The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1891-12-12
HENRY THOREAU.

- ~
HENRY THOREAU.
Lecture at st. Thomas Aquinas Seminary
on the American Author, By
Prof. Vincent.
On Saturday evening, Nov. 2lst. Prof.
Vincent, of Philadelphia. delivered q
very interesting lecture on the above au-
thor. After having narrated q little OF
his experience as lecturer for the past
six years, he proceeded as follows:
"Henry Thoreau is an author and al
man who is misjudged by many. He is
not one you meet every day. He is q
perfectly unique figure; man content
to live q life according to his genius
without regard to anybody else. And as
he lived SO he wrote; his writings mir
ror the man, so that Thoreau is his own
commentator. He lived alone, practi-
cally shut off from the world. Yet he
was not selfish; his was a philanthroplc
life. His growth as literateur was
slow. He did not sacrifice his own
ideas for the sake of catering pleasing
but volatile things for the public. he
wrote more because he had a few ideas
than because he was literary man. A
lover of privacy he was never in want OF
companions when he had himself. His
first hook had an exceedingly slow sale.
There were 1000 copies in the first edi-
ton, but it was not very long until his
publisher informed him that he had
some two thirds of the whole on hand
and was not likely to be able to dispose
of them. Thoreau, not in the least dis
oouraged, brought home the 700 volumes
left and congratulated himself on such
an addition to his lbrary-all written
by himself Such was the beginning OF
this remarkable career. His writings
passed unnoticed. The mon of his DAY
did not recognize his genius; but works
like his cannot perish. Ii he was neg
lected then, now, if late, at least an
ample justice has been paid him. There
is always q place, and a permanent one,
in our literature for the writings of one
who, like Thoreau, scars beyond bis
contemporaries, not alone in thought
and in earnestness, but in the healthy
and stimulating tone which peryades all
he has left us.
Thoreau was born in 1917 at Concord
Mass, and he rarely left his native vii.
lage. There no found enough to inspire
him in every field of literature he cult.
waited. There was no necessity for going
beyond that historic spot; and an his
toric spot it was. Its foundations were
laid two and half centuries before by
men of indomitable energy. The In
dams then owned the country and made
it 80 hot for the settlers that their first
years crop was so slight that they were
forced to cut their bread IN very thin
slices. They perseyered. however, and
the time came when they took counsel
with themselves as to whether they-4OO
strong-should stand against foreign
army. Like the plucky men that they
were, stand they did, and won; and
there on Concord Bridge was struck the
first blow for independence, on the 10Th
of April, 1875. But this was not all.
Tt is memorable place in the history OF
our literature. 1t was the bone Of En-
erson, and of Brownson, and of Marga-
ret Fuller, and there the married life OF
Nathaniel Hawthorne began. Such was
Thoreau's birthplace. His boyhood Was
like most other youngsters. In those
days he went barefoot; he had sleigh
| like others, but his was not shod with
iron. He went to school at an early age
and 80 staid and serious was he there,
that his companions nick-named hin;
''the judge" The ''eau" tells us that he
was of French extraction. His grand
father came from the Island of Jersey.
His father was man exceedingly fond
Of minding his own business. His
mother was a very satirical woman.
Her strong point was the ''impassioned
monologue." Verify was she daugh-
ter of Eve. An Oriental fable tells US
| that our first parents were created and
placed in the garden Of paradise with
out the faculty of speech; but that af-
ter some time nine baskets of talk were
let down from Heaven and Eve appro-
priated six out of the nine baskets, and
ever since woman talks twice as much
as man. Such was Thoreau's mother,
and he was the third child of her fam
lily.
He entered Harvard in his fourteenth
year. He was remarkable student,
but not remarkable for any particular
branch, as he, invariably neglected the
class business. He obtained neither
honors nor prizes, but he was a great and
omuiverous reader. He did not remain
very long there and his first endeavor
for livelihood was schoolmasterinR.