BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THOREAU. 13 



and President and College useless, on the terras of 

 his rules, that the one benefit he owed to the Col 

 lege was its library, that, at this moment, not only 

 his want of books was imperative, but he wanted a 

 larQ-e number of books, and assured him that he, 



o 



Thoreau, and not the librarian, was the proper custo 

 dian of these. In short, the President found the peti 

 tioner so formidable, and the rules getting to look so 

 ridiculous, that he ended by giving him a privilege 

 which in his hands proved unlimited thereafter. 



No truer American existed than Thoreau. His 

 preference of his country and condition was genuine 

 and his aversation from English and European man 

 ners and tastes almost reached contempt. He listened 

 impatiently to news or bon mots gleaned from London 

 circles ; and though he tried to be civil, these anec 

 dotes fatigued him. The men were all imitating each 

 other, and on a small mould. Why can they not live 

 as far apart as possible, and each be a man by him 

 self? What he sought was the most energetic na 

 ture ; and he wished to go to Oregon, not to London. 

 &quot; In every part of Great Britain,&quot; he wrote in his 

 diary, &quot; are discovered traces of the Romans, their 

 funereal urns, their camps, their roads, their dwellings. 

 But New England, at least, is not based on any Ro 

 man ruins. We have not to lay the foundations of 

 our houses on the ashes of a former civilization.&quot; 



But, idealist as he was, standing for abolition of 

 slavery, abolition of tariffs, almost for abolition of 

 government, it is needless to say he found himself 

 not only unrepresented in actual politics, but almost 

 equally opposed to every class of reformers. Yet he 

 paid the tribute of his uniform respect to the Anti- 

 Slavery Party. One man, whose personal acquaint* 



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