Verily our ex-professor doth take Thoreau seriously; but there are other matters that he takes as seriously, namely, the misconceptions of Thoreau by all and sundry ineptitudes; and on such occasions the ex-professor certainly forgets the amenities—but righteous wrath hath also its own peculiar Amen! Having said this much, it is due the reader that he should be allowed to get a glimpse of the ex-professor in a 'spate.' Here is an instance from the same lecture:
"Now let us return to the shanty at Walden Pond wherein Thoreau dwelt alone for some two and a half years, supporting himself solely by his own labor and living so 'close to the bone.' Lowell has written that Thoreau went there in the self-assertive mood of a hermit whose seclusion is a declaration of his non-dependence
xxvi
