Impressions 



Walking has ever been a favorite theme with 

 the essayist, and many a philosopher, too, has 

 given it such attention that in these days when 

 originality seems exhausted and literary deca- 

 dence to have taken firm hold of the intellectual 

 world, whoever refers to the subject should be 

 careful that what he may say as his very own 

 thought proves not to be a crippled echo of an- 

 cient eloquence. His only excuse will be that 

 an echo may have value. If we cry out and the 

 echo is heard, we may get a reply as promptly 

 as if the original utterance fell upon the ear. 

 Whether or not it proves an oft-told tale, I 

 would speak of walking. 



The peripatetic can point to Aristotle and no 

 one can refer to a higher authority for aught he 

 does; and the peripatetic who has Nature for 

 companion is likely to prove the equal, in life's 

 tug of war, of any automobile citizen who be- 

 lieves that haste is the chief end of man. Be- 

 cause we associate life with motion and absence 

 of it with death, the former is not necessarily in 

 proportion to activity. Crystals are now said 

 to be alive, yet we cannot see them move. 

 Comets, on the other hand, are dead, yet for- 



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