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Show 20 Henry D. Thoreau. did not fear God, not ma1 ~ l. llror mca ny compromises, nor seeking after available candidates. . "In lu. s camp," as one ha": :; recently wntten, an.d as I have d b. t te " he permitted no profamty ; no man myself hear 1m s a ' · d .1 of loose morals was suJur.e re d to remain there, unless, m ceu, as a pn.s oner of war.· , I " •ould rather,' said he., ' have the ma' ll pox ye1 1 ow fie ver, and cholera' all together In my camp, 8 than -a m·a ' n W.i thout prm. cl· pl e . * * * It is a m.i stake, sir, ' c ._ 1 ake when they think that bullies are the that our peop e tmh< t ;hey are the fit men to oppose these best fi rrbters, or a . G fi Southeor ners. G"t v.e me men of rrood princ1ples,- . ou- car- b . f . ,l ·espect themselves, and with a dozen o m rr men - men " lO I • f th:m I ,~ill oppose any hundred. such men as these B~ford ru - fians. '" IIe sm" d ttu.,a t if one offered himself to be a soldier un·rd he r 1 . llo '''a" forward to tell what he could or would do, I e urn, w ~ · 1 r:d could on 1y ge t s1. g ht 0 f the enemy' he had but htt e conn cnce in him. f l-Ie was never able to find more than a score or so o re- cru 1"t s w l1 0m he \vould accer1t ' and only ab.o ut a dozen, among them his sons, in whom be had perfect fmth. 'Vhen he '~as here, some year:·~; ago, he showed to a few a li.t tle manus.c r.i prtr book,- his ''orderly book" I think he called It,- ~ontam~no the names of his company in Kansas, and the rules by which they bound themselves ; and he stated that several of them had already sealed the contract with their blood .. v~hcn some one remarked that, with the addition of a chaplam, 1t would. have been a perfect Cromwell ian troop, he observed that he would have been glad to add a chaplain to the list, if he coul.d have found one who could fill that office worthily. It JS ~asy enourrh to find one for the United States army. I believe that he had prayers in his camp morning and evening, nevertheless. lie was a man of Spartan habits, and at sixty was scrupulous about his diet at your table, excusing himself by saying that he must eat sparingly and fare hard, as became a soldier Henry D. Thoreau. 21 m· one who was fitting himself for difficult enterprises, a life of exposure. A man of rare common sense and directness of speech, as of action; a transcendentali t above all, a man of ideas and principles,- that was what di tinguished him. Not yielding to a whim or transient impul e, but carrying out the purpose of a. life. I noticed that he did not overstate any thing, but spoke within bounds. I remember, particularly, how, in his speech here, he referred to what his family had suffered in l{an a , without ever giving the least vent to his pent-up fire. It was a volcano with an ordinary chimney-flue. Also referring to the lleeds of certain Bonier Ruffian::;, he saiu, rapidly paring away his speech, like an experienced soldier, keeping a re::;erve of force and. meaning, "They had a perfect right to be hung." Jle was not in the least a rhetorician, waa not talking to Buncombe or his con. tituents any where, had no need to invent any thing, but to tell the simple truth, and communic~ ltc his own resolution; therefore he appeared incomparably .. trong, and eloquence in Congress and elsewhere seemed to me at a eli count. It was like the speeches of Cromwell compared with tho 'e of an ordinary king. As for his tact and prudence, I will merely say, that at a time when f:Carce1y a man from the Free States was able to r<'ach Kansa by any direct route, at least without having his arms talcu fi·om him, he, carrying what imperfect guns and othtr weapons he could collect, openly and slowly drove an ox-cart through Mis ouri, apparently in the capacity of a surv• ·yor, with his surveying compass exposed in it, and so pas ·cd unsu peeted, and had ample opportunity to learn the designs of the enemy. For some time after his arrival he s till followed the same profession. When, for instance, he saw a knot of the rufnans on the prairie, discussing, of course, the single topic which then occupied their minds, he would, perhap.·, take his compass and one of his sons, and proceed to run an imaginary line right through the very spot on whi.ch |