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298 imitator who, lacking Emerson's grace of form, surpassed him in expulsive and oracular force. Such comment is entirely unfair to both writers and would seem a bombastic application of Emerson's own doctrine of compensation.

While much that Thoreau wrote was by nature perishable, while doubtless in his own revision much would have been discarded, and the wisdom of its publication may be questioned, there remain many pages of rare value, sufficient to ensure his place among the world's benefactors in literature. In his recent volume of historical criticism, "The Literary History of America," Mr. Barrett Wendell, who always speaks with authority, represents the latest judgment on Thoreau as author. Of him, Mr. Wendell says,—"For whatever the quality of Thoreau's philosophy, the man was in his own way a literary artist of unusual merit."

The new interest in nature-study, among young and old during the last few years, has greatly extended knowledge of Thoreau among general readers. Mr. Burroughs has chosen two excellent adjectives to characterize these writings and their progressive effects upon the average reader. He calls them "the raciest and most antiseptic books in English literature," and adds,—"The first effect of the reading of his books upon many minds, is