234 Idle Days in Patagonia. 



braidings against the permitting stars. But this 

 august dignity I treat of, is not the dignity of kings 

 and robes, but the abounding dignity which has no 

 robed investiture. Thou shalt see it shining in the 

 arm that wields a pick and drives a spike ; that 

 democratic dignity which, on all hands, radiates 

 without end from God Himself." 



There is then something to be said in favour of 

 this animal and primitive nature in us. Thoreau, 

 albeit so spiritually-minded, could yet " reverence " 

 that lower nature in him which made him brother 

 to the brute. He experienced and fully appreciated 

 its tonic effect. And until we get a better civili- 

 zation more equal in its ameliorating effect on 

 all classes if there must be classes and more 

 likely to endure, it is perhaps a fortunate thing 

 that we have so far failed to eliminate the " savage " 

 in us the " Old Man " as some might prefer to 

 call it. Not a respectable Old Man, but a very 

 useful one occasionally, when we stand in sore 

 need of his services and he comes promptly and 

 unsummoned to our aid. 



