<h2><SPAN name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</SPAN><br/><br/> HORACE IN THE RÔLE OF MÆCENAS.</h2>
<p>In a letter to his sister Sophia, July 21,
1843, written from Mr. William Emerson's
house at Staten Island, Thoreau says:—</p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>"In New York I have seen, since I wrote last,
Horace Greeley, editor of the 'Tribune,' who is
cheerfully in earnest at his office of all work,—a
hearty New Hampshire boy as one would wish
to meet,—and says, 'Now be neighborly.' He
believes only or mainly, first in the Sylvania Association,
somewhere in Pennsylvania; and secondly,
and most of all, in a new association, to
go into operation soon in New Jersey, with which
he is connected."</p>
</div>
<p>This was the "Phalanstery" at which
W. H. Channing afterward preached. A
fortnight later, Thoreau writes to Mr. Emerson:—</p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>"I have had a pleasant talk with W. H. Channing;
and Greeley, too, it was refreshing to meet.
They were both much pleased with your criticism<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</SPAN></span>
on Carlyle, but thought that you had overlooked
what chiefly concerned them in the book,—its
practical aims and merits."</p>
</div>
<p>This refers to the notice of Carlyle's
"Past and Present," in the "Dial" for
July, 1843, and shows that Mr. Greeley
was a quick reader of that magazine, as
Thoreau always was of the "New York
Tribune." From this time onward a
warm friendship continued between Thoreau
and Greeley, and many letters went
to and fro, which reveal the able editor in
the light of a modern Mæcenas to the author
of the Musketaquid Georgics.</p>
<p>No letters seem to have passed between
them earlier than 1846; and in 1844-45
Thoreau must have known the "Tribune"
editor best through his newspaper, and
from the letters of Margaret Fuller, Ellery
Channing, and other common friends, who
saw much of him then, admired and laughed
at him, or did both by turns. Miss Fuller,
who had gone to New York to write for the
"Tribune," and to live in its Editor's family,
wrote:—</p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>"Mr. Greeley is a man of genuine excellence,
honorable, benevolent, and of an uncorrupted disposition.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</SPAN></span>
He is sagacious, and, in his way, of
even great abilities. In modes of life and manners,
he is a man of the people,—and of the
American people. With the exception of my
own mother, I think him the most disinterestedly
generous person I have ever known."</p>
</div>
<p>There was a laughable side even to these
fine traits, and there were eccentricities of
dress and manner, which others saw more
keenly than this generous woman. Ellery
Channing,—whose eye no whimsical or
beautiful object ever escaped,—in the letter
of March, 1845, already cited, thus signaled
to Thoreau the latest news of his friend:—</p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>"Mumbo Jumbo is recovering from an attack
of sore eyes, and will soon be out, in a pair of
canvas trousers, scarlet jacket, and cocked hat.
I understand he intends to demolish all the remaining
species of Fetichism at a meal. I think
it is probable it will vomit him."</p>
</div>
<p>Thoreau wrote an essay on Carlyle in
1846, and in the summer of that year sent
it to Mr. Greeley, with a request that he
would find a place for it in some magazine.
To this request, which Mr. Greeley himself
had invited, no doubt, he thus replied:—</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</SPAN></span></p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p class="datesig">
"<em>August 16, 1846.</em></p>
<p>"<span class="smcap">My dear Thoreau</span>,—Believe me when I
say that I <em>mean</em> 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 work that
would 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
Carlyle,—too solidly good, I fear, to be profitable
to yourself, or attractive to publishers.
Did'st 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 anything is
calculated to make a scoundrel of an honest man,
writing to sell is that very particular thing.</p>
<p class="salusig">
"Yours heartily,</p>
<p class="author"><span class="smcap">Horace Greeley</span>.<br/></p>
<p>"Remind Ralph Waldo Emerson and wife of
my existence and grateful remembrance."</p>
</div>
<p>On the 30th of September Mr. Greeley
again wrote, saying,—</p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>"I learned to-day, through Mr. Griswold,
former editor of 'Graham's Magazine,' that your
lecture is accepted, to appear in that magazine.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</SPAN></span>
Of course it is to be paid for at the usual rate, as
I expressly so stated when I inclosed it to Graham.
