° ° PVS ° ° rSrS i^7Z^Z« THE PUBLIC LIBRARY i OF THE CITY OF BOSTON LONGFELLOW MEMORIAL COLLECTION-gM3SM2S3 FROM THE FUND GIVEN BY V1CTORINE THOMAS ARTZ 1800 - «feL ° ° CltD ° ° CitTi ° ° Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from Boston Public Library http://www.archive.org/details/writingsofhenryd01thor THE WRITINGS OF HENRY DAVID THOREAU IN TWENTY VOLUMES VOLUME I MANUSCRIPT EDITION LIMITED TO SIX HUNDRED COPIES NUMBER ^r^O *z**ffieJ~y£L ls$6+^r£&^f \ ^ V * ™ V N& <^?5^S^^ Henry David Thoreau, from the daguerreotype taken by Moxham of Worcester about 1855 THE WRITINGS OF HENRY DAVID THOREAU A WEEK ON THE CONCORD AND MERRIMACK RIVERS BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN AND COMPANY MDCCCCVI COPYRIGHT 1S93 AND I906 BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. All rights reserved PUBLISHERS' ADVERTISEMENT This edition of the writings of Thoreau is complete in a way which was impossible in the case of all pre- vious editions, for it contains his entire Journal, which has only recently become available for publication. The four volumes of selections from the Journal edited by his friend and correspondent, Mr. H. G. O. Blake, into whose hands the manuscript volumes passed on the death of Thoreau's sister Sophia, contained only a small part of the whole, and reflected to some extent, as was inevitable, the tastes and interests of the editor. Moreover, the manner chosen for presenting the extracts afforded no such complete view of Thoreau's daily life and the development of his genius as is now obtainable from the entire Journal, printed in the strictly chrono- logical form, just as it was written. The writings divide themselves naturally into two sections, the Works and the Journal, the former con- taining the books, essays, lectures, addresses, and poems which Thoreau himself prepared, more or less com- pletely, for publication. (The Letters have for con- venience also been included in this section.) But while this division is natural when the writings are viewed in their present form, there is really no inherent difference between the two sections, for all Thoreau's works — the two books that he printed during his lifetime, as well as the volumes compiled after his death from his pub- vi PUBLISHERS' ADVERTISEMENT lished and unpublished essays and addresses — were drawn almost entirely from his Journal, the thoughts and observations there recorded from day to day being revised and reshaped to fit them for their more perma- nent form. By far the greater part of the earlier Journals, drawn on in the writing of " A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers " and " Walden," appears to have been destroyed by Thoreau in the process; but enough remains fortunately to show something of the author's methods of work, and the reader will find it interesting to compare the published passages indicated in the footnotes to the Journal with the original entries, to see the conditions under which the matter was first written and observe the alterations made in adapting the par- ticular to the general and giving the substance a more perfect literary form. Besides the portraits which are an indispensable accompaniment of such a definitive edition, and the numerous rude cuts, copied faithfully from Thoreau's own sketches, which will be found in the Journal, the illustrations consist of photogravures of scenes and objects described by Thoreau. For these pictures the reader is indebted to Mr. Herbert W. Gleason, whose services in illustrating this edition the Publishers count themselves especially fortunate in securing. Mr. Glea- son has made a careful study of all Thoreau's writings, including the manuscript Journal, and has explored with equal thoroughness the woods and fields of Con- cord, visiting the localities mentioned in the Journal and getting photographs, not only of the places themselves, but also of many of the fleeting phenomena of the " PUBLISHERS' ADVERTISEMENT vii natural year in the very spots where Thoreau observed them. He has even succeeded in identifying a number of localities described and named by Thoreau which had previously been unknown to any person now living in Concord. He has also followed Thoreau in his wider wanderings, and his portfolio includes views of Cape Cod, the Maine woods, and the banks of the Merrimack River. It will be apparent that Mr. Gleason's pictures are in the fullest sense illustrations of the text which they accompany. The Riverside Edition of 1893 is the basis of the present edition of Thoreau's Works, but to secure a more compact form several changes in arrangement have been necessary. Emerson's Biographical Sketch, originally published in "Excursions," and in the River- side Edition transferred to the volume entitled "Mis- cellanies," is now