HENEY D. THOEEAtr 3 



a book or a lecture or an essay, we are told, he 

 went to his journal for the greater share of his ma- 

 terial. He revised and corrected and supplemented 

 his record from day to day and from year to year, 

 till it often reflects truly his life and mind. He 

 was a man so thoroughly devoted to principle and 

 to his own aims in life that he seems never to have 

 allowed himself one indifferent or careless moment. 

 He was always making the highest demands upon 

 himself and upon others. 



In his private letters his bow is strung just as 

 taut as in his printed works, and he uses arrows 

 from the same quiver, and sends them just as high 

 and far as he can. In his journal it appears to be 

 the same. 



Thoreau's fame has steadily increased since his 

 death, in 1862, as it was bound to do. It was 

 little more than in the bud at that time, and its 

 full leaf and flowering are not yet, perhaps not in 

 many years yet. He improves with age; in fact, 

 requires age to take off a little of his asperity and 

 fully ripen him. The generation he lectured so 

 sharply will not give the same heed to his words as 

 will the next and the next. The first effect of the 

 reading of his books, upon many minds, is irritation 

 and disapproval; the perception of their beauty and 

 wisdom comes later. He makes short work of our 

 prejudices ; he likes the wind in his teeth, and to 

 put it in the teeth of his reader. He was a man 

 devoid of compassion, devoid of sympathy, devoid 

 of generosity, devoid of patriotism, as these words 



