NOTE.--The "companion" of his walks, mentioned by Thoreau
in November, 1849, was Ellery Channing; the neighbor who
insisted on talking of Turkey was perhaps Emerson, who,
after his visit to Europe in 1848, was more interested in
its politics than before. Pencil-making was Thoreau's
manual work for many years; and it must have been about
this time (1849-53) that he "had occasion to go to New
York to peddle some pencils," as he says in his journal
for November 20, 1853. He adds, "I was obliged to
manufacture one thousand dollars' worth of pencils, and
slowly dispose of, and finally sacrifice them, in order
to pay an assumed debt of one hundred dollars." This debt
was for the printing of the _Week_, published in 1849,
and finally paid for in 1855. Thoreau's pencils have sold
(in 1893) for 25 cents each. For other facts concerning
his debt to James Munroe, see Sanborn's _Thoreau_, pp.
230, 235.