Page:Thoreau - His Home, Friends and Books (1902).djvu/189

From the focus of this century it is not difficult to laud, as brave and prophetic, Thoreau's words and deeds, for the world has grown in admiration of true heroism in whatever form, but to his contemporaries, while they deplored existent conditions, such bold, decisive steps savored of anarchy. It was that critical decade before the courage of conviction and action had awakened, and many brave men advocated the doctrine of patience and silence. A reformer or prophet can never be understood by his neighbors,—his deeds and words need the light of subsequent events and balanced judgments after white heat has subsided, or they will lack true interpretation. One can readily revert to the conditions of sixty years ago and imagine the effect, in a small village, of such an unprecedented excitement as Thoreau's lodgment in jail. Probably the surprise was less astounding in this case than it would have been if related of any other villager. The years, however, passed quietly by, the man pursued his serene life, avoiding all publicity, writing his books and essays, reading his lectures, making an occasional excursion, or spending a few consecutive weeks at surveying or pencil-making? years of industry, sturdiness, and creation, years of service to family and friends, years of quiet, sure expression of the nature-lore, the liter-