Hi Lilo. Yes but if I recall correctly Thoreah could not take the loneliness of Walden Pond and left??? Steve

I remember the first time I saw Walden pond. More like Walden Lake, I thought, but maybe it's just regional differences that made the terminology so strange.

And Steve, yes, Thoreau was full of contradictions. I somehow thought it was strange that he was so willing to let Emerson support him for so many years, to say nothing about bailing him out of jail for not paying his taxes.

He also fell pretty much out of favor in literary circles until the hippies ressurected him in the 1960's.

From what I read about the man, he was actually much better at talking the talk as he was walking the walk -

Andie, I thought his income came from his family's pencil-making...in fact I'd read Thoreau came up with improvements. As to Emerson, I think he admired and encouraged Thoreau's writings, but aside from acting as tutor for Emerson's children, didn't know Thoreau otherwise accepted funds. Thoreau called his 2-year stay at Walden "an experiment", condensed into one year for his book...don't think he ever meant to stay permanently..

I first read Thoreau's writing on civil disobedience in high school about 1950 in civics classes and probably read Walden Pond in Eng.Lit. Ghandi in the thirties based his nonviolent movement to free India on Thoreau's writings and later Martin Luther King adopted his views for use in our own Civil Rights movement. Although there was still much blood shed in both instances, can we imagine what it would have been like without Thoreau's influence on those leaders and most of their followers?

Thoreau is a favorite writer and hero of mine...can you tell~~ smile. josh

Josh, the family's pencil making business wasn't very prosperous & about the only lasting thing that Thoreau got out of it was lead poisoning which contributed to his early death.

Emerson, who luckily married a wealthy woman who conveniently died, supported Thoreau, Hawthorne & Bronson Alcott & his family. Susan Cheever wrote a fascinating book about that whole crowd called American Bloomsbury

Thanks so much, Andie...once again you've introduced me to another interesting book. I've always wished to be wealthy :>) and think I would have spent most on supporting artists and writers. Have had a few talented but poor friends...(one whose family had a broom-making operation (!) but fortunately he was a college prof or else would have starved!) Often I give silent thanks to the foundations listed on PBS programs...LOL I'll add Emerson to my list of benevolent benefactors with pleasure. josh