6 AN EGOTISTICAL CHAPTER 



kind : the power applied always exceeds the weight 

 raised." 



It was mainly to break the spell of Emerson's 

 influence and to get upon ground of my own that I 

 took to writing upon outdoor themes. I wrote half 

 a dozen or more sketches upon all sorts of open-air 

 subjects, which were published in the New York 

 "Leader." The woods, the soil, the waters, helped 

 to draw out the pungent Emersonian flavor and 

 restore me to my proper atmosphere. But to this 

 day I am aware that a suggestion of Emerson's 

 manner often crops out in my writings. His mind 

 was the firmer, harder substance, and was bound 

 to leave its mark upon my own. But, in any case, 

 my debt to him is great. He helped me to better 

 literary expression, he quickened my perception of 

 the beautiful, he stimulated and fertilized my reli- 

 gious nature. Unless one is naturally more or less 

 both of a religious and of a poetic turn, the writings 

 of such men as Emerson and Carlyle are mainly lost 

 upon him. Two thirds of the force of these writers, 

 at least, is directed into these channels. It is the 

 quality of their genius, rather than the scope and 

 push of their minds, that endears them to us. They 

 quicken the conscience and stimulate the character 

 as well as correct the taste. They are not the spokes- 

 men of science or of the reason, but of the soul. 



About this period I fell in with Thoreau's " Wal- 

 den," but I am not conscious of any great debt to 



