58 With Feet to the Earth 



just been on a pilgrimage to Thoreau's 

 stamping-ground," than he brightened and 

 beamed in the friendliest way and began 

 to chat without restraint. 



Absolutely the simplest being, in his 

 talk and manner, that ever I met was 

 Emerson. The sweetness and purity of his 

 nature expressed themselves in his smile. 

 He showed from the car window where 

 Thoreau's hut had stood. " More like an 

 Indian," said he, speaking of the hermit, 

 "than a white man. He was free and 

 strange. If he found the sky clear when 

 he got up in the morning he might say, 

 'This is a good day to go to the White 

 Mountains,' and shut his door and trudge 

 off to the White Mountains just as he 

 would go to the spring for a drink. He 

 used to come up through the woods and 

 call on us without ceremony, and help 

 himself to any axe or spade or bucket that 

 he found on my premises, and would 

 keep it until he was through with it." A 

 reminiscent twinkle here. Thoreau was 

 neither romantic nor misanthropic, nor 

 was he unhappy. His nature had nothing 



