Sunday Firesides: The Lightning of Past Summers

“No word is oftener on the lips of men than Friendship,” said Henry David Thoreau. “All men are dreaming of it, and its drama…is enacted daily.”

Given Thoreau’s misanthropic, taciturn reputation, it may seem surprising that he spoke so loftily of friendship, and especially that he associated it with “drama.”

But, in fact, few men have ever thought and fel…