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THE CONCORD SAUNTERER ^ ^^^^ yf^^^ ^^^z^ j£ ; ^ f <n^ ?^^f ^t^^ yj%f ^4, /ZuT**^*^ ^^*-**^>xz. t^Jy/sZ? s^dkr*^- strips AJ^Lc^ rtUL^^ ~*^»*^*£ ^f^ New Series Volume 4 Fall 1996 Published by The Thoreau Society THE CONCORD SAUNTERER (ISSN 1068-5359) Published by The Thoreau Society Original Series, Volumes 1-20, 1966-1988 New Series Begun Fall 1993 Editor Ronald Wesley Hoag Advisory Editors Bradley P. Dean Wesley T. Mott Joel Myerson Editorial Assistants Heather Burt David W. Dilts The front-cover drawing ofThoreau's Walden Pond cabin accompanied the first printing of Walden in 1854. This drawing was based on an original executed by Henry's sister Sophia. The passage about sauntering is from Thoreau's "Walk- ing" manuscript. The likeness of Thoreau on the back cover is from an 1856 Benjamin D. Maxham daguerreotype, ownedby the Thoreau Society. THECONCORD SAUNTERER. an annual publication ofThe Thoreau Society, Inc.. seeks biographical, historical, textual, bibliographical, and interpretive ar- ticles relatingto HenryThoreauandhis associates. Concord, andTranscendental- ism. Submissions of all lengths are invited: shorter pieces not used will also be considered forthe quarterly THOREAU SOCIETY BULLETIN, editedby Brad- ley P. Dean. Contributions should conform to The Chicago Manual ofStyle for endnote documentation. Send two copies plus SASE to the Editor, THE CON- CORD SAUNTERER. Department of English. East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina 27858-4353. Decisions are reported within three months. Subscription to THE CONCORD SAUNTERER is by membership in the Society; see the back cover for additional information. THE CONCORD SAUNTERER is indexed in theMLA InternationalBibliography. This issue of THE CONCORD SAUNTERER is dedicated to the memory of WALTER HARDING (1917-1996) who also travelled a good deal in Concord "Now comes good sailing" Thededicatory photographofWalterHardingisby RonPretzerofSUNYGeneseo. s THE CONCORD SAUNTERER New Series Volume 4 Fall 1996 Editor's Pages 1 Joel Myerson Henry Thoreau in Cyberspace 5 Lawence Buell Who Owns Henry Thoreau? 13 Sterling F. Delano Brook Farm and Concord: 23 Transit Between Celebrated Communities Michael Berger The Saunterer's Vision: Henry Thoreau' 45 Epiphany ofForest Dynamics in The Dispersion of Seeds Stephen F. Ells Henry Thoreau and the Estabrook Country: 73 A Historic andPersonal Landscape Dick O'Connor Thoreau in the Town School, 1837 151 Concord Saunterer Judith Broome Mesa-Pelly Thoreau s "Basket ofa Delicate Texture 175 Weaving History in A Week Notes on Contributors 187 Presidents ofThe Thoreau Society 189 The lnoreau~ Society1 Foundedin 1941 Copyright 1996© by The Thoreau Society, Inc. Editor's Pages On 10 April 1996 Walter Harding, dean of all Thoreau scholars and esteemed Founding Secretary of the Thoreau Society, died of complications followingastroke. ForfiftyyearsWaltguidedandshapedourSociety,becoming, despite his modesty, almost as closely identified with this organization as Henry Thoreau himself. We treasure our memories and mourn the passing of this affable,unassuming,andgracefullyinfluentialfriend. Waltwas,ineverysenseof theterm, agood-naturedman. ToexpecttheThoreau Societytocontinue asusual afterthe loss ofthis founding and nurturing father would be to underestimate his Thoreauly central influence. Walt Harding will be missed. To continue, however, is just what the Thoreau Society will do, in a manner that embraces and honors our past even as it accommodates our future. Growing from our roots, we will enhance our annual meeting in Concord, our involvement with local schools and the Concord Museum, our academic and nonacademic activities (such as lectures andexcursions) throughout the year, our archives, our twojournals and other publications, and our combined bookstore/ information center/gift shop at Walden Pond. Branching out. we will take advantageofopportunitiesaffordedusbyDonHenley'sIsisFoundationtoinform more people about Thoreau's life and works than everbefore. This Thoreauvian message will be disseminated through the communications resources and on-site programs ofthe new Thoreau Institute, whose library and media center are now almost completed at Baker Farm. Even as we