1 84 LIBERTY AND A LIVING. 



specter of sex. " We are not what we are," 

 says he, " nor do we treat or esteem each other 

 for such but for what we are capable of being." 

 Again : " It is the merit and preservation of 

 friendship that it takes place on a higher level 

 than the actual characters of the parties would 

 seem to warrant. Is this not light in a dark 

 place ? We are different with different friends ; 

 yet if we look closer, we shall find that every 

 such relation reposes on some particular hy- 

 pothesis of one's self." Yet this analyst of 

 friendship was not friendly with many per- 

 sons and was intimate with none. Thoreau 

 had no illusions ; he does not give way to love 

 any more than to hatred, but preserves them 

 both with care, like valuable curiosities. He is 

 an egoist ; he does not remember that in these 

 near intimacies we are ninety-nine times disap- 

 pointed in our beggarly selves for once that we 

 are disappointed in our friends ; that it is we 

 who seem most frequently undeserving of the 

 love that unites us. Thoreau is after profit in 

 these intimacies ; moral profit, to be sure, but 

 still profit to himself. " If you will be the sort 

 of friend I want," he remarks, " my education 

 cannot dispense with your society." As though 



