. . . I have never been a slave to any bad
habit, as smoking, drinking, over-feeding. I have had no social
or political ambitions; society has not curtailed my freedom or
dictated my dress or habits. Neither has any religious order or
any clique. I have had no axe to grind. I have gone with such
men and women as I liked, irrespective of any badge of wealth or
reputation or social prestige that they might wear. I have looked
for simple pleasures everywhere, and have found them. I have not
sought for costly pleasures, and do not want them--pleasures that
cost money, or health, or time. The great things, the precious
things of my life, have been without money and without price,
as common as the air.
Life has laid no urgent mission upon me. My gait has been a
leisurely one. I am not bragging of it; I am only stating a
fact. I have never felt called upon to reform the world. I
have doubtless been culpably indifferent to its troubles and
perplexities, and sins and sufferings. I lend a hand occasionally
here and there in my own neighborhood, but I trouble myself very
little about my neighbors--their salvation or their damnation.
I go my own way and do my own work.
I have loved nature, I have loved the animals, I have loved my
fellow-men. I have made my own whatever was fair and of good
report.
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