XIII
THOREAU’S WILDNESS.
DOUBTLESS the wildest man New England has turned out since the red aborigines 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:—
“O 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