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26 October 1837. Concord, Mass.

Thoreau writes in his journal:

  A noble man has not to thank a private circle for his culture. Fatherland and world must work upon him. Fame and infamy must he learn to endure. He will be constrained to know himself and others. Solitude shall no more lull him with her flattery. The foe will not, the friend dares not, spare him. Then, striving, the youth puts forth his strength, feels what he is, and feels himself soon a man.
(Journal, 1:4-6)
26 October 1840. Watertown, N.Y.

Ellen Sewall writes to her aunt Prudence Ward:

  What great work is Henry engaged in now, and does the vegetable diet continue to suit? Will the school go on as usual this winter? (transcript in The Thoreau Society Archives at the Thoreau Institute at Walden Woods; MS, private owner)
26 October 1846. New York, N.Y.

Horace Greeley writes to Thoreau:

My Friend Thoreau,—

  I know you think it odd that you have not heard further, and, perhaps blame my negligence or engrossing cares, but, if so, without good reason. I have to-day received a letter from Griswold, in Philadelphia, who says: “The article by Thoreau on Carlyle is in type, and will be paid for liberally.” “Liberally” is quoted as an expression of Graham’s. I know well the difference between a publisher’s and an author’s idea of what is “liberally”; but I give you the best I can get as the result of three letters to Philadelphia on this subject.

  Success to you, my friend! Remind Mr. and Mrs. Emerson of my existence, and my lively remembrance of their various kindnesses.

Yours, very busy in our political contest,
Horace Greeley

(The Correspondence of Henry David Thoreau, 171)
26 October 1850. Concord, Mass.

Ralph Waldo Emerson writes in his journal on 27 October:

  Rambling talk with H. T. last night, in accordance with my proposal to hold a session, the first for a long time, with malice prepense, & take the bull by the horns. We disposed pretty fast of America & England, I maintaining that our people did not get ripened, but, like the peaches & grapes of this season, wanted a fortnight’s more sun, & remained green,—whilst, in England, because of the density, perhaps, of cultivated population, more calorie was generated, & more completeness obtained. Layard is good example, both of the efficiency as measured by effect on the Arab, & in its reaction of his enterprise on him; for his enterprise proved a better university to him than Oxford or Sorbonne.  Henry thought, the English, “all train,” are mere soldiers, as it were, in the world. And that their business is winding up, whilst our pioneer is unwinding his lines.  I like the English better than our people, just as I like merchants better than scholars; for, though on a lower platform, yet there is no cant, there is great directness, comprehension, health, & success. So with English.

  Then came the difference between American & English scholars. H. said, the English were all bred in one way, to one thing, he had read many lives lately, & they were all one life, Southey, Campbell, Leigh Hunt, or whosoever, they went to Eton, they went to College, they went to London, they all knew each other, & never did not feel the ability of each. But here, Channing is obscure, Newcomb is obscure, & so all the Scholars are in a more natural, healthful & independent condition . . .

  Why are we so excellent at the humdrum of our musty household life, when quite aware of these majestic prerogatives? We do not try the virtue of the amulets we have. Thus we can think so much better, by thinking with a wise man. Yet we come together as a pair of six footers, always as six footers, & never on the ground of the immensities, which we have together authentically & awfully surveyed. Why not once meet & work on the basis of the Immensities, & not of the six feet?

  Yes, we have infinite powers, but cannot use them. When shall we attain our majority, & come to our estate? Henry admitted, of course, the solstice.

(The Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks of Ralph Waldo Emerson, 11:283-286)
26 October 1851. Concord, Mass.

Thoreau writes in his journal:

  I awoke this morning to infinite regret. In my dream I had been riding, but the horses bit each other and occasioned endless trouble and anxiety, and it was my employment to hold their heads apart. Next I sailed over the sea in a small vessel such as the Northmen used, as it were to the Bay of Fundy, and thence overland I sailed, still over the shallows about the sources of rivers toward the deeper channel of a stream which emptied into the Gulf beyond . . .
(Journal, 3:80-82)
26 October 1852. Concord, Mass.

Thoreau writes in his journal:

  P.M.—Walden and Cliffs.

