Page:Familiar letters of Henry David Thoreau.djvu/304

 280 FRIENDS AND FOLLOWERS. [1854,

TO MARSTON WATSON (AT PLYMOUTH).

CONCORD, September 19, 1854.

DEAR SIR, I am glad to hear from you and the Plymouth men again. The world still holds together between Concord and Plymouth, it seems. I should like to be with you while Mr. Alcott is there, but I cannot come next Sunday. I will come Sunday after next, that is, October 1st, if that will do ; and look out for you at the depot. I do not like to promise more than one discourse. Is there a good precedent for two ?

The first of Thoreau s many lecturing visits to Worcester, the home of his friend, Blake, was in April, 1849, and from that time onward he must have read lectures there at least annually, until his last iUness, in 1861-62. By 1854, the lecturing habit, in several places besides Con cord, had become established ; and there was a constant interchange of visits and excursions with his friends at Worcester, Plymouth, New Bedford, etc. Soon after the publication of &quot;Walden,&quot; in the summer of 1854, Thoreau wrote these notes to Mr. Blake, touching on va rious matters of friendly interest.