Thoreau writes in his journal:
P.M.—To Hunt house . . .
Saw E. Hosmer take up the cellar stairs. They are of white oak . . .
The cowslip in pitcher has fairly blossomed to-day.
I see a large flock of grackles searching for food along the water’s edge, just below Dr. Bartlett’s. Some wade in the water . . .
Ellen Emerson writes to her sister Edith on 15 March:
I met Mr Thoreau who stopped and told me that he had come from Mr Hosmer’s. Mr Hosmer is pulling down his old house that stands in front of the house he lives in. I was very sorry to hear it. Mr Thoreau said that on the chimney was the date 1703, but the oldest part of the house, where the immense fire-place was, had dates on it, chalk tallies on the beams, date, the oldest of which was Feb 2 1666. And notes that the oxen had been working so many days, that something cost so many £-s-d. I thought I would go and see.
(The Letters of Ellen Tucker Emerson, 1:178)
