Thoreau's philosophy, lived and tested as an art, was fitted to his sickness and to his health, and endured triumphant to the end. In the primeval life at Walden, in the full vigor of mountain excursion, in the study, in the lecture-hall, in the sick-room, he was able to live his ideas and to fulfil his creed. He had maintained that life was a battle, "on a bed of sickness or in the tented field." He had urged courage to the very end, for "despair and postponement are cowardice and defeat." With a temperament at once fine and strong, with a dauntless will trained by years of simple, courageous life, he lived his philosophy to the last day of his life. His simple tastes, his sincere words, his constant industry, his needful leisure, his unswerving contentment and joy, his perfect faith in the future,—these tenets were maintained, even exampled, to the finish of the brave life. And this is the man that Stevenson calls a "Skulker"!
While all must recognize the merits and practical consistency of Thoreau's philosophy, it is impossible to defend it from the charges of narrowness and prejudice. Like Carlyle, he refused to bring all matters within his focus for a clear, sure vision. He exaggerated the defects, even as he minimized the benefits of society. He had lofty ideals of friendship and many devoted friends but for society
