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2 November 1856, Sunday; ca. 7:30 p.m.
Perth Amboy, New Jersey; Unionists’ Hall, Eagleswood Community
"Walking, or the Wild"
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NARRATIVE OF EVENT: (See also lecture 51 above
and lecture 53 below.) Thoreau, in his journal and recovered correspondence, had little to
say about his surveying at Eagleswood; he had even less to say about his lecturing. His
journal entry for 27 October 1856 opens, "Began to survey along the shore and through
the woods," followed by botanical observations. His next entry, for Sunday, 2
November, is entirely devoted to botanizing, with no mention of his talk that day (J,
9:136-37). Indeed, Thoreau’s only known mention of this lecture is in his 19 November
letter to H. G. O. Blake, where he reports having "read three of my old lectures . .
. to the Eagleswood people, and, unexpectedly, with rare success—i.e., I was
aware that what I was saying was silently taken in by their ears" (C, p. 441).
For the precise date and subject of
Thoreau’s second Eagleswood lecture, the journal kept by a visiting Bronson Alcott
and a related letter from Alcott to his wife are the extant sources. Alcott, who was
spending the winter in New York, wrote in his journal entry for Saturday, 1 November,
"I take the boat Thomas Hunt for Perth Amboy, and dine with Thoreau at the Springs,
Eagleswood, where I sleep. Thoreau is here surveying Eagleswood Estate for Mr. Spring and
Company." And in his 2 November entry, Alcott recorded, "Evening: Thoreau reads
his lecture on ‘Walking,’ and interests his company deeply in his treatment of
nature. Never had such a walk as this been taken by any one before, and the conversation
so flowing and lively and curious—the young people enjoying it particularly."1 One wonders if this enthusiastically received second
reading improved Thoreau’s opinion of the brightness of the Eagleswood children as
reported in his letter to Sophia the previous evening (see lecture 51 above).
A 13 November 1856 letter from Bronson to
Abigail Alcott, then in Walpole, New Hampshire, gives day-by-day accounts of his recent
activities. The account for 2 November confirms both Thoreau’s successful lecture and
the flagging fortunes of the Raritan Bay Unionists:
Sunday 2.—This morning see Edward
Palmer at the Union Buildings. He tells me that my friend Barker of Providence offers me a
building lot at Eaglewood if I will come here to reside. We walk over the domain and look
at scites [sic] for gardens and cottages. At 10 1/2 we meet at the Union Hall and discuss
Liberty and Responsibility to good effect: Mr and Mrs Weld, the Springs, Mr Reed, Dr.
Redfield, Thoreau, Mr Cutler, and others taking parts in the Conversation. After dinner,
take a walk with Mr. Weld, and talk of the present condition and prospects of the Union
and School. He waits to see whether they can maintain themselves and win the public
favour: wishes myself and family were here but dares not recommend our coming under the
circumstances. The present season will determine matters.—Returning, I have some
conversation with Mrs. Weld who expressed freely her doubts of the final success of the
enterprize and dissuaded our coming for the present. Company at Mr. Spring’s at
supper, and flowing talk. Evening, Thoreau reads his lecture on Walking to the whole
company, and interests all. It was the first and only walk any one had ever taken, and a
signal success.—I discuss Eaglewood as a residence with Mr. and Mrs. Spring till late
bed time. They also speak cautiously, and approve waiting a little.2
ADVERTISEMENTS, REVIEWS, AND
RESPONSES: See "Narrative of Event" above.
DESCRIPTION OF TOPIC: See
lectures 31-32 and 40-41 in the "Before Walden" calendar, and lecture 45
above.
Notes
1. The Journals of
Bronson Alcott, ed. Odell Shepard (Boston: Little, Brown, 1938), p. 287. [Back to Text]
2. Alcott, Letters,
p. 209. [Back to Text] |