New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1866-10-25
NEW PUBLICATIONS.

"A
EORh PAPERS ~ Hsss1 RIO IsonsIo AS.Ses o. c.
ws1 The c0Ps S 'T S , bO.sor ls.p n
In Concord, one Spring morning. four years sgo
there passed away quiet man, who wore coarse
shoes and shabby raiment, and sometimes, being in
want of money made few lesdpencils, or taught q
while OF surveyed bis neighbors' fields but for the
most part seemed aimless and idle. The villagers
knew him for an eccentric citizen who refused TO pay
big poll tax-his friends knew him for rare soul with
vomanly purity and subtle ntelleet-a few readers
who took up eagerly any printed page Of his, knew
him for the closest Of observers the most daring yet
tie most devOut Of meditative thinkers the finest Of
painters Of what things he bad seen, the most daunt
less apostle Of those things which, unseen he yet be-
heyed. At the time Of his death. bnt few Of his
shorter papers had been published. He was con-
trbutor to the old DIAL but articles which he sent TO
other periodicals wererTejected, or returned with
request that he would sbate something of their terri
bic demand for absolute truth, or justice which, of
course this brave seer refused to do Only since he
died have had nearly all the Atlantic" series Of
bis articles, his Letters to Various Persons his
"Cepe Cod, and now the Yankee in Canada"
In all are noticeable the same marvellous power OF
observation which is like sixth sense, the same in
nmaey with nature as he were the dearest Of all her
children and TO him she had whispered her most
sacred secrets 80 nat ner symbols cease 10 DC VaS 10
him, and become shrnes; the same wonderful power
of description by which he gives us the picture or the
fact il stands, without color from his fancy-hs
fancy that was yet so dainty and SO keen; the same
amazing accuracy Of statement, unimpeachable as the
multiplication table; the same instant translation Of
these Manufactured facts into shining msgnatiOns
with celestial wisdom their lips; the neglect
Of method or Of art, so that sentence rhytbmcal
and graceful and pelucid is set among Others care
less to rudeness and ruggedness; and the same ex-
quiste poetic and defective lyrical constructive
ness, or temperament or method, which makes so
much of his prose poetic and so few of his poems pure
poetry.
His sincerity is so utter almost so austere as 10
seem sometimes like humor. Perhaps no ether man
who lived to be a. years Of age, and whose genius
was fit TO solve the most complex problems OF life,
ever possessed so much other Torldhness as be-
He wrote once: The youth gets together his mate
rails to build bridge to the moon, or perchance, q
palace temple the earth, and at length the mid
dleaged man concludes TO build swOod-shed OF them
Thoreau never built wOod-sheds but ladders reaching
10 the interchangeable skies wherein the angels OF his
pure thoughts passed continually up and down. or,
perhaps temples TO the Eternal Spirit, rough.hewn
and irregular but with windows all sfame with a
light not of earth and an altar on which burned STEAD
ny a celestial Are. For this man who never went TO
church. and once refused to pay tax levied upon
him as one of a congregation OF which he was not
member, was living gospel. There was no place III
him for ignOble thought TO build, no capacity in.
him 70 handle an ignObe deed His creed demanded
not only purity, but excellence. Somewhere he says
." Be not simply good. Be good for something"
And again, something like this at is not enough
that we truthful; must cherish and carry out
high purposes to be truthful about" .r .......
This then is our tourist. A man who travels with
no handbook, with no letters Of introduction, with
no intent to see the men who have most silver
plate, aud richest carpets; who is numbered by no
pOrtmanteau but carries bis scanty changes IN a
handkerchief and bears pocket-e0mpass in place Of
yislting-caTds. man who takes nothing on trust,
bat asks every custom, and every show what excuse
has for being: whose veneration is SO deep that
neither tradition, nor antiquity, nor precedent, nor
worship, ceremonial, nor law has any significance
TO him except as 10 interpres the higher life Parson
and people, judge and criminal, lord and menial,
church end State be calls before the bar Of bis judg
ment and sentences, without respect of persons.
THAT terrible Thoreau" bis friends used to call him,
90 searching his analysis, &C keen his insight.
II fear have not much to say about Canada"
SAYS this reaBt, not having seen much; what
got by going to Canada was a cold. wished
only TO be set down in Canada and take one honest
walk there, as might in Concord roads OF an alter
noon" Yet in his ten days, to which he was limited
having gone on q cheap excursion he saw all that
vas Characteristic of Canada and gives US study
minute a. Dutch interior and picturesque as Mlais.
Peering from his little square of window at Keene
as the rush through, he mOralzes after quaint
aud charming fashions "Keene-s strikes the traveller
fayorably; il is wide, level, straight and long.
have heard one OF my relatives, who was born and
bred there, say that you could see a chicken run
this town settled they laid out street four rods
wide but at subsequent meeting Of the proprieOrs
one rose aud remarked: We have plenty of room,
why not make the street eight rods wide = and so
they voted that il should be eight rods wide, and the
town is known far and near for its handsome street
II was 9 cheap way of securing comfort as well as
fame and wish that all new towns would take pat
tern from this Its best to lay our plans widely IN
youth for then land cheap and il is but too easy 10
contract our views afterward Youths so laid out
with broad avenues and parks that they may make
handsome and liberal old men Show me youth
whose mind is like some Washington City OF msgnih-
cent distances, prepared for the most remotely sue
cessfu and glorious life after ALL when those spaces
Ghal be built and the idea ofthe founder be
allied. j trust that every New-Englad boy Will
begin By laying cut Keene-st., through his head,
eight rods wide know one such Washington City
Of man whose lots as yet only surveyed and.
saked out and except cluster Of shanties here and
there only the capitol stands there for all structures,
and every day you may from sfar his prncey idea
borne coach.wise along the spacious but yet empty
avenues" .uf.r-.lfs t FL -.t
All through Vermont he finds the way full Of in.
tercst. Crossing the unmarked physical boundary be-
tween the States and Canada, nice observation re-
Veals the action Of new laws and another people.
Everywhere soldiers are seen drilling. and in maneu
far better than militia This was before
the wary Looking at them, this shrewd New-En-
gander observes: II thought that the Yankee,
though undisciplned, had this advantage at least,
that he especially is a man who everywhere, and
under all circumstances is fuy resolved 70 better his
condition essentially, and therefore he could afford
to be beaten ct first; while the virtue of the Inshman
and to great extent the Eoglishmsn, consists in
merely maintaining bis ground OF condition"
Approaching Montreal whose tin roofs flashed in
the sun, be says: "Ther reflections feel the eye
like clash Of cyntbals on the ear" .~.' u.
The great Cathedral OF Notre Dame, the largest
IN Anarioa him With vasfnaae