Horace Greeley writes to Thoreau:
Believe me when I say that I mean to do the errand you have asked of me, and that soon. But I am not sanguine of success, and have hardly a hope that it will be immediate if ever. I hardly know a soul that could publish your article all at once, and ‘To be continued’ are words shunned like a pestilence. But I know you have written a good thing about [Thomas] Carlyle—too solidly good, I fear, to be profitable to yourself or attractive to publishers. Didst thou ever, O my friend! ponder on the significance and cogency of the assurance, “Ye cannot serve God and Mammon,” as applicable to Literature—applicable, indeed, to all things whatsoever. God grant us grace to endeavor to serve Him rather than Mammon—that ought to suffice us. In my poor judgment, if any thing is calculated to make a scoundrel of an honest man, writing to sell is that very particular thing.
Yours, heartily,
Horace Greeley.
Remind Ralph Waldo Emerson and wife of my existence and grateful remembrance.