Page:Thoreau - His Home, Friends and Books (1902).djvu/277

Rh family friends to hasten to the coast off Fire Island, to give service and care to her mother and brother. The latter, Richard Fuller, was a valued comrade of Thoreau on many excursions, and to him he owed his treasured music-box.

In Thoreau's later life he carried on an extended revelatory correspondence with two men of poetic and meditative minds, who justly deserve rank among his most devoted and appreciative friends. One of these was Mr. Daniel Ricketson of New Bedford. The acquaintance began in 1854, as a result of the purchase of a copy of "Walden." The letters continued until Thoreau's death, with frequent interchange of visits; in truth, Mr. Ricketson remained a cordial friend to the family after Thoreau's death. His many letters to Miss Sophia Thoreau, which it has been my privilege to read, reveal a character of rare insight and religious beauty. He was a poet-botanist and had built, and occupied for hours daily, a "shanty" near his beautiful home in New Bedford. Thoreau, who was much interested in the flora of this region and in the marine plants of Nantucket, often visited this friend from 1854 until 1861. As mentioned, it was on the last visit that the ambrotype was taken from which the Ricketson medallion was made. It was this friend who described the first sight