Page:Winter - from the Journal of Henry D. Thoreau.djvu/419

Rh it were visible, or I could cast up some fine dust which would betray it, it would take a corresponding shape. The bluebird does not come till the air consents, and his wedge will enter easily.

What a poem is this of spring, so often repeated! I am thrilled when I hear it spoken of as the Spring of such a year, that Fytte of the glorious epic.

Feb. 18, 1860. I think the most important requisite in describing an animal is to be sure that you give its character and spirit, for in that you have, without error, the sum and effect of all its parts, known and unknown. You must tell what it is to man. Surely the most important part of an animal is its anima, its vital spirit, on which is based its character, and all the particulars by which it most concerns us. Yet most scientific books which treat of animals leave this out altogether, and what they describe are, as it were, phenomena of dead matter. What is most interesting in a dog, for instance, is his attachment to his master, his intelligence, courage, and the like, and not his anatomical structure, and even many habits which affect us less. If you have undertaken to write the biography of an animal, you must present to us the living creature, i. e., a result which no man can understand. He can only, in his degree, report