don't lie.

4. If guys' night out is going to be fun, invite the girls.

5. If guys' night out is going to involve strippers, remember the zoo rules: No Petting.

6. The correct answer to "Do I look fat?" is never, ever "Yes."

7. Ditto for "Is she prettier than me?"

8. Victoria's Secret is good. Frederick's of Hollywood is bad.

9. Ordering for her is good. Telling her what she wants is bad.

10. Being attentive is good. Stalking is bad.

11. "Honey," "Darling," and "Sweetheart" are good. "Nag," "Lazy," and "Witch" are bad.

12. Talking is good. Shouting is bad. Slapping is a felony.

13. A grunt is seldom an acceptable answer to any question.

14. None of your ex-girlfriends were ever nicer, prettier, or better kissers.

15. Her cooking is excellent.

16. That isn't an excuse for you to avoid cooking.

17. Dishsoap is your friend.

18. Hat does not equal shower, aftershave does not equal soap, and warm does not equal clean.

19. Answering "Who was that on the phone?" with "Nobody" is never going to end that conversation.

20. Ditto for "Whose lipstick is this?"

21. Two words: clean socks.

22. Believe it or not, you're probably not more attractive when you're drunk.

23. Burping is not sexy.

24. You're wrong.

25. You're sorry.

26. Don't assume PMS is the cause for every bad mood.

27. Don't assume PMS doesn't exist.

28. Don't tell her you love her if you don't.

29. Tell her you love her if you do. Often.

30. Call.

31. Don't lie.

32. The rules are never fair. The fact that she has to go through morning sickness and labor while your only participation in baby-making is a lot more fun isn't fair, either, and that balances everything.

BONUS ARTICLE

Self-Reliance

By Ralph Waldo Emerson

Editor's note: The great American philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson, wrote this essay in 1841, when individuals in his country were far more free, independent, and optimistic than today. When he writes about self-reliance he's not talking about digging our own wells or chopping our own firewood; all that was taken for granted in his day. He's talking about relying on our own minds and taking our own independent actions, regardless of what others may think, or what "authorities" may demand. Emerson's eloquent message is one that deserves repeating in this day when people are increasingly afraid to speak their minds or stand up for what they value.

Man is his own star; and the soul that can Render an honest and a perfect man Commands all light, all influence, all fate; Nothing to him falls early or too late. Our acts our angels are, or good or ill, Our fatal shadows that walk by us still. --Epilogue to Beaumont and Fletcher's Honest Man's Fortune

Cast the bantling on the rocks, Suckle him with the she-wolf's teat, Wintered with the hawk and fox, Power and speed be hands and feet.

I read the other day some verses written by an eminent painter which were original and not conventional. The soul always hears an admonition in such lines, let the subject be what it may. The sentiment they instill is of more value than any thought they may contain. To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men,--that is genius. Speak your latent conviction, and it shall be the universal sense; for the inmost in due time becomes the outmost, and our first thought is rendered back to us by the trumpets of the Last Judgment. Familiar as the voice of the mind is to each, the highest merit we ascribe to Moses, Plato, and Milton is that they set at naught books and traditions, and spoke not what men, but what they thought. A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages. Yet he dismisses without notice his thought, because it is his. In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty. Great works of art have no more affecting lesson for us than this. They teach us to abide by our spontaneous impression with good-humored inflexibility than most when the whole cry of voices is on the other side. Else to-morrow a stranger will say with masterly good sense precisely what we have thought and felt all the time, and we shall be forced to take with shame our own opinion from another.

There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better for worse as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried. Not for nothing one face, one character, one fact, makes much impression on him, and another none. This sculpture in the memory is not without preëstablished harmony. The eye was placed where one ray should fall, that it might testify of that particular ray. We but half express ourselves, and are ashamed of that divine idea which each of us represents. It may be safely trusted as proportionate and of good issues, so it be faithfully imparted, but God will not have his work made manifest by cowards. A man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work and done his best; but what he has said or done otherwise shall give him no peace. It is a deliverance which does not de-liver. In the attempt his genius deserts him; no muse befriends; no invention, no hope.

Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events. Great men have always done so, and confided themselves childlike to the genius of their age, betraying their perception that the absolutely trustworthy was seated at their heart, working through their hands, predominating in all their being. And we are now men, and must accept in the highest mind the same transcendent destiny; and not minors and invalids in a protected corner, not cowards fleeing before a revolution, but guides, redeemers, and benefactors, obeying the Almighty effort and advancing on Chaos and the Dark.