He has not written me a word on the
subject, which induces me to think he may have
written you.<SPAN name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></SPAN><SPAN href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</SPAN> Please write me if you would have
me speak further on the subject. The pay, however,
is sure, though the amount may not be
large, and I think you may wait until the article
appears, before making further stipulations on
the subject."</p>
</div>
<p>From the tenor of this I infer that Thoreau
had written to say that he might wish
to read his "Thomas Carlyle" as a lecture,
and desired to stipulate for that before it
was printed. He might be excused for
some solicitude concerning payment, from
his recent experience with the publishers of
the "Boston Miscellany," which had printed,
in 1843, his "Walk to Wachusett." At
the very time when Thoreau, in New York,
was making Greeley's acquaintance, Mr.
Emerson, in Boston, was dunning the Miscellaneous
publishers, and wrote to Thoreau
(July 20, 1843):—</p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>"When I called on ——, their partner, in their
absence, informed me that they could not pay<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</SPAN></span>
you, at present, any part of their debt on account
of the Boston 'Miscellany.' After much talking
all the promise he could offer was, 'that
within a year it would probably be paid,'—a
probability which certainly looks very slender.
The very worst thing he said was the proposition
that you should take your payment in the form
of Boston Miscellanies! I shall not fail to refresh
their memory at intervals."</p>
</div>
<p>But I cannot learn that anything came
of it. Mr. Greeley, as we shall see, was a
more successful collector. On the 26th of
October, 1846, he continued the adventures
of the wandering essay as follows:—</p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>"<span class="smcap">My Friend Thoreau</span>,—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 <em>is</em> 'liberally'; but
I give you the best I can get as the result of
three letters to Philadelphia on this subject.</p>
<p>"Success to you, my friend! Remind Mr. and<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</SPAN></span>
Mrs. Emerson of my existence, and my lively
remembrance of their various kindnesses.</p>
<p>"Yours, very busy in our political contest,</p>
<p class="author">
"<span class="smcap">Horace Greeley</span>."<br/></p>
</div>
<p>It would seem that "Griswold" (who was
Rufus W. Griswold, the biographer of
Poe) and "Graham" (who was George
R. Graham, the magazine publisher of Philadelphia),
did not move so fast either in
publication or in payment as they had led
Mr. Greeley to expect; and also that Thoreau
became impatient and wrote to his
friend that he would withdraw the essay.
Whereupon Mr. Greeley, under date of February
5, 1847, wrote thus:—</p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>"<span class="smcap">My dear Thoreau</span>,—Although your letter
only came to hand to-day, I attended to its subject
yesterday, when I was in Philadelphia, on
my way home from Washington. Your article
is this moment in type, and will appear about
the 20th inst., <em>as the leading article</em> in 'Graham's
Magazine' for next month. Now don't object
to this, nor be unreasonably sensitive at the delay.
It is immensely more important to you
that the article should appear thus (that is, if you
have any literary aspirations) than it is that you
should make a few dollars by issuing it in some<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</SPAN></span>
other way. As to lecturing, you have been at
perfect liberty to deliver it as a lecture a hundred
times, if you had chosen,—the more the
better. It is really a good thing, and I will see
that Graham pays you fairly for it. But its appearance
there is worth far more to you than
money. I know there has been too much delay,
and have done my best to obviate it. But I
could not. A magazine that pays, and which it
is desirable to be known as a contributor to, is
always crowded with articles, and has to postpone
some for others of even less merit. I do this
myself with good things that I am not required
to pay for.</p>
<p>"Thoreau, do not think hard of Graham. Do
not try to stop the publication of your article. It
is best as it is. But just sit down and write a
like article about Emerson, which I will give
you $25 for, if you cannot do better with it;
then one about Hawthorne at your leisure, etc.,
etc. I will pay you the money for each of these
articles on delivery, publish them when and
how I please, leaving to you the copyright expressly.
