The Thoreau
Institute at Walden Woods Library
Thoreau's Life &
Writings: Correspondence
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HDT to Ralph Waldo
Emerson
Staten Island, 14 September 1843
Dear
Friend,—
Miss Fuller will tell you the news from
these parts, so I will only devote these few moments to what she
does not know as well. I was absent
only one day and night from the Island, the family expecting me back
immediately. I was to
earn a certain sum before winter, and thought it worth the while to
try various experiments. I
carried the Agriculturist about the city, and up as far as
Manhattanville, and called at the Croton Reservoir, where indeed
they did not want any Agriculturist, but paid well enough in their
way. Literature comes to a poor market here, and even the little
that I write is more than will sell.
I have tried the Democratic Review, the New Mirror, and
Brother Jonathan. The
last two, as well as the New World, are overwhelmed with
contributions which cost
nothing, and are worth no more.
The Knickerbocker is too poor, and only the Ladies' Companion
pays. O'Sullivan is printing
the manuscript I sent him some time
ago, having objected only to my want of sympathy with the
Communities.
I doubt if you have made more corrections
in my manuscript than I should have done ere this, though they may
be better; but I am glad that you have taken any pains with it.
I have not prepared any translations for the
Dial, supposing there would be no room, though it is the only
place for them.
I have been seeing men during these days,
and trying experiments upon trees; have inserted three or four
hundred buds (quite a Buddhist, one might say). Books I have access
to through your brother and Mr. Mackean, and have read a good deal.
Quarle's Divine Poems as well
as Emblems are quite a discovery.
I am sorry that Mrs. Emerson is so
sick. Remember me to
her and to your mother. I
like to think of your living on the banks of the Mill-brook, in the
midst of the garden with all its weeds; for what are botanical
distinctions at this distance?
Your
friend,
Henry
D. Thoreau
A
Note on the Text:
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Source:
The Correspondence of Henry David Thoreau edited by
Walter Harding and Carl Bode (New York: New York University
Press, c1958) p.138-139.
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