Henry D. Thoreau 26

Henry D. Thoreau 26

"FRIEND THOREAU,--Yours of the 17th received. Say we are

even on money counts, and let the matter drop. I have

tried to serve you, and have been fully paid for my own

disbursements and trouble in the premises. So we will move

on.

 

"I think you will do well to send me some passages from one

or both of your new works to dispose of to the magazines.

This will be the best kind of advertisement, whether for

a publisher or for readers. You may write with an angel's

pen, yet your writings have no mercantile money value till

you are known and talked of as an author. Mr. Emerson

would have been twice as much known and read, if he had

written for the magazines a little, just to let common

people know of his existence. I believe a chapter from one

of your books printed in 'Graham,' or 'The Union,' will

add many to the readers of the volume when issued. Here

is the reason why British books sell so much better among

us than American,--because they are thoroughly advertised

through the British reviews, magazines, and journals which

circulate or are copied among us. However, do as you

please. If you choose to send me one of your manuscripts

I will get it published, but I cannot promise you any

considerable recompense; and, indeed, if Munroe will do it,

that will be better. Your writings are in advance of the

general mind here; Boston is nearer their standard. I never

saw the verses you speak of. Won't you send them again? I

have been buried up in politics for the last six weeks.

Kind regards to Emerson. It is doubtful about my seeing you

this season."

 

Here the letters ceased for a time. "Munroe did it,"--that is, a

Boston bookseller published Thoreau's "Week," which was favorably

reviewed by George Ripley in the "Tribune," by Lowell in the

"Massachusetts Quarterly," and by others elsewhere; but the book did

not sell, and involved its author in debt for its printing. To meet

this he took up surveying as a business, and after a time, when some

payment must be made, he asked his friend Greeley for a loan. In the

interval, Margaret Fuller had written from Europe those remarkable

letters for the "Tribune," had married in Italy, sailed for home in

1850, and died on the shore of Fire Island, near New York, whither

Thoreau went with her friends to learn her fate, and recover the loved

remains. This was in July, 1850, and he no doubt saw Mr. Greeley

there. A year and a half later, when he was seeking opportunities to

lecture, he wrote to Mr. Greeley again, in February, 1852, offering

himself to lecture in a course at New York, which the "Tribune" editor

had some interest in. The reply was this:--

 

"NEW YORK, _February 24, 1852_.

 

"MY FRIEND THOREAU,--Thank you for your remembrance, though

the motto you suggest is impracticable. The People's Course

is full for the season; and even if it were not, your name

would probably not pass; because it is not merely necessary

that each lecturer should continue _well_ the course,

but that he shall be _known_ as the very man beforehand.

Whatever draws less than fifteen hundred hearers damages

the finances of the movement, so low is the admission,

and so large the expense. But, Thoreau, you are a better

speaker than many, but a far better writer still. Do you

wish to swap any of your 'wood-notes wild' for dollars? If

yea, and you will sell me some articles, shorter, if you

please, than the former, I will try to coin them for you.

Is it a bargain? Yours,

 

"HORACE GREELEY."

 

Thoreau responded at once with some manuscripts (March 5), and was

thus addressed, March 18, by his friend:--

 

"I shall get you some money for the articles you sent

me, though not immediately. As to your long account of a

Canadian tour, I don't know. It looks unmanageable. Can't

you cut it into three or four, and omit all that relates

to time? The cities are described to death; but I know you

are at home with Nature, and that _she_ rarely and slowly

changes. Break this up, if you can, and I will try to have

it swallowed and digested."

 

A week later he sent a letter from the publisher, Sartain, accepting

the articles for a low price,[11] and adds: "If you break up your

'Excursion to Canada' into three or four articles, I have no doubt I

could get it published on similar terms." April 3, 1852, he returns to

a former proposition, that Thoreau shall write about Emerson as he did

six years before on Carlyle.