In a year or two, if you take care not
to write faster than you think, you will have the
material of a volume worth publishing,—and
then we will see what can be done. There is a
text somewhere in St. Paul—my Scriptural
reading is getting rusty,—which says, 'Look<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</SPAN></span>
not back to the things which are behind, but
rather to those which are before,' etc. Commending
this to your thoughtful appreciation, I
am, yours, etc.</p>
<p class="author">
"<span class="smcap">Horace Greeley</span>."<br/></p>
</div>
<p>The Carlyle essay did appear in two
numbers of "Graham's Magazine" (March
and April, 1847), but alas, no payment
came to hand. After waiting a year longer,
Thoreau wrote to Greeley again (March 31,
1848), informing him of the delinquency of
Griswold and Graham. At once, his friend
replied (April 3), "It saddens and surprises
me to know that your article was not
paid for by Graham; and, since my honor
is involved in the matter, I will see that you
<em>are</em> paid, and that at no distant day." Accordingly
on the 17th of May, 1848, he
writes again as follows:—</p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Friend Thoreau</span>,—I trust you
have not thought me neglectful or dilatory with
regard to your business. I have done my very
best, throughout, and it is only to-day that I have
been able to lay my hand on the money due you
from Graham. I have been to see him in Philadelphia,
but did not catch him in his business
office; then I have been here to meet him, and
been referred to his brother, etc. I finally found<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</SPAN></span>
the two numbers of the work in which your article
was published (not easy, I assure you, for he
has them not, nor his brother, and I hunted them
up, and bought one of them at a very out-of-the-way
place), and with these I made out a regular
bill for the contribution; drew a draft on G. R.
Graham for the amount, gave it to his brother
here for collection, and to-day received the money.
Now you see how to get pay yourself, another
time; I have pioneered the way, and you can
follow it easily yourself. There has been no
intentional injustice on Graham's part; but he is
overwhelmed with business, has too many irons
in the fire, and we did not go at him the right
way. Had you drawn a draft on him, at first,
and given it to the Concord Bank to send in for
collection, you would have received your money
long since. Enough of this. I have made Graham
pay you $75, but I only send you $50, for,
having got so much for Carlyle, I am ashamed to
take your 'Maine Woods' for $25."</p>
</div>
<p>This last allusion is to a new phase of
the queer patronage which the good Mæcenas
extended to our Concord poet. In his
letter of March 31, 1848, Thoreau had offered
Greeley, in compliance with his suggestion
of the previous year, a paper on
"Ktaadn and the Maine Woods," which<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</SPAN></span>
afterwards appeared in the "Union Magazine."
On the 17th of April Greeley
writes:—</p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>"I inclose you $25 for your article on Maine
Scenery, as promised. I know it is worth more,
though I have not yet found time to read it; but
I have tried once to sell it without success. It
is rather long for my columns, and too fine for
the million; but I consider it a cheap bargain,
and shall print it myself, if I do not dispose of
it to better advantage. You will not, of course,
consider yourself under any sort of obligation to
me, for my offer was in the way of business,
and I have got more than the worth of my
money."</p>
</div>
<p>On the 17th of May he adds:—</p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>"I have expectations of procuring it a place
in a new magazine of high character that will
pay. I don't expect to get as much for it as
for Carlyle, but I hope to get $50. If you are
satisfied to take the $25 for your 'Maine
Woods,' say so, and I will send on the money;
but I don't want to seem a Jew, buying your
articles at half price to speculate upon. If you
choose to let it go that way, it shall be so; but
I would sooner do my best for you, and send you
the money."</p>
</div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>On the 28th of October, 1848, he writes:</p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>"I break a silence of some duration to inform
you that I hope on Monday to receive payment
for your glorious account of 'Ktaadn and the
Maine Woods,' which I bought of you at a
Jew's bargain, and sold to the 'Union Magazine.'
I am to get $75 for it, and, as I don't
choose to <em>exploiter</em> you at such a rate, I shall
insist on inclosing you $25 more in this letter,
which will still leave me $25 to pay various
charges and labors I have incurred in selling
your articles and getting paid for them,—the
latter by far the more difficult portion of the
business."</p>
</div>
<p>In the letter of April 17, 1848, Mr.
