Page:Familiar letters of Henry David Thoreau.djvu/97

 jsT.25.] TO R. W. EMERSON. 73

April number of the Transcendentalist quar terly.

TO R. W. EMERSON (AT NEW YORK).

CONCORD, February 20, 1843.

MY DEAR FRIEND, I have read Mr. Lane s review, and can say, speaking for this world and for fallen man, that &quot;it is good for us.&quot; As they say in geology, time never fails, there is always enough of it, so I may say, criticism never fails ; but if I go and read elsewhere, I say it is good, far better than any notice Mr. Alcott has received, or is likely to receive from another quarter. It is at any rate &quot; the other side,&quot; which Boston needs to hear. I do not send it to you, because time is precious, and because I think you would accept it, after all. After speaking briefly of the fate of Goethe and Carlyle in their own countries, he says, &quot; To Emerson in his own circle is but slowly accorded a worthy response ; and Alcott, al most utterly neglected,&quot; etc. I will strike out what relates to yourself, and correcting some verbal faults, send the rest to the printer with Lane s initials.

The catalogue needs amendment, I think. It wants completeness now. It should consist of such books only as they would tell Mr. [F. H.] Hedge and [Theodore] Parker they had got ;