NOTES
has been already quoted. His older brother had also been a pupil. Hosmer wrote to me as follows: —
“Every one in that school had their duties assigned, as on a Cunard steamer, and did their own part.
“When I first came, a little boy, John said ‘I want you to be a good boy and study, because you are my friend's little brother.’ Soon after, I was called to his desk by John. He had spoken to me once or twice, but I had not heard, and he thought I was sulky. I said I had not heard him, and he looked at me and behaved me, and to make amends opened his desk and took out Lazy Lawrence and gave it to me to read.
“When the second term was to begin, he said to me, ‘If your father does n't feel able to send you next term, you come, and you shall have your tuition free.’
“Sometimes he used to take me by the hand and lead me home to dinner. I never forgot those dinners; the room was shaded and cool, there was no hustle. Mrs. Thoreau's bread, brown and white, was the best I had ever tasted. They had, beside, vegetables and fruit, pies or puddings; but I never saw meat there. [The Thoreaus were not vegetarians exclusively, but this was at a time of saving.] Their living was a revelation to me. I think they were twenty years ahead of the times in Concord.
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