202 LITERARY VALUES 



all times of the day and niglit he delved into the 

 ground, he probed the swamps, he searched the 

 ■waters, he dug into 'woodchuck holes, into muskrats' 

 dens, into the retreats of the mice and squirrels ; he 

 saw every bird, heard every sound, found every 

 wild-flower, and brought home many a fresh bit of 

 natural history ; but he was always searching for 

 something he did not find. This search of his for 

 the transcendental, the unfindable, the wild that will 

 not be caught, he has set forth in a beautiful parable 

 in " Walden : " — 



" I long ago lost a hound, a bay horse, and a 

 turtle-dove, and am still on their trail. Many are 

 the travellers I have spoken concerning them, de- 

 scribing their tracks, and what calls they answered 

 to. I have met one or two who had heard the hound, 

 and the tramp of the horse, and even seen the dove 

 disappear behind a cloud ; and they seemed as 

 anxious to recover them as if they had lost them 

 themselves." 