printed at the beginning of this first volume, "A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers," as a most fitting introduction to the complete works of his friend. "Walden" and "The Maine Woods " are printed without change. The prose papers included in the Riverside volume entitled "Miscella- nies" are now added to "Cape Cod," while the Poems appear with "Excursions" in Volume V. The sixth volume contains the " Familiar Letters " and a General Index to the Works. The four volumes of " Journal extracts edited by Mr. Blake, — " Early Spring in Massachusetts," "Summer," "Autumn," and "Win- ter," — being superseded by the publication of the com- plete Journal, are not included in the present edition. CONTENTS THE SUB-TITLES UNDER EACH DIVISION AEE OF THOREATfS POEMS AND SNATCHES OF VERSE THEREIN INCLUDED BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH BY R. W. EMERSON page xv INTRODUCTORY NOTE XLi CONCORD RIVER 3 The respectable folks 7 SATURDAY 12 Ah, 'tis in vain the peaceful din 15 Here then an aged shepherd dwelt 16 On Ponkavjtasset, since we took our way 16 SUNDAY 42 An early unconverted Saint 42 Low in the eastern sky 46 Dong, sounds the brass in the east 50 Greece, who am I that should remember thee 54 Some tumultuous little rill 62 I make ye an offer 69 Conscience is instinct bred in the house 75 Such water do the gods distill 86 That Phaeton of our day 103 MONDAY 121 Though all the fates should prove unkind 151 With frontier strength ye stand your ground 170 The western wind came lumbering in 180 " x CONTENTS Then idle Time ran gadding by 181 Now chiefly is my natal hour 182 RUMOHS FROM AN iEoLJAN HaBP 184 Away! away! away I away! 186 TUESDAY 188 Ply the oars I away ! away 1 188 Since that first "Away I away I 200 Low-anchored cloud 201 Man's little acts are grand 224 The waves slowly beat 229 Woof of the sun, ethereal gauze 229 Where gleaming fields of haze 234i Translations from Anacreon 240 Thus, perchance, the Indian hunter 247 WEDNESDAY 249 My life is like a stroll upon the beach 255 This is my Carnac, whose unmeasured dome 267 True kindness is a pure divine affinity 275 Lately, alas, I knew a gentle boy 276 The Atlantides 278 My love must be as free 297 The Good how can we trust 298 Nature doth have her dawn each day 302 Let such pure hate still underprop 305 The Inward Morning 313 THURSDAY 317 My books I 'd fain cast off, I cannot read 320 FRIDAY 356 The Poet's Delay 366 I hearing get who had but ears 372 Men dig and dive but cannot my wealth spend 373 Salmon Brook 375 CONTENTS xi Oft, as I turn me on my pillow o'er 384 7 am the autumnal sun 404 A finer race and finer fed 407 I am a parcel of vain strivings tied 410 AU things are current found 415 TABLE OF POETICAL QUOTATIONS 423 INDEX 429 A SHEET OF THOREAU S AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT IS INSERTED IN THE FRONT OF THIS VOLUME ILLUSTRATIONS HENRY DAVID THOREAU, FROM THE DA- GUERREOTYPE TAKEN BY MOXHAM OF WORCESTER ABOUT 1855 Frontispiece CARLISLE REACH, CONCORD RIVER 44 WILLIAMSTOWN FROM SADDLE-BACK MOUN- TAIN (GREYLOCK) 198 DISTANT VIEW OF UNCANNUNUC 206 THE MERRIMAC AT GOFF's FALLS 250 ON THE BANKS OF THE MERRIMAC 372 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH BY K. W. EMERSON Henry David Thoreau was the last male descend- ant of a French ancestor who came to this country from the Isle of Guernsey. His character exhibited occasional traits drawn from this blood in singular combination with a very strong Saxon genius. He was born in Concord, Massachusetts, on the 12th of July, 1817. He was graduated at Harvard Col- lege in 1837, but without any literary distinction. An iconoclast in literature, he seldom thanked colleges for their service to him, holding them in small esteem, whilst yet his debt to them was important. After leaving the University, he joined his brother in teaching a private school, which he soon renounced. His father was a manufacturer of lead-pencils, and Henry applied him- self for a time to this craft, believing he could make a better pencil than was then in use. After completing his experiments, he exhibited his work to chemists and artists in Boston, and having obtained their certificates to its excellence and to its equality with the best London manufacture, he returned home contented. His friends congratulated him that he had now opened his way to fortune. But he replied that he should never make another pencil. " Why should I ? I would not do again what I have done once." He resumed his endless walks xvi BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH and miscellaneous studies, making every day some new acquaintance with Nature, though as yet never speaking of zoology or botany, since, though very studious of natural facts, he was incurious of technical and textual science.