 

"FRIEND THOREAU,--I wish you to write me an article on

Ralph Waldo Emerson, his Works and Ways, extending to one

hundred pages, or so, of letter sheet like this, to take

the form of a review of his writings, but to give some

idea of the Poet, the Genius, the Man,--with some idea of

the New England scenery and home influence, which have

combined to make him what he is. Let it be calm, searching,

and impartial; nothing like adulation, but a just summing

up of what he is and what he has done. I mean to get this

into the 'Westminster Review,' but if not acceptable there,

I will publish it elsewhere. I will pay you fifty dollars

for the article when delivered; in advance, if you desire

it. Say the word, and I will send the money at once. It is

perfectly convenient to do so. Your 'Carlyle' article is

my model, but you can give us Emerson better than you did

Carlyle. I presume he would allow you to write extracts for

this purpose from his lectures not yet published. I would

delay the publication of the article to suit his publishing

arrangements, should that be requested.

 

"Yours,

 

"HORACE GREELEY."

 

To this request, as before, there came a prompt negative, although

Thoreau was then sadly in need of money. Mr. Greeley wrote, April 20:--

 

"I am rather sorry you will not do the 'Works and Ways,'

but glad that you are able to employ your time to better

purpose. But your Quebec notes haven't reached me yet,

and I fear the 'good time' is passing. They ought to have

appeared in the June number of the monthlies, but now

cannot before July. If you choose to send them to me all in

a lump, I will try to get them printed in that way. I don't

care about them if you choose to reserve, or to print them

elsewhere; but I can better make a use for them at this

season than at any other."

 

They were sent, and offered to the "Whig Review," and to other

magazines; but on the 25th of June, Mr. Greeley writes:--

 

"I have had only bad luck with your manuscript. Two

magazines have refused it on the ground of its length,

saying that articles 'To be continued' are always

unpopular, however good. I will try again."

 

It seems that the author had relied upon money from this source,

and a week or two later he asks his friend to lend him the expected

seventy-five dollars, offering security, with mercantile scrupulosity.

Promptly came this answer:--

 

"NEW YORK, _July 8, 1852_.

 

"DEAR THOREAU,--Yours received. I was absent yesterday.

I _can_ lend you the seventy-five dollars, and am very

glad to do it. Don't talk about security. I am sorry about

your MSS., which I do not quite despair of using to your

advantage.

 

"Yours,

 

"HORACE GREELEY."

 

The "Yankee in Canada," as it is now called (the record of Thoreau's

journey through French Canada in September, 1850, with Ellery

Channing), was offered to "Putnam's Magazine" by Mr. Greeley, and

begun there, but ill-luck attended it. Before it went the paper on

"Cape Cod," which became the subject of controversy, first as to

price, and then as to its tone towards the people of that region. This

will explain the letters of Mr. Greeley that follow:--

 

"NEW YORK, _November 23, 1852_.

 

"MY DEAR THOREAU,--I have made no bargain--none

whatever--with Putnam concerning your MSS. I have indicated

no price to them. I handed over the MS. because I wished

it published, and presumed that was in accordance both

with your interest and your wishes. And I now say to you,

that if he will pay you three dollars per printed page,

I think that will be very well. I have promised to write

something for him myself, and shall be well satisfied with

that price. Your 'Canada' is not so fresh and acceptable

as if it had just been written on the strength of a last

summer's trip, and I hope you will have it printed in

'Putnam's Monthly.' But I have said nothing to his folks

as to price, and will not till I hear from you again. Very

probably there was some misapprehension on the part of C. I

presume the price now offered you is that paid to writers

generally for the 'Monthly.' As to Sartain, I know his

'(Union) Magazine' has broken down, but I guess he will pay

you. I have seen but one of your articles printed by him,

and I think the other may be reclaimed. Please address him

at once."

 

"NEW YORK, _January 2, 1853_.

 

"FRIEND THOREAU,--I have yours of the 29th, and credit you

$20. Pay me when and in such sums as may be convenient.

I am sorry you and C. cannot agree so as to have your

whole MS. printed. It will be worth nothing elsewhere

after having partly appeared in Putnam's. I think it is a

mistake to conceal the authorship of the several articles,

making them all (so to speak) _editorial_; but _if_ that

is done, don't you see that the elimination of very

flagrant heresies (like your defiant Pantheism) becomes a

necessity? If you had withdrawn your MSS., on account of

the abominable misprints in the first number, your ground

would have been far more tenable.

 

"However, do what you will. Yours,

 

"HORACE GREELEY." Thoreau did what he would, of course, and the article in Putnam came to an abrupt end. The loan made in July, 1852, was paid with interest on the 9th of March, 1853, as the following note shows: