University of Virginia Library

1. ALL day I have walked the city, and talked with my
     friends, and thought of prudence,
Of time, space, reality — of such as these, and abreast
     with them, prudence.

2. After all, the last explanation remains to be made
     about prudence,
Little and large alike drop quietly aside from the
     prudence that suits immortality.

3. The Soul is of itself,
All verges to it — all has reference to what ensues,
All that a person does, says, thinks, is of conse-
     quence,
Not a move can a man or woman make, that affects
     him or her in a day, month, any part of the
     direct life-time, or the hour of death, but the
     same affects him or her onward afterward
     through the indirect life-time.

4. The indirect is more than the direct,
The spirit receives from the body just as much as it
     gives to the body, if not more.

5. Not one word or deed — not venereal sore, discolor-
     ation, privacy of the onanist, putridity of gluttons
     or rum-drinkers, peculation, cunning, betrayal,
     murder, seduction, prostitution, but has results
     beyond death, as really as before death.

6. Charity and personal force are the only investments
     worth anything.

7. No specification is necessary — all that a male or
     female does, that is vigorous, benevolent, clean,
     is so much profit to him or her, in the unshakable
     order of the universe, and through the whole
     scope of it forever.

8. Who has been wise, receives interest,
Savage, felon, President, judge, farmer, sailor, me-
     chanic, young, old, it is the same,
The interest will come round — all will come round.

9. Singly, wholly, to affect now, affected their time, will
     forever affect, all of the past, and all of the
     present, and all of the future,
All the brave actions of war and peace,
All help given to relatives, strangers, the poor, old,
     sorrowful, young children, widows, the sick, and
     to shunned persons,
All furtherance of fugitives, and of the escape of
     slaves,
All self-denial that stood steady and aloof on wrecks,
     and saw others fill the seats of the boats,
All offering of substance or life for the good old cause,
     or for a friend's sake, or opinion's sake,
All pains of enthusiasts, scoffed at by their neighbors,
All the limitless sweet love and precious suffering of
     mothers,
All honest men baffled in strifes recorded or unre-
     corded,
All the grandeur and good of ancient nations whose
     fragments we inherit,
All the good of the hundreds of ancient nations un-
     known to us by name, date, location,
All that was ever manfully begun, whether it suc-
     ceeded or no,
All suggestions of the divine mind of man, or the
     divinity of his mouth, or the shaping of his great
     hands;
All that is well thought or said this day on any part
     of the globe — or on any of the wandering stars,
     or on any of the fixed stars, by those there as we
     are here,
All that is henceforth to be thought or done by you,
     whoever you are, or by any one,
These inure, have inured, shall inure, to the identities
     from which they sprang, or shall spring.

10. Did you guess anything lived only its moment?
The world does not so exist — no parts palpable or
     impalpable so exist,
No consummation exists without being from some
     long previous consummation — and that from
     some other,
Without the farthest conceivable one coming a bit
     nearer the beginning than any.

11. Whatever satisfies Souls is true,
Prudence entirely satisfies the craving and glut of
     Souls,
Itself finally satisfies the Soul,
The Soul has that measureless pride which revolts
     from every lesson but its own.

12. Now I give you an inkling,
Now I breathe the word of the prudence that walks
     abreast with time, space, reality,
That answers the pride which refuses every lesson but
     its own.

13. What is prudence, is indivisible,
Declines to separate one part of life from every part,
Divides not the righteous from the unrighteous, or
     the living from the dead,
Matches every thought or act by its correlative,
Knows no possible forgiveness or deputed atonement,
Knows that the young man who composedly perilled
     his life and lost it, has done exceeding well for
     himself, without doubt,
That he who never perilled his life, but retains it to
     old age in riches and ease, has probably achieved
     nothing for himself worth mentioning;
Knows that only the person has really learned, who
     has learned to prefer results,
Who favors body and Soul the same,
Who perceives the indirect assuredly following the
     direct,
Who in his spirit in any emergency whatever neither
     hurries or avoids death.