

PREFACE. 



THE biographical sketch by Emerson which pre 

 cedes the two papers by Thoreau, here printed, has 

 this advantage over most biographies, that it helps 

 one to understand the real man, and does not shut 

 up the reader s interest in a knowledge of the mere 

 circumstances of Thoreau s life. It is like a portrait 

 which carries the eye straight to the character of the 

 man portrayed, and does not arrest it at the dress or 

 decorations. Indeed, Emerson was so impressed by 

 the life and character of Thoreau that he forgot to 

 mention the fact of his death. Thoreau died May 6, 

 1862. The only full narrative of his life is to be 

 found in the volume Henry D. Thoreau, contributed 

 jy his friend and fellow-townsman, F. B. Sanborn, to 

 lfte series of American Men of Letters. 



Thoreau s own writings, however, furnish a still 

 fuller account of his observations and thoughts. The 

 first to appear was A Week on the Concord and 

 Merrimac Rivers, published in 1849. It was a nar 

 rative of the adventure which he and his brother 

 enjoyed ten years before, shortly after he graduated 

 from college, when in a boat of their own making 



