The Days of a Man 1868 



Nature is said to discredit even as she "abhors" a 



vacuum. 



Eager I think the word "eager" best described my 

 but . temperament as a boy. Indeed, I cannot recall a 



patient -IT r i_* 



moment since when I was not eager for something. 

 Nevertheless, this quality has been always more or 

 less obscured by a shield of optimism which friends 

 call "poise," and toward which my stature has no 

 doubt contributed. In early life I became accustomed 

 to work persistently toward desired ends and then 

 take the upshot calmly. Moreover, I never worry 

 over a mischance, once it is past. In some degree 

 the two traits, eagerness and a sort of patient opti- 

 mism, though seemingly contradictory, have always 

 gone together in my make-up. I recognize also two 

 other tendencies in lifelong competition. From my 

 father I inherited a disposition to proclaim even 

 from the housetops any fixed opinion, especially 

 if unpopular. From my mother I have the impulse 

 quietly to ignore differences when nothing is to be 

 gained by outcry. 



Religion At about the time of their marriage my parents 

 left the Baptist church because of their doubts as 

 to "eternal damnation," a leading tenet in those 

 days. Ultimately, as already implied, they joined 

 the Universalists. I was therefore brought up under 

 strong religious influences untouched by conven- 

 tional orthodoxy. My father kept abreast of the 

 writings (in part controversial) of Theodore Parker, 

 William Ellery Channing, James Freeman Clarke, 

 Thomas Starr King, and their followers. I myself 



C463 



