had begun their school in Concord, alternating it with gardening,—for Miss Ward wrote, June 29, 1838:
"Mr. Thoreau's potatoes and squashes look finely, and Henry's melons are flourishing. He has over sixty hills, and we are likely to have an abundance. He was much troubled with the cutworm. John's school is flourishing. There are four boys from Boston boarding with us. I want Ellen Sewall should make us a visit of a week or two. Tell little Mary Ward that we have a black kitten, and that the martins have driven away the bluebirds and taken possession of their box. Our flower-garden looks very gay. It is more forward than our neighbors', and is quite filled with a variety of roses and other flowers."
Ellen Sewall was the niece of Miss Ward, living in Scituate, where her father, a cousin of Mrs. Alcott, was pastor. She made her visit in Concord, and the two brothers fell in love with her, as will be mentioned later. In the autumn of this year (September 11, 1838), Henry gave his first lecture before the Concord Lyceum, on "Society," in the
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