What pretty oracles nature yields us on this text in the face and behavior of children, babes, and even brutes! That divided and rebel mind, that distrust of a sentiment because our arithmetic has computed the strength and means opposed to our purpose, these have not. Their mind being whole, their eye is as yet unconquered, and when we look in their faces we are disconcerted. Infancy conforms to nobody; all conform to it; so that one babe commonly makes four or five out of the adults who prattle and play to it. So God has armed youth and puberty and manhood no less with its own piquancy and charm, and made it enviable and gracious and its claims not to be put by, if it will stand by itself. Do not think the youth has no force, because he cannot speak to you and me. Hark! in the next room his voice is sufficiently clear and emphatic. It seems he knows how to speak to his contemporaries. Bashful or bold then, he will know how to make us seniors very unnecessary.

The nonchalance of boys who are sure of a dinner, and would disdain as much as a lord to do or say aught to conciliate one, is the healthy attitude of human nature. A boy is in the parlor what the pit is in the playhouse; independent, irresponsible, looking out from his corner on such people and facts as pass by, he tries and sentences them on their merits, in the swift, summary way of boys, as good, bad, interesting, silly, eloquent, troublesome. He cumbers himself never about consequences, about interests; he gives an independent, genuine verdict. You must court him; he does not court you. But the man is as it were clapped into jail by his consciousness. As soon as he has once acted or spoken with éclat he is a committed person, watched by the sympathy or the hatred of hundreds, whose affections must now enter into his account. There is no Lethe for this. Ah, that he could pass again into his neutrality! Who can thus avoid all pledges and, having observed, observe again from the same unaffected, unbiased, unbribable, unaffrighted innocence,--must always be formidable. He would utter opinions on all passing affairs, which being seen to be not private but necessary, would sink like darts into the ear of men and put them in fear.

These are the voices which we hear in solitude, but they grow faint and inaudible as we enter into the world. Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. Society is a joint-stock company, in which the members agree, for the better securing of his bread to each shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater. The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion. It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs.

Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist. He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness, but must explore if it be goodness. Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the world. I remember an answer which when quite young I was prompted to make to a valued adviser who was wont to importune me with the dear old doctrines of the church. On my saying, "What have I to do with the sacredness of traditions, if I live wholly from within?" my friend suggested,--"But these impulses may be from below, not from above." I replied, "They do not seem to me to be such; but if I am the Devil's child, I will live then from the Devil." No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature. Good and bad are but names very readily transferable to that or this; the only right is what is after my constitution; the only wrong what is against it. A man is to carry himself in the presence of all opposition as if every thing were titular and ephemeral but he. I am ashamed to think how easily we capitulate to badges and names, to large societies and dead institutions. Every decent and well-spoken individual affects and sways me more than is right. I ought to go upright and vital, and speak the rude truth in all ways. If malice and vanity wear the coat of philanthropy, shall that pass? If an angry bigot assumes this bountiful cause of Abolition, and comes to me with his last news from Barbadoes, why should I not say to him, "Go love thy infant; love thy wood-chopper; be good-natured and modest; have that grace; and never varnish your hard, uncharitable ambition with this incredible tenderness for black folk a thousand miles off. Thy love afar is spite at home." Rough and graceless would be such greeting, but truth is handsomer than the affectation of love. Your goodness must have some edge to it,--else it is none. The doctrine of hatred must be preached, as the counteraction of the doctrine of love, when that pules and whines. I shun father and mother and wife and brother when my genius calls me. I would write on the lintels of the door-post, Whim. I hope it is somewhat better than whim at last, but we cannot spend the day in explanation. Expect me not to show cause why I seek or why I exclude company. They again, do not tell me, as a good man did to-day, of my obligation to put all poor men in good situations. Are they my poor? I tell thee, thou foolish philanthropist, that I grudge the dollar, the dime, the cent I give to such men as do not belong to me and to whom I do not belong. There is a class of persons to whom by all spiritual affinity I am bought and sold; for them I will go to prison if need be; but your miscellaneous popular charities; the education at college of fools; the building of meeting-houses to the vain end to which many now stand; alms to sots, and the thousand-fold Relief Societies;-- though I confess with shame I sometimes succumb and give the dollar, it is a wicked dollar, which by and by I shall have the manhood to withhold.

