Thoreau writes in his journal:
Go to Blake’s [H.G.O. Blake] . . .
A.M.—Ride with him and Brown [Theophilus Brown] and Sophia [Sophia Thoreau] round a part of Quinsigamond Pond in Shrewsbury . . .
P.M.—Went to Rev. Horace James’s reptiles (Orthodox) . . .
At Natural History Rooms, a great cone from a southern pine and a monstrous nutshell from the East Indies (?) . . .
Daniel Ricketson writes in his journal:
Left Newport this morning at five o’clock for Concord, Mass., via Providence and Boston, and arrived at C. about 12 M. The sail up the Providence or Blackstone River was very fine, the morning being clear and the air very refreshing. My object in coming to Concord was to see H. D. Thoreau, but unfortunately I found him on a visit at Worcester, but I was received with great kindness and cordiality by his father and mother, and took tea with them. Mrs. Thoreau, like a true mother, idolizes her son, and gave me a long and interesting account of his character. Mr. Thoreau, a very short old gentleman, is a pleasant person. We took a short walk together after tea, returned to the Middlesex Hotel at ten. Mrs. T. gave me a long and particular account of W. E. Channing, who spent so many years here.
(Daniel Ricketson and His Friends, 285)
