C xvii ] 



and Walden. It was from this storehouse, also, that 

 the books entitled Excursions, The Maine Woods, and 

 Cape Cod, were prepared, partly by Thoreau himself 

 and partly by his literary executors; and when Thor- 

 eau's complete works were published for the first time, 

 in 1906, the Journal filled fourteen of the twenty 

 volumes. '^ "For a long time," he once wrote, "I was 

 reporter to a journal, of no very wide circulation, 

 whose editor has never yet seen fit to print the bulk 

 of my contributions, and, as is too common with 

 writers, I got only my labor for my pains. However, 

 in this case my pains were their own reward." " Pains " 

 for Thoreau, doubtless, but great satisfaction, de- 

 light, and inspiration for thousands of readers in after 

 years. 



In his studies afield Thoreau sought to cover a wide 

 range of subjects, — botany, zoology, geology, ar- 

 chaeology, etc., — while in writing up his notes he com- 

 bined the ethical, the aesthetic, and the scientific with 

 the literary. Naturally, such a voluminous produc- 



' As indicating the lack of appreciation on the part of his fellow towns- 

 men toward Thoreau, the following incident was told the writer by the 

 late Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson. Travelling one day on the 

 railway with Judge E. Rockwood Hoar, an eminent citizen of Concord, 

 Colonel Higginson happened to remark that there was some likelihood of 

 Henry Thoreau's journals being published. "Henry Thoreau's journals? " 

 exclaimed Judge Hoar. "Pray tell me, who on earth would care to read 

 Henry Thoreau's journals?" The answer to Judge Hoar's query was 

 found in the fact that when these journals in their complete form were 

 first announced for publication (with some misgivings, it is said, on the 

 part of the publishers), the entire edition was subscribed for before half 

 the volumes were printed. 