Virtues are, in the popular estimate, rather the exception than the rule. There is the man and his virtues. Men do what is called a good action, as some piece of courage or charity, much as they would pay a fine in expiation of daily non-appearance on parade. Their works are done as an apology or extenuation of their living in the world,--as invalids and the insane pay a high board. Their virtues are penances. I do not wish to expiate, but to live. My life is for itself and not for a spectacle. I much prefer that it should be of a lower strain, so it be genuine and equal, than that it should be glittering and unsteady. I wish it to be sound and sweet, and not to need diet and bleeding. I ask primary evidence that you are a man, and refuse this appeal from the man to his actions. I know that for myself it makes no difference whether I do or forbear those actions which are reckoned excellent. I cannot consent to pay for a privilege where I have intrinsic right. Few and mean as my gifts may be, I actually am, and do not need for my own assurance or the assurance of my fellows any secondary testimony.

What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and in intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness. It is the harder because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it. It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.

The objection to conforming to usages that have become dead to you is that it scatters your force. It loses your time and blurs the impression of your character. If you maintain a dead church, contribute to a dead Bible-society, vote with a great party either for the government or against it, spread your table like base housekeepers,--under all these screens I have difficulty to detect the precise man you are: and of course so much force is withdrawn from your proper life. But do your work, and I shall know you. Do your work, and you shall reinforce yourself. A man must consider what a blind-man's-buff is this game of conformity. If I know your sect I anticipate your argument. I hear a preacher announce for his text and topic the expediency of one of the institutions of his church. Do I not know beforehand that not possibly can he say a new spontaneous word? Do I not know that with all this ostentation of examining the grounds of the institution he will do no such thing? Do I not know that he is pledged to himself not to look but at one side, the permitted side, not as a man, but as a parish minister? He is a retained attorney, and these airs of the bench are the emptiest affectation. Well, most men have bound their eyes with one or another handkerchief, and attached themselves to some one of these communities of opinion. This conformity makes them not false in a few particulars, authors of a few lies, but false in all particulars. Their every truth is not quite true. Their two is not the real two, their four not the real four; so that every word they say chagrins us and we know not where to begin to set them right. Meantime nature is not slow to equip us in the prison-uniform of the party to which we adhere. We come to wear one cut of face and figure, and acquire by degrees the gentlest asinine expression. There is a mortifying experience in particular, which does not fail to wreak itself also in the general history; I mean "the foolish face of praise," the forced smile which we put on in company where we do not feel at ease, in answer to conversation which does not interest us. The muscles, not spontaneously moved but moved by a low usurping wilfulness, grow tight about the outline of the face, with the most disagreeable sensation.

For nonconformity the world whips you with its displeasure. And therefore a man must know how to estimate a sour face. The by-standers look askance on him in the public street or in the friend's parlor. If this aversion had its origin in contempt and resistance like his own he might well go home with a sad countenance; but the sour faces of the multitude, like their sweet faces, have no deep cause, but are put on and off as the wind blows and a newspaper directs. Yet is the discontent of the multitude more formidable than that of the senate and the college. It is easy enough for a firm man who knows the world to brook the rage of the cultivated classes. Their rage is decorous and prudent, for they are timid, as being very vulnerable themselves. But when to their feminine rage the indignation of the people is added, when the ignorant and the poor are aroused, when the unintelligent brute force that lies at the bottom of society is made to growl and mow, it needs the habit of magnanimity and religion to treat it godlike as a trifle of no concernment.

The other terror that scares us from self-trust is our consistency; a reverence for our past act or word because the eyes of others have no other data for computing our orbit than our past acts, and we are loath to disappoint them.

But why should you keep your head over your shoulder? Why drag about this corpse of your memory, lest you contradict somewhat you have stated in this or that public place? Suppose you should contradict yourself; what then? It seems to be a rule of wisdom never to rely on your memory alone, scarcely even in acts of pure memory, but to bring the past for judgment into the thousand-eyed present, and live ever in a new day. In your metaphysics you have denied personality to the Deity, yet when the devout motions of the soul come, yield to them heart and life though they should clothe God with shape and color. Leave your theory, as Joseph his coat in the hand of the harlot, and flee.

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day.--"Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood."--Is it so bad then to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood. . . .

Source: The Complete Essays and Other Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Brooks Atkinson, ed., 1940), 145-52.
 

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