It could hardly be expected of Thoreau's sister to sympathize with
such a tribunal, especially when the same clear judgment was brought
to bear upon the letters. Even touching the contract for publication
he was equally painstaking--far more so than for his own affairs. He
wrote, "I inclose the first form of contract, as you requested, with
the alterations suggested by Miss Thoreau." After this follows a
careful reiteration in his own handwriting of such alterations as were
desired.

The early loss of Thoreau and his love for him were, I had believed,
the root and flower which brought forth fruit in his noble discourse
on "Immortality;" but Miss Emerson generously informs me that I am
mistaken in this idea. "Most of its framework," she says, "was written
seven or eight years earlier and delivered in September, 1855. Some
parts of it he may have used at Mr. Thoreau's funeral and some
sentences of it may have been written then, but the main work was done
long before, and it was enlarged twice afterwards."

Happy were they who heard him speak at the funeral of Henry Thoreau.
At whatever period he first framed his intuitions upon the future in
prose, on that day a light was flashed upon him which he reflected
again upon the soul of his listeners, and to them it seemed that a
new-born glory had descended. Whatever words are preserved upon the
printed page, the spirit of what was given on that day cannot be
reproduced. He wrote, the day after Thoreau's death, to Mr. Fields:
"Come tomorrow and bring ---- to my house. We will give you a very
early dinner. Mr. Channing is to write a hymn or dirge for the
funeral, which is to be from the church at three o'clock. I am to make
an address, and probably Mr. Alcott may say something." This was the
only announcement, the only time for preparation. Thoreau's body lay