5:55 P.M. They told me at 328 that Mrs. O'Connor and Anne had just left after a good talk in his room. (He did not this time come downstairs.) Sat with his hat and coat on by the open window (still chilly, cool) reading Camden Post. "The women are just gone—I was glad to have them here. It sends the blood to my extremities!" I laughed and he did too and then said, "This is a no-news day—nothing seems to have been done or to be doing—though everything is being done, too, if we shift our point of view. But the thing I have been most interested in today is a piece about Thoreau"—leaning over and picking up a paper from the floor (Great Thoughts, London, Aug. 22nd). "Here it is—it is the opinion of someone across the water" (W. H. Wilkinson: "Henry D. Thoreau, Poet Naturalist"), "contains nothing at all new but a good deal that is interesting. In fact, we always like to read about Thoreau—anything that turns up. He was one of the characters—yes indeed." Returned me Scribner's and Current Literature, referring to Mme. Benzon, in the last, in terms of admiration. Is speculating about the boats—Bucke's arrival "and Wallace yet far out at sea."
I saw McKay today. Discussed Reeves and Turner matter. Very stout, cheerful. Prefers to have Gardner handle the foreign books. "He has always done so—I have even written him now for an order on 'Good-Bye.'" But I found Gardner's purchases did not average $50 a year. At any rate, said I would do nothing till I had a talk with Bucke, bringing out fully the purport of his conference with Reeves and Turner in London. W. acquiesced.