Page:Thoreau - His Home, Friends and Books (1902).djvu/287

Rh the parlors of Mr. Blake. Together they made excursions to the adjacent hills and lakes. During the last four years of Mr. Blake's life he was a great sufferer. As long as he was able to walk, however, he carried the cane which had been Thoreau's,—a plain stick of black alder with the bark shaved away on one side and notched as a two-foot rule. This was of great service to its later owner and was valued, not alone for its association, but because it supplied him with exact measurement. His trait, par excellence in all things, like that of his master, was precision; he never "guessed," he always studied the actual truth in matters of physical as well as intellectual moment. With absolute precision he kept a diary, after the type of Thoreau's, with abundant reflections and a few events. The latter were of little variety in this quiet, scholarly life, the thoughts were many and varied. Though avoiding strangers, he was one of the most companionable of friends, and was so kindly and warm-hearted that, even at the age of eighty, he was known to his few intimates as "Harry" Blake. After the journals of Thoreau became his sacred trust, he spent his days in close study of the nature-observations and lofty ideals of this teacher. To his careful editing we owe the volumes,—"Early Spring in Massachusetts," "Summer," "Winter,"