Page:Familiar letters of Henry David Thoreau.djvu/252

 228 FRIENDS AND FOLLOWERS. [1852,

lars is alluring. As far as I can foresee, my subject would be &quot;Reality&quot; rather transcenden- tally treated. It lies still in &quot; Walden, or Life in the Woods.&quot; Since you are kind enough to undertake the arrangements, I will leave it to you to name an evening of next week, decide on the most suitable room, and advertise, if this is not taking you too literally at your word. If you still think it worth the while to attend to this, will you let me know as soon as may be what evening will be most convenient? I cer tainly do not feel prepared to offer myself as a lecturer to the Boston public, and hardly know whether more to dread a small audience or a large one. Nevertheless, I will repress this squeamishness, and propose no alteration in your arrangements. I shall be glad to accept your invitation to tea.

This lecture was given, says Colonel Higgin- son, &quot; at the Mechanics Apprentices Library in Boston, with the snow outside, and the young boys rustling their newspapers among the Al- cotts and Blakes.&quot; Or, possibly, this remark may apply to a former lecture in the same year, which was that in which Thoreau first lectured habitually away from Concord. He commenced by accepting an invitation to speak at Leyden Hall, in Plymouth, where his friends the Wat-