Emerson replied to these letters in two epistles of dates from
February 4 to 12, 1843,--in the latter asking Thoreau to aid him in
editing the April number of the _Dial_ of which he had taken charge.
Among other things, Emerson desired a manuscript of Charles Lane,
Alcott's English friend, to be sent to him in New York, where he was
detained several weeks by his lectures. He added: "Have we no news
from Wheeler? Has Bartlett none?" Of these persons, the first, Charles
Stearns Wheeler, a college classmate of Thoreau, and later Greek tutor
in the college, had gone to Germany,--where he died the next
summer,--and was contributing to the quarterly _Dial_. Robert
Bartlett, of Plymouth, a townsman of Mrs. Emerson, was Wheeler's
intimate friend, with whom he corresponded.[20] To this editorial
request Thoreau, who was punctuality itself, replied at once.