A different drummer
Following the call of the heart
Happy Friday…
175 years ago. On July 4, 1845, Henry David Thoreau moved into a cabin near Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. Most people, not knowing different, think of it as a man versus nature story.
It wasn’t that. Not even close.
Thoreau’s little cabin was a 20 minute walk from his Mother’s house. Less than a half mile. He visited daily to help with chores, and his mother and sisters brought him fresh bread, cookies—and clean laundry.
Some people, reading that, think he was a spoiled socialite, communing with nature while his mother washed his laundry and brought him food. Poor confused souls.
It wasn’t that, either.
Thoreau’s mother was an abolitionist.
Together, his mother and his 3 elder sisters founded the Concord Ladies’ Antislavery Society and he—fourth-born child—grew up hearing the wrongs of slavery in a society built upon that free labor. It troubled him deeply.
And Walden?
Walden was more than a pond. More than a forest.
It was home to the marginalized.
People like Brister Freeman, former slave of Squire Cumming, one of the founders of Harvard medical school. And Freeman’s sister, Zilpah White, and Cato Ingraham, who would only ever say he’d pulled wool, before fleeing to Walden.
And so Thoreau planted himself in the middle of them.
Walking in the woods one day, Thoreau once met an escaped slave and escorted him safely to the railroad that would take him to Canada, and freedom.
He was less a hermit, and more a young man deeply disturbed by the plight of people suffering under the burden of oppression in a world built by it.
After 2 years, 2 months and 2 days, he abruptly left Walden to go get a job. So he could repay the debts he’d incurred those two years.
It would be 10 more years before his book was published. Once published, his thoughts on humanity and morality would take 5 years to sell the 2000 copies printed.
And then—it was taken out of print.
Until his death.
For lack of sales.
Henry David Thoreau never lived to see his book become an American classic and a handbook on civil-disobedience.
All he knew was that he followed the call of his heart.
And though he was not richer for it, I believe we are.
If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music he hears, however measured or far away. — Henry David Thoreau
Medium All Star Interview
Medium Interviews is new series from Blogging Guide, featuring interviews with some of Medium’s top writers. This week, Casey interviewed me. It would make me happy if you’d give it a read and leave a comment. [Click here to read it]
New Posts This Week… (open links so everyone can read)
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Thanks for reading and have a great weekend.
:)
Linda
Congrats on the interview!