Greeley had further said:—</p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>"If you will write me two or three articles in
the course of the summer, I think I can dispose
of them for your benefit. But write not more
than half as long as your article just sent me,
for that is too long for the magazines. If that
were in two, it would be far more valuable.
What about your book (the 'Week')? Is anything
going on about it now? Why did not
Emerson try it in England? I think the Howitts
could get it favorably before the British
public. If you can suggest any way wherein I
can put it forward, do not hesitate, but command
me."</p>
</div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>In the letter of May 17th, he reiterates
the advice to be brief:—</p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>"Thoreau, if you will only write one or two
articles, when in the spirit, about half the length
of this, I can sell it readily and advantageously.
The length of your papers is the only impediment
to their appreciation by the magazines.
Give me one or two shorter, and I will try to coin
them speedily."</p>
</div>
<p>May 25th he returns to the charge, when
sending the last twenty-five dollars for the
"Maine Woods":—</p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>"Write me something shorter when the spirit
moves (never write a line otherwise, for the hack
writer is a slavish beast, <em>I</em> know), and I will sell
it for you soon. I want one shorter article from
your pen that will be quoted, as these long articles
cannot be, and let the public know something
of your way of thinking and seeing. It will do
good. What do you think of following out your
thought in an essay on 'The Literary Life?'
You need not make a personal allusion, but I
know you can write an article worth reading on
that theme, when you are in the vein."</p>
</div>
<p>After a six months' interval (November
19, 1848), Greeley resumes in a similar
strain:—</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</SPAN></span></p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>"<span class="smcap">Friend Thoreau</span>,—Yours of the 17th received.
Say we are even on money counts, and
let the matter drop. I have tried to serve you,
and have been fully paid for my own disbursements
and trouble in the premises. So we will
move on.</p>
<p>"I think you will do well to send me some
passages from one or both of your new works to
dispose of to the magazines. This will be the
best kind of advertisement, whether for a publisher
or for readers. You may write with an
angel's pen, yet your writings have no mercantile
money value till you are known and talked
of as an author. Mr. Emerson would have been
twice as much known and read, if he had written
for the magazines a little, just to let common
people know of his existence. I believe a chapter
from one of your books printed in 'Graham,' or
'The Union,' will add many to the readers of the
volume when issued. Here is the reason why
British books sell so much better among us than
American,—because they are thoroughly advertised
through the British reviews, magazines, and
journals which circulate or are copied among us.
However, do as you please. If you choose to
send me one of your manuscripts I will get it
published, but I cannot promise you any considerable
recompense; and, indeed, if Munroe
will do it, that will be better. Your writings are<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</SPAN></span>
in advance of the general mind here; Boston is
nearer their standard. I never saw the verses
you speak of. Won't you send them again? I
have been buried up in politics for the last six
weeks. Kind regards to Emerson. It is doubtful
about my seeing you this season."</p>
</div>
<p>Here the letters ceased for a time. "Munroe
did it,"—that is, a Boston bookseller
published Thoreau's "Week," which was
favorably reviewed by George Ripley in
the "Tribune," by Lowell in the "Massachusetts
Quarterly," and by others elsewhere;
but the book did not sell, and involved
its author in debt for its printing.
To meet this he took up surveying as a business,
and after a time, when some payment
must be made, he asked his friend Greeley
for a loan. In the interval, Margaret Fuller
had written from Europe those remarkable
letters for the "Tribune," had married
in Italy, sailed for home in 1850, and died
on the shore of Fire Island, near New York,
whither Thoreau went with her friends to
learn her fate, and recover the loved remains.
This was in July, 1850, and he no
doubt saw Mr. Greeley there. A year and
a half later, when he was seeking opportunities<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</SPAN></span>
to lecture, he wrote to Mr. Greeley
again, in February, 1852, offering himself
to lecture in a course at New York, which
the "Tribune" editor had some interest in.