  There are no skaters on the pond now. It is cool today and windier. The water is rippled considerably. As I stand in the boat, the farther off the water, the bluer it is. Looking straight down, it is a dark green. Hence, apparently, the celestial blueness of those distant river-reaches, when the water is agitated, so that their surfaces reflect. the sky at the right angle . . .

(Journal, 4:400-401)
26 October 1853. Concord, Mass.

Thoreau writes in his journal:

  Ah! the world is too much with us, and our whole soul is stained by what it works in, like the dyer’s hand. A man had better starve at once than lose his innocence in the process of getting his bread . . .

  P.M.—To Cliffs . . .

  Went through the dense maple swamp against Potter’s pasture. It is completely bare, and the ground is very thickly strewn with leaves, which conceal the wet places. But still the high blueberry bushes in the midst and on the edge retain a few bright-red or scarlet-red leaves . . .

(Journal, 5:453-457)
26 October 1854. Concord, Mass.

Thoreau writes in his journal:

  P.M.—To Conantum.

  As warm as summer. Cannot wear a thick coat. Sit with windows open. I see considerable gossamer on the causeway . . . (Journal, 7:66).

Akron, Ohio. C. B. Bernard writes to Thoreau:

Dear Sir

  Seeing your name announced as a Lecturer, I write you a line to see if your services could be secured to give a Lecture before the Library Association of this place.

  We can give $50—

  Thinking you might have other calls this way, we thought we would add our solicitation with the rest—

Yours Respectfully
C B Bernard Cor Sec

(The Correspondence of Henry David Thoreau, 347)
26 October 1855. Concord, Mass.

Thoreau writes in his journal:

  P.M.—To Conantum . . .

  I return by the way of the mocker-nut trees . . . (Journal, 7:517-520).

London, England. John Chapman writes to Thoreau:

Dear Sir,

  Enclosed is the list of book[s] referred to in Mr Thos Cholmondeley’s note. The parcel I have forwarded to Messrs Crosby Nichols & Co of Boston, and have requested them to deliver it to you free of all expense. As Mr Cholmondeley has gone to the East I should be glad of a note from you acknowledging the receipt of the parcel. I am, dear Sir

  Very truly yours
  John Chapman

Attached with this letter was a parcel of book which included:

Wilsons Rig Veda Sanhita Vols 1 and 2
Translation of Mandukya Upanishads
Nala & Damyanta by Milman
Vishnu Purana by Wolsin
Haughtons Institutes of Menu
Colebrookes Two Treatises
Sankhya Karika
Aphorisms of the Mimasma
Lecture on the Vedanta
Bhagavat Gheeta & translation 2 Volumes
Wilson’s “Theatre of Hindoos 2 Volumes Williams’ Translation of “Sakoontala,”
Colebrookes’ Miscellaneous Essays 2 Vols
Hardys Eastern Monachism
Manual of Buddhism
Mills’ History of British India 9 volumes
The Chevalier Bunses Christianity & Mankind
 I.“Hippolytus & his Age” 2 Vols
 II.“Outlines of the Philosophy of Universal Religion applied to Language & Religion” 2 Vols
 III.Analecta Ante Nicana 3 Vols
The Chevalier Bunsens Egypt’s Place in Universal History
The Bhagavita Purana
Lotus de la Bonnes Lois
Halsteads Code of Gentoo Laws

(The Correspondence of Henry David Thoreau, 395-396; MS, Henry David Thoreau papers (Series IV). Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature, New York Public Library)

See entry 2 November. Thoreau receives the parcel 30 November.

26 October 1856. Perth Amboy, N.J.

Thoreau writes in his journal:

  An abundance of a viburnum, making thickets in dry woods and ravines and set out about houses, now full of edible fruit like that of V. nudum, and also of leaves . . . (Journal, 9:135-136)

Thoreau lectures on “Moosehunting” at Unionists’ Hall, Eagleswood Community.

On 1 November, Thoreau writes to his sister Sophia:

  On Sunday evening, I read the moose-story to the children to their satisfaction . . . (The Correspondence of Thoreau, 438-440)

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