Oh, man, thanks for the excerpt about Thoreau's visitor; it's a fabulous passage. There's a big advantage in being so "connected." I wish I could tell you where in the Journals. I'm not even sure it was in the Journals. All I remember is a reference somewhere to T having gone off to visit Buckley Emerson. I will look in the few books I have in the house; maybe it's in one of them.

DW

DWill wrote:I wish I could tell you where in the Journals. I'm not even sure it was in the Journals. All I remember is a reference somewhere to T having gone off to visit Buckley Emerson. I will look in the few books I have in the house; maybe it's in one of them.

Will, don't go to a lot of trouble about this. Thoreau would have checked up on Bulkeley (a hard to spell name) regularly for Emerson, I imagine. I was wondering if Bulkeley's mind were good enough for them to have had a friendly relationship.

Tom

What Tom said when we first started about the privy stuck in my mind. He never mentions how he managed his waste, and it might seem, in a book where he's going to talk about fronting the essentials of life, that he might tell us about this. But, maybe it's not anything to to be concerned about. I had an offline discussion with Saffron about it. She didn't see anything necessarily meaningful in what a writer leaves out. He just didn't think it was important, maybe as simple as that. So I suppose I won't speculate about why we don't hear about the location or construction of his privy.

DWill

DWill wrote:What Tom said when we first started about the privy stuck in my mind. He never mentions how he managed his waste, . . .

He did give some hints

"But as it was, I considered that I enhanced the value of the land by squatting on it" (1.87).

"I have watered the red huckleberry, the sand cherry and the nettle-tree, the red pine and the black ash, the white grape and the yellow violet, which might have withered else in dry seasons" (1.29).


Will, just Control-F the index number to jump directly to the paragraph.

And, so I understand, he did have an outhouse. Research has disclosed that each Irish shanty by the railroad had an outhouse behind it.

Tom

DWill & Tom,
I suspect that T never mentioned the outhouse because it was so mundane and ubiquitous a thing. Did he mention having bedsheets? A spoon? A sweater? A hat? I think if there had been some special consideration or modification of the outhouse, he may well have mentioned it.

Also, T was writing with a purpose. His words and topics were carefully chosen in pursuit of this purpose. What would talking about his outhouse have illustrated? I would venture to guess that if he had felt that any aspect of the outhouse would have served his point, he'd have written about it.

Saffron

Saffron, I know this discussion borders on poor taste, but I don't think it's entirely irrelevant. New England folk humor -- my impression -- tends toward the scatological. A lady pointed this out to me: "I also heard the whooping of the ice in the pond, my great bed-fellow in that part of Concord, as if it were restless in its bed and would fain turn over, were troubled with flatulency and had dreams; . . ." (15.3), and she used plainer English.

Did he mention having bedsheets? A spoon? A sweater? A hat?

He doesn't mention a sweater, although his sisters may have made him one, but he does mention bedsheets, spoon, and hat:

"But if my jacket and trousers, my hat and shoes, are fit to worship God in, they will do; will they not?" (1.36).

"While one thick garment is, for most purposes, as good as three thin ones, and cheap clothing can be obtained at prices really to suit customers; while a thick coat can be bought for five dollars, which will last as many years, thick pantaloons for two dollars, cowhide boots for a dollar and a half a pair, a summer hat for a quarter of a dollar, and a winter cap for sixty-two and a half cents, or a better be made at home at a nominal cost, where is he so poor that, clad in such a suit, of his own earning, there will not be found wise men to do him reverence?" (1.37).

"As if one were to wear any sort of coat which the tailor might cut out for him, or, gradually leaving off palm-leaf hat or cap of woodchuck skin, complain of hard times because he could not afford to buy him a crown! (1.54).

"My furniture, part of which I made myself -- and the rest cost me nothing of which I have not rendered an account -- consisted of a bed, a table, a desk, three chairs, a looking-glass three inches in diameter, a pair of tongs and andirons, a kettle, a skillet, and a frying-pan, a dipper, a wash-bowl, two knives and forks, three plates, one cup, one spoon, a jug for oil, a jug for molasses, and a japanned lamp (1.89).

". . .uneasy housekeepers who pried into my cupboard and bed when I was out -- how came Mrs. -- to know that my sheets were not as clean as hers?" (6.17).

I offer a version of Walden that makes it easy to check on questions of detail. You could also get it from Will.

Tom

Ok, so he mentioned the spoon, hat and bedsheets. But do you see, Tom, that he employees the mention of those items to make a point; that being the value of simplicity. If he'd had a point to make with the outhouse, he'd have written it.

Saffron wrote:But do you see, Tom, that he employees the mention of those items to make a point; that being the value of simplicity.

OK, Saffron, I agree that simplicity is a fundamental value, but he does tell us about such aspects of his dwelling as cellar and woodshed:

12.10 A phoebe soon built in my shed,

"My employment out of doors now was to collect the dead wood in the forest, bringing it in my hands or on my shoulders, or sometimes trailing a dead pine tree under each arm to my shed (13.12).

"But commonly I kindled my fire with the dry leaves of the forest, which I had stored up in my shed before the snow came" (13.16).

Tom

[quote="Thomas Hood] He did give some hints

"But as it was, I considered that I enhanced the value of the land by squatting on it" (1.87).

"I have watered the red huckleberry, the sand cherry and the nettle-tree, the red pine and the black ash, the white grape and the yellow violet, which might have withered else in dry seasons" (1.29).[/quote]

Can't argue with that, can you, Saffron? Good pick-up, Tom.

Your kidding, right?