The reply was this:—</p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p class="datesig">
"<span class="smcap">New York</span>, <em>February 24, 1852</em>.</p>
<p>"<span class="smcap">My Friend Thoreau</span>,—Thank you for
your remembrance, though the motto you suggest
is impracticable. The People's Course is
full for the season; and even if it were not, your
name would probably not pass; because it is not
merely necessary that each lecturer should continue
<em>well</em> the course, but that he shall be <em>known</em>
as the very man beforehand. Whatever draws
less than fifteen hundred hearers damages the
finances of the movement, so low is the admission,
and so large the expense. But, Thoreau,
you are a better speaker than many, but a far
better writer still. Do you wish to swap any of
your 'wood-notes wild' for dollars? If yea, and
you will sell me some articles, shorter, if you
please, than the former, I will try to coin them
for you. Is it a bargain? Yours,</p>
<p class="author">
"<span class="smcap">Horace Greeley</span>."<br/></p>
</div>
<p>Thoreau responded at once with some
manuscripts (March 5), and was thus addressed,
March 18, by his friend:—</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</SPAN></span></p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>"I shall get you some money for the articles
you sent me, though not immediately. As to
your long account of a Canadian tour, I don't
know. It looks unmanageable. Can't you cut
it into three or four, and omit all that relates to
time? The cities are described to death; but I
know you are at home with Nature, and that <em>she</em>
rarely and slowly changes. Break this up, if
you can, and I will try to have it swallowed
and digested."</p>
</div>
<p>A week later he sent a letter from the
publisher, Sartain, accepting the articles for
a low price,<SPAN name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></SPAN><SPAN href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</SPAN> and adds: "If you break up<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</SPAN></span>
your 'Excursion to Canada' into three or
four articles, I have no doubt I could get it
published on similar terms." April 3, 1852,
he returns to a former proposition, that Thoreau
shall write about Emerson as he did
six years before on Carlyle.</p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>"<span class="smcap">Friend Thoreau</span>,—I wish you to write me
an article on Ralph Waldo Emerson, his Works
and Ways, extending to one hundred pages,
or so, of letter sheet like this, to take the form
of a review of his writings, but to give some idea
of the Poet, the Genius, the Man,—with some
idea of the New England scenery and home influence,
which have combined to make him what
he is. Let it be calm, searching, and impartial;
nothing like adulation, but a just summing up of
what he is and what he has done. I mean to get
this into the 'Westminster Review,' but if not
acceptable there, I will publish it elsewhere. I
will pay you fifty dollars for the article when delivered;
in advance, if you desire it. Say the
word, and I will send the money at once. It is
perfectly convenient to do so. Your 'Carlyle'
article is my model, but you can give us Emerson<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</SPAN></span>
better than you did Carlyle. I presume he would
allow you to write extracts for this purpose from
his lectures not yet published. I would delay the
publication of the article to suit his publishing
arrangements, should that be requested.</p>
<p class="salusig">
"Yours,</p>
<p class="author"><span class="smcap">Horace Greeley</span>."<br/></p>
</div>
<p>To this request, as before, there came a
prompt negative, although Thoreau was
then sadly in need of money. Mr. Greeley
wrote, April 20:—</p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>"I am rather sorry you will not do the
'Works and Ways,' but glad that you are able
to employ your time to better purpose. But
your Quebec notes haven't reached me yet, and
I fear the 'good time' is passing. They ought
to have appeared in the June number of the
monthlies, but now cannot before July. If you
choose to send them to me all in a lump, I will try
to get them printed in that way. I don't care
about them if you choose to reserve, or to print
them elsewhere; but I can better make a use for
them at this season than at any other."</p>
</div>
<p>They were sent, and offered to the
"Whig Review," and to other magazines;
but on the 25th of June, Mr. Greeley
writes:—</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</SPAN></span></p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>"I have had only bad luck with your manuscript.
Two magazines have refused it on the
ground of its length, saying that articles 'To be
continued' are always unpopular, however good.
