CONCORD, February 2, 1855.
DEAR SIR,--I fear that you did not get the note which I left with the
Librarian for you, and so will thank you again for your politeness. I
was sorry that I was obliged to go into Boston almost immediately.
However, I shall be glad to see you whenever you come to Concord, and
I will suggest nothing to discourage your coming, so far as I am
concerned; trusting that you know what it is to take a partridge on
the wing. You tell me that the author of the criticism is Mr. Morton.
I had heard as much,--and indeed guessed more. I have latterly found
Concord nearer to Cambridge than I believed I should, when I was
leaving my Alma Mater; and hence you will not be surprised if even I
feel some interest in the success of the _Harvard Magazine_.
Believe me yours truly,
HENRY D. THOREAU.
At this time I was under engagement with Mr. Emerson and others in
Concord to take charge of a small school there in March; and did so
without again seeing the author of "Walden" in Cambridge. Soon after
my settlement at Concord, in the house of Mr. Channing, just opposite
Thoreau's, he made an evening call on me and my sister (April 11,
1855), but I had already met him more than once at Mr. Emerson's, and
was even beginning to take walks with him, as frequently happened in
the next six years. In the following summer I began to dine daily at
his mother's table, and thus saw him almost every day for three years.