the Thoreau Log.
29 July 1850.

Springfield, Mass. Thoreau writes to Charles Sumner:

Dear Sir,

  I left Fire Island Beach on Saturday between nine & ten o’clock A. M. The same morning I saw on the beach, four or five miles west of the wreck, a portion of a human skeleton, which was found the day before, probably from the Elisabeth, but I have not knowledge enough of anatomy to decide confidently, as many might, whether it was that of a male or a female. I therefore hired Selah Strong, Keeper of the Light, to bury it simply for the present, and mark the spot, leaving it to future events, or a trustworthy examination, to decide the question.

  Yrs in haste
  Henry D. Thoreau

P.S. No more bodies had then been found.

(The Correspondence of Henry David Thoreau, 263)

Sumner replies 31 July.

New York, N.Y. The New-York Daily Tribune reports:

  Mr. Thoreau is still on the Island [Fire Island], endeavoring to find the manuscript of Madame Ossoli’s [Margaret Fuller] work on Italy, which is known to have reached the shore.

Concord, Mass. Ralph Waldo Emerson writes to Abby Larkin Adams:

  I sent Mr Thoreau at once to the Fire Island Beach, & he is still there endeavouring to save any Manuscripts or other property, & to learn all that could be told” (The Letters of Ralph Waldo Emerson, 4:221).

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