[ xvi ] 



ward world, and few have been so thoroughly alive to 

 the advantages of world-wide travel. But this ex- 

 perience was denied him, and all he could say was, "I 

 have travelled a great deal — in Concord." 



And Thoreau's travels were to some purpose. They 

 did not terminate with his own enjoyment. For the 

 greater part of his life he kept a careful and extended 

 record of his daily excursions and observations, ac- 

 companied with a multitude of first-hand — often 

 elaborate — moral and philosophical meditations and 

 generalizations, all written in a chaste and pictur- 

 esque style, and all intended to serve a literary pur- 

 pose. Thoreau's vocation was that of a writer, — he 

 had as many trades, he declared, as he had fingers, 

 but literature was his chosen field, — and all his activ- 

 ity, whether bodily or mental, was devoted to this 

 one end. Thirty-seven good-sized closely written vol- 

 umes^ contain the story of his "travels," while other 

 volumes, previously written, were used in the making- 

 upof the two books which were published during his 

 lifetime, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, 



' With regard to these manuscript volumes, Thoreau's complaint will 

 be recalled: "I cannot easily buy a blank book to write thoughts in; they 

 are all ruled for dollars and cents ! " Channing tells us that, in consequence 

 of this difficulty, Thoreau was accustomed to purchase blank paper and 

 bind up his journals to suit himself. He was extremely economical in the 

 use of his material, oftentimes writing on the backs of old letters and 

 crowding his journal pages with notes. In one case, however (as shown in 

 the photograph reproduced herewith), there was a conspicuous depar- 

 ture from this rule, for he devotes an entire page to the single entry ; " Feb. 

 3d. Five minutes before 3 p.m. Father died." 



