5 December 1854, Tuesday
East Abington, Massachusetts

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        On 17 November 1854, Thoreau wrote to William E. Sheldon, "Thinking it possible that you might be expecting me [to] lecture before your Society on the 5th of December as I offered—I write to ask if it is so" (C, p. 351). Sheldon was the principal of a high school in East Abington, Massachusetts, and owned a first edition of Walden (anonymous, undated note citing an unspecified auction catalog and laid into folder titled "Notes on Fruits," Berg Collection, NN). But Thoreau’s journal for 5 December and the letter he wrote to Senator Charles Sumner the same day, datelined "Concord," both imply that he remained in his hometown that day (J, 7:78-79; C, p. 353).