Thoreau writes a college essay, “Explain the phrases.—a man of business, a man of pleasure, a man of the world,” for an assignment of 14 February. Thoreau is also given the prompt for his next essay, “State what you understand by the following epithets applied to certain ages of the world: The dark Age, the Augustan Age, the Golden Age, the fabulous Age, this enlightened Age,” due on 14 March.