Evening journal., 1911-10-12
new NEWS OF YESTERDAY
Tie Last Flowers That
IhOreau Saw
By Holland.

The late Senator George F. Hoar. Of
Massachusetts was born and reared in
Concord, Mass There, too, Thoreau
was born and raised, and in that his
toric town he spent the greater part OF
his life
/ once asked Senator Hoar If he had
known Thoreau personally.
Il did not know him very WE'LL" was
the reply. Il was a mere boy when
Thoreau returned TO Concord from
Harvard College. as it then was; and
not long after he returned-I think
about the time he went to live with
Ralph Waldo Emerson--I entered
Harvard. After my graduation from
college and my admission TO the bar,
decided 10 practice law in Worcester,
80 that I saw very little of Thoreau
except in my occasional visits to Con-
cord But my brother, Judge lockwood
Hoar, who was Attorney-General in
Grants cabinet, was one of the few
men whom Thoreau admitted to some-
thing like personal intimacy And yet
the relation between them was not
very close, although in the last years
of Thoreaus life he lived almost ex-
actly across the street from my broth
ers home.
During those years, Thoreau, you
know, was a victim of consumption.
AS my brother went to and from his
home he occasionally would sec
Thoreau sitting in an invalids chair
at a window. Now and then lockwood
would call on Thoreau, and he was
always made to feel that his calls
were most welcome.
"One day in early May, 1862, just
about the time the lilacs were bios
soming, my brother, recalling that
Thoreau was an ardent lover Of flow
ers, picked a big bunch Of lilacs and
took It to his neighbor.
He found Thoreau in bed he was
very wan and feeble. But as lockwood
handed him the lilacs a beautiful smile
came over Thoreaus face. He did moi
speak-he was too weak to speak, but
In that smile was expressed Thoreau's
sincere thanks for the flowers and his
gratitude that my brother should have
remembered him For a few moments
Thoreau fondled the flowers, he drank
in their fragrance; then, with wasted
fingers he put them by his side upon
the coverlid, and turned once more tc
my brother with a beautiful smile
The flowers have given him so much
pleasure said my brother to himself
as he stood at the bedside, that
will bring him another bunch tomor-
row. With this thought in MIND
lockwood bade Thoreau goodbye. I
shall see you again soon,' he said. and
received in reply another beautiful
smile.
Less than an hour later my brother
met an acquaintance upon the street
who said 10 him: Henry Thoreau has
Just died.
"My brother was aghast. He knew
that Thoreau was very i'll, but he could
not believe that the end had come sc
soon. But I called upon him an hour
ago, he said. protestingly. 1T seemi
| impossible that then he could have
been so near death
yet he was dead. And the flower
that my brother had carried to hin
we're the last he saw. For shortly af
ter lockwood had bidden him goodbye
Henry Thoreau looked long and lov
ingly at the lilacs, then closed hi
eyes and fell asleep. And later, whei
the watchers at his bed looked at hit
they saw that he had passed away
Copyright, 1911, by E. J Edwards. Al
rights reserved)
Tomorrow Mr.. Edwards will tell 0
4An Invention that Was Made For th
Future"