egion of the United States. His writings became popular only shortly after his death in the spring of 1862.
             The exert used from A Wider View of the Universe: Henry David Thoreau's Study of Nature by Robert Kahl McGregor, offered some insight into the relationship between Thoreau and his mentor, Ralph Waldo Emerson. It illustrates the shape that the relationship took as it grew, changed, and often underwent self-destruction. A Historical Guide to Henry David Thoreau, a collection of essays compiled by William E. Cain. Though it offers insight into the influences that shape his philosophy on life, it adds too much extra information about the history of Thoreau's world in the eighteen-hundreds. Elizabeth Hall Witherell's Thoreau: Collected Essays and Poems has an outstanding selection of works that dig deeply into Thoreau's values and beliefs.
             Born in the summer of 1817, David Henry Thoreau lived a quiet existence on his late, great aunt's farm in Concord, Massachusetts. His family and his peers always called him Henry, but he did not legally change it to Henry David Thoreau until the early 1830's. Though it seemed similar, Henry's childhood transpired differently than that of many of the boys' living in Concord at the same time. His father, John, made an honest living manufacturing pencils. Cynthia, a quick-witted, opinionated woman, brought Henry and his three siblings up to respect people of a
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