Page:Thoreau - His Home, Friends and Books (1902).djvu/213

Rh to his pocket, for conveyance, her manuscript, carefully folded in her handkerchief, and so saturated with strong cologne that the odor long permeated his clothes.

His was the simple, dignified courtesy of a pure, earnest nature. Mr. Ricketson well described him as "the personification of civility." This friend appreciated the latent qualities of heart which Thoreau's later years especially revealed. Repressed in early manhood, these qualities opened to the world with less frankness than the traits of mind and soul. Among some letters from Mr. Ricketson to Miss Sophia Thoreau, confided to my use, is this thought,—"I do not think that Henry was fully revealed" (the word, developed, had been written, and erased in part), "and I had looked forward to the more genial years of advanced life, when the spiritual experiences of the soul should bring us nearer together. But a truer or better man I never knew, and his like I cannot hope to meet again." Thus, one may comprehend the deferential "bared-head" tribute paid to this life of purity and uprightness, to this character full of reserves of courage and inspiration.

It has been noted that Thoreau's environment was best adapted to develop and accentuate his strong, native elements. The racial traits of