Page:Winter - from the Journal of Henry D. Thoreau.djvu/306

292 head. It was, perhaps, one of those coincidences and effects which have made men painters. I could not behold him as an actual man. He was more ideal than in any picture I have seen. He refused to be seen as actual; far in the hollow, yet somewhat enlightened aisles of this wooded dell. Some scenes will thus present themselves as picture, subjects for the pencil,  distinctly marked. They do not require the aid of genius to idealize them. They must be seen as ideal.

I am afraid to travel much, or to famous places, lest it might completely dissipate the mind. Then I am sure that what we observe at home, if we observe anything, is of more importance than what we observe abroad. The far-fetched is of the least value. What we observe in traveling are, to some extent, the accidents of the body; what we observe when sitting at home are, in the same proportion, phenomena of the mind itself. A wakeful night will yield as much thought as a long journey. If we try thoughts by their quality, not their quantity, I may find that a restless night will yield more than the longest journey.

It is remarkable that there is no man so coarse and insensible but he can be profane, can pronounce the word &quot;God&quot; with emphasis in the woods when anything happens to disturb