American Men of Letters HENRY D. THOREAU [Illustration: Henry D. Thoreau.] American Men of Letters. HENRY D. THOREAU. BY F. B. SANBORN. _REVISED EDITION._ [Illustration] BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY The Riverside Press, Cambridge Copyright, 1882, BY F. B. SANBORN. _All rights reserved._ Much do they wrong our Henry wise and kind, Morose who name thee, cynical to men, Forsaking manners civil and refined To build thyself in Walden woods a den,-- Then flout society, flatter the rude hind. We better knew thee, loyal citizen! Thou, friendship's all-adventuring pioneer, Civility itself wouldst civilize: Whilst braggart boors, wavering 'twixt rage and fear, Slave hearths lay waste, and Indian huts surprise, And swift the Martyr's gibbet would uprear: Thou hail'dst him great whose valorous emprise Orion's blazing belt dimmed in the sky,-- Then bowed thy unrepining head to die. A. BRONSON ALCOTT CONCORD, _January, 1882_. PREFACE When, in 1879, I was asked by my friend Charles Dudley Warner to write the biography of Thoreau which follows, I was by no means unprepared. I had known this man of genius for the last seven years of his too short life; had lived in his family, and in the house of his neighbor across the way, Ellery Channing, his most intimate friend outside of that family; and had assisted Channing in the preparation and publication of his "Thoreau, the Poet-Naturalist,"--the first full biography which appeared. Not very long after Thoreau's death Channing had written me these sentences, with that insight of the future which he often displayed: "That justice can be done to our deceased brother by me, of course I do not think. But to you and to me is intrusted the care of his immediate fame. I feel that my part is not yet done, and cannot be without your aid. My little sketch must only serve as a note and advertisement that such a man lived,--that he did brave work, which must yet be given to the world. In the midst of all the cold and selfish men who knew this brave and devoted scholar and genius, why should not you be called on to make some sacrifices, even if it be to publish my sketch?" This I was ready to do in 1864; and it was through my means that the volume, then much enlarged by Channing, was published in 1873, and again, with additions and corrections, in 1902.