Letter from Franklin Benjamin Sanborn to Calvin H. Greene

Concord, June 11th 1862 My dear Sir; Your letter of the 8th inst. inquiring concerning the death of Henry Thoreau is just received, and I hasten to answer it. A slight notice of the funeral was printed in the Boston Transcript of May 10th (I think) and the Advertiser of the 9th had a notice of himself by Mr Emerson.

A more extended notice consisting of the Eulogy spoken at his funeral, with additions, will appear in the Atlantic Monthly for August - and will be the answer to many of your inquiries. His illness was a lingering one - a year and a half, at least; the last six months of which he was able to go out doors but little. He endured

it with great patience and sweetness, preserved his gaiety and wit to the last. I was often with him, having known him well for the last seven years. You have indeed missed much in not having met him, for he well supported the impression left by his writings. His mother and sister who survive him, Mrs Cynthia and Miss Sophia Thoreau, de-

[ ? ] me to say that they have remembered your [ grand?] - ly letters to Mr. Thoreau, and have desired to send you some token of their remembrance. They therefore enclose these verses of [Ellen ?] [Chaunmps' ?] and her Emerson's Advertiser sketch. At the funeral, which was in the church, Mr. Emerson spoke after the clergyman - [Mr. ?] ing's hymn was sung, and Mr. Alcott read some passages from the writings of Mr Thoreau. I hope you may carry out your purpose of visiting Concord, and shall be glad to talk with you then on a subject to dear to both. Yours truly F. B. Sanborn