And another thing about the 19th century people.

They were in such rigid roles. So sometimes when things weren't going so well between Emerson and his wife, he would take off on a big long trip and then Thoreau would come over and help out while he was away and they got into these weird little power dynamics where the wife would tell Emerson that he should write to  Henry but Emerson didn't like being told what to do and blah blah blah. And sometimes the kids started to think of Thoreau as their father.

And then sometimes Emerson would lecture Thoreau that he had to get married. 

But then there was this one woman who actually asked Thoreau to marry her and it freaked Thoreau out and then he obviously didn't react well and the woman got suicidal. But then I guess she recovered. And Louisa May Alcott said she was a really good person. Thoreau stayed single.

And Emerson thought her behavior was just completely ridiculous. Women in those days didn't do such things.

I guess it was hard to be them.