" Neither was he himself
altogether contented with his work, and shortly afterward said he
would like to include "The Maiden in the East," partly because it was
written of Mrs. W----n, and partly because other persons liked it so
well.
"I looked over the poems again and again," he said, "and at last
reserved but ten, finding some blemish in all the others which
prevented them from seeming perfect to me. How grand is his poem about
the mountains! As it is said of Goethe that he never spoke of the
stars but with respect, so we may say of Thoreau and the mountains."
It could hardly be expected of Thoreau's sister to sympathize with
such a tribunal, especially when the same clear judgment was brought
to bear upon the letters. Even touching the contract for publication
he was equally painstaking--far more so than for his own affairs. He
wrote, "I inclose the first form of contract, as you requested, with
the alterations suggested by Miss Thoreau." After this follows a
careful reiteration in his own handwriting of such alterations as were
desired.
The early loss of Thoreau and his love for him were, I had believed,
the root and flower which brought forth fruit in his noble discourse
on "Immortality;" but Miss Emerson generously informs me that I am
mistaken in this idea. "Most of its framework," she says, "was written
seven or eight years earlier and delivered in September, 1855. Some
parts of it he may have used at Mr.
Pages:
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70