Page:Thoreau - His Home, Friends and Books (1902).djvu/80

60 blame upon his teachers for his lapses but referred to his own roaming babits,—"Those hours that should have been devoted to study have been spent in scouring the woods and exploring the lakes and streams of my native village." Despite these assertions of negligence, always to be considered as extravagant in self-depreciation, be showed sufficient brain-power so that his family decided to send him through Harvard, though this would involve careful planning of the financial resources. There are hints that this ambition was stronger on the part of his family than as his own desire. As youth and man, he was always best content at home and disliked contact with many strangers. Later, during absence, be wrote his mother, "Methinks, I should be content to sit at the back-door in Concord, under the poplar-tree, henceforth forever." When away from home he pictured in imagination the distinctive occupation and pleasure of each member of the circle, and his affectionate memories gave him many a pang of nostalgia. In turn, amid home-scenes, he was full of practical sympathy. Channing, with authentic force, wrote,—"He was one of those characters who may be called household treasures; always on the spot with skilful eye and hand to raise the best melons in the market, plant the orchard with the