XIII 



THOEEAU'S WILDNESS. 



■pvOUBTLESS the wildest man New England 



-*-^ has turned out since the red ahorigines vacated 



her territory was Henry Thoreau, — a man in 



whom the Indian reappeared on the plane of taste 



and morals. One is tempted to apply to him his 



own lines on " Elisha Dugan," as it is very certain 



they fit himself much more closely than they ever 



did his neighbor : — 



" man of wild habits, 

 Partridges and rabbits, 

 Who hast no cares. 

 Only to set snares, 

 Who liv'st all alone 

 Close to the bone, 

 And where life is sweetest 

 Constantly eatest." 



His whole life was a search for the wild, not only 

 in nature but in literature, in life, in morals. The 

 shyest and most elusive thoughts and impressions 

 were the ones that fascinated him most, not only in 

 his own mind, but in the minds of others. His 

 startling paradoxes are only one form his wildness 

 took. He cared little for science, except as it es- 

 caped the rules and technicalities, and put him on 

 the trail of the ideal, the transcendental. Thoreau 



