Page:Thoreau - As remembered by a young friend.djvu/144

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HENRY THOREAU

— “I did not know we had ever quarrelled, Aunt,” was the pleasant answer.

His friend and companion, Edward Hoar, said to me, “With Thoreau's life something went out of Concord woods and fields and river that never will return. He so loved Nature, delighted in her every aspect and seemed to infuse himself into her.” Yes, something went. But our woods and waters will always be different because of this man. Something of him abides and truly “for good” in his town. Here he was born, and within its borders he found a wealth of beauty and interest — all that he asked — and shared it with us all.1

In his day, as now too, was much twilight, and men were slaves to their fears and to hobgoblins. Taking for his motto, —

“Make courage for life to be Capitaine Chief,”

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