I will try again."</p>
</div>
<p>It seems that the author had relied upon
money from this source, and a week or two
later he asks his friend to lend him the expected
seventy-five dollars, offering security,
with mercantile scrupulosity. Promptly
came this answer:—</p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p class="datesig">
"<span class="smcap">New York</span>, <em>July 8, 1852</em>.</p>
<p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Thoreau</span>,—Yours received. I was
absent yesterday. I <em>can</em> lend you the seventy-five
dollars, and am very glad to do it. Don't
talk about security. I am sorry about your MSS.,
which I do not quite despair of using to your advantage.</p>
<p class="salusig">
Yours,</p>
<p class="author"><span class="smcap">Horace Greeley</span>."<br/></p>
</div>
<p>The "Yankee in Canada," as it is now
called (the record of Thoreau's journey
through French Canada in September,
1850, with Ellery Channing), was offered
to "Putnam's Magazine" by Mr. Greeley,
and begun there, but ill-luck attended it.
Before it went the paper on "Cape Cod,"
which became the subject of controversy,
first as to price, and then as to its tone towards
the people of that region. This will<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</SPAN></span>
explain the letters of Mr. Greeley that follow:—</p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p class="datesig">
"<span class="smcap">New York</span>, <em>November 23, 1852</em>.</p>
<p>"<span class="smcap">My dear Thoreau</span>,—I have made no
bargain—none whatever—with Putnam concerning
your MSS. I have indicated no price
to them. I handed over the MS. because I
wished it published, and presumed that was in
accordance both with your interest and your
wishes. And I now say to you, that if he will
pay you three dollars per printed page, I think
that will be very well. I have promised to write
something for him myself, and shall be well satisfied
with that price. Your 'Canada' is not so
fresh and acceptable as if it had just been written
on the strength of a last summer's trip, and I hope
you will have it printed in 'Putnam's Monthly.'
But I have said nothing to his folks as to price,
and will not till I hear from you again. Very
probably there was some misapprehension on
the part of C. I presume the price now offered
you is that paid to writers generally for the
'Monthly.' As to Sartain, I know his '(Union)
Magazine' has broken down, but I guess he will
pay you. I have seen but one of your articles
printed by him, and I think the other may be reclaimed.
Please address him at once."</p>
</div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</SPAN></span></p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p class="datesig">
"<span class="smcap">New York</span>, <em>January 2, 1853</em>.</p>
<p>"<span class="smcap">Friend Thoreau</span>,—I have yours of the
29th, and credit you $20. Pay me when and in
such sums as may be convenient. I am sorry
you and C. cannot agree so as to have your
whole MS. printed. It will be worth nothing
elsewhere after having partly appeared in Putnam's.
I think it is a mistake to conceal the authorship
of the several articles, making them all
(so to speak) <em>editorial</em>; but <em>if</em> that is done, don't
you see that the elimination of very flagrant heresies
(like your defiant Pantheism) becomes a
necessity? If you had withdrawn your MSS., on
account of the abominable misprints in the first
number, your ground would have been far more
tenable.</p>
<p>"However, do what you will. Yours,</p>
<p class="author">
"<span class="smcap">Horace Greeley</span>."<br/></p>
</div>
<p>Thoreau did what he would, of course, and
the article in Putnam came to an abrupt
end. The loan made in July, 1852, was
paid with interest on the 9th of March,
1853, as the following note shows:—</p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p class="datesig">
"<span class="smcap">New York</span>, <em>March 16, 1853</em>.</p>
<p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Sir</span>,—I have yours of the 9th, inclosing
Putnam's check for $59, making $79 in all
you have paid me. I am paid in full, and this
letter is your receipt in full. I don't want any<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</SPAN></span>
pay for my 'services,' whatever they may have
been. Consider me your friend who <em>wished</em> to
serve you, however unsuccessfully. Don't break
with C. or Putnam."</p>
</div>
<p>A year later, Thoreau renewed his subscription
to the "Weekly Tribune," but
the letter miscarried. In due time came
this reply to a third letter:—</p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p class="datesig">
"<em>March 6, 1854.</em></p>
<p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Sir</span>,—I presume your first letter containing
the $2 was robbed by our general mail
