Chapter 57 Visitors - 5

"Ah, Christian, will you send me back?" There was a real fugitive among them, and I helped him escape in the direction of the North Star.Some people have only one mind, like a hen with one chick, and some are like a duck with one duckling; some people have a lot of thoughts, like those old hens who tend to a hundred chicks Chickens, all chasing a gnat, lose a dozen or so chicks every day in the dew of dawn—and leave them ruffled and filthy; A person who walks, like an intellectual centipede, makes you tremble all over.It has been suggested that I keep the names of visitors in an autograph book, as is the case at White Mountain; alas, alas!My memory is too good to need this kind of stuff.

I can't help but discover some peculiarities of my visitors.Girls, boys, and young women are very happy in the forest.They looked at the lake, looked at the flowers, and felt that the time passed happily.Some businessmen, however, feel only lonely, thinking only of business, and feel that I live too far from here or there, and even some farmers, though they say they like to wander in the woods now and then, In fact, it is obvious that they do not like it.These anxious people, whose time is spent earning or maintaining a living; priests, who talk about God as if the subject were their monopoly, are deaf to all opinions; doctors, lawyers , the busy housekeeper inspects my cupboard and bed when I am not at home—otherwise how does Mrs. So know that my sheets are not as clean as hers? —Young people who are no longer young, who think it is safest to follow the old professional path,—these people generally say that this kind of life is not good for me.Ah, therein lies the problem!Those who are old, sick, and timid, regardless of their age or sex, think mostly of disease, accident, and death; in their view, life is full of dangers—but if you don’t think about it , then what is the danger? — They feel that a prudent man should carefully select the safest district, where a doctor can be at hand.From their point of view, the village is really a community, an alliance for common protection. As you can imagine, they even bring medicine boxes to collect lingonberries.That is to say, if a person is alive, he is in danger of death anytime and anywhere. In fact, such danger of death is relatively reduced because he is already a living dead person.Sitting alone at home is as dangerous as running outside.And lastly, there's the kind of people who call themselves reformers, who are the most annoying of all visitors, and who think I've been singing,—

This is the house I built; This is the man who lives in the house I have made; But they don't know that the next two lines are,— And it's these people who are annoying who live in the house I have built.I am not afraid of eagles that catch chickens, because I have no chickens, but I am most afraid of vultures that catch people. "Besides the last kind, I have had more pleasant visitors. Children picking berries, railroad workers walking in clean shirts, fishermen, hunters, poets and philosophers; in short, all old Honest pilgrims, who come to the woods for freedom's sake, really leave the village behind, I like to say to them, "Welcome, Englishman!Welcome, Britons! "Because I have been in contact with this nation.