Page:Thoreau - His Home, Friends and Books (1902).djvu/235

Rh, were at the roots of his philosophy, its branches were truth, purity, justice and faith. It would be tautologic to example these traits in Thoreau's life. They were its firm, increasing elements, they became the motors of steadfast, noble acts and words. Truth was the beacon of his character, and its full glare he turned upon his ideals, his deeds and his faith. Like all men of poetic nature, he often felt that he failed to attain his most desired aspirations. In his journals, he reiterates his failures; in answer to the possible charge of egotism in thought, though it was often present in manner, he confesses a consciousness of his own unworthiness and declares that none can esteem him so faulty as does his own conscience. Though dogmatic in announcing the details of his principles for conduct, he was always humble in comments on his ideals and their application;—"Be resolutely and faithfully what you are, be humbly what you aspire to be."

Literature cannot show example of a man of greater purity of thought and deed than was Thoreau. He recognized in nature the constant query,—"Are you virtuous? Then you may behold me." Any lapse from absolute cleanliness of thought or word met his instant, vehement denunciation, any coarseness or vulgarity he could never endure. His