Page:Familiar letters of Henry David Thoreau.djvu/425

 JET. 41.] TO HARRISON BLAKE. 399

of Thoreau, an instance of his constant con sideration for others; the Thoreaus hardly af fording such luxuries as hothouse grapes for the sick. Sophia Thoreau, who perhaps was more appreciative of him than her more stoical brother, said after his death, &quot; We have always had the truest regard for him, as a person of rare integrity, great benevolence, and the sin- cerest friendliness.&quot; This well describes the man whose every-day guise was literally set down by Mr. Bicketson.

TO HARRISON BLAKE (AT WORCESTER).

CONCORD, January 1, 1859.

MR. BLAKE, It may interest you to hear that Cholmondeley has been this way again, ma Montreal and Lake Huron, going to the West Indies, or rather to Weiss-nicht-wo, whither he urges me to accompany him. He is rather more demonstrative than before, and, on the whole, what would be called &quot; a good fellow,&quot; is a man of principle, and quite reliable, but very peculiar. I have been to New Bedford with him, to show him a whaling town and Ricket- son. I was glad to hear that you had called on R. How did you like him? I suspect that you did not see one another fairly.

I have lately got back to that glorious society called Solitude, where we meet our friends con-