help educate the world about Thoreau through the world wide web and other revolutionary technologies, at home in Concord and Lincoln we will introduce small groups of educators and students alike to the ongoing natural, human, and intellectual web involving Walden Pond, Walden Woods, Estabrook Woods, the Concord, Assabet, and SudburyRivers,theThoreauBirthplace,thearea'smanyhistorichousesandsites, andtheculturalandenvironmentalinstitutionsthatpreserveandinterpretthisvital legacy. Whilethenewlibrarybuildingharmoniouslyadornsitswoodlandsetting, itstruecornerstoneistheunparalleledcollectionofwritingsbyandaboutThoreau andhiscontemporariesgiventothe SocietybyWalterandMarjorie Harding. The HardingCollection,togetherwiththe seminalcollectionsofRaymondAdamsand Roland Robbins, makes this library an institution not ofbricks and stones but of winged seeds. ThisnewissueofThe ConcordSaunterercarries somepotentseedsofits own. JoelMyerson, ourmostrecentpastpresident,comments wrylyyetpropheti- callyonthecurrentandfuturepresenceofHenryThoreauincyberspace. Lawrence Buellreminds usthatthereare almostasmanyThoreaus asThoreauvians andthat notallofthem(Thoreau—sorThoreauvians)agreewithe—achother. SterlingDelano offers new insights on and photographic images of the Brook Farm Utopian ' 2 Concord Saunterer community,especiallyitsrelationshiptotheConcordandConcordiansofThoreau's day. Michael Berger persuasively demonstrates the manifold importance of Thoreau'srecentlypublishedtreatiseon"TheDispersionofSeeds,"whileStephen Ells elegantly contextualizes the words ofThoreau, Emerson, and others torelate the natural, human, and literary history of Concord's Estabrook Country, estab- lishing beyond refutation the significance ofthis miraculously survivingremnant ofan allbutobliterated local wildness. Alsointhis issue, DickO'Connortakes a revisionistlookatthe facts andmyths ofThoreau's aborted 1837 attempttoteach inthetown school, andJudithMesa-PellyexaminesthecraftingofA Weekon the ConcordandMerrimackRivers in the revealing light ofThoreau's own remarks about Indian baskets. Fortheseeditor'spages, I asked StephenEllstoupdate andcommenton thepresentlyendangeredconditionoftheEstabrookCountry. Hereplied, "Asthis issuegoestopress, thereisbothgoodandbadnewsaboutthefutureofEstabrook Woods. Thegoodnews is thatthis weekeleven hundredacresofEstabrookhave beenpreserved. Harvard University hasfinallyandformally agreedtopreserve its 675acresperpetually, andsome abutting owners havepermanently restricted an additionalfour hundred acres. The bad news is that one abutter, Middlesex School, despite the availability ofalternatives, continues topush itsproposalfor facultyhousing, soccerfields, tenniscourts, andazoneformorebuildingsa third ofamileintothe Woods. Moreover, someConcordtownboardsarenotdefending Thoreauvianvalues. Theselectmenandthenaturalresourcescommission(though not the historical commission) have tentatively accepted an unwise settlement proposal that would officially bless this development. This could reduce the maximum width ofEstabrook's 'deep woods' from six thousand to thirty-four hundredfeet. Also, the old Carlisle (Estabrook) road could be within a few hundredfeet ofthese buiildings rather than being isolated at the center ofthe Woods. As the MiddlesexSchool valedictorian saidatcommencement lastJune, addressingthedevelopmentplans, 'Thewoodsareourgreatestphysicaltreasure. Nootherschoolcanclaimwhatwealreadyhave /, forone, hopethatstudents five, ten, twentyyears down the roadwill be able to enjoy the woods as they are now, untouchedbydevelopment. Imention thisoutofmy loveforthe school, . . . andoutofmydesire to see itmake wisedecisions.' He addedthis caution to the school's decision makers, 'Be mindful ofwhat lessonsyou teach yourstudents. Regrettably, thisyoung man's wise andmovingappealhas notbeen heeded." I wish to thank advisory editor Wesley Mott for his extraordinary help- fulness in preparing this issue. Please note that all books and most products advertisedherein are available throughourShop atWalden Pond, whereThoreau Society members receive a ten percent discount. See the Shop ad for further information. RWH Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013 http://archive.org/details/concordsaunterer19964unse Henry Thoreau in Cyberspace