The several papers are arranged substantially in the order of their first appearance. One only, heretofore printed among Thoreau's writings, is omitted, for Prayers as Mr. Edward W. Emerson shows,[1] was written by Mr. R. W. Emerson, and published by him in The Dial. The verses included in it were alone by Thoreau.
The earliest production of Thoreau which has found its way into print appears to be an essay, dated July, 1840, and headed The Service; Qualities of the Recruit. Mr. Sanborn, who read extracts from this essay before the Concord Summer School of Philosophy in 1882, states that it probably was the one offered to The Dial which Miss Margaret Fuller rejected, accompanying her rejection with criticism, as narrated by Mr. Sanborn in his Thoreau. These extracts are reprinted here from Concord Lectures in Philosophy, published by Moses King, Cambridge, Mass.
Paradise (to be) Regained was in the form of a review of a book by J. A. Etzler, and was published in The Democratic Review, New York, for November, 1843. It was written during Thoreau's short residence in Staten Island.
Herald of Freedom was printed in The Dial,
- ↑ Emerson in Concord, p. 133.
