CASTLETON, June 8, 1843.
DEAR PARENTS,--I have got quite well now, and like the lay of the land
and the look of the sea veryDEAR PARENTS much,--only the country is so
fair that it seems rather too much as if it were made to be looked at.
I have been to New York four or five times, and have run about the
island a good deal.
George Ward, when I last saw him, which was at his house in Brooklyn,
was studying the daguerreotype process, preparing to set up in that
line. The boats run now almost every hour from 8 A. M. to 7 P. M.,
back and forth, so that I can get to the city much more easily than
before. I have seen there one Henry James, a lame man, of whom I had
heard before, whom I like very much; and he asks me to make free use
of his house, which is situated in a pleasant part of the city,
adjoining the University. I have met several people whom I knew
before, and among the rest Mr. Wright, who was on his way to Niagara.
I feel already about as well acquainted with New York as with
Boston,--that is, about as little, perhaps. It is large enough now,
and they intend it shall be larger still. Fifteenth Street, where some
of my new acquaintance live, is two or three miles from the Battery,
where the boat touches,--clear brick and stone, and no "give" to the
foot; and they have laid out, though not built, up to the 149th street
above. I had rather see a brick for a specimen, for my part, such as
they exhibited in old times. You see it is "quite a day's training" to
make a few calls in different parts of the city (to say nothing of
twelve miles by water and land,--_i. e._, not brick and stone),
especially if it does not rain shillings, which might interest
omnibuses in your behalf. Some omnibuses are marked "Broadway--Fourth
Street," and they go no farther; others "Eighth Street," and so
on,--and so of the other principal streets. (This letter will be
circumstantial enough for Helen.)
This is in all respects a very pleasant residence,--much more rural
than you would expect of the vicinity of New York. There are woods all
around. We breakfast at half past six, lunch, if we will, at twelve,
and dine or sup at five; thus is the day partitioned off. From nine
to two, or thereabouts, I am the schoolmaster, and at other times as
much the pupil as I can be. Mr. and Mrs. Emerson are not indeed of my
kith or kin in any sense; but they are irreproachable and kind. I have
met no one yet _on the island_ whose acquaintance I shall
cultivate,--or hoe round,--unless it be our neighbor Captain Smith, an
old fisherman, who catches the fish called "moss-bonkers"--so it
sounds--and invites me to come to the beach, where he spends the week,
and see him and his fish.
Farms are for sale all around here, and so, I suppose men are for
purchase. North of us live Peter Wandell, Mr. Mell, and Mr. Disosway
(don't mind the spelling), as far as the Clove road; and south, John
Britton, Van Pelt, and Captain Smith, as far as the Fingerboard road.
Behind is the hill, some 250 feet high, on the side of which we live;
and in front the forest and the sea,--the latter at the distance of a
mile and a half.
Tell Helen that Miss Errington is provided with assistance. This were
a good place as any to establish a school, if one could wait a little.
Families come down here to board in the summer, and three or four have
been already established this season.
As for money matters, I have not set my traps yet, but I am getting my
bait ready. Pray, how does the garden thrive, and what improvements in
the pencil line? I miss you all very much. Write soon, and send a
Concord paper to
Your affectionate son,
HENRY D. THOREAU.
The traps of this sportsman were magazine articles,--but the magazines
that would pay much for papers were very few in 1843. One such had
existed in Boston for a short time,--the _Miscellany_,--and it printed
a good paper of Thoreau's, but the pay was not forthcoming. His
efforts to find publishers more liberal in New York were not
successful. But he continued to write for fame in the _Dial_, and
helped to edit that.