robber of New Haven, who has just been sent to
the State's Prison. Your second letter has probably
failed to receive attention owing to a press
of business. But I will make all right. You
ought to have the Semi-weekly, and I shall order
it sent to you one year on trial; if you choose
to write me a letter or so some time, very well;
if not, we will be even without that.</p>
<p>"Thoreau, I want you to do something on <em>my</em>
urgency. I want you to collect and arrange your
'Miscellanies' and send them to me. Put in
'Ktaadn,' 'Carlyle,' 'A Winter Walk,' 'Canada,'
etc., and I will try to find a publisher who will
bring them out at his own risk, and (I hope) to
your ultimate profit. If you have anything new
to put with them, very well; but let me have
about a 12mo volume whenever you can get it<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</SPAN></span>
ready, and see if there is not something to your
credit in the bank of Fortune. Yours,</p>
<p class="author">
"<span class="smcap">Horace Greeley</span>."<br/></p>
</div>
<p>In reply, Thoreau notified his friend of
the early publication of "Walden," and was
thus met:—</p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>"<em>March 23, 1854.</em></p>
<p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Thoreau</span>,—I am glad your 'Walden'
is coming out. <em>I</em> shall announce it at once,
whether Ticknor does or not. I am in no hurry
now about your 'Miscellanies;' take your time,
select your title, and prepare your articles deliberately
and finally. Then, if Ticknor will give
you something worth having, let him have this
too; if proffering it to him is to glut your market,
let it come to me. But take your time. I
was only thinking you were merely waiting when
you might be doing something. I referred (without
naming you) to your 'Walden' experience
in my lecture on 'Self-Culture,' with which I
have had ever so many audiences. This episode
excited much interest, and I have been repeatedly
asked who it is that I refer to.</p>
<p class="salusig">
"Yours,</p>
<p class="author"><span class="smcap">Horace Greeley</span>.<br/></p>
<p>"P. S.—You must know Miss Elizabeth
Hoar, whereas I hardly do. Now, I have offered
to edit Margaret's works, and I want of Elizabeth
a letter or memorandum of personal recollections<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</SPAN></span>
of Margaret and her ideas. Can't you
ask her to write it for me?</p>
<p class="author">
H. G."<br/></p>
</div>
<p>To the request of this postscript Thoreau
attended at once, but the "Miscellanies"
dwelt not in his mind, it would seem. He
had now become deeply concerned about
slavery, was also pursuing his studies concerning
the Indians, and had little time for
the collection of his published papers. A
short note of April 2, 1854, closes this part
of the Greeley correspondence, thus:—</p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Thoreau</span>,—Thank you for your
kindness in the matter of Margaret. Pray take
no further trouble; but if anything should come
in your way, calculated to help me, do not forget.</p>
<p class="salusig">
"Yours,</p>
<p class="author">"<span class="smcap">Horace Greeley</span>."<br/></p>
</div>
<p>In August, 1855, Mr. Greeley wrote to
suggest that copies of "Walden" should be
sent to the "Westminster Review," to "The
Reasoner," 147 Fleet Street, London, to
Gerald Massey, office of the "News," Edinburgh,
and to "—— Wills, Esq., Dickens's
Household Words," adding:—</p>
<div class="blockquot">
<p>"There is a small class in England who ought
to know what you have written, and I feel sure
your publishers would not throw away copies<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</SPAN></span>
sent to these periodicals; especially if your
'Week on the Concord and Merrimac' could
accompany them. Chapman, editor of the 'Westminster,'
expressed surprise that your book had
not been sent him, and I could find very few who
had read or seen it. If a new edition should be
called for, try to have it better known in Europe,
but have a few copies sent to those worthy of it,
at all events."</p>
</div>
<p>In March, 1856, Mr. Greeley opened a
new correspondence with Thoreau, asking
him to become the tutor of his children, and
to live with him, or near him, at Chappaqua.
The proposition was made in the
most generous manner, and was for a time
considered by Thoreau, who felt a sense of
obligation as well as a sincere friendship towards
the man who had believed in him
and served him so seasonably in the years
of his obscurity. But it resulted in nothing
further than a brief visit to Mr. Greeley
in the following autumn, during which, as
Thoreau used to say, Mr. Alcott and Mr.
Greeley went to the opera together.</p>
<hr class="chap" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</SPAN></span></p>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />