,illustration ,a ,week on the ,concord and ,merrimack ,rivers by ,henry ,david ,thoreau ,,author ,,of 8,,walden10 ,,etc4 ,contents ,,concord ,,river ,,saturday ,,sunday ,,monday ,,tuesday ,,wednesday ,,thursday ,,friday ,where'er thou sail'st who sailed with me1 ,though now thou climbest loftier mounts1 ,and fairer rivers dost ascend1 ,be thou my ,muse1 my ,brother--4 ,i am bound1 ,i am bound1 for a distant shore1 ,by a lonely isle1 by a far ,azore1 ,there it is1 there it is1 the treasure ,i seek1 ,on the barren sands of a desolate creek4 ,i sailed up a river with a pleasant wind1 ,new lands1 new people1 and new thoughts to find2 ,many fair reaches and headlands appeared1 ,and many dangers were there to be feared2 ,but when ,i remember where ,i have been1 ,and the fair landscapes that ,i have seen1 ,,thou seemest the only permanent shore1 ,the cape never rounded1 nor wandered o'er4 ,fluminaque obliquis cinxit declivia ripis2 ,qu1 diversa locis1 partim sorbentur ab ipsa2 ,in mare perveniunt partim1 campoque recepta ,liberioris aqu1 pro ripis litora pulsant4 ,,ovid1 ,met4 ,i4 #ci ,he confined the rivers within their sloping banks1 ,which in different places are part absorbed by the earth1 ,part reach the sea1 and being received within the plain ,of its freer waters1 beat the shore for banks4 ,,concord ,,river 8,beneath low hills1 in the broad interval ,through which at will our ,indian rivulet ,winds mindful still of sannup and of squaw1 ,whose pipe and arrow oft the plough unburies1 ,here1 in pine houses1 built of new-fallen trees1 ,supplanters of the tribe1 the farmers dwell40 --,,emerson4 ,the ,musketaquid1 or ,grass-ground ,river1 though probably as old as the ,nile or ,euphrates1 did not begin to have a place in civilized history1 until the fame of its grassy meadows and its fish attracted settlers out of ,england in #afce1 when it received the other but kindred name of ,,concord from the first plantation on its banks1 which appears to have been commenced in a spirit of peace and harmony4 ,it will be ,grass-ground ,river as long as grass grows and water runs here2 it will be ,concord ,river only while men lead peaceable lives on its banks4 ,to an extinct race it was grass-ground1 where they hunted and fished1 and it is still perennial grass-ground to ,concord farmers1 who own the ,great ,meadows1 and get the hay from year to year4 8,one branch of it10 according to the historian of ,concord1 for ,i love to quote so good authority1 8rises in the south part of ,hopkinton1 and another from a pond and a large cedar-swamp in ,westborough10 and flowing between ,hopkinton and ,southborough1 through ,framingham1 and between ,sudbury and ,wayland1 where it is sometimes called ,sudbury ,river1 it enters ,concord at the south part of the town1 and after receiving the ,north or ,assabeth ,river1 which has its source a little farther to the north and west1 goes out at the northeast angle1 and flowing between ,bedford and ,carlisle1 and through ,billerica1 empties into the ,merrimack at ,lowell4 ,in ,concord it is1 in summer1 from four to fifteen feet deep1 and from one hundred to three hundred feet wide1 but in the spring freshets1 when it overflows its banks1 it is in some places nearly a mile wide4 ,between ,sudbury and ,wayland the meadows acquire their greatest breadth1 and when covered with water1 they form a handsome chain of shallow vernal lakes1 resorted to by numerous gulls and ducks4 ,just above ,sherman's ,bridge1 between these towns1 is the largest expanse1 and when the wind blows freshly in a raw ,march day1 heaving up the surface into dark and sober billows or regular swells1 skirted as it is in the distance with alder-swamps and smoke-like maples1 it looks like a smaller ,lake ,huron1 and is very pleasant and exciting for a landsman to row or sail over4 ,the farm-houses along the ,sudbury shore1 which rises gently to a considerable height1 command fine water prospects at this season4 ,the shore is more flat on the ,wayland side1 and this town is the greatest loser by the flood4 ,its farmers tell me that thousands of acres are flooded now1 since the dams have been erected1 where they remember to have seen the white honeysuckle or clover growing once1 and they could go dry with shoes only in summer4 ,now there is nothing but blue-joint and sedge and cut-grass there1 standing in water all the year round4 ,for a long time1 they made the most of the driest season to get their hay1 working sometimes till nine o'clock at night1 sedulously paring with their scythes in the twilight round the hummocks left by the ice2 but now it is not worth the getting when they can come at it1 and they look sadly round to their wood-lots and upland as a last resource4 ,it is worth the while to make a voyage up this stream1 if you go no farther than ,sudbury1 only to see how much country there is in the rear of us2 great hills1 and a hundred brooks1 and farm-houses1 and barns1 and haystacks1 you never saw before1 and men everywhere1 ,sudbury1 that is ,southborough men1 and ,wayland1 and ,nine-,acre-,corner men1 and ,bound ,rock1 where four towns bound on a rock in the river1 ,lincoln1 ,wayland1 ,sudbury1 ,concord4 ,many waves are there agitated by the wind1 keeping nature fresh1 the spray blowing in your face1 reeds and rushes waving2 ducks by the hundred1 all uneasy in the surf1 in the raw wind1 just ready to rise1 and now going off with a clatter and a whistling like riggers straight for ,labrador1 flying against the stiff gale with reefed wings1 or else circling round first1 with all their paddles briskly moving1 just over the surf1 to reconnoitre you before they leave these parts2 gulls wheeling overhead1 muskrats swimming for dear life1 wet and cold1 with no fire to warm them by that you know of2 their labored homes rising here and there like haystacks2 and countless mice and moles and winged titmice along the sunny windy shore2 cranberries tossed on the waves and heaving up on the beach1 their little red skiffs beating about among the alders2--such healthy natural tumult as proves the last day is not yet at hand4 ,and there stand all around the alders1 and birches1 and oaks1 and maples full of glee and sap1 holding in their buds until the waters subside4 ,you shall perhaps run aground on ,cranberry ,island1 only some spires of last year's pipe-grass above water1 to show where the danger is1 and get as good a freezing there as anywhere on the ,northwest ,coast4 ,i never voyaged so far in all my life4 ,you shall see men you never heard of before1 whose names you don't know1 going away down through the meadows with long ducking-guns1 with water-tight boots wading through the fowl-meadow grass1 on bleak1 wintry1 distant shores1 with guns at half-cock1 and they shall see teal1 blue-winged1 green-winged1 shelldrakes1 whistlers1 black ducks1 ospreys1 and many other wild and noble sights before night1 such as they who sit in parlors never dream of4 ,you shall see rude and sturdy1 experienced and wise men1 keeping their castles1 or teaming up their summer's wood1 or chopping alone in the woods1 men fuller of talk and rare adventure in the sun and wind and rain1 than a chestnut is of meat2 who were out not only in '#ge and #ahab1 but have been out every day of their lives2 greater men than ,homer1 or ,chaucer1 or ,shakespeare1 only they never got time to say so2 they never took to the way of writing4 ,look at their fields1 and imagine what they might write1 if ever they should put pen to paper4 ,or what have they not written on the face of the earth already1 clearing1 and burning1 and scratching1 and harrowing1 and ploughing1 and subsoiling1 in and in1 and out and out1 and over and over1 again and again1 erasing what they had already written for want of parchment4 ,as yesterday and the historical ages are past1 as the work of to-day is present1 so some flitting perspectives1 and demi-experiences of the life that is in nature are in time veritably future1 or rather outside to time1 perennial1 young1 divine1 in the wind and rain which never die4 ,the respectable folks1-- ,where dwell they8 ,they whisper in the oaks1 ,and they sigh in the hay2 ,summer and winter1 night and day1 ,out on the meadow1 there dwell they4 ,they never die1 ,nor snivel1 nor cry1 ,nor ask our pity ,with a wet eye4 ,a sound estate they ever mend ,to every asker readily lend2 ,to the ocean wealth1 ,to the meadow health1 ,to ,time his length1 ,to the rocks strength1 ,to the stars light1 ,to the weary night1 ,to the busy day1 ,to the idle play2 ,and so their good cheer never ends1 ,for all are their debtors1 and all their friends4 ,concord ,river is remarkable for the gentleness of its current1 which is scarcely perceptible1 and some have referred to its influence the proverbial moderation of the inhabitants of ,concord1 as exhibited in the ,revolution1 and on later occasions4 ,it has been proposed1 that the town should adopt for its coat of arms a field verdant1 with the ,concord circling nine times round4 ,i have read that a descent of an eighth of an inch in a mile is sufficient to produce a flow4 ,our river has1 probably1 very near the smallest allowance4 ,the story is current1 at any rate1 though ,i believe that strict history will not bear it out1 that the only bridge ever carried away on the main branch1 within the limits of the town1 was driven up stream by the wind4 ,but wherever it makes a sudden bend it is shallower and swifter1 and asserts its title to be called a river4 ,compared with the other tributaries of the ,merrimack1 it appears to have been properly named ,musketaquid1 or ,meadow ,river1 by the ,indians4 ,for the most part1 it creeps through broad meadows1 adorned with scattered oaks1 where the cranberry is found in abundance1 covering the ground like a moss-bed4 ,a row of sunken dwarf willows borders the stream on one or both sides1 while at a greater distance the meadow is skirted with maples1 alders1 and other fluviatile trees1 overrun with the grape-vine1 which bears fruit in its season1 purple1 red1 white1 and other grapes4 ,still farther from the stream1 on the edge of the firm land1 are seen the gray and white dwellings of the inhabitants4 ,according to the valuation of #ahca1 there were in ,concord two thousand one hundred and eleven acres1 or about one seventh of the whole territory in meadow2 this standing next in the list after pasturage and unimproved lands1 and1 judging from the returns of previous years1 the meadow is not reclaimed so fast as the woods are cleared4 ,let us here read what old ,johnson says of these meadows in his 8,wonder-working ,providence10 which gives the account of ,new ,england from #afbh to #afeb1 and see how matters looked to him4 ,he says of the ,twelfth ,church of ,christ gathered at ,concord3 8,this town is seated upon a fair fresh river1 whose rivulets are filled with fresh marsh1 and her streams with fish1 it being a branch of that large river of ,merrimack4 ,allwifes and shad in their season come up to this town1 but salmon and dace cannot come up1 by reason of the rocky falls1 which causeth their meadows to lie much covered with water1 the which these people1 together with their neighbor town1 have several times essayed to cut through but cannot1 yet it may be turned another way with an hundred pound charge as it appeared40 ,as to their farming he says3 8,having laid out their estate upon cattle at #e to #bj pound a cow1 when they came to winter them with inland hay1 and feed upon such wild fother as was never cut before1 they could not hold out the winter1 but1 ordinarily the first or second year after their coming up to a new plantation1 many of their cattle died40 ,and this from the same author 8,of the ,planting of the #aith ,church in the ,mattachusets' ,government1 called ,sudbury03 8,this year does he mean #afed the town and church of ,christ at ,sudbury began to have the first foundation stones laid1 taking up her station in the inland country1 as her elder sister ,concord had formerly done1 lying further up the same river1 being furnished with great plenty of fresh marsh1 but1 it lying very low is much indamaged with land floods1 insomuch that when the summer proves wet they lose part of their hay2 yet are they so sufficiently provided that they take in cattle of other towns to winter40 ,the sluggish artery of the ,concord meadows steals thus unobserved through the town1 without a murmur or a pulse-beat1 its general course from southwest to northeast1 and its length about fifty miles2 a huge volume of matter1 ceaselessly rolling through the plains and valleys of the substantial earth with the moccasoned tread of an ,indian warrior1 making haste from the high places of the earth to its ancient reservoir4 ,the murmurs of many a famous river on the other side of the globe reach even to us here1 as to more distant dwellers on its banks2 many a poet's stream floating the helms and shields of heroes on its bosom4 ,the ,xanthus or ,scamander is not a mere dry channel and bed of a mountain torrent1 but fed by the everflowing springs of fame2-- 8,and thou ,simois1 that as an arrowe1 clere ,through ,troy rennest1 aie downward to the sea02-- and ,i trust that ,i may be allowed to associate our muddy but much abused ,concord ,river with the most famous in history4 8,sure there are poets which did never dream ,upon ,parnassus1 nor did taste the stream ,of ,helicon2 we therefore may suppose ,those made not poets1 but the poets those40 ,the ,mississippi1 the ,ganges1 and the ,nile1 those journeying atoms from the ,rocky ,mountains1 the ,himmaleh1 and ,mountains of the ,moon1 have a kind of personal importance in the annals of the world4 ,the heavens are not yet drained over their sources1 but the ,mountains of the ,moon still send their annual tribute to the ,pasha without fail1 as they did to the ,pharaohs1 though he must collect the rest of his revenue at the point of the sword4 ,rivers must have been the guides which conducted the footsteps of the first travellers4 ,they are the constant lure1 when they flow by our doors1 to distant enterprise and adventure1 and1 by a natural impulse1 the dwellers on their banks will at length accompany their currents to the lowlands of the globe1 or explore at their invitation the interior of continents4 ,they are the natural highways of all nations1 not only levelling the ground and removing obstacles from the path of the traveller1 quenching his thirst and bearing him on their bosoms1 but conducting him through the most interesting scenery1 the most populous portions of the globe1 and where the animal and vegetable kingdoms attain their greatest perfection4 ,i had often stood on the banks of the ,concord1 watching the lapse of the current1 an emblem of all progress1 following the same law with the system1 with time1 and all that is made2 the weeds at the bottom gently bending down the stream1 shaken by the watery wind1 still planted where their seeds had sunk1 but erelong to die and go down likewise2 the shining pebbles1 not yet anxious to better their condition1 the chips and weeds1 and occasional logs and stems of trees that floated past1 fulfilling their fate1 were objects of singular interest to me1 and at last ,i resolved to launch myself on its bosom and float whither it would bear me4 ,,saturday 8,come1 come1 my lovely fair1 and let us try ,those rural delicacies40 ,christ's ,invitation to the ,soul4 ,,quarles ,at length1 on ,saturday1 the last day of ,august1 #ahci1 we two1 brothers1 and natives of ,concord1 weighed anchor in this river port2 for ,concord1 too1 lies under the sun1 a port of entry and departure for the bodies as well as the souls of men2 one shore at least exempted from all duties but such as an honest man will gladly discharge4 ,a warm drizzling rain had obscured the morning1 and threatened to delay our voyage1 but at length the leaves and grass were dried1 and it came out a mild afternoon1 as serene and fresh as if ,nature were maturing some greater scheme of her own4 ,after this long dripping and oozing from every pore1 she began to respire again more healthily than ever4 ,so with a vigorous shove we launched our boat from the bank1 while the flags and bulrushes courtesied a ,god-speed1 and dropped silently down the stream4 ,our boat1 which had cost us a week's labor in the spring1 was in form like a fisherman's dory1 fifteen feet long by three and a half in breadth at the widest part1 painted green below1 with a border of blue1 with reference to the two elements in which it was to spend its existence4 ,it had been loaded the evening before at our door1 half a mile from the river1 with potatoes and melons from a patch which we had cultivated1 and a few utensils1 and was provided with wheels in order to be rolled around falls1 as well as with two sets of oars1 and several slender poles for shoving in shallow places1 and also two masts1 one of which served for a tent-pole at night2 for a buffalo-skin was to be our bed1 and a tent of cotton cloth our roof4 ,it was strongly built1 but heavy1 and hardly of better model than usual4 ,if rightly made1 a boat would be a sort of amphibious animal1 a creature of two elements1 related by one half its structure to some swift and shapely fish1 and by the other to some strong-winged and graceful bird4 ,the fish shows where there should be the greatest breadth of beam and depth in the hold2 its fins direct where to set the oars1 and the tail gives some hint for the form and position of the rudder4 ,the bird shows how to rig and trim the sails1 and what form to give to the prow that it may balance the boat1 and divide the air and water best4 ,these hints we had but partially obeyed4 ,but the eyes1 though they are no sailors1 will never be satisfied with any model1 however fashionable1 which does not answer all the requisitions of art4 ,however1 as art is all of a ship but the wood1 and yet the wood alone will rudely serve the purpose of a ship1 so our boat1 being of wood1 gladly availed itself of the old law that the heavier shall float the lighter1 and though a dull water-fowl1 proved a sufficient buoy for our purpose4 8,were it the will of ,heaven1 an osier bough ,were vessel safe enough the seas to plough40 ,some village friends stood upon a promontory lower down the stream to wave us a last farewell2 but we1 having already performed these shore rites1 with excusable reserve1 as befits those who are embarked on unusual enterprises1 who behold but speak not1 silently glided past the firm lands of ,concord1 both peopled cape and lonely summer meadow1 with steady sweeps4 ,and yet we did unbend so far as to let our guns speak for us1 when at length we had swept out of sight1 and thus left the woods to ring again with their echoes2 and it may be many russet-clad children1 lurking in those broad meadows1 with the bittern and the woodcock and the rail1 though wholly concealed by brakes and hardhack and meadow-sweet1 heard our salute that afternoon4 ,we were soon floating past the first regular battle ground of the ,revolution1 resting on our oars between the still visible abutments of that 8,north ,bridge10 over which in ,april1 #agge1 rolled the first faint tide of that war1 which ceased not1 till1 as we read on the stone on our right1 it 8gave peace to these ,united ,states40 ,as a ,concord poet has sung3-- 8,by the rude bridge that arched the flood1 ,their flag to ,april's breeze unfurled1 ,here once the embattled farmers stood1 ,and fired the shot heard round the world4 8,the foe long since in silence slept2 ,alike the conqueror silent sleeps2 ,and ,time the ruined bridge has swept ,down the dark stream which seaward creeps40 ,our reflections had already acquired a historical remoteness from the scenes we had left1 and we ourselves essayed to sing4 ,ah1 't is in vain the peaceful din ,that wakes the ignoble town1 ,not thus did braver spirits win ,a patriot's renown4 ,there is one field beside this stream1 ,wherein no foot does fall1 ,but yet it beareth in my dream ,a richer crop than all4 ,let me believe a dream so dear1 ,some heart beat high that day1 ,above the petty ,province here1 ,and ,britain far away2 ,some hero of the ancient mould1 ,some arm of knightly worth1 ,of strength unbought1 and faith unsold1 ,honored this spot of earth2 ,who sought the prize his heart described1 ,and did not ask release1 ,whose free-born valor was not bribed ,by prospect of a peace4 ,the men who stood on yonder height ,that day are long since gone2 ,not the same hand directs the fight ,and monumental stone4 ,ye were the ,grecian cities then1 ,the ,romes of modern birth1 ,where the ,new ,england husbandmen ,have shown a ,roman worth4 ,in vain ,i search a foreign land ,to find our ,bunker ,hill1 ,and ,lexington and ,concord stand ,by no ,laconian rill4 ,with such thoughts we swept gently by this now peaceful pasture-ground1 on waves of ,concord1 in which was long since drowned the din of war4 ,but since we sailed ,some things have failed1 ,and many a dream ,gone down the stream4 ,here then an aged shepherd dwelt1 ,who to his flock his substance dealt1 ,and ruled them with a vigorous crook1 ,by precept of the sacred ,book2 ,but he the pierless bridge passed o'er1 ,and solitary left the shore4 ,anon a youthful pastor came1 ,whose crook was not unknown to fame1 ,his lambs he viewed with gentle glance1 ,spread o'er the country's wide expanse1 ,and fed with 8,mosses from the ,manse40 ,here was our ,hawthorne in the dale1 ,and here the shepherd told his tale4 ,that slight shaft had now sunk behind the hills1 and we had floated round the neighboring bend1 and under the new ,north ,bridge between ,ponkawtasset and the ,poplar ,hill1 into the ,great ,meadows1 which1 like a broad moccason print1 have levelled a fertile and juicy place in nature4 ,on ,ponkawtasset1 since1 we took our way1 ,down this still stream to far ,billericay1 ,a poet wise has settled1 whose fine ray ,doth often shine on ,concord's twilight day4 ,like those first stars1 whose silver beams on high1 ,shining more brightly as the day goes by1 ,most travellers cannot at first descry1 ,but eyes that wont to range the evening sky1 ,and know celestial lights1 do plainly see1 ,and gladly hail them1 numbering two or three2 ,for lore that's deep must deeply studied be1 ,as from deep wells men read star-poetry4 ,these stars are never paled1 though out of sight1 ,but like the sun they shine forever bright2 ,ay1 they are suns1 though earth must in its flight ,put out its eyes that it may see their light4 ,who would neglect the least celestial sound1 ,or faintest light that falls on earthly ground1 ,if he could know it one day would be found ,that star in ,cygnus whither we are bound1 ,and pale our sun with heavenly radiance round8 ,gradually the village murmur subsided1 and we seemed to be embarked on the placid current of our dreams1 floating from past to future as silently as one awakes to fresh morning or evening thoughts4 ,we glided noiselessly down the stream1 occasionally driving a pickerel or a bream from the covert of the pads1 and the smaller bittern now and then sailed away on sluggish wings from some recess in the shore1 or the larger lifted itself out of the long grass at our approach1 and carried its precious legs away to deposit them in a place of safety4 ,the tortoises also rapidly dropped into the water1 as our boat ruffled the surface amid the willows1 breaking the reflections of the trees4 ,the banks had passed the height of their beauty1 and some of the brighter flowers showed by their faded tints that the season was verging towards the afternoon of the year2 but this sombre tinge enhanced their sincerity1 and in the still unabated heats they seemed like the mossy brink of some cool well4 ,the narrow-leaved willow 7,salix ,purshiana7 lay along the surface of the water in masses of light green foliage1 interspersed with the large balls of the button-bush4 ,the small rose-colored polygonum raised its head proudly above the water on either hand1 and flowering at this season and in these localities1 in front of dense fields of the white species which skirted the sides of the stream1 its little streak of red looked very rare and precious4 ,the pure white blossoms of the arrow-head stood in the shallower parts1 and a few cardinals on the margin still proudly surveyed themselves reflected in the water1 though the latter1 as well as the pickerel-weed1 was now nearly out of blossom4 ,the snake-head1 ,chelone glabra1 grew close to the shore1 while a kind of coreopsis1 turning its brazen face to the sun1 full and rank1 and a tall dull red flower1 ,eupatorium purpureum1 or trumpet-weed1 formed the rear rank of the fluvial array4 ,the bright blue flowers of the soap-wort gentian were sprinkled here and there in the adjacent meadows1 like flowers which ,proserpine had dropped1 and still farther in the fields or higher on the bank were seen the purple ,gerardia1 the ,virginian rhexia1 and drooping neottia or ladies'-tresses2 while from the more distant waysides which we occasionally passed1 and banks where the sun had lodged1 was reflected still a dull yellow beam from the ranks of tansy1 now past its prime4 ,in short1 ,nature seemed to have adorned herself for our departure with a profusion of fringes and curls1 mingled with the bright tints of flowers1 reflected in the water4 ,but we missed the white water-lily1 which is the queen of river flowers1 its reign being over for this season4 ,he makes his voyage too late1 perhaps1 by a true water clock who delays so long4 ,many of this species inhabit our ,concord water4 ,i have passed down the river before sunrise on a summer morning between fields of lilies still shut in sleep2 and when1 at length1 the flakes of sunlight from over the bank fell on the surface of the water1 whole fields of white blossoms seemed to flash open before me1 as ,i floated along1 like the unfolding of a banner1 so sensible is this flower to the influence of the sun's rays4 ,as we were floating through the last of these familiar meadows1 we observed the large and conspicuous flowers of the hibiscus1 covering the dwarf willows1 and mingled with the leaves of the grape1 and wished that we could inform one of our friends behind of the locality of this somewhat rare and inaccessible flower before it was too late to pluck it2 but we were just gliding out of sight of the village spire before it occurred to us that the farmer in the adjacent meadow would go to church on the morrow1 and would carry this news for us2 and so by the ,monday1 while we should be floating on the ,merrimack1 our friend would be reaching to pluck this blossom on the bank of the ,concord4 ,after a pause at ,ball's ,hill1 the ,st4 ,ann's of ,concord voyageurs1 not to say any prayer for the success of our voyage1 but to gather the few berries which were still left on the hills1 hanging by very slender threads1 we weighed anchor again1 and were soon out of sight of our native village4 ,the land seemed to grow fairer as we withdrew from it4 ,far away to the southwest lay the quiet village1 left alone under its elms and buttonwoods in mid afternoon2 and the hills1 notwithstanding their blue1 ethereal faces1 seemed to cast a saddened eye on their old playfellows2 but1 turning short to the north1 we bade adieu to their familiar outlines1 and addressed ourselves to new scenes and adventures4 ,naught was familiar but the heavens1 from under whose roof the voyageur never passes2 but with their countenance1 and the acquaintance we had with river and wood1 we trusted to fare well under any circumstances4 ,from this point1 the river runs perfectly straight for a mile or more to ,carlisle ,bridge1 which consists of twenty wooden piers1 and when we looked back over it1 its surface was reduced to a line's breadth1 and appeared like a cobweb gleaming in the sun4 ,here and there might be seen a pole sticking up1 to mark the place where some fisherman had enjoyed unusual luck1 and in return had consecrated his rod to the deities who preside over these shallows4 ,it was full twice as broad as before1 deep and tranquil1 with a muddy bottom1 and bordered with willows1 beyond which spread broad lagoons covered with pads1 bulrushes1 and flags4 ,late in the afternoon we passed a man on the shore fishing with a long birch pole1 its silvery bark left on1 and a dog at his side1 rowing so near as to agitate his cork with our oars1 and drive away luck for a season2 and when we had rowed a mile as straight as an arrow1 with our faces turned towards him1 and the bubbles in our wake still visible on the tranquil surface1 there stood the fisher still with his dog1 like statues under the other side of the heavens1 the only objects to relieve the eye in the extended meadow2 and there would he stand abiding his luck1 till he took his way home through the fields at evening with his fish4 ,thus1 by one bait or another1 ,nature allures inhabitants into all her recesses4 ,this man was the last of our townsmen whom we saw1 and we silently through him bade adieu to our friends4 ,the characteristics and pursuits of various ages and races of men are always existing in epitome in every neighborhood4 ,the pleasures of my earliest youth have become the inheritance of other men4 ,this man is still a fisher1 and belongs to an era in which ,i myself have lived4 ,perchance he is not confounded by many knowledges1 and has not sought out many inventions1 but how to take many fishes before the sun sets1 with his slender birchen pole and flaxen line1 that is invention enough for him4 ,it is good even to be a fisherman in summer and in winter4 ,some men are judges these ,august days1 sitting on benches1 even till the court rises2 they sit judging there honorably1 between the seasons and between meals1 leading a civil politic life1 arbitrating in the case of ,spaulding versus ,cummings1 it may be1 from highest noon till the red vesper sinks into the west4 ,the fisherman1 meanwhile1 stands in three feet of water1 under the same summer's sun1 arbitrating in other cases between muckworm and shiner1 amid the fragrance of water-lilies1 mint1 and pontederia1 leading his life many rods from the dry land1 within a pole's length of where the larger fishes swim4 ,human life is to him very much like a river1 --8renning aie downward to the sea40 ,this was his observation4 ,his honor made a great discovery in bailments4 ,i can just remember an old brown-coated man who was the ,walton of this stream1 who had come over from ,newcastle1 ,england1 with his son1--the latter a stout and hearty man who had lifted an anchor in his day4 ,a straight old man he was who took his way in silence through the meadows1 having passed the period of communication with his fellows2 his old experienced coat1 hanging long and straight and brown as the yellow-pine bark1 glittering with so much smothered sunlight1 if you stood near enough1 no work of art but naturalized at length4 ,i often discovered him unexpectedly amid the pads and the gray willows when he moved1 fishing in some old country method1--for youth and age then went a fishing together1--full of incommunicable thoughts1 perchance about his own ,tyne and ,northumberland4 ,he was always to be seen in serene afternoons haunting the river1 and almost rustling with the sedge2 so many sunny hours in an old man's life1 entrapping silly fish2 almost grown to be the sun's familiar2 what need had he of hat or raiment any1 having served out his time1 and seen through such thin disguises8 ,i have seen how his coeval fates rewarded him with the yellow perch1 and yet ,i thought his luck was not in proportion to his years2 and ,i have seen when1 with slow steps and weighed down with aged thoughts1 he disappeared with his fish under his low-roofed house on the skirts of the village4 ,i think nobody else saw him2 nobody else remembers him now1 for he soon after died1 and migrated to new ,tyne streams4 ,his fishing was not a sport1 nor solely a means of subsistence1 but a sort of solemn sacrament and withdrawal from the world1 just as the aged read their ,bibles4 ,whether we live by the seaside1 or by the lakes and rivers1 or on the prairie1 it concerns us to attend to the nature of fishes1 since they are not phenomena confined to certain localities only1 but forms and phases of the life in nature universally dispersed4 ,the countless shoals which annually coast the shores of ,europe and ,america are not so interesting to the student of nature1 as the more fertile law itself1 which deposits their spawn on the tops of mountains1 and on the interior plains2 the fish principle in nature1 from which it results that they may be found in water in so many places1 in greater or less numbers4 ,the natural historian is not a fisherman1 who prays for cloudy days and good luck merely1 but as fishing has been styled 8a contemplative man's recreation10 introducing him profitably to woods and water1 so the fruit of the naturalist's observations is not in new genera or species1 but in new contemplations still1 and science is only a more contemplative man's recreation4 ,the seeds of the life of fishes are everywhere disseminated1 whether the winds waft them1 or the waters float them1 or the deep earth holds them2 wherever a pond is dug1 straightway it is stocked with this vivacious race4 ,they have a lease of nature1 and it is not yet out4 ,the ,chinese are bribed to carry their ova from province to province in jars or in hollow reeds1 or the water-birds to transport them to the mountain tarns and interior lakes4 ,there are fishes wherever there is a fluid medium1 and even in clouds and in melted metals we detect their semblance4 ,think how in winter you can sink a line down straight in a pasture through snow and through ice1 and pull up a bright1 slippery1 dumb1 subterranean silver or golden fish6 ,it is curious1 also1 to reflect how they make one family1 from the largest to the smallest4 ,the least minnow that lies on the ice as bait for pickerel1 looks like a huge sea-fish cast up on the shore4 ,in the waters of this town there are about a dozen distinct species1 though the inexperienced would expect many more4 ,it enhances our sense of the grand security and serenity of nature1 to observe the still undisturbed economy and content of the fishes of this century1 their happiness a regular fruit of the summer4 ,the ,fresh-,water ,sun-,fish1 ,bream1 or ,ruff1 ,pomotis vulgaris1 as it were1 without ancestry1 without posterity1 still represents the ,fresh-,water ,sun-,fish in nature4 ,it is the most common of all1 and seen on every urchin's string2 a simple and inoffensive fish1 whose nests are visible all along the shore1 hollowed in the sand1 over which it is steadily poised through the summer hours on waving fin4 ,sometimes there are twenty or thirty nests in the space of a few rods1 two feet wide by half a foot in depth1 and made with no little labor1 the weeds being removed1 and the sand shoved up on the sides1 like a bowl4 ,here it may be seen early in summer assiduously brooding1 and driving away minnows and larger fishes1 even its own species1 which would disturb its ova1 pursuing them a few feet1 and circling round swiftly to its nest again3 the minnows1 like young sharks1 instantly entering the empty nests1 meanwhile1 and swallowing the spawn1 which is attached to the weeds and to the bottom1 on the sunny side4 ,the spawn is exposed to so many dangers1 that a very small proportion can ever become fishes1 for beside being the constant prey of birds and fishes1 a great many nests are made so near the shore1 in shallow water1 that they are left dry in a few days1 as the river goes down4 ,these and the lamprey's are the only fishes' nests that ,i have observed1 though the ova of some species may be seen floating on the surface4 ,the breams are so careful of their charge that you may stand close by in the water and examine them at your leisure4 ,i have thus stood over them half an hour at a time1 and stroked them familiarly without frightening them1 suffering them to nibble my fingers harmlessly1 and seen them erect their dorsal fins in anger when my hand approached their ova1 and have even taken them gently out of the water with my hand2 though this cannot be accomplished by a sudden movement1 however dexterous1 for instant warning is conveyed to them through their denser element1 but only by letting the fingers gradually close about them as they are poised over the palm1 and with the utmost gentleness raising them slowly to the surface4 ,though stationary1 they keep up a constant sculling or waving motion with their fins1 which is exceedingly graceful1 and expressive of their humble happiness2 for unlike ours1 the element in which they live is a stream which must be constantly resisted4 ,from time to time they nibble the weeds at the bottom or overhanging their nests1 or dart after a fly or a worm4 ,the dorsal fin1 besides answering the purpose of a keel1 with the anal1 serves to keep the fish upright1 for in shallow water1 where this is not covered1 they fall on their sides4 ,as you stand thus stooping over the bream in its nest1 the edges of the dorsal and caudal fins have a singular dusty golden reflection1 and its eyes1 which stand out from the head1 are transparent and colorless4 ,seen in its native element1 it is a very beautiful and compact fish1 perfect in all its parts1 and looks like a brilliant coin fresh from the mint4 ,it is a perfect jewel of the river1 the green1 red1 coppery1 and golden reflections of its mottled sides being the concentration of such rays as struggle through the floating pads and flowers to the sandy bottom1 and in harmony with the sunlit brown and yellow pebbles4 ,behind its watery shield it dwells far from many accidents inevitable to human life4 ,there is also another species of bream found in our river1 without the red spot on the operculum1 which1 according to ,m4 ,agassiz1 is undescribed4 ,the ,common ,perch1 ,perca flavescens1 which name describes well the gleaming1 golden reflections of its scales as it is drawn out of the water1 its red gills standing out in vain in the thin element1 is one of the handsomest and most regularly formed of our fishes1 and at such a moment as this reminds us of the fish in the picture which wished to be restored to its native element until it had grown larger2 and indeed most of this species that are caught are not half grown4 ,in the ponds there is a light-colored and slender kind1 which swim in shoals of many hundreds in the sunny water1 in company with the shiner1 averaging not more than six or seven inches in length1 while only a few larger specimens are found in the deepest water1 which prey upon their weaker brethren4 ,i have often attracted these small perch to the shore at evening1 by rippling the water with my fingers1 and they may sometimes be caught while attempting to pass inside your hands4 ,it is a tough and heedless fish1 biting from impulse1 without nibbling1 and from impulse refraining to bite1 and sculling indifferently past4 ,it rather prefers the clear water and sandy bottoms1 though here it has not much choice4 ,it is a true fish1 such as the angler loves to put into his basket or hang at the top of his willow twig1 in shady afternoons along the banks of the stream4 ,so many unquestionable fishes he counts1 and so many shiners1 which he counts and then throws away4 ,old ,josselyn in his 8,new ,england's ,rarities10 published in #afgb1 mentions the ,perch or ,river ,partridge4 ,the ,chivin1 ,dace1 ,roach1 ,cousin ,trout1 or whatever else it is called1 ,leuciscus pulchellus1 white and red1 always an unexpected prize1 which1 however1 any angler is glad to hook for its rarity4 ,a name that reminds us of many an unsuccessful ramble by swift streams1 when the wind rose to disappoint the fisher4 ,it is commonly a silvery soft-scaled fish1 of graceful1 scholarlike1 and classical look1 like many a picture in an ,english book4 ,it loves a swift current and a sandy bottom1 and bites inadvertently1 yet not without appetite for the bait4 ,the minnows are used as bait for pickerel in the winter4 ,the red chivin1 according to some1 is still the same fish1 only older1 or with its tints deepened as they think by the darker water it inhabits1 as the red clouds swim in the twilight atmosphere4 ,he who has not hooked the red chivin is not yet a complete angler4 ,other fishes1 methinks1 are slightly amphibious1 but this is a denizen of the water wholly4 ,the cork goes dancing down the swift-rushing stream1 amid the weeds and sands1 when suddenly1 by a coincidence never to be remembered1 emerges this fabulous inhabitant of another element1 a thing heard of but not seen1 as if it were the instant creation of an eddy1 a true product of the running stream4 ,and this bright cupreous dolphin was spawned and has passed its life beneath the level of your feet in your native fields4 ,fishes too1 as well as birds and clouds1 derive their armor from the mine4 ,i have heard of mackerel visiting the copper banks at a particular season2 this fish1 perchance1 has its habitat in the ,coppermine ,river4 ,i have caught white chivin of great size in the ,aboljacknagesic1 where it empties into the ,penobscot1 at the base of ,mount ,ktaadn1 but no red ones there4 ,the latter variety seems not to have been sufficiently observed4 ,the ,dace1 ,leuciscus argenteus1 is a slight silvery minnow1 found generally in the middle of the stream1 where the current is most rapid1 and frequently confounded with the last named4 ,the ,shiner1 ,leuciscus crysoleucas1 is a soft-scaled and tender fish1 the victim of its stronger neighbors1 found in all places1 deep and shallow1 clear and turbid2 generally the first nibbler at the bait1 but1 with its small mouth and nibbling propensities1 not easily caught4 ,it is a gold or silver bit that passes current in the river1 its limber tail dimpling the surface in sport or flight4 ,i have seen the fry1 when frightened by something thrown into the water1 leap out by dozens1 together with the dace1 and wreck themselves upon a floating plank4 ,it is the little light-infant of the river1 with body armor of gold or silver spangles1 slipping1 gliding its life through with a quirk of the tail1 half in the water1 half in the air1 upward and ever upward with flitting fin to more crystalline tides1 yet still abreast of us dwellers on the bank4 ,it is almost dissolved by the summer heats4 ,a slighter and lighter colored shiner is found in one of our ponds4 ,the ,pickerel1 ,esox reticulatus1 the swiftest1 wariest1 and most ravenous of fishes1 which ,josselyn calls the ,fresh-,water or ,river ,wolf1 is very common in the shallow and weedy lagoons along the sides of the stream4 ,it is a solemn1 stately1 ruminant fish1 lurking under the shadow of a pad at noon1 with still1 circumspect1 voracious eye1 motionless as a jewel set in water1 or moving slowly along to take up its position1 darting from time to time at such unlucky fish or frog or insect as comes within its range1 and swallowing it at a gulp4 ,i have caught one which had swallowed a brother pickerel half as large as itself1 with the tail still visible in its mouth1 while the head was already digested in its stomach4 ,sometimes a striped snake1 bound to greener meadows across the stream1 ends its undulatory progress in the same receptacle4 ,they are so greedy and impetuous that they are frequently caught by being entangled in the line the moment it is cast4 ,fishermen also distinguish the brook pickerel1 a shorter and thicker fish than the former4 ,the ,horned ,pout1 ,pimelodus nebulosus1 sometimes called ,minister1 from the peculiar squeaking noise it makes when drawn out of the water1 is a dull and blundering fellow1 and like the eel vespertinal in his habits1 and fond of the mud4 ,it bites deliberately as if about its business4 ,they are taken at night with a mass of worms strung on a thread1 which catches in their teeth1 sometimes three or four1 with an eel1 at one pull4 ,they are extremely tenacious of life1 opening and shutting their mouths for half an hour after their heads have been cut off4 ,a bloodthirsty and bullying race of rangers1 inhabiting the fertile river bottoms1 with ever a lance in rest1 and ready to do battle with their nearest neighbor4 ,i have observed them in summer1 when every other one had a long and bloody scar upon his back1 where the skin was gone1 the mark1 perhaps1 of some fierce encounter4 ,sometimes the fry1 not an inch long1 are seen darkening the shore with their myriads4 ,the ,suckers1 ,catostomi ,bostonienses and tuberculati1 ,common and ,horned1 perhaps on an average the largest of our fishes1 may be seen in shoals of a hundred or more1 stemming the current in the sun1 on their mysterious migrations1 and sometimes sucking in the bait which the fisherman suffers to float toward them4 ,the former1 which sometimes grow to a large size1 are frequently caught by the hand in the brooks1 or like the red chivin1 are jerked out by a hook fastened firmly to the end of a stick1 and placed under their jaws4 ,they are hardly known to the mere angler1 however1 not often biting at his baits1 though the spearer carries home many a mess in the spring4 ,to our village eyes1 these shoals have a foreign and imposing aspect1 realizing the fertility of the seas4 ,the ,common ,eel1 too1 ,muraena ,bostoniensis1 the only species of eel known in the ,state1 a slimy1 squirming creature1 informed of mud1 still squirming in the pan1 is speared and hooked up with various success4 ,methinks it too occurs in picture1 left after the deluge1 in many a meadow high and dry4 ,in the shallow parts of the river1 where the current is rapid1 and the bottom pebbly1 you may sometimes see the curious circular nests of the ,lamprey ,eel1 ,petromyzon ,americanus1 the ,american ,stone-,sucker1 as large as a cart-wheel1 a foot or two in height1 and sometimes rising half a foot above the surface of the water4 ,they collect these stones1 of the size of a hen's egg1 with their mouths1 as their name implies1 and are said to fashion them into circles with their tails4 ,they ascend falls by clinging to the stones1 which may sometimes be raised1 by lifting the fish by the tail4 ,as they are not seen on their way down the streams1 it is thought by fishermen that they never return1 but waste away and die1 clinging to rocks and stumps of trees for an indefinite period2 a tragic feature in the scenery of the river bottoms worthy to be remembered with ,shakespeare's description of the sea-floor4 ,they are rarely seen in our waters at present1 on account of the dams1 though they are taken in great quantities at the mouth of the river in ,lowell4 ,their nests1 which are very conspicuous1 look more like art than anything in the river4 ,if we had leisure this afternoon1 we might turn our prow up the brooks in quest of the classical trout and the minnows4 ,of the last alone1 according to ,m4 ,agassiz1 several of the species found in this town are yet undescribed4 ,these would1 perhaps1 complete the list of our finny contemporaries in the ,concord waters4 ,salmon1 ,shad1 and ,alewives were formerly abundant here1 and taken in weirs by the ,indians1 who taught this method to the whites1 by whom they were used as food and as manure1 until the dam1 and afterward the canal at ,billerica1 and the factories at ,lowell1 put an end to their migrations hitherward2 though it is thought that a few more enterprising shad may still occasionally be seen in this part of the river4 ,it is said1 to account for the destruction of the fishery1 that those who at that time represented the interests of the fishermen and the fishes1 remembering between what dates they were accustomed to take the grown shad1 stipulated1 that the dams should be left open for that season only1 and the fry1 which go down a month later1 were consequently stopped and destroyed by myriads4 ,others say that the fish-ways were not properly constructed4 ,perchance1 after a few thousands of years1 if the fishes will be patient1 and pass their summers elsewhere1 meanwhile1 nature will have levelled the ,billerica dam1 and the ,lowell factories1 and the ,grass-ground ,river run clear again1 to be explored by new migratory shoals1 even as far as the ,hopkinton pond and ,westborough swamp4 ,one would like to know more of that race1 now extinct1 whose seines lie rotting in the garrets of their children1 who openly professed the trade of fishermen1 and even fed their townsmen creditably1 not skulking through the meadows to a rainy afternoon sport4 ,dim visions we still get of miraculous draughts of fishes1 and heaps uncountable by the river-side1 from the tales of our seniors sent on horseback in their childhood from the neighboring towns1 perched on saddle-bags1 with instructions to get the one bag filled with shad1 the other with alewives4 ,at least one memento of those days may still exist in the memory of this generation1 in the familiar appellation of a celebrated train-band of this town1 whose untrained ancestors stood creditably at ,concord ,north ,bridge4 ,their captain1 a man of piscatory tastes1 having duly warned his company to turn out on a certain day1 they1 like obedient soldiers1 appeared promptly on parade at the appointed time1 but1 unfortunately1 they went undrilled1 except in the manuvres of a soldier's wit and unlicensed jesting1 that ,may day2 for their captain1 forgetting his own appointment1 and warned only by the favorable aspect of the heavens1 as he had often done before1 went a-fishing that afternoon1 and his company thenceforth was known to old and young1 grave and gay1 as 8,the ,shad10 and by the youths of this vicinity this was long regarded as the proper name of all the irregular militia in ,christendom4 ,but1 alas6 no record of these fishers' lives remains that we know1 unless it be one brief page of hard but unquestionable history1 which occurs in ,day ,book ,no4 #d1 of an old trader of this town1 long since dead1 which shows pretty plainly what constituted a fisherman's stock in trade in those days4 ,it purports to be a ,fisherman's ,account ,current1 probably for the fishing season of the year #ahje1 during which months he purchased daily rum and sugar1 sugar and rum1 ,n4 ,e4 and ,w4 ,i41 8one cod line10 8one brown mug10 and 8a line for the seine02 rum and sugar1 sugar and rum1 8good loaf sugar10 and 8good brown10 ,w4 ,i4 and ,n4 ,e41 in short and uniform entries to the bottom of the page1 all carried out in pounds1 shillings1 and pence1 from ,march #beth to ,june #eth1 and promptly settled by receiving 8cash in full0 at the last date4 ,but perhaps not so settled altogether4 ,these were the necessaries of life in those days2 with salmon1 shad1 and alewives1 fresh and pickled1 he was thereafter independent on the groceries4 ,rather a preponderance of the fluid elements2 but such is the fisherman's nature4 ,i can faintly remember to have seen this same fisher in my earliest youth1 still as near the river as he could get1 with uncertain undulatory step1 after so many things had gone down stream1 swinging a scythe in the meadow1 his bottle like a serpent hid in the grass2 himself as yet not cut down by the ,great ,mower4 ,surely the fates are forever kind1 though ,nature's laws are more immutable than any despot's1 yet to man's daily life they rarely seem rigid1 but permit him to relax with license in summer weather4 ,he is not harshly reminded of the things he may not do4 ,she is very kind and liberal to all men of vicious habits1 and certainly does not deny them quarter2 they do not die without priest4 ,still they maintain life along the way1 keeping this side the ,styx1 still hearty1 still resolute1 8never better in their lives02 and again1 after a dozen years have elapsed1 they start up from behind a hedge1 asking for work and wages for able-bodied men4 ,who has not met such 8a beggar on the way1 ,who sturdily could gang8 '''4 ,who cared neither for wind nor wet1 ,in lands where'er he past80 8,that bold adopts each house he views1 his own2 ,makes every pulse his checquer1 and1 at pleasure1 ,walks forth1 and taxes all the world1 like ,csar02-- ,as if consistency were the secret of health1 while the poor inconsistent aspirant man1 seeking to live a pure life1 feeding on air1 divided against himself1 cannot stand1 but pines and dies after a life of sickness1 on beds of down4 ,the unwise are accustomed to speak as if some were not sick2 but methinks the difference between men in respect to health is not great enough to lay much stress upon4 ,some are reputed sick and some are not4 ,it often happens that the sicker man is the nurse to the sounder4 ,shad are still taken in the basin of ,concord ,river at ,lowell1 where they are said to be a month earlier than the ,merrimack shad1 on account of the warmth of the water4 ,still patiently1 almost pathetically1 with instinct not to be discouraged1 not to be reasoned with1 revisiting their old haunts1 as if their stern fates would relent1 and still met by the ,corporation with its dam4 ,poor shad6 where is thy redress8 ,when ,nature gave thee instinct1 gave she thee the heart to bear thy fate8 ,still wandering the sea in thy scaly armor to inquire humbly at the mouths of rivers if man has perchance left them free for thee to enter4 ,by countless shoals loitering uncertain meanwhile1 merely stemming the tide there1 in danger from sea foes in spite of thy bright armor1 awaiting new instructions1 until the sands1 until the water itself1 tell thee if it be so or not4 ,thus by whole migrating nations1 full of instinct1 which is thy faith1 in this backward spring1 turned adrift1 and perchance knowest not where men do not dwell1 where there are not factories1 in these days4 ,armed with no sword1 no electric shock1 but mere ,shad1 armed only with innocence and a just cause1 with tender dumb mouth only forward1 and scales easy to be detached4 ,i for one am with thee1 and who knows what may avail a crow-bar against that ,billerica dam8--,not despairing when whole myriads have gone to feed those sea monsters during thy suspense1 but still brave1 indifferent1 on easy fin there1 like shad reserved for higher destinies4 ,willing to be decimated for man's behoof after the spawning season4 ,away with the superficial and selfish phil-anthropy of men1--who knows what admirable virtue of fishes may be below low-water-mark1 bearing up against a hard destiny1 not admired by that fellow-creature who alone can appreciate it6 ,who hears the fishes when they cry8 ,it will not be forgotten by some memory that we were contemporaries4 ,thou shalt erelong have thy way up the rivers1 up all the rivers of the globe1 if ,i am not mistaken4 ,yea1 even thy dull watery dream shall be more than realized4 ,if it were not so1 but thou wert to be overlooked at first and at last1 then would not ,i take their heaven4 ,yes1 ,i say so1 who think ,i know better than thou canst4 ,keep a stiff fin then1 and stem all the tides thou mayst meet4 ,at length it would seem that the interests1 not of the fishes only1 but of the men of ,wayland1 of ,sudbury1 of ,concord1 demand the levelling of that dam4 ,innumerable acres of meadow are waiting to be made dry land1 wild native grass to give place to ,english4 ,the farmers stand with scythes whet1 waiting the subsiding of the waters1 by gravitation1 by evaporation or otherwise1 but sometimes their eyes do not rest1 their wheels do not roll1 on the quaking meadow ground during the haying season at all4 ,so many sources of wealth inaccessible4 ,they rate the loss hereby incurred in the single town of ,wayland alone as equal to the expense of keeping a hundred yoke of oxen the year round4 ,one year1 as ,i learn1 not long ago1 the farmers standing ready to drive their teams afield as usual1 the water gave no signs of falling2 without new attraction in the heavens1 without freshet or visible cause1 still standing stagnant at an unprecedented height4 ,all hydrometers were at fault2 some trembled for their ,english even4 ,but speedy emissaries revealed the unnatural secret1 in the new float-board1 wholly a foot in width1 added to their already too high privileges by the dam proprietors4 ,the hundred yoke of oxen1 meanwhile1 standing patient1 gazing wishfully meadowward1 at that inaccessible waving native grass1 uncut but by the great mower ,time1 who cuts so broad a swathe1 without so much as a wisp to wind about their horns4 ,that was a long pull from ,ball's ,hill to ,carlisle ,bridge1 sitting with our faces to the south1 a slight breeze rising from the north1 but nevertheless water still runs and grass grows1 for now1 having passed the bridge between ,carlisle and ,bedford1 we see men haying far off in the meadow1 their heads waving like the grass which they cut4 ,in the distance the wind seemed to bend all alike4 ,as the night stole over1 such a freshness was wafted across the meadow that every blade of cut grass seemed to teem with life4 ,faint purple clouds began to be reflected in the water1 and the cow-bells tinkled louder along the banks1 while1 like sly water-rats1 we stole along nearer the shore1 looking for a place to pitch our camp4 ,at length1 when we had made about seven miles1 as far as ,billerica1 we moored our boat on the west side of a little rising ground which in the spring forms an island in the river4 ,here we found huckleberries still hanging upon the bushes1 where they seemed to have slowly ripened for our especial use4 ,bread and sugar1 and cocoa boiled in river water1 made our repast1 and as we had drank in the fluvial prospect all day1 so now we took a draft of the water with our evening meal to propitiate the river gods1 and whet our vision for the sights it was to behold4 ,the sun was setting on the one hand1 while our eminence was contributing its shadow to the night1 on the other4 ,it seemed insensibly to grow lighter as the night shut in1 and a distant and solitary farm-house was revealed1 which before lurked in the shadows of the noon4 ,there was no other house in sight1 nor any cultivated field4 ,to the right and left1 as far as the horizon1 were straggling pine woods with their plumes against the sky1 and across the river were rugged hills1 covered with shrub oaks1 tangled with grape-vines and ivy1 with here and there a gray rock jutting out from the maze4 ,the sides of these cliffs1 though a quarter of a mile distant1 were almost heard to rustle while we looked at them1 it was such a leafy wilderness2 a place for fauns and satyrs1 and where bats hung all day to the rocks1 and at evening flitted over the water1 and fire-flies husbanded their light under the grass and leaves against the night4 ,when we had pitched our tent on the hillside1 a few rods from the shore1 we sat looking through its triangular door in the twilight at our lonely mast on the shore1 just seen above the alders1 and hardly yet come to a stand-still from the swaying of the stream2 the first encroachment of commerce on this land4 ,there was our port1 our ,ostia4 ,that straight geometrical line against the water and the sky stood for the last refinements of civilized life1 and what of sublimity there is in history was there symbolized4 ,for the most part1 there was no recognition of human life in the night1 no human breathing was heard1 only the breathing of the wind4 ,as we sat up1 kept awake by the novelty of our situation1 we heard at intervals foxes stepping about over the dead leaves1 and brushing the dewy grass close to our tent1 and once a musquash fumbling among the potatoes and melons in our boat1 but when we hastened to the shore we could detect only a ripple in the water ruffling the disk of a star4 ,at intervals we were serenaded by the song of a dreaming sparrow or the throttled cry of an owl1 but after each sound which near at hand broke the stillness of the night1 each crackling of the twigs1 or rustling among the leaves1 there was a sudden pause1 and deeper and more conscious silence1 as if the intruder were aware that no life was rightfully abroad at that hour4 ,there was a fire in ,lowell1 as we judged1 this night1 and we saw the horizon blazing1 and heard the distant alarm-bells1 as it were a faint tinkling music borne to these woods4 ,but the most constant and memorable sound of a summer's night1 which we did not fail to hear every night afterward1 though at no time so incessantly and so favorably as now1 was the barking of the house-dogs1 from the loudest and hoarsest bark to the faintest aerial palpitation under the eaves of heaven1 from the patient but anxious mastiff to the timid and wakeful terrier1 at first loud and rapid1 then faint and slow1 to be imitated only in a whisper2 wow-wow-wow-wow--wo--wo--w--w4 ,even in a retired and uninhabited district like this1 it was a sufficiency of sound for the ear of night1 and more impressive than any music4 ,i have heard the voice of a hound1 just before daylight1 while the stars were shining1 from over the woods and river1 far in the horizon1 when it sounded as sweet and melodious as an instrument4 ,the hounding of a dog pursuing a fox or other animal in the horizon1 may have first suggested the notes of the hunting-horn to alternate with and relieve the lungs of the dog4 ,this natural bugle long resounded in the woods of the ancient world before the horn was invented4 ,the very dogs that sullenly bay the moon from farm-yards in these nights excite more heroism in our breasts than all the civil exhortations or war sermons of the age4 8,i would rather be a dog1 and bay the moon10 than many a ,roman that ,i know4 ,the night is equally indebted to the clarion of the cock1 with wakeful hope1 from the very setting of the sun1 prematurely ushering in the dawn4 ,all these sounds1 the crowing of cocks1 the baying of dogs1 and the hum of insects at noon1 are the evidence of nature's health or sound state4 ,such is the never-failing beauty and accuracy of language1 the most perfect art in the world2 the chisel of a thousand years retouches it4 ,at length the antepenultimate and drowsy hours drew on1 and all sounds were denied entrance to our ears4 ,who sleeps by day and walks by night1 ,will meet no spirit but some sprite4 ,,sunday 8,the river calmly flows1 ,through shining banks1 through lonely glen1 ,where the owl shrieks1 though ne'er the cheer of men ,has stirred its mute repose1 ,still if you should walk there1 you would go there again40 --,,channing4 8,the ,indians tell us of a beautiful ,river lying far to the south1 which they call ,merrimack40 ,,sieur ,,de ,,monts1 ,relations of the jesuits1 #afjd4 ,in the morning the river and adjacent country were covered with a dense fog1 through which the smoke of our fire curled up like a still subtiler mist2 but before we had rowed many rods1 the sun arose and the fog rapidly dispersed1 leaving a slight steam only to curl along the surface of the water4 ,it was a quiet ,sunday morning1 with more of the auroral rosy and white than of the yellow light in it1 as if it dated from earlier than the fall of man1 and still preserved a heathenish integrity3-- ,an early unconverted ,saint1 ,free from noontide or evening taint1 ,heathen without reproach1 ,that did upon the civil day encroach1 ,and ever since its birth ,had trod the outskirts of the earth4 ,but the impressions which the morning makes vanish with its dews1 and not even the most 8persevering mortal0 can preserve the memory of its freshness to mid-day4 ,as we passed the various islands1 or what were islands in the spring1 rowing with our backs down stream1 we gave names to them4 ,the one on which we had camped we called ,fox ,island1 and one fine densely wooded island surrounded by deep water and overrun by grape-vines1 which looked like a mass of verdure and of flowers cast upon the waves1 we named ,grape ,island4 ,from ,ball's ,hill to ,billerica meeting-house1 the river was still twice as broad as in ,concord1 a deep1 dark1 and dead stream1 flowing between gentle hills and sometimes cliffs1 and well wooded all the way4 ,it was a long woodland lake bordered with willows4 ,for long reaches we could see neither house nor cultivated field1 nor any sign of the vicinity of man4 ,now we coasted along some shallow shore by the edge of a dense palisade of bulrushes1 which straightly bounded the water as if clipt by art1 reminding us of the reed forts of the ,east-,indians1 of which we had read2 and now the bank slightly raised was overhung with graceful grasses and various species of brake1 whose downy stems stood closely grouped and naked as in a vase1 while their heads spread several feet on either side4 ,the dead limbs of the willow were rounded and adorned by the climbing mikania1 ,mikania scandens1 which filled every crevice in the leafy bank1 contrasting agreeably with the gray bark of its supporter and the balls of the button-bush4 ,the water willow1 ,salix ,purshiana1 when it is of large size and entire1 is the most graceful and ethereal of our trees4 ,its masses of light green foliage1 piled one upon another to the height of twenty or thirty feet1 seemed to float on the surface of the water1 while the slight gray stems and the shore were hardly visible between them4 ,no tree is so wedded to the water1 and harmonizes so well with still streams4 ,it is even more graceful than the weeping willow1 or any pendulous trees1 which dip their branches in the stream instead of being buoyed up by it4 ,its limbs curved outward over the surface as if attracted by it4 ,it had not a ,new ,england but an ,oriental character1 reminding us of trim ,persian gardens1 of ,haroun ,alraschid1 and the artificial lakes of the ,east4 ,as we thus dipped our way along between fresh masses of foliage overrun with the grape and smaller flowering vines1 the surface was so calm1 and both air and water so transparent1 that the flight of a kingfisher or robin over the river was as distinctly seen reflected in the water below as in the air above4 ,the birds seemed to flit through submerged groves1 alighting on the yielding sprays1 and their clear notes to come up from below4 ,we were uncertain whether the water floated the land1 or the land held the water in its bosom4 ,it was such a season1 in short1 as that in which one of our ,concord poets sailed on its stream1 and sung its quiet glories4 8,there is an inward voice1 that in the stream ,sends forth its spirit to the listening ear1 ,and in a calm content it floweth on1 ,like wisdom1 welcome with its own respect4 ,clear in its breast lie all these beauteous thoughts1 ,it doth receive the green and graceful trees1 ,and the gray rocks smile in its peaceful arms40 ,and more he sung1 but too serious for our page4 ,for every oak and birch too growing on the hill-top1 as well as for these elms and willows1 we knew that there was a graceful ethereal and ideal tree making down from the roots1 and sometimes ,nature in high tides brings her mirror to its foot and makes it visible4 ,the stillness was intense and almost conscious1 as if it were a natural ,sabbath1 and we fancied that the morning was the evening of a celestial day4 ,the air was so elastic and crystalline that it had the same effect on the landscape that a glass has on a picture1 to give it an ideal remoteness and perfection4 ,the landscape was clothed in a mild and quiet light1 in which the woods and fences checkered and partitioned it with new regularity1 and rough and uneven fields stretched away with lawn-like smoothness to the horizon1 and the clouds1 finely distinct and picturesque1 seemed a fit drapery to hang over fairy-land4 ,the world seemed decked for some holiday or prouder pageantry1 with silken streamers flying1 and the course of our lives to wind on before us like a green lane into a country maze1 at the season when fruit-trees are in blossom4 ,why should not our whole life and its scenery be actually thus fair and distinct8 ,all our lives want a suitable background4 ,they should at least1 like the life of the anchorite1 be as impressive to behold as objects in the desert1 a broken shaft or crumbling mound against a limitless horizon4 ,character always secures for itself this advantage1 and is thus distinct and unrelated to near or trivial objects1 whether things or persons4 ,on this same stream a maiden once sailed in my boat1 thus unattended but by invisible guardians1 and as she sat in the prow there was nothing but herself between the steersman and the sky4 ,i could then say with the poet1-- 8,sweet falls the summer air ,over her frame who sails with me2 ,her way like that is beautifully free1 ,her nature far more rare1 ,and is her constant heart of virgin purity40 ,at evening still the very stars seem but this maiden's emissaries and reporters of her progress4 ,low in the eastern sky ,is set thy glancing eye2 ,and though its gracious light ,ne'er riseth to my sight1 ,yet every star that climbs ,above the gnarled limbs ,of yonder hill1 ,conveys thy gentle will4 ,believe ,i knew thy thought1 ,and that the zephyrs brought ,thy kindest wishes through1 ,as mine they bear to you1 ,that some attentive cloud ,did pause amid the crowd ,over my head1 ,while gentle things were said4 ,believe the thrushes sung1 ,and that the flower-bells rung1 ,that herbs exhaled their scent1 ,and beasts knew what was meant1 ,the trees a welcome waved1 ,and lakes their margins laved1 ,when thy free mind ,to my retreat did wind4 ,it was a summer eve1 ,the air did gently heave ,while yet a low-hung cloud ,thy eastern skies did shroud2 ,the lightning's silent gleam1 ,startling my drowsy dream1 ,seemed like the flash ,under thy dark eyelash4 ,still will ,i strive to be ,as if thou wert with me2 ,whatever path ,i take1 ,it shall be for thy sake1 ,of gentle slope and wide1 ,as thou wert by my side1 ,without a root ,to trip thy gentle foot4 ,i'll walk with gentle pace1 ,and choose the smoothest place ,and careful dip the oar1 ,and shun the winding shore1 ,and gently steer my boat ,where water-lilies float1 ,and cardinal flowers ,stand in their sylvan bowers4 ,it required some rudeness to disturb with our boat the mirror-like surface of the water1 in which every twig and blade of grass was so faithfully reflected2 too faithfully indeed for art to imitate1 for only ,nature may exaggerate herself4 ,the shallowest still water is unfathomable4 ,wherever the trees and skies are reflected1 there is more than ,atlantic depth1 and no danger of fancy running aground4 ,we notice that it required a separate intention of the eye1 a more free and abstracted vision1 to see the reflected trees and the sky1 than to see the river bottom merely2 and so are there manifold visions in the direction of every object1 and even the most opaque reflect the heavens from their surface4 ,some men have their eyes naturally intended to the one and some to the other object4 8,a man that looks on glass1 ,on it may stay his eye1 ,or1 if he pleaseth1 through it pass1 ,and the heavens espy40 ,two men in a skiff1 whom we passed hereabouts1 floating buoyantly amid the reflections of the trees1 like a feather in mid-air1 or a leaf which is wafted gently from its twig to the water without turning over1 seemed still in their element1 and to have very delicately availed themselves of the natural laws4 ,their floating there was a beautiful and successful experiment in natural philosophy1 and it served to ennoble in our eyes the art of navigation2 for as birds fly and fishes swim1 so these men sailed4 ,it reminded us how much fairer and nobler all the actions of man might be1 and that our life in its whole economy might be as beautiful as the fairest works of art or nature4 ,the sun lodged on the old gray cliffs1 and glanced from every pad2 the bulrushes and flags seemed to rejoice in the delicious light and air2 the meadows were a-drinking at their leisure2 the frogs sat meditating1 all sabbath thoughts1 summing up their week1 with one eye out on the golden sun1 and one toe upon a reed1 eying the wondrous universe in which they act their part2 the fishes swam more staid and soberly1 as maidens go to church2 shoals of golden and silver minnows rose to the surface to behold the heavens1 and then sheered off into more sombre aisles2 they swept by as if moved by one mind1 continually gliding past each other1 and yet preserving the form of their battalion unchanged1 as if they were still embraced by the transparent membrane which held the spawn2 a young band of brethren and sisters trying their new fins2 now they wheeled1 now shot ahead1 and when we drove them to the shore and cut them off1 they dexterously tacked and passed underneath the boat4 ,over the old wooden bridges no traveller crossed1 and neither the river nor the fishes avoided to glide between the abutments4 ,here was a village not far off behind the woods1 ,billerica1 settled not long ago1 and the children still bear the names of the first settlers in this late 8howling wilderness02 yet to all intents and purposes it is as old as ,fernay or as ,mantua1 an old gray town where men grow old and sleep already under moss-grown monuments1--outgrow their usefulness4 ,this is ancient ,billerica1 7,villarica87 now in its dotage1 named from the ,english ,billericay1 and whose ,indian name was ,shawshine4 ,i never heard that it was young4 ,see1 is not nature here gone to decay1 farms all run out1 meeting-house grown gray and racked with age8 ,if you would know of its early youth1 ask those old gray rocks in the pasture4 ,it has a bell that sounds sometimes as far as ,concord woods2 ,i have heard that1--ay1 hear it now4 ,no wonder that such a sound startled the dreaming ,indian1 and frightened his game1 when the first bells were swung on trees1 and sounded through the forest beyond the plantations of the white man4 ,but to-day ,i like best the echo amid these cliffs and woods4 ,it is no feeble imitation1 but rather its original1 or as if some rural ,orpheus played over the strain again to show how it should sound4 ,dong1 sounds the brass in the east1 ,as if to a funeral feast1 ,but ,i like that sound the best ,out of the fluttering west4 ,the steeple ringeth a knell1 ,but the fairies' silvery bell ,is the voice of that gentle folk1 ,or else the horizon that spoke4 ,its metal is not of brass1 ,but air1 and water1 and glass1 ,and under a cloud it is swung1 ,and by the wind it is rung4 ,when the steeple tolleth the noon1 ,it soundeth not so soon1 ,yet it rings a far earlier hour1 ,and the sun has not reached its tower4 ,on the other hand1 the road runs up to ,carlisle1 city of the woods1 which1 if it is less civil1 is the more natural4 ,it does well hold the earth together4 ,it gets laughed at because it is a small town1 ,i know1 but nevertheless it is a place where great men may be born any day1 for fair winds and foul blow right on over it without distinction4 ,it has a meeting-house and horse-sheds1 a tavern and a blacksmith's shop1 for centre1 and a good deal of wood to cut and cord yet4 ,and 8,bedford1 most noble ,bedford1 ,i shall not thee forget40 ,history has remembered thee2 especially that meek and humble petition of thy old planters1 like the wailing of the ,lord's own people1 8,to the gentlemen1 the selectmen0 of ,concord1 praying to be erected into a separate parish4 ,we can hardly credit that so plaintive a psalm resounded but little more than a century ago along these ,babylonish waters4 8,in the extreme difficult seasons of heat and cold10 said they1 8we were ready to say of the ,sabbath1 ,behold what a weariness is it40--8,gentlemen1 if our seeking to draw off proceed from any disaffection to our present ,reverend ,pastor1 or the ,christian ,society with whom we have taken such sweet counsel together1 and walked unto the house of ,god in company1 then hear us not this day1 but we greatly desire1 if ,god please1 to be eased of our burden on the ,sabbath1 the travel and fatigue thereof1 that the word of ,god may be nigh to us1 near to our houses and in our hearts1 that we and our little ones may serve the ,lord4 ,we hope that ,god1 who stirred up the spirit of ,cyrus to set forward temple work1 has stirred us up to ask1 and will stir you up to grant1 the prayer of our petition2 so shall your humble petitioners ever pray1 as in duty bound--0 ,and so the temple work went forward here to a happy conclusion4 ,yonder in ,carlisle the building of the temple was many wearisome years delayed1 not that there was wanting of ,shittim wood1 or the gold of ,ophir1 but a site therefor convenient to all the worshippers2 whether on 8,buttrick's ,plain10 or rather on 8,poplar ,hill40--,it was a tedious question4 ,in this ,billerica solid men must have lived1 select from year to year2 a series of town clerks1 at least2 and there are old records that you may search4 ,some spring the white man came1 built him a house1 and made a clearing here1 letting in the sun1 dried up a farm1 piled up the old gray stones in fences1 cut down the pines around his dwelling1 planted orchard seeds brought from the old country1 and persuaded the civil apple-tree to blossom next to the wild pine and the juniper1 shedding its perfume in the wilderness4 ,their old stocks still remain4 ,he culled the graceful elm from out the woods and from the river-side1 and so refined and smoothed his village plot4 ,he rudely bridged the stream1 and drove his team afield into the river meadows1 cut the wild grass1 and laid bare the homes of beaver1 otter1 muskrat1 and with the whetting of his scythe scared off the deer and bear4 ,he set up a mill1 and fields of ,english grain sprang in the virgin soil4 ,and with his grain he scattered the seeds of the dandelion and the wild trefoil over the meadows1 mingling his ,english flowers with the wild native ones4 ,the bristling burdock1 the sweet-scented catnip1 and the humble yarrow planted themselves along his woodland road1 they too seeking 8freedom to worship ,god0 in their way4 ,and thus he plants a town4 ,the white man's mullein soon reigned in ,indian cornfields1 and sweet-scented ,english grasses clothed the new soil4 ,where1 then1 could the ,red ,man set his foot8 ,the honey-bee hummed through the ,massachusetts woods1 and sipped the wild-flowers round the ,indian's wigwam1 perchance unnoticed1 when1 with prophetic warning1 it stung the ,red child's hand1 forerunner of that industrious tribe that was to come and pluck the wild-flower of his race up by the root4 ,the white man comes1 pale as the dawn1 with a load of thought1 with a slumbering intelligence as a fire raked up1 knowing well what he knows1 not guessing but calculating2 strong in community1 yielding obedience to authority2 of experienced race2 of wonderful1 wonderful common sense2 dull but capable1 slow but persevering1 severe but just1 of little humor but genuine2 a laboring man1 despising game and sport2 building a house that endures1 a framed house4 ,he buys the ,indian's moccasins and baskets1 then buys his hunting-grounds1 and at length forgets where he is buried and ploughs up his bones4 ,and here town records1 old1 tattered1 time-worn1 weather-stained chronicles1 contain the ,indian sachem's mark perchance1 an arrow or a beaver1 and the few fatal words by which he deeded his hunting-grounds away4 ,he comes with a list of ancient ,saxon1 ,norman1 and ,celtic names1 and strews them up and down this river1--,framingham1 ,sudbury1 ,bedford1 ,carlisle1 ,billerica1 ,chelmsford1--and this is ,new ,angle-land1 and these are the ,new ,west ,saxons whom the ,red ,men call1 not ,angle-ish or ,english1 but ,yengeese1 and so at last they are known for ,yankees4 ,when we were opposite to the middle of ,billerica1 the fields on either hand had a soft and cultivated ,english aspect1 the village spire being seen over the copses which skirt the river1 and sometimes an orchard straggled down to the water-side1 though1 generally1 our course this forenoon was the wildest part of our voyage4 ,it seemed that men led a quiet and very civil life there4 ,the inhabitants were plainly cultivators of the earth1 and lived under an organized political government4 ,the school-house stood with a meek aspect1 entreating a long truce to war and savage life4 ,every one finds by his own experience1 as well as in history1 that the era in which men cultivate the apple1 and the amenities of the garden1 is essentially different from that of the hunter and forest life1 and neither can displace the other without loss4 ,we have all had our day-dreams1 as well as more prophetic nocturnal vision2 but as for farming1 ,i am convinced that my genius dates from an older era than the agricultural4 ,i would at least strike my spade into the earth with such careless freedom but accuracy as the woodpecker his bill into a tree4 ,there is in my nature1 methinks1 a singular yearning toward all wildness4 ,i know of no redeeming qualities in myself but a sincere love for some things1 and when ,i am reproved ,i fall back on to this ground4 ,what have ,i to do with ploughs8 ,i cut another furrow than you see4 ,where the off ox treads1 there is it not1 it is farther off2 where the nigh ox walks1 it will not be1 it is nigher still4 ,if corn fails1 my crop fails not1 and what are drought and rain to me8 ,the rude ,saxon pioneer will sometimes pine for that refinement and artificial beauty which are ,english1 and love to hear the sound of such sweet and classical names as the ,pentland and ,malvern ,hills1 the ,cliffs of ,dover and the ,trosachs1 ,richmond1 ,derwent1 and ,winandermere1 which are to him now instead of the ,acropolis and ,parthenon1 of ,bai1 and ,athens with its sea-walls1 and ,arcadia and ,tempe4 ,greece1 who am ,i that should remember thee1 ,thy ,marathon and thy ,thermopyl8 ,is my life vulgar1 my fate mean1 ,which on these golden memories can lean8 ,we are apt enough to be pleased with such books as ,evelyn's ,sylva1 ,acetarium1 and ,kalendarium ,hortense1 but they imply a relaxed nerve in the reader4 ,gardening is civil and social1 but it wants the vigor and freedom of the forest and the outlaw4 ,there may be an excess of cultivation as well as of anything else1 until civilization becomes pathetic4 ,a highly cultivated man1--all whose bones can be bent6 whose heaven-born virtues are but good manners6 ,the young pines springing up in the cornfields from year to year are to me a refreshing fact4 ,we talk of civilizing the ,indian1 but that is not the name for his improvement4 ,by the wary independence and aloofness of his dim forest life he preserves his intercourse with his native gods1 and is admitted from time to time to a rare and peculiar society with ,nature4 ,he has glances of starry recognition to which our saloons are strangers4 ,the steady illumination of his genius1 dim only because distant1 is like the faint but satisfying light of the stars compared with the dazzling but ineffectual and short-lived blaze of candles4 ,the ,society-,islanders had their day-born gods1 but they were not supposed to be 8of equal antiquity with the atua fauau po1 or night-born gods40 ,it is true1 there are the innocent pleasures of country life1 and it is sometimes pleasant to make the earth yield her increase1 and gather the fruits in their season1 but the heroic spirit will not fail to dream of remoter retirements and more rugged paths4 ,it will have its garden-plots and its parterres elsewhere than on the earth1 and gather nuts and berries by the way for its subsistence1 or orchard fruits with such heedlessness as berries4 ,we would not always be soothing and taming nature1 breaking the horse and the ox1 but sometimes ride the horse wild and chase the buffalo4 ,the ,indian's intercourse with ,nature is at least such as admits of the greatest independence of each4 ,if he is somewhat of a stranger in her midst1 the gardener is too much of a familiar4 ,there is something vulgar and foul in the latter's closeness to his mistress1 something noble and cleanly in the former's distance4 ,in civilization1 as in a southern latitude1 man degenerates at length1 and yields to the incursion of more northern tribes1 8,some nation yet shut in ,with hills of ice40 ,there are other1 savager1 and more primeval aspects of nature than our poets have sung4 ,it is only white man's poetry4 ,homer and ,ossian even can never revive in ,london or ,boston4 ,and yet behold how these cities are refreshed by the mere tradition1 or the imperfectly transmitted fragrance and flavor of these wild fruits4 ,if we could listen but for an instant to the chant of the ,indian muse1 we should understand why he will not exchange his savageness for civilization4 ,nations are not whimsical4 ,steel and blankets are strong temptations2 but the ,indian does well to continue ,indian4 ,after sitting in my chamber many days1 reading the poets1 ,i have been out early on a foggy morning1 and heard the cry of an owl in a neighboring wood as from a nature behind the common1 unexplored by science or by literature4 ,none of the feathered race has yet realized my youthful conceptions of the woodland depths4 ,i had seen the red ,election-bird brought from their recesses on my comrades' string1 and fancied that their plumage would assume stranger and more dazzling colors1 like the tints of evening1 in proportion as ,i advanced farther into the darkness and solitude of the forest4 ,still less have ,i seen such strong and wilderness tints on any poet's string4 ,these modern ingenious sciences and arts do not affect me as those more venerable arts of hunting and fishing1 and even of husbandry in its primitive and simple form2 as ancient and honorable trades as the sun and moon and winds pursue1 coeval with the faculties of man1 and invented when these were invented4 ,we do not know their ,john ,gutenberg1 or ,richard ,arkwright1 though the poets would fain make them to have been gradually learned and taught4 ,according to ,gower1-- 8,and ,iadahel1 as saith the boke1 ,firste made nette1 and fishes toke4 ,of huntyng eke he fond the chace1 ,whiche nowe is knowe in many place2 ,a tent of clothe1 with corde and stake1 ,he sette up first1 and did it make40 ,also1 ,lydgate says3-- 8,jason first sayled1 in story it is tolde1 ,toward ,colchos1 to wynne the flees of golde1 ,ceres the ,goddess fond first the tilthe of londe2 99 99 99 99 99 ,also1 ,aristeus fonde first the usage ,of mylke1 and cruddis1 and of honey swote2 ,peryodes1 for grete avauntage1 ,from flyntes smote fuyre1 daryng in the roote40 ,we read that ,aristeus 8obtained of ,jupiter and ,neptune1 that the pestilential heat of the dog-days1 wherein was great mortality1 should be mitigated with wind40 ,this is one of those dateless benefits conferred on man1 which have no record in our vulgar day1 though we still find some similitude to them in our dreams1 in which we have a more liberal and juster apprehension of things1 unconstrained by habit1 which is then in some measure put off1 and divested of memory1 which we call history4 ,according to fable1 when the island of gina was depopulated by sickness1 at the instance of acus1 ,jupiter turned the ants into men1 that is1 as some think1 he made men of the inhabitants who lived meanly like ants4 ,this is perhaps the fullest history of those early days extant4 ,the fable which is naturally and truly composed1 so as to satisfy the imagination1 ere it addresses the understanding1 beautiful though strange as a wild-flower1 is to the wise man an apothegm1 and admits of his most generous interpretation4 ,when we read that ,bacchus made the ,tyrrhenian mariners mad1 so that they leapt into the sea1 mistaking it for a meadow full of flowers1 and so became dolphins1 we are not concerned about the historical truth of this1 but rather a higher poetical truth4 ,we seem to hear the music of a thought1 and care not if the understanding be not gratified4 ,for their beauty1 consider the fables of ,narcissus1 of ,endymion1 of ,memnon son of ,morning1 the representative of all promising youths who have died a premature death1 and whose memory is melodiously prolonged to the latest morning2 the beautiful stories of ,phaeton1 and of the ,sirens whose isle shone afar off white with the bones of unburied men2 and the pregnant ones of ,pan1 ,prometheus1 and the ,sphinx2 and that long list of names which have already become part of the universal language of civilized men1 and from proper are becoming common names or nouns1--the ,sibyls1 the ,eumenides1 the ,parc1 the ,graces1 the ,muses1 ,nemesis1 c4 ,it is interesting to observe with what singular unanimity the farthest sundered nations and generations consent to give completeness and roundness to an ancient fable1 of which they indistinctly appreciate the beauty or the truth4 ,by a faint and dream-like effort1 though it be only by the vote of a scientific body1 the dullest posterity slowly add some trait to the mythus4 ,as when astronomers call the lately discovered planet ,neptune2 or the asteroid ,astra1 that the ,virgin who was driven from earth to heaven at the end of the golden age1 may have her local habitation in the heavens more distinctly assigned her1--for the slightest recognition of poetic worth is significant4 ,by such slow aggregation has mythology grown from the first4 ,the very nursery tales of this generation1 were the nursery tales of primeval races4 ,they migrate from east to west1 and again from west to east2 now expanded into the 8tale divine0 of bards1 now shrunk into a popular rhyme4 ,this is an approach to that universal language which men have sought in vain4 ,this fond reiteration of the oldest expressions of truth by the latest posterity1 content with slightly and religiously retouching the old material1 is the most impressive proof of a common humanity4 ,all nations love the same jests and tales1 ,jews1 ,christians1 and ,mahometans1 and the same translated suffice for all4 ,all men are children1 and of one family4 ,the same tale sends them all to bed1 and wakes them in the morning4 ,joseph ,wolff1 the missionary1 distributed copies of ,robinson ,crusoe1 translated into ,arabic1 among the ,arabs1 and they made a great sensation4 8,robinson ,crusoe's adventures and wisdom10 says he1 8were read by ,mahometans in the market-places of ,sanaa1 ,hodyeda1 and ,loheya1 and admired and believed60 ,on reading the book1 the ,arabians exclaimed1 8,o1 that ,robinson ,crusoe must have been a great prophet60 ,to some extent1 mythology is only the most ancient history and biography4 ,so far from being false or fabulous in the common sense1 it contains only enduring and essential truth1 the ,i and you1 the here and there1 the now and then1 being omitted4 ,either time or rare wisdom writes it4 ,before printing was discovered1 a century was equal to a thousand years4 ,the poet is he who can write some pure mythology to-day without the aid of posterity4 ,in how few words1 for instance1 the ,greeks would have told the story of ,abelard and ,heloise1 making but a sentence for our classical dictionary1--and then1 perchance1 have stuck up their names to shine in some corner of the firmament4 ,we moderns1 on the other hand1 collect only the raw materials of biography and history1 8memoirs to serve for a history10 which itself is but materials to serve for a mythology4 ,how many volumes folio would the ,life and ,labors of ,prometheus have filled1 if perchance it had fallen1 as perchance it did first1 in days of cheap printing6 ,who knows what shape the fable of ,columbus will at length assume1 to be confounded with that of ,jason and the expedition of the ,argonauts4 ,and ,franklin1--there may be a line for him in the future classical dictionary1 recording what that demigod did1 and referring him to some new genealogy4 8,son of ---- and ----4 ,he aided the ,americans to gain their independence1 instructed mankind in economy1 and drew down lightning from the clouds40 ,the hidden significance of these fables which is sometimes thought to have been detected1 the ethics running parallel to the poetry and history1 are not so remarkable as the readiness with which they may be made to express a variety of truths4 ,as if they were the skeletons of still older and more universal truths than any whose flesh and blood they are for the time made to wear4 ,it is like striving to make the sun1 or the wind1 or the sea symbols to signify exclusively the particular thoughts of our day4 ,but what signifies it8 ,in the mythus a superhuman intelligence uses the unconscious thoughts and dreams of men as its hieroglyphics to address men unborn4 ,in the history of the human mind1 these glowing and ruddy fables precede the noonday thoughts of men1 as ,aurora the sun's rays4 ,the matutine intellect of the poet1 keeping in advance of the glare of philosophy1 always dwells in this auroral atmosphere4 ,as we said before1 the ,concord is a dead stream1 but its scenery is the more suggestive to the contemplative voyager1 and this day its water was fuller of reflections than our pages even4 ,just before it reaches the falls in ,billerica1 it is contracted1 and becomes swifter and shallower1 with a yellow pebbly bottom1 hardly passable for a canal-boat1 leaving the broader and more stagnant portion above like a lake among the hills4 ,all through the ,concord1 ,bedford1 and ,billerica meadows we had heard no murmur from its stream1 except where some tributary runnel tumbled in1-- ,some tumultuous little rill1 ,purling round its storied pebble1 ,tinkling to the selfsame tune1 ,from ,september until ,june1 ,which no drought doth e'er enfeeble4 ,silent flows the parent stream1 ,and if rocks do lie below1 ,smothers with her waves the din1 ,as it were a youthful sin1 ,just as still1 and just as slow4 ,but now at length we heard this staid and primitive river rushing to her fall1 like any rill4 ,we here left its channel1 just above the ,billerica ,falls1 and entered the canal1 which runs1 or rather is conducted1 six miles through the woods to the ,merrimack1 at ,middlesex1 and as we did not care to loiter in this part of our voyage1 while one ran along the tow-path drawing the boat by a cord1 the other kept it off the shore with a pole1 so that we accomplished the whole distance in little more than an hour4 ,this canal1 which is the oldest in the country1 and has even an antique look beside the more modern railroads1 is fed by the ,concord1 so that we were still floating on its familiar waters4 ,it is so much water which the river lets for the advantage of commerce4 ,there appeared some want of harmony in its scenery1 since it was not of equal date with the woods and meadows through which it is led1 and we missed the conciliatory influence of time on land and water2 but in the lapse of ages1 ,nature will recover and indemnify herself1 and gradually plant fit shrubs and flowers along its borders4 ,already the kingfisher sat upon a pine over the water1 and the bream and pickerel swam below4 ,thus all works pass directly out of the hands of the architect into the hands of ,nature1 to be perfected4 ,it was a retired and pleasant route1 without houses or travellers1 except some young men who were lounging upon a bridge in ,chelmsford1 who leaned impudently over the rails to pry into our concerns1 but we caught the eye of the most forward1 and looked at him till he was visibly discomfited4 ,not that there was any peculiar efficacy in our look1 but rather a sense of shame left in him which disarmed him4 ,it is a very true and expressive phrase1 8,he looked daggers at me10 for the first pattern and prototype of all daggers must have been a glance of the eye4 ,first1 there was the glance of ,jove's eye1 then his fiery bolt1 then1 the material gradually hardening1 tridents1 spears1 javelins1 and finally1 for the convenience of private men1 daggers1 krisses1 and so forth1 were invented4 ,it is wonderful how we get about the streets without being wounded by these delicate and glancing weapons1 a man can so nimbly whip out his rapier1 or without being noticed carry it unsheathed4 ,yet it is rare that one gets seriously looked at4 ,as we passed under the last bridge over the canal1 just before reaching the ,merrimack1 the people coming out of church paused to look at us from above1 and apparently1 so strong is custom1 indulged in some heathenish comparisons2 but we were the truest observers of this sunny day4 ,according to ,hesiod1 8,the seventh is a holy day1 ,for then ,latona brought forth golden-rayed ,apollo10 and by our reckoning this was the seventh day of the week1 and not the first4 ,i find among the papers of an old ,justice of the ,peace and ,deacon of the town of ,concord1 this singular memorandum1 which is worth preserving as a relic of an ancient custom4 ,after reforming the spelling and grammar1 it runs as follows3 8,men that travelled with teams on the ,sabbath1 ,dec4 #ahth1 #ahjc1 were ,jeremiah ,richardson and ,jonas ,parker1 both of ,shirley4 ,they had teams with rigging such as is used to carry barrels1 and they were travelling westward4 ,richardson was questioned by the ,hon4 ,ephraim ,wood1 ,esq41 and he said that ,jonas ,parker was his fellow-traveller1 and he further said that a ,mr4 ,longley was his employer1 who promised to bear him out40 ,we were the men that were gliding northward1 this ,sept4 #ast1 #ahci1 with still team1 and rigging not the most convenient to carry barrels1 unquestioned by any ,squire or ,church ,deacon and ready to bear ourselves out if need were4 ,in the latter part of the seventeenth century1 according to the historian of ,dunstable1 8,towns were directed to erect #8a cage' near the meeting-house1 and in this all offenders against the sanctity of the ,sabbath were confined40 ,society has relaxed a little from its strictness1 one would say1 but ,i presume that there is not less religion than formerly4 ,if the ligature is found to be loosened in one part1 it is only drawn the tighter in another4 ,you can hardly convince a man of an error in a lifetime1 but must content yourself with the reflection that the progress of science is slow4 ,if he is not convinced1 his grandchildren may be4 ,the geologists tell us that it took one hundred years to prove that fossils are organic1 and one hundred and fifty more1 to prove that they are not to be referred to the ,noachian deluge4 ,i am not sure but ,i should betake myself in extremities to the liberal divinities of ,greece1 rather than to my country's ,god4 ,jehovah1 though with us he has acquired new attributes1 is more absolute and unapproachable1 but hardly more divine1 than ,jove4 ,he is not so much of a gentleman1 not so gracious and catholic1 he does not exert so intimate and genial an influence on nature1 as many a god of the ,greeks4 ,i should fear the infinite power and inflexible justice of the almighty mortal1 hardly as yet apotheosized1 so wholly masculine1 with no ,sister ,juno1 no ,apollo1 no ,venus1 nor ,minerva1 to intercede for me1 1 4 ,the ,grecian are youthful and erring and fallen gods1 with the vices of men1 but in many important respects essentially of the divine race4 ,in my ,pantheon1 ,pan still reigns in his pristine glory1 with his ruddy face1 his flowing beard1 and his shaggy body1 his pipe and his crook1 his nymph ,echo1 and his chosen daughter ,iambe2 for the great god ,pan is not dead1 as was rumored4 ,no god ever dies4 ,perhaps of all the gods of ,new ,england and of ancient ,greece1 ,i am most constant at his shrine4 ,it seems to me that the god that is commonly worshipped in civilized countries is not at all divine1 though he bears a divine name1 but is the overwhelming authority and respectability of mankind combined4 ,men reverence one another1 not yet ,god4 ,if ,i thought that ,i could speak with discrimination and impartiality of the nations of ,christendom1 ,i should praise them1 but it tasks me too much4 ,they seem to be the most civil and humane1 but ,i may be mistaken4 ,every people have gods to suit their circumstances2 the ,society ,islanders had a god called ,toahitu1 8in shape like a dog2 he saved such as were in danger of falling from rocks and trees40 ,i think that we can do without him1 as we have not much climbing to do4 ,among them a man could make himself a god out of a piece of wood in a few minutes1 which would frighten him out of his wits4 ,i fancy that some indefatigable spinster of the old school1 who had the supreme felicity to be born in 8days that tried men's souls10 hearing this1 may say with ,nestor1 another of the old school1 8,but you are younger than ,i4 ,for time was when ,i conversed with greater men than you4 ,for not at any time have ,i seen such men1 nor shall see them1 as ,perithous1 and ,dryas1 and 10 that is probably ,washington1 sole 8,shepherd of the ,people40 ,and when ,apollo has now six times rolled westward1 or seemed to roll1 and now for the seventh time shows his face in the east1 eyes wellnigh glazed1 long glassed1 which have fluctuated only between lamb's wool and worsted1 explore ceaselessly some good sermon book4 ,for six days shalt thou labor and do all thy knitting1 but on the seventh1 forsooth1 thy reading4 ,happy we who can bask in this warm ,september sun1 which illumines all creatures1 as well when they rest as when they toil1 not without a feeling of gratitude2 whose life is as blameless1 how blameworthy soever it may be1 on the ,lord's ,mona-day as on his ,suna-day4 ,there are various1 nay1 incredible faiths2 why should we be alarmed at any of them8 ,what man believes1 ,god believes4 ,long as ,i have lived1 and many blasphemers as ,i have heard and seen1 ,i have never yet heard or witnessed any direct and conscious blasphemy or irreverence2 but of indirect and habitual1 enough4 ,where is the man who is guilty of direct and personal insolence to ,him that made him8 ,one memorable addition to the old mythology is due to this era1--the ,christian fable4 ,with what pains1 and tears1 and blood these centuries have woven this and added it to the mythology of mankind4 ,the new ,prometheus4 ,with what miraculous consent1 and patience1 and persistency has this mythus been stamped on the memory of the race6 ,it would seem as if it were in the progress of our mythology to dethrone ,jehovah1 and crown ,christ in his stead4 ,if it is not a tragical life we live1 then ,i know not what to call it4 ,such a story as that of ,jesus ,christ1--the history of ,jerusalem1 say1 being a part of the ,universal ,history4 ,the naked1 the embalmed1 unburied death of ,jerusalem amid its desolate hills1--think of it4 ,in ,tasso's poem ,i trust some things are sweetly buried4 ,consider the snappish tenacity with which they preach ,christianity still4 ,what are time and space to ,christianity1 eighteen hundred years1 and a new world8--that the humble life of a ,jewish peasant should have force to make a ,new ,york bishop so bigoted4 ,forty-four lamps1 the gift of kings1 now burning in a place called the ,holy ,sepulchre2--a church-bell ringing2--some unaffected tears shed by a pilgrim on ,mount ,calvary within the week4-- 8,jerusalem1 ,jerusalem1 when ,i forget thee1 may my right hand forget her cunning40 8,by the waters of ,babylon there we sat down1 and we wept when we remembered ,zion40 ,i trust that some may be as near and dear to ,buddha1 or ,christ1 or ,swedenborg1 who are without the pale of their churches4 ,it is necessary not to be ,christian to appreciate the beauty and significance of the life of ,christ4 ,i know that some will have hard thoughts of me1 when they hear their ,christ named beside my ,buddha1 yet ,i am sure that ,i am willing they should love their ,christ more than my ,buddha1 for the love is the main thing1 and ,i like him too4 8,god is the letter ,ku1 as well as ,khu40 ,why need ,christians be still intolerant and superstitious8 ,the simple-minded sailors were unwilling to cast overboard ,jonah at his own request4-- 8,where is this love become in later age8 ,alas6 'tis gone in endless pilgrimage ,from hence1 and never to return1 ,i doubt1 ,till revolution wheel those times about40 ,one man says1-- 8,the world's a popular disease1 that reigns ,within the froward heart and frantic brains ,of poor distempered mortals40 ,another1 that --8all the world's a stage1 ,and all the men and women merely players40 ,the world is a strange place for a playhouse to stand within it4 ,old ,drayton thought that a man that lived here1 and would be a poet1 for instance1 should have in him certain 8brave1 translunary things10 and a 8fine madness0 should possess his brain4 ,certainly it were as well1 that he might be up to the occasion4 ,that is a superfluous wonder1 which ,dr4 ,johnson expresses at the assertion of ,sir ,thomas ,browne that 8his life has been a miracle of thirty years1 which to relate1 were not history but a piece of poetry1 and would sound like a fable40 ,the wonder is1 rather1 that all men do not assert as much4 ,that would be a rare praise1 if it were true1 which was addressed to ,francis ,beaumont1--8,spectators sate part in your tragedies40 ,think what a mean and wretched place this world is2 that half the time we have to light a lamp that we may see to live in it4 ,this is half our life4 ,who would undertake the enterprise if it were all8 ,and1 pray1 what more has day to offer8 ,a lamp that burns more clear1 a purer oil1 say winter-strained1 that so we may pursue our idleness with less obstruction4 ,bribed with a little sunlight and a few prismatic tints1 we bless our ,maker1 and stave off his wrath with hymns4 ,i make ye an offer1 ,ye gods1 hear the scoffer1 ,the scheme will not hurt you1 ,if ye will find goodness1 ,i will find virtue4 ,though ,i am your creature1 ,and child of your nature1 ,i have pride still unbended1 ,and blood undescended1 ,some free independence1 ,and my own descendants4 ,i cannot toil blindly1 ,though ye behave kindly1 ,and ,i swear by the rood1 ,i'll be slave to no ,god4 ,if ye will deal plainly1 ,i will strive mainly1 ,if ye will discover1 ,great plans to your lover1 ,and give him a sphere ,somewhat larger than here4 8,verily1 my angels6 ,i was abashed on account of my servant1 who had no ,providence but me2 therefore did ,i pardon him40--,the ,gulistan of ,sadi4 ,most people with whom ,i talk1 men and women even of some originality and genius1 have their scheme of the universe all cut and dried1--very dry1 ,i assure you1 to hear1 dry enough to burn1 dry-rotted and powder-post1 methinks1--which they set up between you and them in the shortest intercourse2 an ancient and tottering frame with all its boards blown off4 ,they do not walk without their bed4 ,some1 to me1 seemingly very unimportant and unsubstantial things and relations1 are for them everlastingly settled1--as ,father1 ,son1 and ,holy ,ghost1 and the like4 ,these are like the everlasting hills to them4 ,but in all my wanderings ,i never came across the least vestige of authority for these things4 ,they have not left so distinct a trace as the delicate flower of a remote geological period on the coal in my grate4 ,the wisest man preaches no doctrines2 he has no scheme2 he sees no rafter1 not even a cobweb1 against the heavens4 ,it is clear sky4 ,if ,i ever see more clearly at one time than at another1 the medium through which ,i see is clearer4 ,to see from earth to heaven1 and see there standing1 still a fixture1 that old ,jewish scheme6 ,what right have you to hold up this obstacle to my understanding you1 to your understanding me6 ,you did not invent it2 it was imposed on you4 ,examine your authority4 ,even ,christ1 we fear1 had his scheme1 his conformity to tradition1 which slightly vitiates his teaching4 ,he had not swallowed all formulas4 ,he preached some mere doctrines4 ,as for me1 ,abraham1 ,isaac1 and ,jacob are now only the subtilest imaginable essences1 which would not stain the morning sky4 ,your scheme must be the framework of the universe2 all other schemes will soon be ruins4 ,the perfect ,god in his revelations of himself has never got to the length of one such proposition as you1 his prophets1 state4 ,have you learned the alphabet of heaven and can count three8 ,do you know the number of ,god's family8 ,can you put mysteries into words8 ,do you presume to fable of the ineffable8 ,pray1 what geographer are you1 that speak of heaven's topography8 ,whose friend are you that speak of ,god's personality8 ,do you1 ,miles ,howard1 think that he has made you his confidant8 ,tell me of the height of the mountains of the moon1 or of the diameter of space1 and ,i may believe you1 but of the secret history of the ,almighty1 and ,i shall pronounce thee mad4 ,yet we have a sort of family history of our ,god1--so have the ,tahitians of theirs1--and some old poet's grand imagination is imposed on us as adamantine everlasting truth1 and ,god's own word6 ,pythagoras says1 truly enough1 8,a true assertion respecting ,god1 is an assertion of ,god02 but we may well doubt if there is any example of this in literature4 ,the ,new ,testament is an invaluable book1 though ,i confess to having been slightly prejudiced against it in my very early days by the church and the ,sabbath school1 so that it seemed1 before ,i read it1 to be the yellowest book in the catalogue4 ,yet ,i early escaped from their meshes4 ,it was hard to get the commentaries out of one's head and taste its true flavor4--,i think that ,pilgrim's ,progress is the best sermon which has been preached from this text2 almost all other sermons that ,i have heard1 or heard of1 have been but poor imitations of this4--,it would be a poor story to be prejudiced against the ,life of ,christ because the book has been edited by ,christians4 ,in fact1 ,i love this book rarely1 though it is a sort of castle in the air to me1 which ,i am permitted to dream4 ,having come to it so recently and freshly1 it has the greater charm1 so that ,i cannot find any to talk with about it4 ,i never read a novel1 they have so little real life and thought in them4 ,the reading which ,i love best is the scriptures of the several nations1 though it happens that ,i am better acquainted with those of the ,hindoos1 the ,chinese1 and the ,persians1 than of the ,hebrews1 which ,i have come to last4 ,give me one of these ,bibles and you have silenced me for a while4 ,when ,i recover the use of my tongue1 ,i am wont to worry my neighbors with the new sentences2 but commonly they cannot see that there is any wit in them4 ,such has been my experience with the ,new ,testament4 ,i have not yet got to the crucifixion1 ,i have read it over so many times4 ,i should love dearly to read it aloud to my friends1 some of whom are seriously inclined2 it is so good1 and ,i am sure that they have never heard it1 it fits their case exactly1 and we should enjoy it so much together1--but ,i instinctively despair of getting their ears4 ,they soon show1 by signs not to be mistaken1 that it is inexpressibly wearisome to them4 ,i do not mean to imply that ,i am any better than my neighbors2 for1 alas6 ,i know that ,i am only as good1 though ,i love better books than they4 ,it is remarkable that1 notwithstanding the universal favor with which the ,new ,testament is outwardly received1 and even the bigotry with which it is defended1 there is no hospitality shown to1 there is no appreciation of1 the order of truth with which it deals4 ,i know of no book that has so few readers4 ,there is none so truly strange1 and heretical1 and unpopular4 ,to ,christians1 no less than ,greeks and ,jews1 it is foolishness and a stumbling-block4 ,there are1 indeed1 severe things in it which no man should read aloud more than once4--8,seek first the kingdom of heaven40--8,lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth40--8,if thou wilt be perfect1 go and sell that thou hast1 and give to the poor1 and thou shalt have treasure in heaven40--8,for what is a man profited1 if he shall gain the whole world1 and lose his own soul8 or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul80--,think of this1 ,yankees6--8,verily1 ,i say unto you1 if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed1 ye shall say unto this mountain1 ,remove hence to yonder place2 and it shall remove2 and nothing shall be impossible unto you40--,think of repeating these things to a ,new ,england audience6 thirdly1 fourthly1 fifteenthly1 till there are three barrels of sermons6 ,who1 without cant1 can read them aloud8 ,who1 without cant1 can hear them1 and not go out of the meeting-house8 ,they never were read1 they never were heard4 ,let but one of these sentences be rightly read1 from any pulpit in the land1 and there would not be left one stone of that meeting-house upon another4 ,yet the ,new ,testament treats of man and man's so-called spiritual affairs too exclusively1 and is too constantly moral and personal1 to alone content me1 who am not interested solely in man's religious or moral nature1 or in man even4 ,i have not the most definite designs on the future4 ,absolutely speaking1 ,do unto others as you would that they should do unto you1 is by no means a golden rule1 but the best of current silver4 ,an honest man would have but little occasion for it4 ,it is golden not to have any rule at all in such a case4 ,the book has never been written which is to be accepted without any allowance4 ,christ was a sublime actor on the stage of the world4 ,he knew what he was thinking of when he said1 8,heaven and earth shall pass away1 but my words shall not pass away40 ,i draw near to him at such a time4 ,yet he taught mankind but imperfectly how to live2 his thoughts were all directed toward another world4 ,there is another kind of success than his4 ,even here we have a sort of living to get1 and must buffet it somewhat longer4 ,there are various tough problems yet to solve1 and we must make shift to live1 betwixt spirit and matter1 such a human life as we can4 ,a healthy man1 with steady employment1 as wood-chopping at fifty cents a cord1 and a camp in the woods1 will not be a good subject for ,christianity4 ,the ,new ,testament may be a choice book to him on some1 but not on all or most of his days4 ,he will rather go a-fishing in his leisure hours4 ,the ,apostles1 though they were fishers too1 were of the solemn race of sea-fishers1 and never trolled for pickerel on inland streams4 ,men have a singular desire to be good without being good for anything1 because1 perchance1 they think vaguely that so it will be good for them in the end4 ,the sort of morality which the priests inculcate is a very subtle policy1 far finer than the politicians1 and the world is very successfully ruled by them as the policemen4 ,it is not worth the while to let our imperfections disturb us always4 ,the conscience really does not1 and ought not to monopolize the whole of our lives1 any more than the heart or the head4 ,it is as liable to disease as any other part4 ,i have seen some whose consciences1 owing undoubtedly to former indulgence1 had grown to be as irritable as spoilt children1 and at length gave them no peace4 ,they did not know when to swallow their cud1 and their lives of course yielded no milk4 ,conscience is instinct bred in the house1 ,feeling and ,thinking propagate the sin ,by an unnatural breeding in and in4 ,i say1 ,turn it out doors1 ,into the moors4 ,i love a life whose plot is simple1 ,and does not thicken with every pimple1 ,a soul so sound no sickly conscience binds it1 ,that makes the universe no worse than 't finds it4 ,i love an earnest soul1 ,whose mighty joy and sorrow ,are not drowned in a bowl1 ,and brought to life to-morrow2 ,that lives one tragedy1 ,and not seventy2 ,a conscience worth keeping1 ,laughing not weeping2 ,a conscience wise and steady1 ,and forever ready2 ,not changing with events1 ,dealing in compliments2 ,a conscience exercised about ,large things1 where one may doubt4 ,i love a soul not all of wood1 ,predestinated to be good1 ,but true to the backbone ,unto itself alone1 ,and false to none2 ,born to its own affairs1 ,its own joys and own cares2 ,by whom the work which ,god begun ,is finished1 and not undone2 ,taken up where he left off1 ,whether to worship or to scoff2 ,if not good1 why then evil1 ,if not good god1 good devil4 ,goodness6--you hypocrite1 come out of that1 ,live your life1 do your work1 then take your hat4 ,i have no patience towards ,such conscientious cowards4 ,give me simple laboring folk1 ,who love their work1 ,whose virtue is a song ,to cheer ,god along4 ,i was once reproved by a minister who was driving a poor beast to some meeting-house horse-sheds among the hills of ,new ,hampshire1 because ,i was bending my steps to a mountain-top on the ,sabbath1 instead of a church1 when ,i would have gone farther than he to hear a true word spoken on that or any day4 ,he declared that ,i was 8breaking the ,lord's fourth commandment10 and proceeded to enumerate1 in a sepulchral tone1 the disasters which had befallen him whenever he had done any ordinary work on the ,sabbath4 ,he really thought that a god was on the watch to trip up those men who followed any secular work on this day1 and did not see that it was the evil conscience of the workers that did it4 ,the country is full of this superstition1 so that when one enters a village1 the church1 not only really but from association1 is the ugliest looking building in it1 because it is the one in which human nature stoops the lowest and is most disgraced4 ,certainly1 such temples as these shall erelong cease to deform the landscape4 ,there are few things more disheartening and disgusting than when you are walking the streets of a strange village on the ,sabbath1 to hear a preacher shouting like a boatswain in a gale of wind1 and thus harshly profaning the quiet atmosphere of the day4 ,you fancy him to have taken off his coat1 as when men are about to do hot and dirty work4 ,if ,i should ask the minister of ,middlesex to let me speak in his pulpit on a ,sunday1 he would object1 because ,i do not pray as he does1 or because ,i am not ordained4 ,what under the sun are these things8 ,really1 there is no infidelity1 now-a-days1 so great as that which prays1 and keeps the ,sabbath1 and rebuilds the churches4 ,the sealer of the ,south ,pacific preaches a truer doctrine4 ,the church is a sort of hospital for men's souls1 and as full of quackery as the hospital for their bodies4 ,those who are taken into it live like pensioners in their ,retreat or ,sailor's ,sung ,harbor1 where you may see a row of religious cripples sitting outside in sunny weather4 ,let not the apprehension that he may one day have to occupy a ward therein1 discourage the cheerful labors of the able-souled man4 ,while he remembers the sick in their extremities1 let him not look thither as to his goal4 ,one is sick at heart of this pagoda worship4 ,it is like the beating of gongs in a ,hindoo subterranean temple4 ,in dark places and dungeons the preacher's words might perhaps strike root and grow1 but not in broad daylight in any part of the world that ,i know4 ,the sound of the ,sabbath bell far away1 now breaking on these shores1 does not awaken pleasing associations1 but melancholy and sombre ones rather4 ,one involuntarily rests on his oar1 to humor his unusually meditative mood4 ,it is as the sound of many catechisms and religious books twanging a canting peal round the earth1 seeming to issue from some ,egyptian temple and echo along the shore of the ,nile1 right opposite to ,pharaoh's palace and ,moses in the bulrushes1 startling a multitude of storks and alligators basking in the sun4 ,everywhere 8good men0 sound a retreat1 and the word has gone forth to fall back on innocence4 ,fall forward rather on to whatever there is there4 ,christianity only hopes4 ,it has hung its harp on the willows1 and cannot sing a song in a strange land4 ,it has dreamed a sad dream1 and does not yet welcome the morning with joy4 ,the mother tells her falsehoods to her child1 but1 thank ,heaven1 the child does not grow up in its parent's shadow4 ,our mother's faith has not grown with her experience4 ,her experience has been too much for her4 ,the lesson of life was too hard for her to learn4 ,it is remarkable1 that almost all speakers and writers feel it to be incumbent on them1 sooner or later1 to prove or to acknowledge the personality of ,god4 ,some ,earl of ,bridgewater1 thinking it better late than never1 has provided for it in his will4 ,it is a sad mistake4 ,in reading a work on agriculture1 we have to skip the author's moral reflections1 and the words 8,providence0 and 8,he0 scattered along the page1 to come at the profitable level of what he has to say4 ,what he calls his religion is for the most part offensive to the nostrils4 ,he should know better than expose himself1 and keep his foul sores covered till they are quite healed4 ,there is more religion in men's science than there is science in their religion4 ,let us make haste to the report of the committee on swine4 ,a man's real faith is never contained in his creed1 nor is his creed an article of his faith4 ,the last is never adopted4 ,this it is that permits him to smile ever1 and to live even as bravely as he does4 ,and yet he clings anxiously to his creed1 as to a straw1 thinking that that does him good service because his sheet anchor does not drag4 ,in most men's religion1 the ligature1 which should be its umbilical cord connecting them with divinity1 is rather like that thread which the accomplices of ,cylon held in their hands when they went abroad from the temple of ,minerva1 the other end being attached to the statue of the goddess4 ,but frequently1 as in their case1 the thread breaks1 being stretched1 and they are left without an asylum4 8,a good and pious man reclined his head on the bosom of contemplation1 and was absorbed in the ocean of a revery4 ,at the instant when he awaked from his vision1 one of his friends1 by way of pleasantry1 said1 ,what rare gift have you brought us from that garden1 where you have been recreating8 ,he replied1 ,i fancied to myself and said1 when ,i can reach the rose-bower1 ,i will fill my lap with the flowers1 and bring them as a present to my friends2 but when ,i got there1 the fragrance of the roses so intoxicated me1 that the skirt dropped from my hands4----#8,o bird of dawn6 learn the warmth of affection from the moth2 for that scorched creature gave up the ghost1 and uttered not a groan3 ,these vain pretenders are ignorant of him they seek after2 for of him that knew him we never heard again3--,o thou6 who towerest above the flights of conjecture1 opinion1 and comprehension2 whatever has been reported of thee we have heard and read2 the congregation is dismissed1 and life drawn to a close2 and we still rest at our first encomium of thee6'0--,sadi4 ,by noon we were let down into the ,merrimack through the locks at ,middlesex1 just above ,pawtucket ,falls1 by a serene and liberal-minded man1 who came quietly from his book1 though his duties1 we supposed1 did not require him to open the locks on ,sundays4 ,with him we had a just and equal encounter of the eyes1 as between two honest men4 ,the movements of the eyes express the perpetual and unconscious courtesy of the parties4 ,it is said1 that a rogue does not look you in the face1 neither does an honest man look at you as if he had his reputation to establish4 ,i have seen some who did not know when to turn aside their eyes in meeting yours4 ,a truly confident and magnanimous spirit is wiser than to contend for the mastery in such encounters4 ,serpents alone conquer by the steadiness of their gaze4 ,my friend looks me in the face and sees me1 that is all4 ,the best relations were at once established between us and this man1 and though few words were spoken1 he could not conceal a visible interest in us and our excursion4 ,he was a lover of the higher mathematics1 as we found1 and in the midst of some vast sunny problem1 when we overtook him and whispered our conjectures4 ,by this man we were presented with the freedom of the ,merrimack4 ,we now felt as if we were fairly launched on the ocean-stream of our voyage1 and were pleased to find that our boat would float on ,merrimack water4 ,we began again busily to put in practice those old arts of rowing1 steering1 and paddling4 ,it seemed a strange phenomenon to us that the two rivers should mingle their waters so readily1 since we had never associated them in our thoughts4 ,as we glided over the broad bosom of the ,merrimack1 between ,chelmsford and ,dracut1 at noon1 here a quarter of a mile wide1 the rattling of our oars was echoed over the water to those villages1 and their slight sounds to us4 ,their harbors lay as smooth and fairy-like as the ,lido1 or ,syracuse1 or ,rhodes1 in our imagination1 while1 like some strange roving craft1 we flitted past what seemed the dwellings of noble home-staying men1 seemingly as conspicuous as if on an eminence1 or floating upon a tide which came up to those villagers' breasts4 ,at a third of a mile over the water we heard distinctly some children repeating their catechism in a cottage near the shore1 while in the broad shallows between1 a herd of cows stood lashing their sides1 and waging war with the flies4 ,two hundred years ago other catechizing than this was going on here2 for here came the ,sachem ,wannalancet1 and his people1 and sometimes ,tahatawan1 our ,concord ,sachem1 who afterwards had a church at home1 to catch fish at the falls2 and here also came ,john ,eliot1 with the ,bible and ,catechism1 and ,baxter's ,call to the ,unconverted1 and other tracts1 done into the ,massachusetts tongue1 and taught them ,christianity meanwhile4 8,this place10 says ,gookin1 referring to ,wamesit1 8being an ancient and capital seat of ,indians1 they come to fish2 and this good man takes this opportunity to spread the net of the gospel1 to fish for their souls40--8,may #eth1 #afgd10 he continues1 8according to our usual custom1 ,mr4 ,eliot and myself took our journey to ,wamesit1 or ,pawtuckett2 and arriving there that evening1 ,mr4 ,eliot preached to as many of them as could be got together1 out of ,matt4 xxii4 #a-ad1 the parable of the marriage of the king's son4 ,we met at the wigwam of one called ,wannalancet1 about two miles from the town1 near ,pawtuckett falls1 and bordering upon ,merrimak river4 ,this person1 ,wannalancet1 is the eldest son of old ,pasaconaway1 the chiefest sachem of ,pawtuckett4 ,he is a sober and grave person1 and of years1 between fifty and sixty4 ,he hath been always loving and friendly to the ,english40 ,as yet1 however1 they had not prevailed on him to embrace the ,christian religion4 8,but at this time10 says ,gookin1 8,may #f1 #afgd10--8;after some deliberation and serious pause1 he stood up1 and made a speech to this effect3--#8,i must acknowledge ,i have1 all my days1 used to pass in an old canoe1 7alluding to his frequent custom to pass in a canoe upon the river17 and now you exhort me to change and leave my old canoe1 and embark in a new canoe1 to which ,i have hitherto been unwilling2 but now ,i yield up myself to your advice1 and enter into a new canoe1 and do engage to pray to ,god hereafter4'0 ,one 8,mr4 ,richard ,daniel1 a gentleman that lived in ,billerica10 who with other 8persons of quality0 was present1 8desired brother ,eliot to tell the sachem from him1 that it may be1 while he went in his old canoe1 he passed in a quiet stream2 but the end thereof was death and destruction to soul and body4 ,but now he went into a new canoe1 perhaps he would meet with storms and trials1 but yet he should be encouraged to persevere1 for the end of his voyage would be everlasting rest40--8,since that time1 ,i hear this sachem doth persevere1 and is a constant and diligent hearer of ,god's word1 and sanctifieth the ,sabbath1 though he doth travel to ,wamesit meeting every ,sabbath1 which is above two miles2 and though sundry of his people have deserted him1 since he subjected to the gospel1 yet he continues and persists40-- ,gookin's ,hist4 ,coll4 of the ,indians in ,new ,england1 #afgd4 ,already1 as appears from the records1 8,at a ,general ,court held at ,boston in ,new ,england1 the #gth of the first month1 #afdc-d40--8,wassamequin1 ,nashoonon1 ,kutchamaquin1 ,massaconomet1 and ,squaw ,sachem1 did voluntarily submit themselves0 to the ,english2 and among other things did 8promise to be willing from time to time to be instructed in the knowledge of ,god40 ,being asked 8,not to do any unnecessary work on the ,sabbath day1 especially within the gates of ,christian towns10 they answered1 8,it is easy to them2 they have not much to do on any day1 and they can well take their rest on that day40--8,so10 says ,winthrop1 in his ,journal1 8we causing them to understand the articles1 and all the ten commandments of ,god1 and they freely assenting to all1 they were solemnly received1 and then presented the ,court with twenty-six fathom more of wampom2 and the ,court gave each of them a coat of two yards of cloth1 and their dinner2 and to them and their men1 every of them1 a cup of sack at their departure2 so they took leave and went away40 ,what journeyings on foot and on horseback through the wilderness1 to preach the ,gospel to these minks and muskrats6 who first1 no doubt1 listened with their red ears out of a natural hospitality and courtesy1 and afterward from curiosity or even interest1 till at length there were 8praying ,indians10 and1 as the ,general ,court wrote to ,cromwell1 the 8work is brought to this perfection1 that some of the ,indians themselves can pray and prophesy in a comfortable manner40 ,it was in fact an old battle and hunting ground through which we had been floating1 the ancient dwelling-place of a race of hunters and warriors4 ,their weirs of stone1 their arrowheads and hatchets1 their pestles1 and the mortars in which they pounded ,indian corn before the white man had tasted it1 lay concealed in the mud of the river bottom4 ,tradition still points out the spots where they took fish in the greatest numbers1 by such arts as they possessed4 ,it is a rapid story the historian will have to put together4 ,miantonimo1--,winthrop1--,webster4 ,soon he comes from ,montaup to ,bunker ,hill1 from bear-skins1 parched corn1 bows and arrows1 to tiled roofs1 wheat-fields1 guns and swords4 ,pawtucket and ,wamesit1 where the ,indians resorted in the fishing season1 are now ,lowell1 the city of spindles and ,manchester of ,america1 which sends its cotton cloth round the globe4 ,even we youthful voyagers had spent a part of our lives in the village of ,chelmsford1 when the present city1 whose bells we heard1 was its obscure north district only1 and the giant weaver was not yet fairly born4 ,so old are we2 so young is it4 ,we were thus entering the ,state of ,new ,hampshire on the bosom of the flood formed by the tribute of its innumerable valleys4 ,the river was the only key which could unlock its maze1 presenting its hills and valleys1 its lakes and streams1 in their natural order and position4 ,the ,,merrimack1 or ,sturgeon ,river1 is formed by the confluence of the ,pemigewasset1 which rises near the ,notch of the ,white ,mountains1 and the ,winnipiseogee1 which drains the lake of the same name1 signifying 8,the ,smile of the ,great ,spirit40 ,from their junction it runs south seventy-eight miles to ,massachusetts1 and thence east thirty-five miles to the sea4 ,i have traced its stream from where it bubbles out of the rocks of the ,white ,mountains above the clouds1 to where it is lost amid the salt billows of the ocean on ,plum ,island beach4 ,at first it comes on murmuring to itself by the base of stately and retired mountains1 through moist primitive woods whose juices it receives1 where the bear still drinks it1 and the cabins of settlers are far between1 and there are few to cross its stream2 enjoying in solitude its cascades still unknown to fame2 by long ranges of mountains of ,sandwich and of ,squam1 slumbering like tumuli of ,titans1 with the peaks of ,moosehillock1 the ,haystack1 and ,kearsarge reflected in its waters2 where the maple and the raspberry1 those lovers of the hills1 flourish amid temperate dews2--flowing long and full of meaning1 but untranslatable as its name ,pemigewasset1 by many a pastured ,pelion and ,ossa1 where unnamed muses haunt1 tended by ,oreads1 ,dryads1 ,naiads1 and receiving the tribute of many an untasted ,hippocrene4 ,there are earth1 air1 fire1 and water1--very well1 this is water1 and down it comes4 ,such water do the gods distil1 ,and pour down every hill ,for their ,new ,england men2 ,a draught of this wild nectar bring1 ,and ,i'll not taste the spring ,of ,helicon again4 ,falling all the way1 and yet not discouraged by the lowest fall4 ,by the law of its birth never to become stagnant1 for it has come out of the clouds1 and down the sides of precipices worn in the flood1 through beaver-dams broke loose1 not splitting but splicing and mending itself1 until it found a breathing-place in this low land4 ,there is no danger now that the sun will steal it back to heaven again before it reach the sea1 for it has a warrant even to recover its own dews into its bosom again with interest at every eve4 ,it was already the water of ,squam and ,newfound ,lake and ,winnipiseogee1 and ,white ,mountain snow dissolved1 on which we were floating1 and ,smith's and ,baker's and ,mad ,rivers1 and ,nashua and ,souhegan and ,piscataquoag1 and ,suncook and ,soucook and ,contoocook1 mingled in incalculable proportions1 still fluid1 yellowish1 restless all1 with an ancient1 ineradicable inclination to the sea4 ,so it flows on down by ,lowell and ,haverhill1 at which last place it first suffers a sea change1 and a few masts betray the vicinity of the ocean4 ,between the towns of ,amesbury and ,newbury it is a broad commercial river1 from a third to half a mile in width1 no longer skirted with yellow and crumbling banks1 but backed by high green hills and pastures1 with frequent white beaches on which the fishermen draw up their nets4 ,i have passed down this portion of the river in a steamboat1 and it was a pleasant sight to watch from its deck the fishermen dragging their seines on the distant shore1 as in pictures of a foreign strand4 ,at intervals you may meet with a schooner laden with lumber1 standing up to ,haverhill1 or else lying at anchor or aground1 waiting for wind or tide2 until1 at last1 you glide under the famous ,chain ,bridge1 and are landed at ,newburyport4 ,thus she who at first was 8poore of waters1 naked of renowne10 having received so many fair tributaries1 as was said of the ,forth1 8,doth grow the greater still1 the further downe2 ,till that abounding both in power and fame1 ,she long doth strive to give the sea her name02 or if not her name1 in this case1 at least the impulse of her stream4 ,from the steeples of ,newburyport you may review this river stretching far up into the country1 with many a white sail glancing over it like an inland sea1 and behold1 as one wrote who was born on its head-waters1 8,down out at its mouth1 the dark inky main blending with the blue above4 ,plum ,island1 its sand ridges scolloping along the horizon like the sea-serpent1 and the distant outline broken by many a tall ship1 leaning1 still1 against the sky40 ,rising at an equal height with the ,connecticut1 the ,merrimack reaches the sea by a course only half as long1 and hence has no leisure to form broad and fertile meadows1 like the former1 but is hurried along rapids1 and down numerous falls1 without long delay4 ,the banks are generally steep and high1 with a narrow interval reaching back to the hills1 which is only rarely or partially overflown at present1 and is much valued by the farmers4 ,between ,chelmsford and ,concord1 in ,new ,hampshire1 it varies from twenty to seventy-five rods in width4 ,it is probably wider than it was formerly1 in many places1 owing to the trees having been cut down1 and the consequent wasting away of its banks4 ,the influence of the ,pawtucket ,dam is felt as far up as ,cromwell's ,falls1 and many think that the banks are being abraded and the river filled up again by this cause4 ,like all our rivers1 it is liable to freshets1 and the ,pemigewasset has been known to rise twenty-five feet in a few hours4 ,it is navigable for vessels of burden about twenty miles2 for canal-boats1 by means of locks1 as far as ,concord in ,new ,hampshire1 about seventy-five miles from its mouth2 and for smaller boats to ,plymouth1 one hundred and thirteen miles4 ,a small steamboat once plied between ,lowell and ,nashua1 before the railroad was built1 and one now runs from ,newburyport to ,haverhill4 ,unfitted to some extent for the purposes of commerce by the sand-bar at its mouth1 see how this river was devoted from the first to the service of manufactures4 ,issuing from the iron region of ,franconia1 and flowing through still uncut forests1 by inexhaustible ledges of granite1 with ,squam1 and ,winnipiseogee1 and ,newfound1 and ,massabesic ,lakes for its mill-ponds1 it falls over a succession of natural dams1 where it has been offering its privileges in vain for ages1 until at last the ,yankee race came to improve them4 ,standing at its mouth1 look up its sparkling stream to its source1--a silver cascade which falls all the way from the ,white ,mountains to the sea1--and behold a city on each successive plateau1 a busy colony of human beaver around every fall4 ,not to mention ,newburyport and ,haverhill1 see ,lawrence1 and ,lowell1 and ,nashua1 and ,manchester1 and ,concord1 gleaming one above the other4 ,when at length it has escaped from under the last of the factories1 it has a level and unmolested passage to the sea1 a mere waste water1 as it were1 bearing little with it but its fame2 its pleasant course revealed by the morning fog which hangs over it1 and the sails of the few small vessels which transact the commerce of ,haverhill and ,newburyport4 ,but its real vessels are railroad cars1 and its true and main stream1 flowing by an iron channel farther south1 may be traced by a long line of vapor amid the hills1 which no morning wind ever disperses1 to where it empties into the sea at ,boston4 ,this side is the louder murmur now4 ,instead of the scream of a fish-hawk scaring the fishes1 is heard the whistle of the steam-engine1 arousing a country to its progress4 ,this river too was at length discovered by the white man1 8trending up into the land10 he knew not how far1 possibly an inlet to the ,south ,sea4 ,its valley1 as far as the ,winnipiseogee1 was first surveyed in #afeb4 ,the first settlers of ,massachusetts supposed that the ,connecticut1 in one part of its course1 ran northwest1 8so near the great lake as the ,indians do pass their canoes into it over land40 ,from which lake and the 8hideous swamps0 about it1 as they supposed1 came all the beaver that was traded between ,virginia and ,canada1--and the ,potomac was thought to come out of or from very near it4 ,afterward the ,connecticut came so near the course of the ,merrimack that1 with a little pains1 they expected to divert the current of the trade into the latter river1 and its profits from their ,dutch neighbors into their own pockets4 ,unlike the ,concord1 the ,merrimack is not a dead but a living stream1 though it has less life within its waters and on its banks4 ,it has a swift current1 and1 in this part of its course1 a clayey bottom1 almost no weeds1 and comparatively few fishes4 ,we looked down into its yellow water with the more curiosity1 who were accustomed to the ,nile-like blackness of the former river4 ,shad and alewives are taken here in their season1 but salmon1 though at one time more numerous than shad1 are now more rare4 ,bass1 also1 are taken occasionally2 but locks and dams have proved more or less destructive to the fisheries4 ,the shad make their appearance early in ,may1 at the same time with the blossoms of the pyrus1 one of the most conspicuous early flowers1 which is for this reason called the shad-blossom4 ,an insect called the shad-fly also appears at the same time1 covering the houses and fences4 ,we are told that 8their greatest run is when the apple-trees are in full blossom4 ,the old shad return in ,august2 the young1 three or four inches long1 in ,september4 ,these are very fond of flies40 ,a rather picturesque and luxurious mode of fishing was formerly practised on the ,connecticut1 at ,bellows ,falls1 where a large rock divides the stream4 8,on the steep sides of the island rock10 says ,belknap1 8hang several arm-chairs1 fastened to ladders1 and secured by a counterpoise1 in which fishermen sit to catch salmon and shad with dipping nets40 ,the remains of ,indian weirs1 made of large stones1 are still to be seen in the ,winnipiseogee1 one of the head-waters of this river4 ,it cannot but affect our philosophy favorably to be reminded of these shoals of migratory fishes1 of salmon1 shad1 alewives1 marsh-bankers1 and others1 which penetrate up the innumerable rivers of our coast in the spring1 even to the interior lakes1 their scales gleaming in the sun2 and again1 of the fry which in still greater numbers wend their way downward to the sea4 8,and is it not pretty sport10 wrote ,captain ,john ,smith1 who was on this coast as early as #afad1 8to pull up twopence1 sixpence1 and twelvepence1 as fast as you can haul and veer a line80--8,and what sport doth yield a more pleasing content1 and less hurt or charge1 than angling with a hook1 and crossing the sweet air from isle to isle1 over the silent streams of a calm sea40 ,on the sandy shore1 opposite the ,glass-house village in ,chelmsford1 at the ,great ,bend where we landed to rest us and gather a few wild plums1 we discovered the ,campanula rotundifolia1 a new flower to us1 the harebell of the poets1 which is common to both hemispheres1 growing close to the water4 ,here1 in the shady branches of an apple-tree on the sand1 we took our nooning1 where there was not a zephyr to disturb the repose of this glorious ,sabbath day1 and we reflected serenely on the long past and successful labors of ,latona4 8,so silent is the cessile air1 ,that every cry and call1 ,the hills1 and dales1 and forest fair ,again repeats them all4 8,the herds beneath some leafy trees1 ,amidst the flowers they lie1 ,the stable ships upon the seas ,tend up their sails to dry40 ,as we thus rested in the shade1 or rowed leisurely along1 we had recourse1 from time to time1 to the ,gazetteer1 which was our ,navigator1 and from its bald natural facts extracted the pleasure of poetry4 ,beaver ,river comes in a little lower down1 draining the meadows of ,pelham1 ,windham1 and ,londonderry4 ,the ,scotch-,irish settlers of the latter town1 according to this authority1 were the first to introduce the potato into ,new ,england1 as well as the manufacture of linen cloth4 ,everything that is printed and bound in a book contains some echo at least of the best that is in literature4 ,indeed1 the best books have a use1 like sticks and stones1 which is above or beside their design1 not anticipated in the preface1 nor concluded in the appendix4 ,even ,virgil's poetry serves a very different use to me to-day from what it did to his contemporaries4 ,it has often an acquired and accidental value merely1 proving that man is still man in the world4 ,it is pleasant to meet with such still lines as1 8,jam lto turgent in palmite gemm02 ,now the buds swell on the joyful stem4 or 8,strata jacent passim sua quque sub arbore poma02 ,the apples lie scattered everywhere1 each under its tree4 ,in an ancient and dead language1 any recognition of living nature attracts us4 ,these are such sentences as were written while grass grew and water ran4 ,it is no small recommendation when a book will stand the test of mere unobstructed sunshine and daylight4 ,what would we not give for some great poem to read now1 which would be in harmony with the scenery1--for if men read aright1 methinks they would never read anything but poems4 ,no history nor philosophy can supply their place4 ,the wisest definition of poetry the poet will instantly prove false by setting aside its requisitions4 ,we can1 therefore1 publish only our advertisement of it4 ,there is no doubt that the loftiest written wisdom is either rhymed1 or in some way musically measured1--is1 in form as well as substance1 poetry2 and a volume which should contain the condensed wisdom of mankind need not have one rhythmless line4 ,yet poetry1 though the last and finest result1 is a natural fruit4 ,as naturally as the oak bears an acorn1 and the vine a gourd1 man bears a poem1 either spoken or done4 ,it is the chief and most memorable success1 for history is but a prose narrative of poetic deeds4 ,what else have the ,hindoos1 the ,persians1 the ,babylonians1 the ,egyptians done1 that can be told8 ,it is the simplest relation of phenomena1 and describes the commonest sensations with more truth than science does1 and the latter at a distance slowly mimics its style and methods4 ,the poet sings how the blood flows in his veins4 ,he performs his functions1 and is so well that he needs such stimulus to sing only as plants to put forth leaves and blossoms4 ,he would strive in vain to modulate the remote and transient music which he sometimes hears1 since his song is a vital function like breathing1 and an integral result like weight4 ,it is not the overflowing of life but its subsidence rather1 and is drawn from under the feet of the poet4 ,it is enough if ,homer but say the sun sets4 ,he is as serene as nature1 and we can hardly detect the enthusiasm of the bard4 ,it is as if nature spoke4 ,he presents to us the simplest pictures of human life1 so the child itself can understand them1 and the man must not think twice to appreciate his naturalness4 ,each reader discovers for himself that1 with respect to the simpler features of nature1 succeeding poets have done little else than copy his similes4 ,his more memorable passages are as naturally bright as gleams of sunshine in misty weather4 ,nature furnishes him not only with words1 but with stereotyped lines and sentences from her mint4 8,as from the clouds appears the full moon1 ,all shining1 and then again it goes behind the shadowy clouds1 ,so ,hector1 at one time appeared among the foremost1 ,and at another in the rear1 commanding2 and all with brass ,he shone1 like to the lightning of gis-bearing ,zeus40 ,he conveys the least information1 even the hour of the day1 with such magnificence and vast expense of natural imagery1 as if it were a message from the gods4 8,while it was dawn1 and sacred day was advancing1 ,for that space the weapons of both flew fast1 and the people fell2 ,but when now the woodcutter was preparing his morning meal1 ,in the recesses of the mountain1 and had wearied his hands ,with cutting lofty trees1 and satiety came to his mind1 ,and the desire of sweet food took possession of his thoughts2 ,then the ,danaans1 by their valor1 broke the phalanxes1 ,shouting to their companions from rank to rank40 ,when the army of the ,trojans passed the night under arms1 keeping watch lest the enemy should re-embark under cover of the dark1 8,they1 thinking great things1 upon the neutral ground of war ,sat all the night2 and many fires burned for them4 ,as when in the heavens the stars round the bright moon ,appear beautiful1 and the air is without wind2 ,and all the heights1 and the extreme summits1 ,and the wooded sides of the mountains appear2 and from the heavens an infinite ether is diffused1 ,and all the stars are seen1 and the shepherd rejoices in his heart2 ,so between the ships and the streams of ,xanthus ,appeared the fires of the ,trojans before ,ilium4 ,a thousand fires burned on the plain1 and by each ,sat fifty1 in the light of the blazing fire2 ,and horses eating white barley and corn1 ,standing by the chariots1 awaited fair-throned ,aurora40 ,the 8white-armed goddess ,juno10 sent by the ,father of gods and men for ,iris and ,apollo1 8,went down the ,idan mountains to far ,olympus1 ,as when the mind of a man1 who has come over much earth1 ,sallies forth1 and he reflects with rapid thoughts1 ,there was ,i1 and there1 and remembers many things2 ,so swiftly the august ,juno hastening flew through the air1 ,and came to high ,olympus40 ,his scenery is always true1 and not invented4 ,he does not leap in imagination from ,asia to ,greece1 through mid air1 1 4 for there are very many ,shady mountains and resounding seas between4 ,if his messengers repair but to the tent of ,achilles1 we do not wonder how they got there1 but accompany them step by step along the shore of the resounding sea4 ,nestor's account of the march of the ,pylians against the ,epeians is extremely lifelike3-- 8,then rose up to them sweet-worded ,nestor1 the shrill orator of the ,pylians1 ,and words sweeter than honey flowed from his tongue40 ,this time1 however1 he addresses ,patroclus alone3 8,a certain river1 ,minyas by name1 leaps seaward near to ,arene1 where we ,pylians wait the dawn1 both horse and foot4 ,thence with all haste we sped us on the morrow ere 't was noonday1 accoutred for the fight1 even to ,alpheus's sacred source10 c4 ,we fancy that we hear the subdued murmuring of the ,minyas discharging its waters into the main the livelong night1 and the hollow sound of the waves breaking on the shore1--until at length we are cheered at the close of a toilsome march by the gurgling fountains of ,alpheus4 ,there are few books which are fit to be remembered in our wisest hours1 but the ,iliad is brightest in the serenest days1 and embodies still all the sunlight that fell on ,asia ,minor4 ,no modern joy or ecstasy of ours can lower its height or dim its lustre1 but there it lies in the east of literature1 as it were the earliest and latest production of the mind4 ,the ruins of ,egypt oppress and stifle us with their dust1 foulness preserved in cassia and pitch1 and swathed in linen2 the death of that which never lived4 ,but the rays of ,greek poetry struggle down to us1 and mingle with the sunbeams of the recent day4 ,the statue of ,memnon is cast down1 but the shaft of the ,iliad still meets the sun in his rising4 8,homer is gone2 and where is ,jove8 and where ,the rival cities seven8 ,his song outlives ,time1 tower1 and god1--all that then was1 save ,heaven40 ,so too1 no doubt1 ,homer had his ,homer1 and ,orpheus his ,orpheus1 in the dim antiquity which preceded them4 ,the mythological system of the ancients1 and it is still the mythology of the moderns1 the poem of mankind1 interwoven so wonderfully with their astronomy1 and matching in grandeur and harmony the architecture of the heavens themselves1 seems to point to a time when a mightier genius inhabited the earth4 ,but1 after all1 man is the great poet1 and not ,homer nor ,shakespeare2 and our language itself1 and the common arts of life1 are his work4 ,poetry is so universally true and independent of experience1 that it does not need any particular biography to illustrate it1 but we refer it sooner or later to some ,orpheus or ,linus1 and after ages to the genius of humanity and the gods themselves4 ,it would be worth the while to select our reading1 for books are the society we keep2 to read only the serenely true2 never statistics1 nor fiction1 nor news1 nor reports1 nor periodicals1 but only great poems1 and when they failed1 read them again1 or perchance write more4 ,instead of other sacrifice1 we might offer up our perfect 77 thoughts to the gods daily1 in hymns or psalms4 ,for we should be at the helm at least once a day4 ,the whole of the day should not be daytime2 there should be one hour1 if no more1 which the day did not bring forth4 ,scholars are wont to sell their birthright for a mess of learning4 ,but is it necessary to know what the speculator prints1 or the thoughtless study1 or the idle read1 the literature of the ,russians and the ,chinese1 or even ,french philosophy and much of ,german criticism4 ,read the best books first1 or you may not have a chance to read them at all4 8,there are the worshippers with offerings1 and the worshippers with mortifications2 and again the worshippers with enthusiastic devotion2 so there are those the wisdom of whose reading is their worship1 men of subdued passions and severe manners2--,this world is not for him who doth not worship2 and where1 ,o ,arjoon1 is there another80 ,certainly1 we do not need to be soothed and entertained always like children4 ,he who resorts to the easy novel1 because he is languid1 does no better than if he took a nap4 ,the front aspect of great thoughts can only be enjoyed by those who stand on the side whence they arrive4 ,books1 not which afford us a cowering enjoyment1 but in which each thought is of unusual daring2 such as an idle man cannot read1 and a timid one would not be entertained by1 which even make us dangerous to existing institutions1--such call ,i good books4 ,all that are printed and bound are not books2 they do not necessarily belong to letters1 but are oftener to be ranked with the other luxuries and appendages of civilized life4 ,base wares are palmed off under a thousand disguises4 8,the way to trade10 as a pedler once told me1 8is to put it right through10 no matter what it is1 anything that is agreed on4 8,you grov'ling worldlings1 you whose wisdom trades ,where light ne'er shot his golden ray40 ,by dint of able writing and pen-craft1 books are cunningly compiled1 and have their run and success even among the learned1 as if they were the result of a new man's thinking1 and their birth were attended with some natural throes4 ,but in a little while their covers fall off1 for no binding will avail1 and it appears that they are not ,books or ,bibles at all4 ,there are new and patented inventions in this shape1 purporting to be for the elevation of the race1 which many a pure scholar and genius who has learned to read is for a moment deceived by1 and finds himself reading a horse-rake1 or spinning-jenny1 or wooden nutmeg1 or oak-leaf cigar1 or steam-power press1 or kitchen range1 perchance1 when he was seeking serene and biblical truths4 8,merchants1 arise1 ,and mingle conscience with your merchandise40 ,paper is cheap1 and authors need not now erase one book before they write another4 ,instead of cultivating the earth for wheat and potatoes1 they cultivate literature1 and fill a place in the ,republic of ,letters4 ,or they would fain write for fame merely1 as others actually raise crops of grain to be distilled into brandy4 ,books are for the most part wilfully and hastily written1 as parts of a system1 to supply a want real or imagined4 ,books of natural history aim commonly to be hasty schedules1 or inventories of ,god's property1 by some clerk4 ,they do not in the least teach the divine view of nature1 but the popular view1 or rather the popular method of studying nature1 and make haste to conduct the persevering pupil only into that dilemma where the professors always dwell4 8,to ,athens gowned he goes1 and from that school ,returns unsped1 a more instructed fool40 ,they teach the elements really of ignorance1 not of knowledge1 for1 to speak deliberately and in view of the highest truths1 it is not easy to distinguish elementary knowledge4 ,there is a chasm between knowledge and ignorance which the arches of science can never span4 ,a book should contain pure discoveries1 glimpses of terra firma1 though by shipwrecked mariners1 and not the art of navigation by those who have never been out of sight of land4 ,they must not yield wheat and potatoes1 but must themselves be the unconstrained and natural harvest of their author's lives4 8,what ,i have learned is mine2 ,i've had my thought1 ,and me the ,muses noble truths have taught40 ,we do not learn much from learned books1 but from true1 sincere1 human books1 from frank and honest biographies4 ,the life of a good man will hardly improve us more than the life of a freebooter1 for the inevitable laws appear as plainly in the infringement as in the observance1 and our lives are sustained by a nearly equal expense of virtue of some kind4 ,the decaying tree1 while yet it lives1 demands sun1 wind1 and rain no less than the green one4 ,it secretes sap and performs the functions of health4 ,if we choose1 we may study the alburnum only4 ,the gnarled stump has as tender a bud as the sapling4 ,at least let us have healthy books1 a stout horse-rake or a kitchen range which is not cracked4 ,let not the poet shed tears only for the public weal4 ,he should be as vigorous as a sugar-maple1 with sap enough to maintain his own verdure1 beside what runs into the troughs1 and not like a vine1 which being cut in the spring bears no fruit1 but bleeds to death in the endeavor to heal its wounds4 ,the poet is he that hath fat enough1 like bears and marmots1 to suck his claws all winter4 ,he hibernates in this world1 and feeds on his own marrow4 ,we love to think in winter1 as we walk over the snowy pastures1 of those happy dreamers that lie under the sod1 of dormice and all that race of dormant creatures1 which have such a superfluity of life enveloped in thick folds of fur1 impervious to cold4 ,alas1 the poet too is1 in one sense1 a sort of dormouse gone into winter quarters of deep and serene thoughts1 insensible to surrounding circumstances2 his words are the relation of his oldest and finest memory1 a wisdom drawn from the remotest experience4 ,other men lead a starved existence1 meanwhile1 like hawks1 that would fain keep on the wing1 and trust to pick up a sparrow now and then4 ,there are already essays and poems1 the growth of this land1 which are not in vain1 all which1 however1 we could conveniently have stowed in the till of our chest4 ,if the gods permitted their own inspiration to be breathed in vain1 these might be overlooked in the crowd1 but the accents of truth are as sure to be heard at last on earth as in heaven4 ,they already seem ancient1 and in some measure have lost the traces of their modern birth4 ,here are they who --8ask for that which is our whole life's light1 ,for the perpetual1 true and clear insight40 ,i remember a few sentences which spring like the sward in its native pasture1 where its roots were never disturbed1 and not as if spread over a sandy embankment2 answering to the poet's prayer1 8,let us set so just ,a rate on knowledge1 that the world may trust ,the poet's sentence1 and not still aver ,each art is to itself a flatterer40 ,but1 above all1 in our native port1 did we not frequent the peaceful games of the ,lyceum1 from which a new era will be dated to ,new ,england1 as from the games of ,greece4 ,for if ,herodotus carried his history to ,olympia to read1 after the cestus and the race1 have we not heard such histories recited there1 which since our countrymen have read1 as made ,greece sometimes to be forgotten8--,philosophy1 too1 has there her grove and portico1 not wholly unfrequented in these days4 ,lately the victor1 whom all ,pindars praised1 has won another palm1 contending with 8,olympian bards who sung ,divine ideas below1 ,which always find us young1 ,and always keep us so40 ,what earth or sea1 mountain or stream1 or ,muses' spring or grove1 is safe from his all-searching ardent eye1 who drives off ,phbus' beaten track1 visits unwonted zones1 makes the gelid ,hyperboreans glow1 and the old polar serpent writhe1 and many a ,nile flow back and hide his head6 ,that ,phaeton of our day1 ,who'd make another milky way1 ,and burn the world up with his ray2 ,by us an undisputed seer1-- ,who'd drive his flaming car so near ,unto our shuddering mortal sphere1 ,disgracing all our slender worth1 ,and scorching up the living earth1 ,to prove his heavenly birth4 ,the silver spokes1 the golden tire1 ,are glowing with unwonted fire1 ,and ever nigher roll and nigher2 ,the pins and axle melted are1 ,the silver radii fly afar1 ,ah1 he will spoil his ,father's car6 ,who let him have the steeds he cannot steer8 ,henceforth the sun will not shine for a year2 ,and we shall ,ethiops all appear4 ,from his 8lips of cunning fell ,the thrilling ,delphic oracle40 ,and yet1 sometimes1 ,we should not mind if on our ear there fell ,some less of cunning1 more of oracle4 ,it is ,apollo shining in your face4 ,o rare ,contemporary1 let us have far-off heats4 ,give us the subtler1 the heavenlier though fleeting beauty1 which passes through and through1 and dwells not in the verse2 even pure water1 which but reflects those tints which wine wears in its grain4 ,let epic trade-winds blow1 and cease this waltz of inspirations4 ,let us oftener feel even the gentle southwest wind upon our cheeks blowing from the ,indian's heaven4 ,what though we lose a thousand meteors from the sky1 if skyey depths1 if star-dust and undissolvable nebul remain8 ,what though we lose a thousand wise responses of the oracle1 if we may have instead some natural acres of ,ionian earth8 ,though we know well1 8,that't is not in the power of kings or presidents to raise ,a spirit for verse that is not born thereto1 ,nor are they born in every prince's days02 yet spite of all they sang in praise of their 8,eliza's reign10 we have evidence that poets may be born and sing in our day1 in the presidency of ,james ,k4 ,polk1 8,and that the utmost powers of ,english rhyme10 ,were not 8within her peaceful reign confined40 ,the prophecy of the poet ,daniel is already how much more than fulfilled6 8,and who in time knows whither we may vent ,the treasure of our tongue8 ,to what strange shores ,this gain of our best glory shall be sent1 ,t' enrich unknowing nations with our stores8 ,what worlds in th' yet unformed occident1 ,may come refined with the accents that are ours40 ,enough has been said in these days of the charm of fluent writing4 ,we hear it complained of some works of genius1 that they have fine thoughts1 but are irregular and have no flow4 ,but even the mountain peaks in the horizon are1 to the eye of science1 parts of one range4 ,we should consider that the flow of thought is more like a tidal wave than a prone river1 and is the result of a celestial influence1 not of any declivity in its channel4 ,the river flows because it runs down hill1 and flows the faster the faster it descends4 ,the reader who expects to float down stream for the whole voyage1 may well complain of nauseating swells and choppings of the sea when his frail shore-craft gets amidst the billows of the ocean stream1 which flows as much to sun and moon as lesser streams to it4 ,but if we would appreciate the flow that is in these books1 we must expect to feel it rise from the page like an exhalation1 and wash away our critical brains like burr millstones1 flowing to higher levels above and behind ourselves4 ,there is many a book which ripples on like a freshet1 and flows as glibly as a mill-stream sucking under a causeway2 and when their authors are in the full tide of their discourse1 ,pythagoras and ,plato and ,jamblichus halt beside them4 ,their long1 stringy1 slimy sentences are of that consistency that they naturally flow and run together4 ,they read as if written for military men1 for men of business1 there is such a despatch in them4 ,compared with these1 the grave thinkers and philosophers seem not to have got their swaddling-clothes off2 they are slower than a ,roman army in its march1 the rear camping to-night where the van camped last night4 ,the wise ,jamblichus eddies and gleams like a watery slough4 8,how many thousands never heard the name ,of ,sidney1 or of ,spenser1 or their books8 ,and yet brave fellows1 and presume of fame1 ,and seem to bear down all the world with looks40 ,the ready writer seizes the pen1 and shouts1 ,forward6 ,alamo and ,fanning6 and after rolls the tide of war4 ,the very walls and fences seem to travel4 ,but the most rapid trot is no flow after all2 and thither1 reader1 you and ,i1 at least1 will not follow4 ,a perfectly healthy sentence1 it is true1 is extremely rare4 ,for the most part we miss the hue and fragrance of the thought2 as if we could be satisfied with the dews of the morning or evening without their colors1 or the heavens without their azure4 ,the most attractive sentences are1 perhaps1 not the wisest1 but the surest and roundest4 ,they are spoken firmly and conclusively1 as if the speaker had a right to know what he says1 and if not wise1 they have at least been well learned4 ,sir ,walter ,raleigh might well be studied if only for the excellence of his style1 for he is remarkable in the midst of so many masters4 ,there is a natural emphasis in his style1 like a man's tread1 and a breathing space between the sentences1 which the best of modern writing does not furnish4 ,his chapters are like ,english parks1 or say rather like a ,western forest1 where the larger growth keeps down the underwood1 and one may ride on horseback through the openings4 ,all the distinguished writers of that period possess a greater vigor and naturalness than the more modern1--for it is allowed to slander our own time1--and when we read a quotation from one of them in the midst of a modern author1 we seem to have come suddenly upon a greener ground1 a greater depth and strength of soil4 ,it is as if a green bough were laid across the page1 and we are refreshed as by the sight of fresh grass in midwinter or early spring4 ,you have constantly the warrant of life and experience in what you read4 ,the little that is said is eked out by implication of the much that was done4 ,the sentences are verdurous and blooming as evergreen and flowers1 because they are rooted in fact and experience1 but our false and florid sentence have only the tints of flowers without their sap or roots4 ,all men are really most attracted by the beauty of plain speech1 and they even write in a florid style in imitation of this4 ,they prefer to be misunderstood rather than to come short of its exuberance4 ,hussein ,effendi praised the epistolary style of ,ibrahim ,pasha to the ,french traveller ,botta1 because of 8the difficulty of understanding it2 there was10 he said1 8but one person at ,jidda1 who was capable of understanding and explaining the ,pasha's correspondence40 ,a man's whole life is taxed for the least thing well done4 ,it is its net result4 ,every sentence is the result of a long probation4 ,where shall we look for standard ,english1 but to the words of a standard man8 ,the word which is best said came nearest to not being spoken at all1 for it is cousin to a deed which the speaker could have better done4 ,nay1 almost it must have taken the place of a deed by some urgent necessity1 even by some misfortune1 so that the truest writer will be some captive knight1 after all4 ,and perhaps the fates had such a design1 when1 having stored ,raleigh so richly with the substance of life and experience1 they made him a fast prisoner1 and compelled him to make his words his deeds1 and transfer to his expression the emphasis and sincerity of his action4 ,men have a respect for scholarship and learning greatly out of proportion to the use they commonly serve4 ,we are amused to read how ,ben ,jonson engaged1 that the dull masks with which the royal family and nobility were to be entertained should be 8grounded upon antiquity and solid learning40 ,can there be any greater reproach than an idle learning8 ,learn to split wood1 at least4 ,the necessity of labor and conversation with many men and things1 to the scholar is rarely well remembered2 steady labor with the hands1 which engrosses the attention also1 is unquestionably the best method of removing palaver and sentimentality out of one's style1 both of speaking and writing4 ,if he has worked hard from morning till night1 though he may have grieved that he could not be watching the train of his thoughts during that time1 yet the few hasty lines which at evening record his day's experience will be more musical and true than his freest but idle fancy could have furnished4 ,surely the writer is to address a world of laborers1 and such therefore must be his own discipline4 ,he will not idly dance at his work who has wood to cut and cord before nightfall in the short days of winter2 but every stroke will be husbanded1 and ring soberly through the wood2 and so will the strokes of that scholar's pen1 which at evening record the story of the day1 ring soberly1 yet cheerily1 on the ear of the reader1 long after the echoes of his axe have died away4 ,the scholar may be sure that he writes the tougher truth for the calluses on his palms4 ,they give firmness to the sentence4 ,indeed1 the mind never makes a great and successful effort1 without a corresponding energy of the body4 ,we are often struck by the force and precision of style to which hard-working men1 unpractised in writing1 easily attain when required to make the effort4 ,as if plainness1 and vigor1 and sincerity1 the ornaments of style1 were better learned on the farm and in the workshop1 than in the schools4 ,the sentences written by such rude hands are nervous and tough1 like hardened thongs1 the sinews of the deer1 or the roots of the pine4 ,as for the graces of expression1 a great thought is never found in a mean dress2 but though it proceed from the lips of the ,woloffs1 the nine ,muses and the three ,graces will have conspired to clothe it in fit phrase4 ,its education has always been liberal1 and its implied wit can endow a college4 ,the world1 which the ,greeks called ,beauty1 has been made such by being gradually divested of every ornament which was not fitted to endure4 ,the ,sibyl1 8speaking with inspired mouth1 smileless1 inornate1 and unperfumed1 pierces through centuries by the power of the god40 ,the scholar might frequently emulate the propriety and emphasis of the farmer's call to his team1 and confess that if that were written it would surpass his labored sentences4 ,whose are the truly labored sentences8 ,from the weak and flimsy periods of the politician and literary man1 we are glad to turn even to the description of work1 the simple record of the month's labor in the farmer's almanac1 to restore our tone and spirits4 ,a sentence should read as if its author1 had he held a plough instead of a pen1 could have drawn a furrow deep and straight to the end4 ,the scholar requires hard and serious labor to give an impetus to his thought4 ,he will learn to grasp the pen firmly so1 and wield it gracefully and effectively1 as an axe or a sword4 ,when we consider the weak and nerveless periods of some literary men1 who perchance in feet and inches come up to the standard of their race1 and are not deficient in girth also1 we are amazed at the immense sacrifice of thews and sinews4 ,what6 these proportions1--these bones1--and this their work6 ,hands which could have felled an ox have hewed this fragile matter which would not have tasked a lady's fingers6 ,can this be a stalwart man's work1 who has a marrow in his back and a tendon ,achilles in his heel8 ,they who set up the blocks of ,stonehenge did somewhat1 if they only laid out their strength for once1 and stretched themselves4 ,yet1 after all1 the truly efficient laborer will not crowd his day with work1 but will saunter to his task surrounded by a wide halo of ease and leisure1 and then do but what he loves best4 ,he is anxious only about the fruitful kernels of time4 ,though the hen should sit all day1 she could lay only one egg1 and1 besides1 would not have picked up materials for another4 ,let a man take time enough for the most trivial deed1 though it be but the paring of his nails4 ,the buds swell imperceptibly1 without hurry or confusion1 as if the short spring days were an eternity4 ,then spend an age in whetting thy desire1 ,thou needs't not hasten if thou dost stand fast4 ,some hours seem not to be occasion for any deed1 but for resolves to draw breath in4 ,we do not directly go about the execution of the purpose that thrills us1 but shut our doors behind us and ramble with prepared mind1 as if the half were already done4 ,our resolution is taking root or hold on the earth then1 as seeds first send a shoot downward which is fed by their own albumen1 ere they send one upward to the light4 ,there is a sort of homely truth and naturalness in some books which is very rare to find1 and yet looks cheap enough4 ,there may be nothing lofty in the sentiment1 or fine in the expression1 but it is careless country talk4 ,homeliness is almost as great a merit in a book as in a house1 if the reader would abide there4 ,it is next to beauty1 and a very high art4 ,some have this merit only4 ,the scholar is not apt to make his most familiar experience come gracefully to the aid of his expression4 ,very few men can speak of ,nature1 for instance1 with any truth4 ,they overstep her modesty1 somehow or other1 and confer no favor4 ,they do not speak a good word for her4 ,most cry better than they speak1 and you can get more nature out of them by pinching than by addressing them4 ,the surliness with which the woodchopper speaks of his woods1 handling them as indifferently as his axe1 is better than the mealy-mouthed enthusiasm of the lover of nature4 ,better that the primrose by the river's brim be a yellow primrose1 and nothing more1 than that it be something less4 ,aubrey relates of ,thomas ,fuller that his was 8a very working head1 insomuch that1 walking and meditating before dinner1 he would eat up a penny loaf1 not knowing that he did it4 ,his natural memory was very great1 to which he added the art of memory4 ,he would repeat to you forwards and backwards all the signs from ,ludgate to ,charing ,cross40 ,he says of ,mr4 ,john ,hales1 that1 8,he loved ,canarie10 and was buried 8under an altar monument of black marble---- with a too long epitaph02 of ,edmund ,halley1 that he 8at sixteen could make a dial1 and then1 he said1 he thought himself a brave fellow02 of ,william ,holder1 who wrote a book upon his curing one ,popham who was deaf and dumb1 8he was beholding to no author2 did only consult with nature40 ,for the most part1 an author consults only with all who have written before him upon a subject1 and his book is but the advice of so many4 ,but a good book will never have been forestalled1 but the topic itself will in one sense be new1 and its author1 by consulting with nature1 will consult not only with those who have gone before1 but with those who may come after4 ,there is always room and occasion enough for a true book on any subject2 as there is room for more light the brightest day and more rays will not interfere with the first4 ,we thus worked our way up this river1 gradually adjusting our thoughts to novelties1 beholding from its placid bosom a new nature and new works of men1 and1 as it were with increasing confidence1 finding nature still habitable1 genial1 and propitious to us2 not following any beaten path1 but the windings of the river1 as ever the nearest way for us4 ,fortunately we had no business in this country4 ,the ,concord had rarely been a river1 or rivus1 but barely fluvius1 or between fluvius and lacus4 ,this ,merrimack was neither rivus nor fluvius nor lacus1 but rather amnis here1 a gently swelling and stately rolling flood approaching the sea4 ,we could even sympathize with its buoyant tide1 going to seek its fortune in the ocean1 and1 anticipating the time when 8being received within the plain of its freer water10 it should 8beat the shores for banks10-- 8campoque recepta ,liberioris aqu1 pro ripis litora pulsant40 ,at length we doubled a low shrubby islet1 called ,rabbit ,island1 subjected alternately to the sun and to the waves1 as desolate as if it lay some leagues within the icy sea1 and found ourselves in a narrower part of the river1 near the sheds and yards for picking the stone known as the ,chelmsford granite1 which is quarried in ,westford and the neighboring towns4 ,we passed ,wicasuck ,island1 which contains seventy acres or more1 on our right1 between ,chelmsford and ,tyngsborough4 ,this was a favorite residence of the ,indians4 ,according to the ,history of ,dunstable1 8,about #affc1 the eldest son of ,passaconaway ,chief of the ,penacooks was thrown into jail for a debt of #de1 due to ,john ,tinker1 by one of his tribe1 and which he had promised verbally should be paid4 ,to relieve him from his imprisonment1 his brother ,wannalancet and others1 who owned ,wicasuck ,island1 sold it and paid the debt40 ,it was1 however1 restored to the ,indians by the ,general ,court in #affe4 ,after the departure of the ,indians in #afhc1 it was granted to ,jonathan ,tyng in payment for his services to the colony1 in maintaining a garrison at his house4 ,tyng's house stood not far from ,wicasuck ,falls4 ,gookin1 who1 in his ,epistle ,dedicatory to ,robert ,boyle1 apologizes for presenting his 8matter clothed in a wilderness dress10 says that on the breaking out of ,philip's war in #afge1 there were taken up by the ,christian ,indians and the ,english in ,marlborough1 and sent to ,cambridge1 seven 8,indians belonging to ,narragansett1 ,long ,island1 and ,pequod1 who had all been at work about seven weeks with one ,mr4 ,jonathan ,tyng1 of ,dunstable1 upon ,merrimack ,river2 and1 hearing of the war1 they reckoned with their master1 and getting their wages1 conveyed themselves away without his privity1 and1 being afraid1 marched secretly through the woods1 designing to go to their own country40 ,however1 they were released soon after4 ,such were the hired men in those days4 ,tyng was the first permanent settler of ,dunstable1 which then embraced what is now ,tyngsborough and many other towns4 ,in the winter of #afge1 in ,philip's war1 every other settler left the town1 but 8he10 says the historian of ,dunstable1 8fortified his house2 and1 although #8obliged to send to ,boston for his food1' sat himself down in the midst of his savage enemies1 alone1 in the wilderness1 to defend his home4 ,deeming his position an important one for the defence of the frontiers1 in ,february1 #afgf1 he petitioned the ,colony for aid10 humbly showing1 as his petition runs1 that1 as he lived 8in the uppermost house on ,merrimac river1 lying open to ye enemy1 yet being so seated that it is1 as it were1 a watch-house to the neighboring towns10 he could render important service to his country if only he had some assistance1 8there being10 he said1 8never an inhabitant left in the town but myself40 ,wherefore he requests that their 8,honors would be pleased to order him three or four men to help garrison his said house10 which they did4 ,but methinks that such a garrison would be weakened by the addition of a man4 8,make bandog thy scout watch to bark at a thief1 ,make courage for life1 to be capitain chief2 ,make trap-door thy bulwark1 make bell to begin1 ,make gunstone and arrow show who is within40 ,thus he earned the title of first permanent settler4 ,in #afid a law was passed 8that every settler who deserted a town for fear of the ,indians should forfeit all his rights therein40 ,but now1 at any rate1 as ,i have frequently observed1 a man may desert the fertile frontier territories of truth and justice1 which are the ,state's best lands1 for fear of far more insignificant foes1 without forfeiting any of his civil rights therein4 ,nay1 townships are granted to deserters1 and the ,general ,court1 as ,i am sometimes inclined to regard it1 is but a deserters' camp itself4 ,as we rowed along near the shore of ,wicasuck ,island1 which was then covered with wood1 in order to avoid the current1 two men1 who looked as if they had just run out of ,lowell1 where they had been waylaid by the ,sabbath1 meaning to go to ,nashua1 and who now found themselves in the strange1 natural1 uncultivated1 and unsettled part of the globe which intervenes1 full of walls and barriers1 a rough and uncivil place to them1 seeing our boat moving so smoothly up the stream1 called out from the high bank above our heads to know if we would take them as passengers1 as if this were the street they had missed2 that they might sit and chat and drive away the time1 and so at last find themselves in ,nashua4 ,this smooth way they much preferred4 ,but our boat was crowded with necessary furniture1 and sunk low in the water1 and moreover required to be worked1 for even it did not progress against the stream without effort2 so we were obliged to deny them passage4 ,as we glided away with even sweeps1 while the fates scattered oil in our course1 the sun now sinking behind the alders on the distant shore1 we could still see them far off over the water1 running along the shore and climbing over the rocks and fallen trees like insects1--for they did not know any better than we that they were on an island1--the unsympathizing river ever flowing in an opposite direction2 until1 having reached the entrance of the island brook1 which they had probably crossed upon the locks below1 they found a more effectual barrier to their progress4 ,they seemed to be learning much in a little time4 ,they ran about like ants on a burning brand1 and once more they tried the river here1 and once more there1 to see if water still indeed was not to be walked on1 as if a new thought inspired them1 and by some peculiar disposition of the limbs they could accomplish it4 ,at length sober common sense seemed to have resumed its sway1 and they concluded that what they had so long heard must be true1 and resolved to ford the shallower stream4 ,when nearly a mile distant we could see them stripping off their clothes and preparing for this experiment2 yet it seemed likely that a new dilemma would arise1 they were so thoughtlessly throwing away their clothes on the wrong side of the stream1 as in the case of the countryman with his corn1 his fox1 and his goose1 which had to be transported one at a time4 ,whether they got safely through1 or went round by the locks1 we never learned4 ,we could not help being struck by the seeming1 though innocent indifference of ,nature to these men's necessities1 while elsewhere she was equally serving others4 ,like a true benefactress1 the secret of her service is unchangeableness4 ,thus is the busiest merchant1 though within sight of his ,lowell1 put to pilgrim's shifts1 and soon comes to staff and scrip and scallop shell4 ,we1 too1 who held the middle of the stream1 came near experiencing a pilgrim's fate1 being tempted to pursue what seemed a sturgeon or larger fish1 for we remembered that this was the ,sturgeon ,river1 its dark and monstrous back alternately rising and sinking in mid-stream4 ,we kept falling behind1 but the fish kept his back well out1 and did not dive1 and seemed to prefer to swim against the stream1 so1 at any rate1 he would not escape us by going out to sea4 ,at length1 having got as near as was convenient1 and looking out not to get a blow from his tail1 now the bow-gunner delivered his charge1 while the stern-man held his ground4 ,but the halibut-skinned monster1 in one of these swift-gliding pregnant moments1 without ever ceasing his bobbing up and down1 saw fit1 without a chuckle or other prelude1 to proclaim himself a huge imprisoned spar1 placed there as a buoy1 to warn sailors of sunken rocks4 ,so1 each casting some blame upon the other1 we withdrew quickly to safer waters4 ,the ,scene-shifter saw fit here to close the drama1 of this day1 without regard to any unities which we mortals prize4 ,whether it might have proved tragedy1 or comedy1 or tragi-comedy1 or pastoral1 we cannot tell4 ,this ,sunday ended by the going down of the sun1 leaving us still on the waves4 ,but they who are on the water enjoy a longer and brighter twilight than they who are on the land1 for here the water1 as well as the atmosphere1 absorbs and reflects the light1 and some of the day seems to have sunk down into the waves4 ,the light gradually forsook the deep water1 as well as the deeper air1 and the gloaming came to the fishes as well as to us1 and more dim and gloomy to them1 whose day is a perpetual twilight1 though sufficiently bright for their weak and watery eyes4 ,vespers had already rung in many a dim and watery chapel down below1 where the shadows of the weeds were extended in length over the sandy floor4 ,the vespertinal pout had already begun to flit on leathern fin1 and the finny gossips withdrew from the fluvial street to creeks and coves1 and other private haunts1 excepting a few of stronger fin1 which anchored in the stream1 stemming the tide even in their dreams4 ,meanwhile1 like a dark evening cloud1 we were wafted over the cope of their sky1 deepening the shadows on their deluged fields4 ,having reached a retired part of the river where it spread out to sixty rods in width1 we pitched our tent on the east side1 in ,tyngsborough1 just above some patches of the beach plum1 which was now nearly ripe1 where the sloping bank was a sufficient pillow1 and with the bustle of sailors making the land1 we transferred such stores as were required from boat to tent1 and hung a lantern to the tent-pole1 and so our house was ready4 ,with a buffalo spread on the grass1 and a blanket for our covering our bed was soon made4 ,a fire crackled merrily before the entrance1 so near that we could tend it without stepping abroad1 and when we had supped1 we put out the blaze1 and closed the door1 and with the semblance of domestic comfort1 sat up to read the ,gazetteer1 to learn our latitude and longitude1 and write the journal of the voyage1 or listened to the wind and the rippling of the river till sleep overtook us4 ,there we lay under an oak on the bank of the stream1 near to some farmer's cornfield1 getting sleep1 and forgetting where we were2 a great blessing1 that we are obliged to forget our enterprises every twelve hours4 ,minks1 muskrats1 meadow-mice1 woodchucks1 squirrels1 skunks1 rabbits1 foxes1 and weasels1 all inhabit near1 but keep very close while you are there4 ,the river sucking and eddying away all night down toward the marts and the seaboard1 a great wash and freshet1 and no small enterprise to reflect on4 ,instead of the ,scythian vastness of the ,billerica night1 and its wild musical sounds1 we were kept awake by the boisterous sport of some ,irish laborers on the railroad1 wafted to us over the water1 still unwearied and unresting on this seventh day1 who would not have done with whirling up and down the track with ever increasing velocity and still reviving shouts1 till late in the night4 ,one sailor was visited in his dreams this night by the ,evil ,destinies1 and all those powers that are hostile to human life1 which constrain and oppress the minds of men1 and make their path seem difficult and narrow1 and beset with dangers1 so that the most innocent and worthy enterprises appear insolent and a tempting of fate1 and the gods go not with us4 ,but the other happily passed a serene and even ambrosial or immortal night1 and his sleep was dreamless1 or only the atmosphere of pleasant dreams remained1 a happy natural sleep until the morning2 and his cheerful spirit soothed and reassured his brother1 for whenever they meet1 the ,good ,genius is sure to prevail4 ,,monday 8,i thynke for to touche also ,the worlde whiche neweth everie daie1 ,so as ,i can1 so as ,i maie40 ,,gower4 8,the hye sheryfe of ,notynghame1 ,hym holde in your mynd40 ,robin ,hood ,ballads4 8,his shoote it was but loosely shott1 ,yet flewe not the arrowe in vaine1 ,for it mett one of the sheriffe's men1 ,and ,william a ,trent was slaine40 ,robin ,hood ,ballads 8,gazed on the heavens for what he missed on ,earth40 ,britania's ,pastorals ,when the first light dawned on the earth and the birds1 awoke1 and the brave river was heard rippling confidently seaward1 and the nimble early rising wind rustled the oak leaves about our tent1 all men having reinforced their bodies and their souls with sleep1 and cast aside doubt and fear1 were invited to unattempted adventures4 8,all courageous knichtis ,agains the day dichtis ,the breest-plate that bricht is1 ,to feght with their foue4 ,the stoned steed stampis ,throw curage and crampis1 ,syne on the land lampis2 ,the night is neir gone40 ,one of us took the boat over to the opposite shore1 which was flat and accessible1 a quarter of a mile distant1 to empty it of water and wash out the clay1 while the other kindled a fire and got breakfast ready4 ,at an early hour we were again on our way1 rowing through the fog as before1 the river already awake1 and a million crisped waves come forth to meet the sun when he should show himself4 ,the countrymen1 recruited by their day of rest1 were already stirring1 and had begun to cross the ferry on the business of the week4 ,this ferry was as busy as a beaver dam1 and all the world seemed anxious to get across the ,merrimack ,river at this particular point1 waiting to get set over1--children with their two cents done up in paper1 jail-birds broke loose and constable with warrant1 travellers from distant lands to distant lands1 men and women to whom the ,merrimack ,river was a bar4 ,there stands a gig in the gray morning1 in the mist1 the impatient traveller pacing the wet shore with whip in hand1 and shouting through the fog after the regardless ,charon and his retreating ark1 as if he might throw that passenger overboard and return forthwith for himself2 he will compensate him4 ,he is to break his fast at some unseen place on the opposite side4 ,it may be ,ledyard or the ,wandering ,jew4 ,whence1 pray1 did he come out of the foggy night8 and whither through the sunny day will he go8 ,we observe only his transit2 important to us1 forgotten by him1 transiting all day4 ,there are two of them4 ,may be1 they are ,virgil and ,dante4 ,but when they crossed the ,styx1 none were seen bound up or down the stream1 that ,i remember4 ,it is only a transjectus1 a transitory voyage1 like life itself1 none but the long-lived gods bound up or down the stream4 ,many of these ,monday men are ministers1 no doubt1 reseeking their parishes with hired horses1 with sermons in their valises all read and gutted1 the day after never with them4 ,they cross each other's routes all the country over like woof and warp1 making a garment of loose texture2 vacation now for six days4 ,they stop to pick nuts and berries1 and gather apples by the wayside at their leisure4 ,good religious men1 with the love of men in their hearts1 and the means to pay their toll in their pockets4 ,we got over this ferry chain without scraping1 rowing athwart the tide of travel1--no toll for us that day4 ,the fog dispersed and we rowed leisurely along through ,tyngsborough1 with a clear sky and a mild atmosphere1 leaving the habitations of men behind and penetrating yet farther into the territory of ancient ,dunstable4 ,it was from ,dunstable1 then a frontier town1 that the famous ,captain ,lovewell1 with his company1 marched in quest of the ,indians on the #ahth of ,april1 #agbe4 ,he was the son of 8an ensign in the army of ,oliver ,cromwell1 who came to this country1 and settled at ,dunstable1 where he died at the great age of one hundred and twenty years40 ,in the words of the old nursery tale1 sung about a hundred years ago1-- 8,he and his valiant soldiers did range the woods full wide1 ,and hardships they endured to quell the ,indian's pride40 ,in the shaggy pine forest of ,pequawket they met the 8rebel ,indians10 and prevailed1 after a bloody fight1 and a remnant returned home to enjoy the fame of their victory4 ,a township called ,lovewell's ,town1 but now1 for some reason1 or perhaps without reason1 ,pembroke1 was granted them by the ,state4 8,of all our valiant ,english1 there were but thirty-four1 ,and of the rebel ,indians1 there were about four-score2 ,and sixteen of our ,english did safely home return1 ,the rest were killed and wounded1 for which we all must mourn4 8,our worthy ,capt4 ,lovewell among them there did die1 ,they killed ,lieut4 ,robbins1 and wounded good young ,frye1 ,who was our ,english ,chaplin2 he many ,indians slew1 ,and some of them he scalped while bullets round him flew40 ,our brave forefathers have exterminated all the ,indians1 and their degenerate children no longer dwell in garrisoned houses nor hear any war-whoop in their path4 ,it would be well1 perchance1 if many an 8,english ,chaplin0 in these days could exhibit as unquestionable trophies of his valor as did 8good young ,frye40 ,we have need to be as sturdy pioneers still as ,miles ,standish1 or ,church1 or ,lovewell4 ,we are to follow on another trail1 it is true1 but one as convenient for ambushes4 ,what if the ,indians are exterminated1 are not savages as grim prowling about the clearings to-day8-- 8,and braving many dangers and hardships in the way1 ,they safe arrived at ,dunstable the thirteenth 787 day of ,may40 ,but they did not all 8safe arrive in ,dunstable the thirteenth10 or the fifteenth1 or the thirtieth 8day of ,may40 ,eleazer ,davis and ,josiah ,jones1 both of ,concord1 for our native town had seven men in this fight1 ,lieutenant ,farwell1 of ,dunstable1 and ,jonathan ,frye1 of ,andover1 who were all wounded1 were left behind1 creeping toward the settlements4 8,after travelling several miles1 ,frye was left and lost10 though a more recent poet has assigned him company in his last hours4 8,a man he was of comely form1 ,polished and brave1 well learned and kind2 ,old ,harvard's learned halls he left ,far in the wilds a grave to find4 8,ah6 now his blood-red arm he lifts2 ,his closing lids he tries to raise2 ,and speak once more before he dies1 ,in supplication and in praise4 8,he prays kind ,heaven to grant success1 ,brave ,lovewell's men to guide and bless1 ,and when they've shed their heart-blood true1 ,to raise them all to happiness40 4 4 4 8,lieutenant ,farwell took his hand1 ,his arm around his neck he threw1 ,and said1 #8,brave ,chaplain1 ,i could wish ,that ,heaven had made me die for you4'0 ,farwell held out eleven days4 8,a tradition says10 as we learn from the ,history of ,concord1 8that arriving at a pond with ,lieut4 ,farwell1 ,davis pulled off one of his moccasins1 cut it in strings1 on which he fastened a hook1 caught some fish1 fried and ate them4 ,they refreshed him1 but were injurious to ,farwell1 who died soon after40 ,davis had a ball lodged in his body1 and his right hand shot off2 but on the whole1 he seems to have been less damaged than his companion4 ,he came into ,berwick after being out fourteen days4 ,jones also had a ball lodged in his body1 but he likewise got into ,saco after fourteen days1 though not in the best condition imaginable4 8,he had subsisted10 says an old journal1 8on the spontaneous vegetables of the forest2 and cranberries which he had eaten came out of wounds he had received in his body40 ,this was also the case with ,davis4 ,the last two reached home at length1 safe if not sound1 and lived many years in a crippled state to enjoy their pension4 ,but alas6 of the crippled ,indians1 and their adventures in the woods1-- 8,for as we are informed1 so thick and fast they fell1 ,scarce twenty of their number at night did get home well10-- how many balls lodged with them1 how fared their cranberries1 what ,berwick or ,saco they got into1 and finally what pension or township was granted them1 there is no journal to tell4 ,it is stated in the ,history of ,dunstable1 that just before his last march1 ,lovewell was warned to beware of the ambuscades of the enemy1 but 8he replied1 #8that he did not care for them1' and bending down a small elm beside which he was standing into a bow1 declared #8that he would treat the ,indians in the same way4' ,this elm is still standing in ,nashua1 a venerable and magnificent tree40 ,meanwhile1 having passed the ,horseshoe ,interval in ,tyngsborough1 where the river makes a sudden bend to the northwest1--for our reflections have anticipated our progress somewhat1--we were advancing farther into the country and into the day1 which last proved almost as golden as the preceding1 though the slight bustle and activity of the ,monday seemed to penetrate even to this scenery4 ,now and then we had to muster all our energy to get round a point1 where the river broke rippling over rocks1 and the maples trailed their branches in the stream1 but there was generally a backwater or eddy on the side1 of which we took advantage4 ,the river was here about forty rods wide and fifteen feet deep4 ,occasionally one ran along the shore1 examining the country1 and visiting the nearest farm-houses1 while the other followed the windings of the stream alone1 to meet his companion at some distant point1 and hear the report of his adventures2 how the farmer praised the coolness of his well1 and his wife offered the stranger a draught of milk1 or the children quarrelled for the only transparency in the window that they might get sight of the man at the well4 ,for though the country seemed so new1 and no house was observed by us1 shut in between the banks that sunny day1 we did not have to travel far to find where men inhabited1 like wild bees1 and had sunk wells in the loose sand and loam of the ,merrimack4 ,there dwelt the subject of the ,hebrew scriptures1 and the ,esprit des ,lois1 where a thin vaporous smoke curled up through the noon4 ,all that is told of mankind1 of the inhabitants of the ,upper ,nile1 and the ,sunderbunds1 and ,timbuctoo1 and the ,orinoko1 was experience here4 ,every race and class of men was represented4 ,according to ,belknap1 the historian of ,new ,hampshire1 who wrote sixty years ago1 here too1 perchance1 dwelt 8new lights10 and free thinking men even then4 8,the people in general throughout the ,state10 it is written1 8are professors of the ,christian religion in some form or other4 ,there is1 however1 a sort of wise men who pretend to reject it2 but they have not yet been able to substitute a better in its place40 ,the other voyageur1 perhaps1 would in the mean while have seen a brown hawk1 or a woodchuck1 or a musquash creeping under the alders4 ,we occasionally rested in the shade of a maple or a willow1 and drew forth a melon for our refreshment1 while we contemplated at our leisure the lapse of the river and of human life2 and as that current1 with its floating twigs and leaves1 so did all things pass in review before us1 while far away in cities and marts on this very stream1 the old routine was proceeding still4 ,there is1 indeed1 a tide in the affairs of men1 as the poet says1 and yet as things flow they circulate1 and the ebb always balances the flow4 ,all streams are but tributary to the ocean1 which itself does not stream1 and the shores are unchanged1 but in longer periods than man can measure4 ,go where we will1 we discover infinite change in particulars only1 not in generals4 ,when ,i go into a museum and see the mummies wrapped in their linen bandages1 ,i see that the lives of men began to need reform as long ago as when they walked the earth4 ,i come out into the streets1 and meet men who declare that the time is near at hand for the redemption of the race4 ,but as men lived in ,thebes1 so do they live in ,dunstable to-day4 8,time drinketh up the essence of every great and noble action which ought to be performed1 and is delayed in the execution40 ,so says ,veeshnoo ,sarma2 and we perceive that the schemers return again and again to common sense and labor4 ,such is the evidence of history4 8,yet ,i doubt not through the ages one increasing purpose runs1 ,and the thoughts of men are widened with the process of the ,suns40 ,there are secret articles in our treaties with the gods1 of more importance than all the rest1 which the historian can never know4 ,there are many skilful apprentices1 but few master workmen4 ,on every hand we observe a truly wise practice1 in education1 in morals1 and in the arts of life1 the embodied wisdom of many an ancient philosopher4 ,who does not see that heresies have some time prevailed1 that reforms have already taken place8 ,all this worldly wisdom might be regarded as the once unamiable heresy of some wise man4 ,some interests have got a footing on the earth which we have not made sufficient allowance for4 ,even they who first built these barns and cleared the land thus1 had some valor4 ,the abrupt epochs and chasms are smoothed down in history as the inequalities of the plain are concealed by distance4 ,but unless we do more than simply learn the trade of our time1 we are but apprentices1 and not yet masters of the art of life4 ,now that we are casting away these melon seeds1 how can we help feeling reproach8 ,he who eats the fruit1 should at least plant the seed2 aye1 if possible1 a better seed than that whose fruit he has enjoyed4 ,seeds6 there are seeds enough which need only to be stirred in with the soil where they lie1 by an inspired voice or pen1 to bear fruit of a divine flavor4 ,o thou spendthrift6 ,defray thy debt to the world2 eat not the seed of institutions1 as the luxurious do1 but plant it rather1 while thou devourest the pulp and tuber for thy subsistence2 that so1 perchance1 one variety may at last be found worthy of preservation4 ,there are moments when all anxiety and stated toil are becalmed in the infinite leisure and repose of nature4 ,all laborers must have their nooning1 and at this season of the day1 we are all1 more or less1 ,asiatics1 and give over all work and reform4 ,while lying thus on our oars by the side of the stream1 in the heat of the day1 our boat held by an osier put through the staple in its prow1 and slicing the melons1 which are a fruit of the ,east1 our thoughts reverted to ,arabia1 ,persia1 and ,hindostan1 the lands of contemplation and dwelling-places of the ruminant nations4 ,in the experience of this noontide we could find some apology even for the instinct of the opium1 betel1 and tobacco chewers4 ,mount ,sabr1 according to the ,french traveller and naturalist1 ,botta1 is celebrated for producing the ,kt-tree1 of which 8the soft tops of the twigs and tender leaves are eaten10 says his reviewer1 8and produce an agreeable soothing excitement1 restoring from fatigue1 banishing sleep1 and disposing to the enjoyment of conversation40 ,we thought that we might lead a dignified ,oriental life along this stream as well1 and the maple and alders would be our ,kt-trees4 ,it is a great pleasure to escape sometimes from the restless class of ,reformers4 ,what if these grievances exist8 ,so do you and ,i4 ,think you that sitting hens are troubled with ennui these long summer days1 sitting on and on in the crevice of a hay-loft1 without active employment8 ,by the faint cackling in distant barns1 ,i judge that dame ,nature is interested still to know how many eggs her hens lay4 ,the ,universal ,soul1 as it is called1 has an interest in the stacking of hay1 the foddering of cattle1 and the draining of peat-meadows4 ,away in ,scythia1 away in ,india1 it makes butter and cheese4 ,suppose that all farms are run out1 and we youths must buy old land and bring it to1 still everywhere the relentless opponents of reform bear a strange resemblance to ourselves2 or1 perchance1 they are a few old maids and bachelors1 who sit round the kitchen hearth and listen to the singing of the kettle4 8,the oracles often give victory to our choice1 and not to the order alone of the mundane periods4 ,as1 for instance1 when they say that our voluntary sorrows germinate in us as the growth of the particular life we lead40 ,the reform which you talk about can be undertaken any morning before unbarring our doors4 ,we need not call any convention4 ,when two neighbors begin to eat corn bread1 who before ate wheat1 then the gods smile from ear to ear1 for it is very pleasant to them4 ,why do you not try it8 ,don't let me hinder you4 ,there are theoretical reformers at all times1 and all the world over1 living on anticipation4 ,wolff1 travelling in the deserts of ,bokhara1 says1 8,another party of derveeshes came to me and observed1 #8,the time will come when there shall be no difference between rich and poor1 between high and low1 when property will be in common1 even wives and children4'0 ,but forever ,i ask of such1 ,what then8 ,the derveeshes in the deserts of ,bokhara and the reformers in ,marlboro' ,chapel sing the same song4 8,there's a good time coming1 boys10 but1 asked one of the audience1 in good faith1 8,can you fix the date80 ,said ,i1 8,will you help it along80 ,the nonchalance and dolce-far-niente air of nature and society hint at infinite periods in the progress of mankind4 ,the ,states have leisure to laugh from ,maine to ,texas at some newspaper joke1 and ,new ,england shakes at the double-entendres of ,australian circles1 while the poor reformer cannot get a hearing4 ,men do not fail commonly for want of knowledge1 but for want of prudence to give wisdom the preference4 ,what we need to know in any case is very simple4 ,it is but too easy to establish another durable and harmonious routine4 ,immediately all parts of nature consent to it4 ,only make something to take the place of something1 and men will behave as if it was the very thing they wanted4 ,they must behave1 at any rate1 and will work up any material4 ,there is always a present and extant life1 be it better or worse1 which all combine to uphold4 ,we should be slow to mend1 my friends1 as slow to require mending1 8,not hurling1 according to the oracle1 a transcendent foot towards piety40 ,the language of excitement is at best picturesque merely4 ,you must be calm before you can utter oracles4 ,what was the excitement of the ,delphic priestess compared with the calm wisdom of ,socrates8--or whoever it was that was wise4--,enthusiasm is a supernatural serenity4 8,men find that action is another thing ,than what they in discoursing papers read2 ,the world's affairs require in managing ,more arts than those wherein you clerks proceed40 ,as in geology1 so in social institutions1 we may discover the causes of all past change in the present invariable order of society4 ,the greatest appreciable physical revolutions are the work of the light-footed air1 the stealthy-paced water1 and the subterranean fire4 ,aristotle said1 8,as time never fails1 and the universe is eternal1 neither the ,tanais nor the ,nile can have flowed forever40 ,we are independent of the change we detect4 ,the longer the lever the less perceptible its motion4 ,it is the slowest pulsation which is the most vital4 ,the hero then will know how to wait1 as well as to make haste4 ,all good abides with him who waiteth wisely2 we shall sooner overtake the dawn by remaining here than by hurrying over the hills of the west4 ,be assured that every man's success is in proportion to his average ability4 ,the meadow flowers spring and bloom where the waters annually deposit their slime1 not where they reach in some freshet only4 ,a man is not his hope1 nor his despair1 nor yet his past deed4 ,we know not yet what we have done1 still less what we are doing4 ,wait till evening1 and other parts of our day's work will shine than we had thought at noon1 and we shall discover the real purport of our toil4 ,as when the farmer has reached the end of the furrow and looks back1 he can tell best where the pressed earth shines most4 ,to one who habitually endeavors to contemplate the true state of things1 the political state can hardly be said to have any existence whatever4 ,it is unreal1 incredible1 and insignificant to him1 and for him to endeavor to extract the truth from such lean material is like making sugar from linen rags1 when sugar-cane may be had4 ,generally speaking1 the political news1 whether domestic or foreign1 might be written to-day for the next ten years1 with sufficient accuracy4 ,most revolutions in society have not power to interest1 still less alarm us2 but tell me that our rivers are drying up1 or the genus pine dying out in the country1 and ,i might attend4 ,most events recorded in history are more remarkable than important1 like eclipses of the sun and moon1 by which all are attracted1 but whose effects no one takes the trouble to calculate4 ,but will the government never be so well administered1 inquired one1 that we private men shall hear nothing about it8 8,the king answered3 ,at all events1 ,i require a prudent and able man1 who is capable of managing the state affairs of my kingdom4 ,the ex-minister said3 ,the criterion1 ,o ,sire6 of a wise and competent man is1 that he will not meddle with such like matters40 ,alas that the ex-minister should have been so nearly right6 ,in my short experience of human life1 the outward obstacles1 if there were any such1 have not been living men1 but the institutions of the dead4 ,it is grateful to make one's way through this latest generation as through dewy grass4 ,men are as innocent as the morning to the unsuspicious4 8,and round about good morrows fly1 ,as if day taught humanity40 ,not being ,reve of this ,shire1 8,the early pilgrim blithe he hailed1 ,that o'er the hills did stray1 ,and many an early husbandman1 ,that he met on the way02-- thieves and robbers all1 nevertheless4 ,i have not so surely foreseen that any ,cossack or ,chippeway would come to disturb the honest and simple commonwealth1 as that some monster institution would at length embrace and crush its free members in its scaly folds2 for it is not to be forgotten1 that while the law holds fast the thief and murderer1 it lets itself go loose4 ,when ,i have not paid the tax which the ,state demanded for that protection which ,i did not want1 itself has robbed me2 when ,i have asserted the liberty it presumed to declare1 itself has imprisoned me4 ,poor creature6 if it knows no better ,i will not blame it4 ,if it cannot live but by these means1 ,i can4 ,i do not wish1 it happens1 to be associated with ,massachusetts1 either in holding slaves or in conquering ,mexico4 ,i am a little better than herself in these respects4--,as for ,massachusetts1 that huge she ,briareus1 ,argus and ,colchian ,dragon conjoined1 set to watch the ,heifer of the ,constitution and the ,golden ,fleece1 we would not warrant our respect for her1 like some compositions1 to preserve its qualities through all weathers4--,thus it has happened1 that not the ,arch ,fiend himself has been in my way1 but these toils which tradition says were originally spun to obstruct him4 ,they are cobwebs and trifling obstacles in an earnest man's path1 it is true1 and at length one even becomes attached to his unswept and undusted garret4 ,i love man--kind1 but ,i hate the institutions of the dead un-kind4 ,men execute nothing so faithfully as the wills of the dead1 to the last codicil and letter4 ,they rule this world1 and the living are but their executors4 ,such foundation too have our lectures and our sermons1 commonly4 ,they are all ,dudleian2 and piety derives its origin still from that exploit of pius neas1 who bore his father1 ,anchises1 on his shoulders from the ruins of ,troy4 ,or rather1 like some ,indian tribes1 we bear about with us the mouldering relics of our ancestors on our shoulders4 ,if1 for instance1 a man asserts the value of individual liberty over the merely political commonweal1 his neighbor still tolerates him1 that he who is living near him1 sometimes even sustains him1 but never the ,state4 ,its officer1 as a living man1 may have human virtues and a thought in his brain1 but as the tool of an institution1 a jailer or constable it may be1 he is not a whit superior to his prison key or his staff4 ,herein is the tragedy2 that men doing outrage to their proper natures1 even those called wise and good1 lend themselves to perform the office of inferior and brutal ones4 ,hence come war and slavery in2 and what else may not come in by this opening8 ,but certainly there are modes by which a man may put bread into his mouth which will not prejudice him as a companion and neighbor4 8,now turn again1 turn again1 said the pindr1 ,for a wrong way you have gone1 ,for you have forsaken the king's highway1 ,and made a path over the corn40 ,undoubtedly1 countless reforms are called for1 because society is not animated1 or instinct enough with life1 but in the condition of some snakes which ,i have seen in early spring1 with alternate portions of their bodies torpid and flexible1 so that they could wriggle neither way4 ,all men are partially buried in the grave of custom1 and of some we see only the crown of the head above ground4 ,better are the physically dead1 for they more lively rot4 ,even virtue is no longer such if it be stagnant4 ,a man's life should be constantly as fresh as this river4 ,it should be the same channel1 but a new water every instant4 8,virtues as rivers pass1 ,but still remains that virtuous man there was40 ,most men have no inclination1 no rapids1 no cascades1 but marshes1 and alligators1 and miasma instead4 ,we read that when in the expedition of ,alexander1 ,onesicritus was sent forward to meet certain of the ,indian sect of ,gymnosophists1 and he had told them of those new philosophers of the ,west1 ,pythagoras1 ,socrates1 and ,diogenes1 and their doctrines1 one of them named ,dandamis answered1 that 8,they appeared to him to have been men of genius1 but to have lived with too passive a regard for the laws40 ,the philosophers of the ,west are liable to this rebuke still4 8,they say that ,lieou-hia-hoei1 and ,chao-lien did not sustain to the end their resolutions1 and that they dishonored their character4 ,their language was in harmony with reason and justice2 while their acts were in harmony with the sentiments of men40 ,chateaubriand said3 8,there are two things which grow stronger in the breast of man1 in proportion as he advances in years3 the love of country and religion4 ,let them be never so much forgotten in youth1 they sooner or later present themselves to us arrayed in all their charms1 and excite in the recesses of our hearts an attachment justly due to their beauty40 ,it may be so4 ,but even this infirmity of noble minds marks the gradual decay of youthful hope and faith4 ,it is the allowed infidelity of age4 ,there is a saying of the ,yoloffs1 8,he who was born first has the greatest number of old clothes10 consequently ,m4 ,chateaubriand has more old clothes than ,i have4 ,it is comparatively a faint and reflected beauty that is admired1 not an essential and intrinsic one4 ,it is because the old are weak1 feel their mortality1 and think that they have measured the strength of man4 ,they will not boast2 they will be frank and humble4 ,well1 let them have the few poor comforts they can keep4 ,humility is still a very human virtue4 ,they look back on life1 and so see not into the future4 ,the prospect of the young is forward and unbounded1 mingling the future with the present4 ,in the declining day the thoughts make haste to rest in darkness1 and hardly look forward to the ensuing morning4 ,the thoughts of the old prepare for night and slumber4 ,the same hopes and prospects are not for him who stands upon the rosy mountain-tops of life1 and him who expects the setting of his earthly day4 ,i must conclude that ,conscience1 if that be the name of it1 was not given us for no purpose1 or for a hinderance4 ,however flattering order and expediency may look1 it is but the repose of a lethargy1 and we will choose rather to be awake1 though it be stormy1 and maintain ourselves on this earth and in this life1 as we may1 without signing our death-warrant4 ,let us see if we cannot stay here1 where ,he has put us1 on his own conditions4 ,does not his law reach as far as his light8 ,the expedients of the nations clash with one another1 only the absolutely right is expedient for all4 ,there are some passages in the ,antigone of ,sophocles1 well known to scholars1 of which ,i am reminded in this connection4 ,antigone has resolved to sprinkle sand on the dead body of her brother ,polynices1 notwithstanding the edict of ,king ,creon condemning to death that one who should perform this service1 which the ,greeks deemed so important1 for the enemy of his country2 but ,ismene1 who is of a less resolute and noble spirit1 declines taking part with her sister in this work1 and says1-- 8,i1 therefore1 asking those under the earth to consider me1 that ,i am compelled to do thus1 will obey those who are placed in office2 for to do extreme things is not wise40 ,,antigone4 8,i would not ask you1 nor would you1 if you still wished1 do it joyfully with me4 ,be such as seems good to you4 ,but ,i will bury him4 ,it is glorious for me doing this to die4 ,i beloved will lie with him beloved1 having1 like a criminal1 done what is holy2 since the time is longer which it is necessary for me to please those below1 than those here1 for there ,i shall always lie4 ,but if it seems good to you1 hold in dishonor things which are honored by the gods40 ,,ismene4 8,i indeed do not hold them in dishonor2 but to act in opposition to the citizens ,i am by nature unable40 ,antigone being at length brought before ,king ,creon1 he asks1-- 8,did you then dare to transgress these laws80 ,,antigone4 8,for it was not ,zeus who proclaimed these to me1 nor ,justice who dwells with the gods below2 it was not they who established these laws among men4 ,nor did ,i think that your proclamations were so strong1 as1 being a mortal1 to be able to transcend the unwritten and immovable laws of the gods4 ,for not something now and yesterday1 but forever these live1 and no one knows from what time they appeared4 ,i was not about to pay the penalty of violating these to the gods1 fearing the presumption of any man4 ,for ,i well knew that ,i should die1 and why not8 even if you had not proclaimed it40 ,this was concerning the burial of a dead body4 ,the wisest conservatism is that of the ,hindoos4 8,immemorial custom is transcendent law10 says ,menu4 ,that is1 it was the custom of the gods before men used it4 ,the fault of our ,new ,england custom is that it is memorial4 ,what is morality but immemorial custom8 ,conscience is the chief of conservatives4 8,perform the settled functions10 says ,kreeshna in the ,bhagvat-,geeta2 8action is preferable to inaction4 ,the journey of thy mortal frame may not succeed from inaction40--8,a man's own calling with all its faults1 ought not to be forsaken4 ,every undertaking is involved in its faults as the fire in its smoke40--8,the man who is acquainted with the whole1 should not drive those from their works who are slow of comprehension1 and less experienced than himself40--8,wherefore1 ,o ,arjoon1 resolve to fight10 is the advice of the ,god to the irresolute soldier who fears to slay his best friends4 ,it is a sublime conservatism2 as wide as the world1 and as unwearied as time2 preserving the universe with ,asiatic anxiety1 in that state in which it appeared to their minds4 ,these philosophers dwell on the inevitability and unchangeableness of laws1 on the power of temperament and constitution1 the three goon or qualities1 and the circumstances of birth and affinity4 ,the end is an immense consolation2 eternal absorption in ,brahma4 ,their speculations never venture beyond their own table-lands1 though they are high and vast as they4 ,buoyancy1 freedom1 flexibility1 variety1 possibility1 which also are qualities of the ,unnamed1 they deal not with4 ,the undeserved reward is to be earned by an everlasting moral drudgery2 the incalculable promise of the morrow is1 as it were1 weighed4 ,and who will say that their conservatism has not been effectual8 8,assuredly10 says a ,french translator1 speaking of the antiquity and durability of the ,chinese and ,indian nations1 and of the wisdom of their legislators1 8there are there some vestiges of the eternal laws which govern the world40 ,christianity1 on the other hand1 is humane1 practical1 and1 in a large sense1 radical4 ,so many years and ages of the gods those ,eastern sages sat contemplating ,brahm1 uttering in silence the mystic 8,om10 being absorbed into the essence of the ,supreme ,being1 never going out of themselves1 but subsiding farther and deeper within2 so infinitely wise1 yet infinitely stagnant2 until1 at last1 in that same ,asia1 but in the western part of it1 appeared a youth1 wholly unforetold by them1--not being absorbed into ,brahm1 but bringing ,brahm down to earth and to mankind2 in whom ,brahm had awaked from his long sleep1 and exerted himself1 and the day began1--a new avatar4 ,the ,brahman had never thought to be a brother of mankind as well as a child of ,god4 ,christ is the prince of ,reformers and ,radicals4 ,many expressions in the ,new ,testament come naturally to the lips of all ,protestants1 and it furnishes the most pregnant and practical texts4 ,there is no harmless dreaming1 no wise speculation in it1 but everywhere a substratum of good sense4 ,it never reflects1 but it repents4 ,there is no poetry in it1 we may say nothing regarded in the light of beauty merely1 but moral truth is its object4 ,all mortals are convicted by its conscience4 ,the ,new ,testament is remarkable for its pure morality2 the best of the ,hindo ,scripture1 for its pure intellectuality4 ,the reader is nowhere raised into and sustained in a higher1 purer1 or rarer region of thought than in the ,bhagvat-,geeta4 ,warren ,hastings1 in his sensible letter recommending the translation of this book to the ,chairman of the ,east ,india ,company1 declares the original to be 8of a sublimity of conception1 reasoning1 and diction almost unequalled10 and that the writings of the ,indian philosophers 8will survive when the ,british dominion in ,india shall have long ceased to exist1 and when the sources which it once yielded of wealth and power are lost to remembrance40 ,it is unquestionably one of the noblest and most sacred scriptures which have come down to us4 ,books are to be distinguished by the grandeur of their topics1 even more than by the manner in which they are treated4 ,the ,oriental philosophy approaches1 easily1 loftier themes than the modern aspires to2 and no wonder if it sometimes prattle about them4 ,it only assigns their due rank respectively to ,action and ,contemplation1 or rather does full justice to the latter4 ,western philosophers have not conceived of the significance of ,contemplation in their sense4 ,speaking of the spiritual discipline to which the ,brahmans subjected themselves1 and the wonderful power of abstraction to which they attained1 instances of which had come under his notice1 ,hastings says3-- 8,to those who have never been accustomed to the separation of the mind from the notices of the senses1 it may not be easy to conceive by what means such a power is to be attained2 since even the most studious men of our hemisphere will find it difficult so to restrain their attention1 but that it will wander to some object of present sense or recollection2 and even the buzzing of a fly will sometimes have the power to disturb it4 ,but if we are told that there have been men who were successively1 for ages past1 in the daily habit of abstracted contemplation1 begun in the earliest period of youth1 and continued in many to the maturity of age1 each adding some portion of knowledge to the store accumulated by his predecessors2 it is not assuming too much to conclude1 that as the mind ever gathers strength1 like the body1 by exercise1 so in such an exercise it may in each have acquired the faculty to which they aspired1 and that their collective studies may have led them to the discovery of new tracts and combinations of sentiment1 totally different from the doctrines with which the learned of other nations are acquainted2 doctrines which1 however speculative and subtle1 still as they possess the advantage of being derived from a source so free from every adventitious mixture1 may be equally founded in truth with the most simple of our own40 8,the forsaking of works0 was taught by ,kreeshna to the most ancient of men1 and handed down from age to age1 8until at length1 in the course of time1 the mighty art was lost4 8,in wisdom is to be found every work without exception10 says ,kreeshna4 8,although thou wert the greatest of all offenders1 thou shalt be able to cross the gulf of sin with the bark of wisdom40 8,there is not anything in this world to be compared with wisdom for purity40 8,the action stands at a distance inferior to the application of wisdom40 ,the wisdom of a ,moonee 8is confirmed1 when1 like the tortoise1 he can draw in all his members1 and restrain them from their wonted purposes40 8,children only1 and not the learned1 speak of the speculative and the practical doctrines as two4 ,they are but one4 ,for both obtain the selfsame end1 and the place which is gained by the followers of the one is gained by the followers of the other40 8,the man enjoyeth not freedom from action1 from the non-commencement of that which he hath to do2 nor doth he obtain happiness from a total inactivity4 ,no one ever resteth a moment inactive4 ,every man is involuntarily urged to act by those principles which are inherent in his nature4 ,the man who restraineth his active faculties1 and sitteth down with his mind attentive to the objects of his senses1 is called one of an astrayed soul1 and the practiser of deceit4 ,so the man is praised1 who1 having subdued all his passions1 performeth with his active faculties all the functions of life1 unconcerned about the event40 8,let the motive be in the deed and not in the event4 ,be not one whose motive for action is the hope of reward4 ,let not thy life be spent in inaction40 8,for the man who doeth that which he hath to do1 without affection1 obtaineth the ,supreme40 8,he who may behold1 as it were inaction in action1 and action in inaction1 is wise amongst mankind4 ,he is a perfect performer of all duty40 8,wise men call him a ,pandeet1 whose every undertaking is free from the idea of desire1 and whose actions are consumed by the fire of wisdom4 ,he abandoneth the desire of a reward of his actions2 he is always contented and independent2 and although he may be engaged in a work1 he1 as it were1 doeth nothing40 8,he is both a ,yogee and a ,sannyasee who performeth that which he hath to do independent of the fruit thereof2 not he who liveth without the sacrificial fire and without action40 8,he who enjoyeth but the ,amreeta which is left of his offerings1 obtaineth the eternal spirit of ,brahm1 the ,supreme40 ,what1 after all1 does the practicalness of life amount to8 ,the things immediate to be done are very trivial4 ,i could postpone them all to hear this locust sing4 ,the most glorious fact in my experience is not anything that ,i have done or may hope to do1 but a transient thought1 or vision1 or dream1 which ,i have had4 ,i would give all the wealth of the world1 and all the deeds of all the heroes1 for one true vision4 ,but how can ,i communicate with the gods who am a pencil-maker on the earth1 and not be insane8 8,i am the same to all mankind10 says ,kreeshna2 8there is not one who is worthy of my love or hatred40 ,this teaching is not practical in the sense in which the ,new ,testament is4 ,it is not always sound sense in practice4 ,the ,brahman never proposes courageously to assault evil1 but patiently to starve it out4 ,his active faculties are paralyzed by the idea of cast1 of impassable limits1 of destiny and the tyranny of time4 ,kreeshna's argument1 it must be allowed1 is defective4 ,no sufficient reason is given why ,arjoon should fight4 ,arjoon may be convinced1 but the reader is not1 for his judgment is not 8formed upon the speculative doctrines of the ,sankhya ,sastra40 8,seek an asylum in wisdom alone02 but what is wisdom to a ,western mind8 ,the duty of which he speaks is an arbitrary one4 ,when was it established8 ,the ,brahman's virtue consists in doing1 not right1 but arbitrary things4 ,what is that which a man 8hath to do08 ,what is 8action08 ,what are the 8settled functions08 ,what is 8a man's own religion10 which is so much better than another's8 ,what is 8a man's own particular calling08 ,what are the duties which are appointed by one's birth8 ,it is a defence of the institution of casts1 of what is called the 8natural duty0 of the ,kshetree1 or soldier1 8to attach himself to the discipline10 8not to flee from the field10 and the like4 ,but they who are unconcerned about the consequences of their actions are not therefore unconcerned about their actions4 ,behold the difference between the ,oriental and the ,occidental4 ,the former has nothing to do in this world2 the latter is full of activity4 ,the one looks in the sun till his eyes are put out2 the other follows him prone in his westward course4 ,there is such a thing as caste1 even in the ,west2 but it is comparatively faint2 it is conservatism here4 ,it says1 forsake not your calling1 outrage no institution1 use no violence1 rend no bonds2 the ,state is thy parent4 ,its virtue or manhood is wholly filial4 ,there is a struggle between the ,oriental and ,occidental in every nation2 some who would be forever contemplating the sun1 and some who are hastening toward the sunset4 ,the former class says to the latter1 ,when you have reached the sunset1 you will be no nearer to the sun4 ,to which the latter replies1 ,but we so prolong the day4 ,the former 8walketh but in that night1 when all things go to rest the night of time4 ,the contemplative ,moonee sleepeth but in the day of time1 when all things wake40 ,to conclude these extracts1 ,i can say1 in the words of ,sanjay1 8,as1 ,o mighty ,prince6 ,i recollect again and again this holy and wonderful dialogue of ,kreeshna and ,arjoon1 ,i continue more and more to rejoice2 and as ,i recall to my memory the more than miraculous form of ,haree1 my astonishment is great1 and ,i marvel and rejoice again and again6 ,wherever ,kreeshna the ,god of devotion may be1 wherever ,arjoon the mighty bowman may be1 there too1 without doubt1 are fortune1 riches1 victory1 and good conduct4 ,this is my firm belief40 ,i would say to the readers of ,scriptures1 if they wish for a good book1 read the ,bhagvat-,geeta1 an episode to the ,mahabharat1 said to have been written by ,kreeshna ,dwypayen ,veias1--known to have been written by----1 more than four thousand years ago1--it matters not whether three or four1 or when1--translated by ,charles ,wilkins4 ,it deserves to be read with reverence even by ,yankees1 as a part of the sacred writings of a devout people2 and the intelligent ,hebrew will rejoice to find in it a moral grandeur and sublimity akin to those of his own ,scriptures4 ,to an ,american reader1 who1 by the advantage of his position1 can see over that strip of ,atlantic coast to ,asia and the ,pacific1 who1 as it were1 sees the shore slope upward over the ,alps to the ,himmaleh ,mountains1 the comparatively recent literature of ,europe often appears partial and clannish1 and1 notwithstanding the limited range of his own sympathies and studies1 the ,european writer who presumes that he is speaking for the world1 is perceived by him to speak only for that corner of it which he inhabits4 ,one of the rarest of ,england's scholars and critics1 in his classification of the worthies of the world1 betrays the narrowness of his ,european culture and the exclusiveness of his reading4 ,none of her children has done justice to the poets and philosophers of ,persia or of ,india4 ,they have even been better known to her merchant scholars than to her poets and thinkers by profession4 ,you may look in vain through ,english poetry for a single memorable verse inspired by these themes4 ,nor is ,germany to be excepted1 though her philological industry is indirectly serving the cause of philosophy and poetry4 ,even ,goethe wanted that universality of genius which could have appreciated the philosophy of ,india1 if he had more nearly approached it4 ,his genius was more practical1 dwelling much more in the regions of the understanding1 and was less native to contemplation than the genius of those sages4 ,it is remarkable that ,homer and a few ,hebrews are the most ,oriental names which modern ,europe1 whose literature has taken its rise since the decline of the ,persian1 has admitted into her list of ,worthies1 and perhaps the worthiest of mankind1 and the fathers of modern thinking1--for the contemplations of those ,indian sages have influenced1 and still influence1 the intellectual development of mankind1--whose works even yet survive in wonderful completeness1 are1 for the most part1 not recognized as ever having existed4 ,if the lions had been the painters it would have been otherwise4 ,in every one's youthful dreams philosophy is still vaguely but inseparably1 and with singular truth1 associated with the ,east1 nor do after years discover its local habitation in the ,western world4 ,in comparison with the philosophers of the ,east1 we may say that modern ,europe has yet given birth to none4 ,beside the vast and cosmogonal philosophy of the ,bhagvat-,geeta1 even our ,shakespeare seems sometimes youthfully green and practical merely4 ,some of these sublime sentences1 as the ,chaldaean oracles of ,zoroaster1 still surviving after a thousand revolutions and translations1 alone make us doubt if the poetic form and dress are not transitory1 and not essential to the most effective and enduring expression of thought4 ,ex oriente lux may still be the motto of scholars1 for the ,western world has not yet derived from the ,east all the light which it is destined to receive thence4 ,it would be worthy of the age to print together the collected ,scriptures or ,sacred ,writings of the several nations1 the ,chinese1 the ,hindoos1 the ,persians1 the ,hebrews1 and others1 as the ,scripture of mankind4 ,the ,new ,testament is still1 perhaps1 too much on the lips and in the hearts of men to be called a ,scripture in this sense4 ,such a juxtaposition and comparison might help to liberalize the faith of men4 ,this is a work which ,time will surely edit1 reserved to crown the labors of the printing-press4 ,this would be the ,bible1 or ,book of ,books1 which let the missionaries carry to the uttermost parts of the earth4 ,while engaged in these reflections1 thinking ourselves the only navigators of these waters1 suddenly a canal-boat1 with its sail set1 glided round a point before us1 like some huge river beast1 and changed the scene in an instant2 and then another and another glided into sight1 and we found ourselves in the current of commerce once more4 ,so we threw our rinds in the water for the fishes to nibble1 and added our breath to the life of living men4 ,little did we think1 in the distant garden in which we had planted the seed and reared this fruit1 where it would be eaten4 ,our melons lay at home on the sandy bottom of the ,merrimack1 and our potatoes in the sun and water at the bottom of the boat looked like a fruit of the country4 ,soon1 however1 we were delivered from this fleet of junks1 and possessed the river in solitude1 once more rowing steadily upward through the noon1 between the territories of ,nashua on the one hand1 and ,hudson1 once ,nottingham1 on the other4 ,from time to time we scared up a kingfisher or a summer duck1 the former flying rather by vigorous impulses than by steady and patient steering with that short rudder of his1 sounding his rattle along the fluvial street4 ,erelong another scow hove in sight1 creeping down the river2 and hailing it1 we attached ourselves to its side1 and floated back in company1 chatting with the boatmen1 and obtaining a draught of cooler water from their jug4 ,they appeared to be green hands from far among the hills1 who had taken this means to get to the seaboard1 and see the world2 and would possibly visit the ,falkland ,isles1 and the ,china seas1 before they again saw the waters of the ,merrimack1 or1 perchance1 they would not return this way forever4 ,they had already embarked the private interests of the landsman in the larger venture of the race1 and were ready to mess with mankind1 reserving only the till of a chest to themselves4 ,but they too were soon lost behind a point1 and we went croaking on our way alone4 ,what grievance has its root among the ,new ,hampshire hills8 we asked2 what is wanting to human life here1 that these men should make such haste to the antipodes8 ,we prayed that their bright anticipations might not be rudely disappointed4 ,though all the fates should prove unkind1 ,leave not your native land behind4 ,the ship1 becalmed1 at length stands still2 ,the steed must rest beneath the hill2 ,but swiftly still our fortunes pace ,to find us out in every place4 ,the vessel1 though her masts be firm1 ,beneath her copper bears a worm2 ,around the cape1 across the line1 ,till fields of ice her course confine2 ,it matters not how smooth the breeze1 ,how shallow or how deep the seas1 ,whether she bears ,manilla twine1 ,or in her hold ,madeira wine1 ,or ,china teas1 or ,spanish hides1 ,in port or quarantine she rides2 ,far from ,new ,england's blustering shore1 ,new ,england's worm her hulk shall bore1 ,and sink her in the ,indian seas1 ,twine1 wine1 and hides1 and ,china teas4 ,we passed a small desert here on the east bank1 between ,tyngsborough and ,hudson1 which was interesting and even refreshing to our eyes in the midst of the almost universal greenness4 ,this sand was indeed somewhat impressive and beautiful to us4 ,a very old inhabitant1 who was at work in a field on the ,nashua side1 told us that he remembered when corn and grain grew there1 and it was a cultivated field4 ,but at length the fishermen1 for this was a fishing place1 pulled up the bushes on the shore1 for greater convenience in hauling their seines1 and when the bank was thus broken1 the wind began to blow up the sand from the shore1 until at length it had covered about fifteen acres several feet deep4 ,we saw near the river1 where the sand was blown off down to some ancient surface1 the foundation of an ,indian wigwam exposed1 a perfect circle of burnt stones1 four or five feet in diameter1 mingled with fine charcoal1 and the bones of small animals which had been preserved in the sand4 ,the surrounding sand was sprinkled with other burnt stones on which their fires had been built1 as well as with flakes of arrow-head stone1 and we found one perfect arrow-head4 ,in one place we noticed where an ,indian had sat to manufacture arrow-heads out of quartz1 and the sand was sprinkled with a quart of small glass-like chips about as big as a fourpence1 which he had broken off in his work4 ,here1 then1 the ,indians must have fished before the whites arrived4 ,there was another similar sandy tract about half a mile above this4 ,still the noon prevailed1 and we turned the prow aside to bathe1 and recline ourselves under some buttonwoods1 by a ledge of rocks1 in a retired pasture sloping to the water's edge1 and skirted with pines and hazels1 in the town of ,hudson4 ,still had ,india1 and that old noontide philosophy1 the better part of our thoughts4 ,it is always singular1 but encouraging1 to meet with common sense in very old books1 as the ,heetopades of ,veeshnoo ,sarma2 a playful wisdom which has eyes behind as well as before1 and oversees itself4 ,it asserts their health and independence of the experience of later times4 ,this pledge of sanity cannot be spared in a book1 that it sometimes pleasantly reflect upon itself4 ,the story and fabulous portion of this book winds loosely from sentence to sentence as so many oases in a desert1 and is as indistinct as a camel's track between ,mourzouk and ,darfour4 ,it is a comment on the flow and freshet of modern books4 ,the reader leaps from sentence to sentence1 as from one stepping-stone to another1 while the stream of the story rushes past unregarded4 ,the ,bhagvat-,geeta is less sententious and poetic1 perhaps1 but still more wonderfully sustained and developed4 ,its sanity and sublimity have impressed the minds even of soldiers and merchants4 ,it is the characteristic of great poems that they will yield of their sense in due proportion to the hasty and the deliberate reader4 ,to the practical they will be common sense1 and to the wise wisdom2 as either the traveller may wet his lips1 or an army may fill its water-casks at a full stream4 ,one of the most attractive of those ancient books that ,i have met with is the ,laws of ,menu4 ,according to ,sir ,william ,jones1 8,vyasa1 the son of ,parasara1 has decided that the ,veda1 with its ,angas1 or the six compositions deduced from it1 the revealed system of medicine1 the ,puranas or sacred histories1 and the code of ,menu1 were four works of supreme authority1 which ought never to be shaken by arguments merely human40 ,the last is believed by the ,hindoos 8to have been promulged in the beginning of time1 by ,menu1 son or grandson of ,brahma10 and 8first of created beings02 and ,brahma is said to have 8taught his laws to ,menu in a hundred thousand verses1 which ,menu explained to the primitive world in the very words of the book now translated40 ,others affirm that they have undergone successive abridgments for the convenience of mortals1 8while the gods of the lower heaven and the band of celestial musicians are engaged in studying the primary code40--8,a number of glosses or comments on ,menu were composed by the ,munis1 or old philosophers1 whose treatises1 together with that before us1 constitute the ,dherma ,sastra1 in a collective sense1 or ,body of ,law40 ,culluca ,bhatta was one of the more modern of these4 ,every sacred book1 successively1 has been accepted in the faith that it was to be the final resting-place of the sojourning soul2 but after all1 it was but a caravansary which supplied refreshment to the traveller1 and directed him farther on his way to ,isphahan or ,bagdat4 ,thank ,god1 no ,hindoo tyranny prevailed at the framing of the world1 but we are freemen of the universe1 and not sentenced to any caste4 ,i know of no book which has come down to us with grander pretensions than this1 and it is so impersonal and sincere that it is never offensive nor ridiculous4 ,compare the modes in which modern literature is advertised with the prospectus of this book1 and think what a reading public it addresses1 what criticism it expects4 ,it seems to have been uttered from some eastern summit1 with a sober morning prescience in the dawn of time1 and you cannot read a sentence without being elevated as upon the table-land of the ,ghauts4 ,it has such a rhythm as the winds of the desert1 such a tide as the ,ganges1 and is as superior to criticism as the ,himmaleh ,mountains4 ,its tone is of such unrelaxed fibre1 that even at this late day1 unworn by time1 it wears the ,english and the ,sanscrit dress indifferently2 and its fixed sentences keep up their distant fires still1 like the stars1 by whose dissipated rays this lower world is illumined4 ,the whole book by noble gestures and inclinations renders many words unnecessary4 ,english sense has toiled1 but ,hindoo wisdom never perspired4 ,though the sentences open as we read them1 unexpensively1 and at first almost unmeaningly1 as the petals of a flower1 they sometimes startle us with that rare kind of wisdom which could only have been learned from the most trivial experience2 but it comes to us as refined as the porcelain earth which subsides to the bottom of the ocean4 ,they are clean and dry as fossil truths1 which have been exposed to the elements for thousands of years1 so impersonally and scientifically true that they are the ornament of the parlor and the cabinet4 ,any moral philosophy is exceedingly rare4 ,this of ,menu addresses our privacy more than most4 ,it is a more private and familiar1 and1 at the same time1 a more public and universal word1 than is spoken in parlor or pulpit now-a-days4 ,as our domestic fowls are said to have their original in the wild pheasant of ,india1 so our domestic thoughts have their prototypes in the thoughts of her philosophers4 ,we are dabbling in the very elements of our present conventional and actual life2 as if it were the primeval conventicle where how to eat1 and to drink1 and to sleep1 and maintain life with adequate dignity and sincerity1 were the questions to be decided4 ,it is later and more intimate with us even than the advice of our nearest friends4 ,and yet it is true for the widest horizon1 and read out of doors has relation to the dim mountain line1 and is native and aboriginal there4 ,most books belong to the house and street only1 and in the fields their leaves feel very thin4 ,they are bare and obvious1 and have no halo nor haze about them4 ,nature lies far and fair behind them all4 ,but this1 as it proceeds from1 so it addresses1 what is deepest and most abiding in man4 ,it belongs to the noontide of the day1 the midsummer of the year1 and after the snows have melted1 and the waters evaporated in the spring1 still its truth speaks freshly to our experience4 ,it helps the sun to shine1 and his rays fall on its page to illustrate it4 ,it spends the mornings and the evenings1 and makes such an impression on us overnight as to awaken us before dawn1 and its influence lingers around us like a fragrance late into the day4 ,it conveys a new gloss to the meadows and the depths of the wood1 and its spirit1 like a more subtile ether1 sweeps along with the prevailing winds of a country4 ,the very locusts and crickets of a summer day are but later or earlier glosses on the ,dherma ,sastra of the ,hindoos1 a continuation of the sacred code4 ,as we have said1 there is an orientalism in the most restless pioneer1 and the farthest west is but the farthest east4 ,while we are reading these sentences1 this fair modern world seems only a reprint of the ,laws of ,menu with the gloss of ,culluca4 ,tried by a ,new ,england eye1 or the mere practical wisdom of modern times1 they are the oracles of a race already in its dotage1 but held up to the sky1 which is the only impartial and incorruptible ordeal1 they are of a piece with its depth and serenity1 and ,i am assured that they will have a place and significance as long as there is a sky to test them by4 ,give me a sentence which no intelligence can understand4 ,there must be a kind of life and palpitation to it1 and under its words a kind of blood must circulate forever4 ,it is wonderful that this sound should have come down to us from so far1 when the voice of man can be heard so little way1 and we are not now within ear-shot of any contemporary4 ,the woodcutters have here felled an ancient pine forest1 and brought to light to these distant hills a fair lake in the southwest2 and now in an instant it is distinctly shown to these woods as if its image had travelled hither from eternity4 ,perhaps these old stumps upon the knoll remember when anciently this lake gleamed in the horizon4 ,one wonders if the bare earth itself did not experience emotion at beholding again so fair a prospect4 ,that fair water lies there in the sun thus revealed1 so much the prouder and fairer because its beauty needed not to be seen4 ,it seems yet lonely1 sufficient to itself1 and superior to observation4--,so are these old sentences like serene lakes in the southwest1 at length revealed to us1 which have so long been reflecting our own sky in their bosom4 ,the great plain of ,india lies as in a cup between the ,himmaleh and the ocean on the north and south1 and the ,brahmapootra and ,indus1 on the east and west1 wherein the primeval race was received4 ,we will not dispute the story4 ,we are pleased to read in the natural history of the country1 of the 8pine1 larch1 spruce1 and silver fir10 which cover the southern face of the ,himmaleh range2 of the 8gooseberry1 raspberry1 strawberry10 which from an imminent temperate zone overlook the torrid plains4 ,so did this active modern life have even then a foothold and lurking-place in the midst of the stateliness and contemplativeness of those ,eastern plains4 ,in another era the 8lily of the valley1 cowslip1 dandelion10 were to work their way down into the plain1 and bloom in a level zone of their own reaching round the earth4 ,already has the era of the temperate zone arrived1 the era of the pine and the oak1 for the palm and the banian do not supply the wants of this age4 ,the lichens on the summits of the rocks will perchance find their level erelong4 ,as for the tenets of the ,brahmans1 we are not so much concerned to know what doctrines they held1 as that they were held by any4 ,we can tolerate all philosophies1 ,atomists1 ,pneumatologists1 ,atheists1 ,theists1--,plato1 ,aristotle1 ,leucippus1 ,democritus1 ,pythagoras1 ,zoroaster1 and ,confucius4 ,it is the attitude of these men1 more than any communication which they make1 that attracts us4 ,between them and their commentators1 it is true1 there is an endless dispute4 ,but if it comes to this1 that you compare notes1 then you are all wrong4 ,as it is1 each takes us up into the serene heavens1 whither the smallest bubble rises as surely as the largest1 and paints earth and sky for us4 ,any sincere thought is irresistible4 ,the very austerity of the ,brahmans is tempting to the devotional soul1 as a more refined and nobler luxury4 ,wants so easily and gracefully satisfied seem like a more refined pleasure4 ,their conception of creation is peaceful as a dream4 8,when that power awakes1 then has this world its full expansion2 but when he slumbers with a tranquil spirit1 then the whole system fades away40 ,in the very indistinctness of their theogony a sublime truth is implied4 ,it hardly allows the reader to rest in any supreme first cause1 but directly it hints at a supremer still which created the last1 and the ,creator is still behind increate4 ,nor will we disturb the antiquity of this ,scripture2 8,from fire1 from air1 and from the sun10 it was 8milked out40 ,one might as well investigate the chronology of light and heat4 ,let the sun shine4 ,menu understood this matter best1 when he said1 8,those best know the divisions of days and nights who understand that the day of ,brahma1 which endures to the end of a thousand such ages1 infinite ages1 nevertheless1 according to mortal reckoning1 gives rise to virtuous exertions2 and that his night endures as long as his day40 ,indeed1 the ,mussulman and ,tartar dynasties are beyond all dating4 ,methinks ,i have lived under them myself4 ,in every man's brain is the ,sanscrit4 ,the ,vedas and their ,angas are not so ancient as serene contemplation4 ,why will we be imposed on by antiquity8 ,is the babe young8 ,when ,i behold it1 it seems more venerable than the oldest man2 it is more ancient than ,nestor or the ,sibyls1 and bears the wrinkles of father ,saturn himself4 ,and do we live but in the present8 ,how broad a line is that8 ,i sit now on a stump whose rings number centuries of growth4 ,if ,i look around ,i see that the soil is composed of the remains of just such stumps1 ancestors to this4 ,the earth is covered with mould4 ,i thrust this stick many ons deep into its surface1 and with my heel make a deeper furrow than the elements have ploughed here for a thousand years4 ,if ,i listen1 ,i hear the peep of frogs which is older than the slime of ,egypt1 and the distant drumming of a partridge on a log1 as if it were the pulse-beat of the summer air4 ,i raise my fairest and freshest flowers in the old mould4 ,why1 what we would fain call new is not skin deep2 the earth is not yet stained by it4 ,it is not the fertile ground which we walk on1 but the leaves which flutter over our heads4 ,the newest is but the oldest made visible to our senses4 ,when we dig up the soil from a thousand feet below the surface1 we call it new1 and the plants which spring from it2 and when our vision pierces deeper into space1 and detects a remoter star1 we call that new also4 ,the place where we sit is called ,hudson1--once it was ,nottingham1--once -- ,we should read history as little critically as we consider the landscape1 and be more interested by the atmospheric tints and various lights and shades which the intervening spaces create1 than by its groundwork and composition4 ,it is the morning now turned evening and seen in the west1--the same sun1 but a new light and atmosphere4 ,its beauty is like the sunset2 not a fresco painting on a wall1 flat and bounded1 but atmospheric and roving or free4 ,in reality1 history fluctuates as the face of the landscape from morning to evening4 ,what is of moment is its hue and color4 ,time hides no treasures2 we want not its then1 but its now4 ,we do not complain that the mountains in the horizon are blue and indistinct2 they are the more like the heavens4 ,of what moment are facts that can be lost1--which need to be commemorated8 ,the monument of death will outlast the memory of the dead4 ,the pyramids do not tell the tale which was confided to them2 the living fact commemorates itself4 ,why look in the dark for light8 ,strictly speaking1 the historical societies have not recovered one fact from oblivion1 but are themselves1 instead of the fact1 that is lost4 ,the researcher is more memorable than the researched4 ,the crowd stood admiring the mist and the dim outlines of the trees seen through it1 when one of their number advanced to explore the phenomenon1 and with fresh admiration all eyes were turned on his dimly retreating figure4 ,it is astonishing with how little co-operation of the societies the past is remembered4 ,its story has indeed had another muse than has been assigned it4 ,there is a good instance of the manner in which all history began1 in ,alwkidis' ,arabian ,chronicle3 8,i was informed by ,ahmed ,almatin ,aljorhami1 who had it from ,repha ,ebn ,kais ,almiri1 who had it from ,saiph ,ebn ,fabalah ,alchtquarmi1 who had it from ,thabet ,ebn ,alkamah1 who said he was present at the action40 ,these fathers of history were not anxious to preserve1 but to learn the fact2 and hence it was not forgotten4 ,critical acumen is exerted in vain to uncover the past2 the past cannot be presented2 we cannot know what we are not4 ,but one veil hangs over past1 present1 and future1 and it is the province of the historian to find out1 not what was1 but what is4 ,where a battle has been fought1 you will find nothing but the bones of men and beasts2 where a battle is being fought1 there are hearts beating4 ,we will sit on a mound and muse1 and not try to make these skeletons stand on their legs again4 ,does ,nature remember1 think you1 that they were men1 or not rather that they are bones8 ,ancient history has an air of antiquity4 ,it should be more modern4 ,it is written as if the spectator should be thinking of the backside of the picture on the wall1 or as if the author expected that the dead would be his readers1 and wished to detail to them their own experience4 ,men seem anxious to accomplish an orderly retreat through the centuries1 earnestly rebuilding the works behind1 as they are battered down by the encroachments of time2 but while they loiter1 they and their works both fall a prey to the arch enemy4 ,history has neither the venerableness of antiquity1 nor the freshness of the modern4 ,it does as if it would go to the beginning of things1 which natural history might with reason assume to do2 but consider the ,universal ,history1 and then tell us1--when did burdock and plantain sprout first8 ,it has been so written for the most part1 that the times it describes are with remarkable propriety called dark ages4 ,they are dark1 as one has observed1 because we are so in the dark about them4 ,the sun rarely shines in history1 what with the dust and confusion2 and when we meet with any cheering fact which implies the presence of this luminary1 we excerpt and modernize it4 ,as when we read in the history of the ,saxons that ,edwin of ,northumbria 8caused stakes to be fixed in the highways where he had seen a clear spring10 and 8brazen dishes were chained to them to refresh the weary sojourner1 whose fatigues ,edwin had himself experienced40 ,this is worth all ,arthur's twelve battles4 8,through the shadow of the world we sweep into the younger day3 ,better fifty years of ,europe than a cycle of ,cathay40 ,than fifty years of ,europe better one ,new ,england ray6 ,biography1 too1 is liable to the same objection2 it should be autobiography4 ,let us not1 as the ,germans advise1 endeavor to go abroad and vex our bowels that we may be somebody else to explain him4 ,if ,i am not ,i1 who will be8 ,but it is fit that the ,past should be dark2 though the darkness is not so much a quality of the past as of tradition4 ,it is not a distance of time1 but a distance of relation1 which makes thus dusky its memorials4 ,what is near to the heart of this generation is fair and bright still4 ,greece lies outspread fair and sunshiny in floods of light1 for there is the sun and daylight in her literature and art4 ,homer does not allow us to forget that the sun shone1--nor ,phidias1 nor the ,parthenon4 ,yet no era has been wholly dark1 nor will we too hastily submit to the historian1 and congratulate ourselves on a blaze of light4 ,if we could pierce the obscurity of those remote years1 we should find it light enough2 only there is not our day4 ,some creatures are made to see in the dark4 ,there has always been the same amount of light in the world4 ,the new and missing stars1 the comets and eclipses1 do not affect the general illumination1 for only our glasses appreciate them4 ,the eyes of the oldest fossil remains1 they tell us1 indicate that the same laws of light prevailed then as now4 ,always the laws of light are the same1 but the modes and degrees of seeing vary4 ,the gods are partial to no era1 but steadily shines their light in the heavens1 while the eye of the beholder is turned to stone4 ,there was but the sun and the eye from the first4 ,the ages have not added a new ray to the one1 nor altered a fibre of the other4 ,if we will admit time into our thoughts at all1 the mythologies1 those vestiges of ancient poems1 wrecks of poems1 so to speak1 the world's inheritance1 still reflecting some of their original splendor1 like the fragments of clouds tinted by the rays of the departed sun2 reaching into the latest summer day1 and allying this hour to the morning of creation2 as the poet sings3-- 8,fragments of the lofty strain ,float down the tide of years1 ,as buoyant on the stormy main ,a parted wreck appears40 ,these are the materials and hints for a history of the rise and progress of the race2 how1 from the condition of ants1 it arrived at the condition of men1 and arts were gradually invented4 ,let a thousand surmises shed some light on this story4 ,we will not be confined by historical1 even geological periods which would allow us to doubt of a progress in human affairs4 ,if we rise above this wisdom for the day1 we shall expect that this morning of the race1 in which it has been supplied with the simplest necessaries1 with corn1 and wine1 and honey1 and oil1 and fire1 and articulate speech1 and agricultural and other arts1 reared up by degrees from the condition of ants to men1 will be succeeded by a day of equally progressive splendor2 that1 in the lapse of the divine periods1 other divine agents and godlike men will assist to elevate the race as much above its present condition4 ,but we do not know much about it4 ,thus did one voyageur waking dream1 while his companion slumbered on the bank4 ,suddenly a boatman's horn was heard echoing from shore to shore1 to give notice of his approach to the farmer's wife with whom he was to take his dinner1 though in that place only muskrats and kingfishers seemed to hear4 ,the current of our reflections and our slumbers being thus disturbed1 we weighed anchor once more4 ,as we proceeded on our way in the afternoon1 the western bank became lower1 or receded farther from the channel in some places1 leaving a few trees only to fringe the water's edge2 while the eastern rose abruptly here and there into wooded hills fifty or sixty feet high4 ,the bass1 ,tilia ,americana1 also called the lime or linden1 which was a new tree to us1 overhung the water with its broad and rounded leaf1 interspersed with clusters of small hard berries now nearly ripe1 and made an agreeable shade for us sailors4 ,the inner bark of this genus is the bast1 the material of the fisherman's matting1 and the ropes and peasant's shoes of which the ,russians make so much use1 and also of nets and a coarse cloth in some places4 ,according to poets1 this was once ,philyra1 one of the ,oceanides4 ,the ancients are said to have used its bark for the roofs of cottages1 for baskets1 and for a kind of paper called ,philyra4 ,they also made bucklers of its wood1 8on account of its flexibility1 lightness1 and resiliency40 ,it was once much used for carving1 and is still in demand for sounding-boards of piano-fortes and panels of carriages1 and for various uses for which toughness and flexibility are required4 ,baskets and cradles are made of the twigs4 ,its sap affords sugar1 and the honey made from its flowers is said to be preferred to any other4 ,its leaves are in some countries given to cattle1 a kind of chocolate has been made of its fruit1 a medicine has been prepared from an infusion of its flowers1 and finally1 the charcoal made of its wood is greatly valued for gunpowder4 ,the sight of this tree reminded us that we had reached a strange land to us4 ,as we sailed under this canopy of leaves we saw the sky through its chinks1 and1 as it were1 the meaning and idea of the tree stamped in a thousand hieroglyphics on the heavens4 ,the universe is so aptly fitted to our organization that the eye wanders and reposes at the same time4 ,on every side there is something to soothe and refresh this sense4 ,look up at the tree-tops and see how finely ,nature finishes off her work there4 ,see how the pines spire without end higher and higher1 and make a graceful fringe to the earth4 ,and who shall count the finer cobwebs that soar and float away from their utmost tops1 and the myriad insects that dodge between them4 ,leaves are of more various forms than the alphabets of all languages put together2 of the oaks alone there are hardly two alike1 and each expresses its own character4 ,in all her products ,nature only develops her simplest germs4 ,one would say that it was no great stretch of invention to create birds4 ,the hawk1 which now takes his flight over the top of the wood1 was at first1 perchance1 only a leaf which fluttered in its aisles4 ,from rustling leaves she came in the course of ages to the loftier flight and clear carol of the bird4 ,salmon ,brook comes in from the west under the railroad1 a mile and a half below the village of ,nashua4 ,we rowed up far enough into the meadows which border it to learn its piscatorial history from a haymaker on its banks4 ,he told us that the silver eel was formerly abundant here1 and pointed to some sunken creels at its mouth4 ,this man's memory and imagination were fertile in fishermen's tales of floating isles in bottomless ponds1 and of lakes mysteriously stocked with fishes1 and would have kept us till nightfall to listen1 but we could not afford to loiter in this roadstead1 and so stood out to our sea again4 ,though we never trod in those meadows1 but only touched their margin with our hands1 we still retain a pleasant memory of them4 ,salmon ,brook1 whose name is said to be a translation from the ,indian1 was a favorite haunt of the aborigines4 ,here1 too1 the first white settlers of ,nashua planted1 and some dents in the earth where their houses stood and the wrecks of ancient apple-trees are still visible4 ,about one mile up this stream stood the house of old ,john ,lovewell1 who was an ensign in the army of ,oliver ,cromwell1 and the father of 8famous ,captain ,lovewell40 ,he settled here before #afij1 and died about #aged1 at the age of one hundred and twenty years4 ,he is thought to have been engaged in the famous ,narragansett swamp fight1 which took place in #afge1 before he came here4 ,the ,indians are said to have spared him in succeeding wars on account of his kindness to them4 ,even in #agjj he was so old and gray-headed that his scalp was worth nothing1 since the ,french ,governor offered no bounty for such4 ,i have stood in the dent of his cellar on the bank of the brook1 and talked there with one whose grandfather had1 whose father might have1 talked with ,lovewell4 ,here also he had a mill in his old age1 and kept a small store4 ,he was remembered by some who were recently living1 as a hale old man who drove the boys out of his orchard with his cane4 ,consider the triumphs of the mortal man1 and what poor trophies it would have to show1 to wit3--,he cobbled shoes without glasses at a hundred1 and cut a handsome swath at a hundred and five6 ,lovewell's house is said to have been the first which ,mrs4 ,dustan reached on her escape from the ,indians4 ,here probably the hero of ,pequawket was born and bred4 ,close by may be seen the cellar and the gravestone of ,joseph ,hassell1 who1 as is elsewhere recorded1 with his wife ,anna1 and son ,benjamin1 and ,mary ,marks1 8were slain by our ,indian enemies on ,september #b;d1 #afia1 in the evening40 ,as ,gookin observed on a previous occasion1 8,the ,indian rod upon the ,english backs had not yet done ,god's errand40 ,salmon ,brook near its mouth is still a solitary stream1 meandering through woods and meadows1 while the then uninhabited mouth of the ,nashua now resounds with the din of a manufacturing town4 ,a stream from ,otternic ,pond in ,hudson comes in just above ,salmon ,brook1 on the opposite side4 ,there was a good view of ,uncannunuc1 the most conspicuous mountain in these parts1 from the bank here1 seen rising over the west end of the bridge above4 ,we soon after passed the village of ,nashua1 on the river of the same name1 where there is a covered bridge over the ,merrimack4 ,the ,nashua1 which is one of the largest tributaries1 flows from ,wachusett ,mountain1 through ,lancaster1 ,groton1 and other towns1 where it has formed well-known elm-shaded meadows1 but near its mouth it is obstructed by falls and factories1 and did not tempt us to explore it4 ,far away from here1 in ,lancaster1 with another companion1 ,i have crossed the broad valley of the ,nashua1 over which we had so long looked westward from the ,concord hills without seeing it to the blue mountains in the horizon4 ,so many streams1 so many meadows and woods and quiet dwellings of men had lain concealed between us and those ,delectable ,mountains2--from yonder hill on the road to ,tyngsborough you may get a good view of them4 ,there where it seemed uninterrupted forest to our youthful eyes1 between two neighboring pines in the horizon1 lay the valley of the ,nashua1 and this very stream was even then winding at its bottom1 and then1 as now1 it was here silently mingling its waters with the ,merrimack4 ,the clouds which floated over its meadows and were born there1 seen far in the west1 gilded by the rays of the setting sun1 had adorned a thousand evening skies for us4 ,but as it were1 by a turf wall this valley was concealed1 and in our journey to those hills it was first gradually revealed to us4 ,summer and winter our eyes had rested on the dim outline of the mountains1 to which distance and indistinctness lent a grandeur not their own1 so that they served to interpret all the allusions of poets and travellers4 ,standing on the ,concord ,cliffs we thus spoke our mind to them3-- ,with frontier strength ye stand your ground1 ,with grand content ye circle round1 ,tumultuous silence for all sound1 ,ye distant nursery of rills1 ,monadnock and the ,peterborough ,hills2-- ,firm argument that never stirs1 ,outcircling the philosophers1-- ,like some vast fleet1 ,sailing through rain and sleet1 ,through winter's cold and summer's heat2 ,still holding on upon your high emprise1 ,until ye find a shore amid the skies2 ,not skulking close to land1 ,with cargo contraband1 ,for they who sent a venture out by ye ,have set the ,sun to see ,their honesty4 ,ships of the line1 each one1 ,ye westward run1 ,convoying clouds1 ,which cluster in your shrouds1 ,always before the gale1 ,under a press of sail1 ,with weight of metal all untold1-- ,i seem to feel ye in my firm seat here1 ,immeasurable depth of hold1 ,and breadth of beam1 and length of running gear ,methinks ye take luxurious pleasure ,in your novel western leisure2 ,so cool your brows and freshly blue1 ,as ,time had naught for ye to do2 ,for ye lie at your length1 ,an unappropriated strength1 ,unhewn primeval timber1 ,for knees so stiff1 for masts so limber2 ,the stock of which new earths are made1 ,one day to be our western trade1 ,fit for the stanchions of a world ,which through the seas of space is hurled4 ,while we enjoy a lingering ray1 ,ye still o'ertop the western day1 ,reposing yonder on ,god's croft ,like solid stacks of hay2 ,so bold a line as ne'er was writ ,on any page by human wit2 ,the forest glows as if ,an enemy's camp-fires shone ,along the horizon1 ,or the day's funeral pyre ,were lighted there2 ,edged with silver and with gold1 ,the clouds hang o'er in damask fold1 ,and with such depth of amber light ,the west is dight1 ,where still a few rays slant1 ,that even ,heaven seems extravagant4 ,watatic ,hill ,lies on the horizon's sill ,like a child's toy left overnight1 ,and other duds to left and right1 ,on the earth's edge1 mountains and trees ,stand as they were on air graven1 ,or as the vessels in a haven ,await the morning breeze4 ,i fancy even ,through your defiles windeth the way to heaven2 ,and yonder still1 in spite of history's page1 ,linger the golden and the silver age2 ,upon the laboring gale ,the news of future centuries is brought1 ,and of new dynasties of thought1 ,from your remotest vale4 ,but special ,i remember thee1 ,wachusett1 who like me ,standest alone without society4 ,thy far blue eye1 ,a remnant of the sky1 ,seen through the clearing or the gorge1 ,or from the windows of the forge1 ,doth leaven all it passes by4 ,nothing is true ,but stands 'tween me and you1 ,thou western pioneer1 ,who know'st not shame nor fear1 ,by venturous spirit driven ,under the eaves of heaven2 ,and canst expand thee there1 ,and breathe enough of air8 ,even beyond the ,west ,thou migratest1 ,into unclouded tracts1 ,without a pilgrim's axe1 ,cleaving thy road on high ,with thy well-tempered brow1 ,and mak'st thyself a clearing in the sky4 ,upholding heaven1 holding down earth1 ,thy pastime from thy birth2 ,not steadied by the one1 nor leaning on the other1 ,may ,i approve myself thy worthy brother6 ,at length1 like ,rasselas and other inhabitants of happy valleys1 we had resolved to scale the blue wall which bounded the western horizon1 though not without misgivings that thereafter no visible fairy-land would exist for us4 ,but it would be long to tell of our adventures1 and we have no time this afternoon1 transporting ourselves in imagination up this hazy ,nashua valley1 to go over again that pilgrimage4 ,we have since made many similar excursions to the principal mountains of ,new ,england and ,new ,york1 and even far in the wilderness1 and have passed a night on the summit of many of them4 ,and now1 when we look again westward from our native hills1 ,wachusett and ,monadnock have retreated once more among the blue and fabulous mountains in the horizon1 though our eyes rest on the very rocks on both of them1 where we have pitched our tent for a night1 and boiled our hasty-pudding amid the clouds4 ,as late as #agbd there was no house on the north side of the ,nashua1 but only scattered wigwams and grisly forests between this frontier and ,canada4 ,in ,september of that year1 two men who were engaged in making turpentine on that side1 for such were the first enterprises in the wilderness1 were taken captive and carried to ,canada by a party of thirty ,indians4 ,ten of the inhabitants of ,dunstable1 going to look for them1 found the hoops of their barrel cut1 and the turpentine spread on the ground4 ,i have been told by an inhabitant of ,tyngsborough1 who had the story from his ancestors1 that one of these captives1 when the ,indians were about to upset his barrel of turpentine1 seized a pine knot and flourishing it1 swore so resolutely that he would kill the first who touched it1 that they refrained1 and when at length he returned from ,canada he found it still standing4 ,perhaps there was more than one barrel4 ,however this may have been1 the scouts knew by marks on the trees1 made with coal mixed with grease1 that the men were not killed1 but taken prisoners4 ,one of the company1 named ,farwell1 perceiving that the turpentine had not done spreading1 concluded that the ,indians had been gone but a short time1 and they accordingly went in instant pursuit4 ,contrary to the advice of ,farwell1 following directly on their trail up the ,merrimack1 they fell into an ambuscade near ,thornton's ,ferry1 in the present town of ,merrimack1 and nine were killed1 only one1 ,farwell1 escaping after a vigorous pursuit4 ,the men of ,dunstable went out and picked up their bodies1 and carried them all down to ,dunstable and buried them4 ,it is almost word for word as in the ,robin ,hood ballad3-- 8,they carried these foresters into fair ,nottingham1 ,as many there did know1 ,they digged them graves in their churchyard1 ,and they buried them all a-row40 ,nottingham is only the other side of the river1 and they were not exactly all a-row4 ,you may read in the churchyard at ,dunstable1 under the 8,memento ,mori10 and the name of one of them1 how they 8departed this life10 and 8,this man with seven more that lies in this grave was slew all in a day by the ,indians40 ,the stones of some others of the company stand around the common grave with their separate inscriptions4 ,eight were buried here1 but nine were killed1 according to the best authorities4 8,gentle river1 gentle river1 ,lo1 thy streams are stained with gore1 ,many a brave and noble captain ,floats along thy willowed shore4 8,all beside thy limpid waters1 ,all beside thy sands so bright1 ,indian ,chiefs and ,christian warriors ,joined in fierce and mortal fight40 ,it is related in the ,history of ,dunstable1 that on the return of ,farwell the ,indians were engaged by a fresh party which they compelled to retreat1 and pursued as far as the ,nashua1 where they fought across the stream at its mouth4 ,after the departure of the ,indians1 the figure of an ,indian's head was found carved by them on a large tree by the shore1 which circumstance has given its name to this part of the village of ,nashville1--the 8,indian ,head40 8,it was observed by some judicious10 says ,gookin1 referring to ,philip's war1 8that at the beginning of the war the ,english soldiers made a nothing of the ,indians1 and many spake words to this effect3 that one ,englishman was sufficient to chase ten ,indians2 many reckoned it was no other but ,veni1 vidi1 vici40 ,but we may conclude that the judicious would by this time have made a different observation4 ,farwell appears to have been the only one who had studied his profession1 and understood the business of hunting ,indians4 ,he lived to fight another day1 for the next year he was ,lovewell's lieutenant at ,pequawket1 but that time1 as we have related1 he left his bones in the wilderness4 ,his name still reminds us of twilight days and forest scouts on ,indian trails1 with an uneasy scalp2--an indispensable hero to ,new ,england4 ,as the more recent poet of ,lovewell's fight has sung1 halting a little but bravely still3-- 8,then did the crimson streams that flowed ,seem like the waters of the brook1 ,that brightly shine1 that loudly dash1 ,far down the cliffs of ,agiochook40 ,these battles sound incredible to us4 ,i think that posterity will doubt if such things ever were2 if our bold ancestors who settled this land were not struggling rather with the forest shadows1 and not with a copper-colored race of men4 ,they were vapors1 fever and ague of the unsettled woods4 ,now1 only a few arrow-heads are turned up by the plough4 ,in the ,pelasgic1 the ,etruscan1 or the ,british story1 there is nothing so shadowy and unreal4 ,it is a wild and antiquated looking graveyard1 overgrown with bushes1 on the high-road1 about a quarter of a mile from and overlooking the ,merrimack1 with a deserted mill-stream bounding it on one side1 where lie the earthly remains of the ancient inhabitants of ,dunstable4 ,we passed it three or four miles below here4 ,you may read there the names of ,lovewell1 ,farwell1 and many others whose families were distinguished in ,indian warfare4 ,we noticed there two large masses of granite more than a foot thick and rudely squared1 lying flat on the ground over the remains of the first pastor and his wife4 ,it is remarkable that the dead lie everywhere under stones1-- 8,strata jacent passim suo quque sub0 lapide-- corpora1 we might say1 if the measure allowed4 ,when the stone is a slight one1 it does not oppress the spirits of the traveller to meditate by it2 but these did seem a little heathenish to us2 and so are all large monuments over men's bodies1 from the pyramids down4 ,a monument should at least be 8star-y-pointing10 to indicate whither the spirit is gone1 and not prostrate1 like the body it has deserted4 ,there have been some nations who could do nothing but construct tombs1 and these are the only traces which they have left4 ,they are the heathen4 ,but why these stones1 so upright and emphatic1 like exclamation-points8 ,what was there so remarkable that lived8 ,why should the monument be so much more enduring than the fame which it is designed to perpetuate1--a stone to a bone8 8,here lies10--8,here lies02--why do they not sometimes write1 ,there rises8 ,is it a monument to the body only that is intended8 8,having reached the term of his natural life02--would it not be truer to say1 ,having reached the term of his unnatural life8 ,the rarest quality in an epitaph is truth4 ,if any character is given1 it should be as severely true as the decision of the three judges below1 and not the partial testimony of friends4 ,friends and contemporaries should supply only the name and date1 and leave it to posterity to write the epitaph4 ,here lies an honest man1 ,rear-,admiral ,van4 ------ ,faith1 then ye have ,two in one grave1 ,for in his favor1 ,here too lies the ,engraver4 ,fame itself is but an epitaph2 as late1 as false1 as true4 ,but they only are the true epitaphs which ,old ,mortality retouches4 ,a man might well pray that he may not taboo or curse any portion of nature by being buried in it4 ,for the most part1 the best man's spirit makes a fearful sprite to haunt his grave1 and it is therefore much to the credit of ,little ,john1 the famous follower of ,robin ,hood1 and reflecting favorably on his character1 that his grave was 8long celebrous for the yielding of excellent whetstones40 ,i confess that ,i have but little love for such collections as they have at the ,catacombs1 ,pre la ,chaise1 ,mount ,auburn1 and even this ,dunstable graveyard4 ,at any rate1 nothing but great antiquity can make graveyards interesting to me4 ,i have no friends there4 ,it may be that ,i am not competent to write the poetry of the grave4 ,the farmer who has skimmed his farm might perchance leave his body to ,nature to be ploughed in1 and in some measure restore its fertility4 ,we should not retard but forward her economies4 ,soon the village of ,nashua was out of sight1 and the woods were gained again1 and we rowed slowly on before sunset1 looking for a solitary place in which to spend the night4 ,a few evening clouds began to be reflected in the water and the surface was dimpled only here and there by a muskrat crossing the stream4 ,we camped at length near ,penichook ,brook1 on the confines of what is now ,nashville1 by a deep ravine1 under the skirts of a pine wood1 where the dead pine-leaves were our carpet1 and their tawny boughs stretched overhead4 ,but fire and smoke soon tamed the scene2 the rocks consented to be our walls1 and the pines our roof4 ,a woodside was already the fittest locality for us4 ,the wilderness is near as well as dear to every man4 ,even the oldest villages are indebted to the border of wild wood which surrounds them1 more than to the gardens of men4 ,there is something indescribably inspiriting and beautiful in the aspect of the forest skirting and occasionally jutting into the midst of new towns1 which1 like the sand-heaps of fresh fox-burrows1 have sprung up in their midst4 ,the very uprightness of the pines and maples asserts the ancient rectitude and vigor of nature4 ,our lives need the relief of such a background1 where the pine flourishes and the jay still screams4 ,we had found a safe harbor for our boat1 and as the sun was setting carried up our furniture1 and soon arranged our house upon the bank1 and while the kettle steamed at the tent door1 we chatted of distant friends and of the sights which we were to behold1 and wondered which way the towns lay from us4 ,our cocoa was soon boiled1 and supper set upon our chest1 and we lengthened out this meal1 like old voyageurs1 with our talk4 ,meanwhile we spread the map on the ground1 and read in the ,gazetteer when the first settlers came here and got a township granted4 ,then1 when supper was done and we had written the journal of our voyage1 we wrapped our buffaloes about us and lay down with our heads pillowed on our arms listening awhile to the distant baying of a dog1 or the murmurs of the river1 or to the wind1 which had not gone to rest3-- ,the western wind came lumbering in1 ,bearing a faint ,pacific din1 ,our evening mail1 swift at the call ,of its ,postmaster ,general2 ,laden with news from ,californ'1 ,whate'er transpired hath since morn1 ,how wags the world by brier and brake ,from hence to ,athabasca ,lake2-- or half awake and half asleep1 dreaming of a star which glimmered through our cotton roof4 ,perhaps at midnight one was awakened by a cricket shrilly singing on his shoulder1 or by a hunting spider in his eye1 and was lulled asleep again by some streamlet purling its way along at the bottom of a wooded and rocky ravine in our neighborhood4 ,it was pleasant to lie with our heads so low in the grass1 and hear what a tinkling ever-busy laboratory it was4 ,a thousand little artisans beat on their anvils all night long4 ,far in the night as we were falling asleep on the bank of the ,merrimack1 we heard some tyro beating a drum incessantly1 in preparation for a country muster1 as we learned1 and we thought of the line1-- 8,when the drum beat at dead of night40 ,we could have assured him that his beat would be answered1 and the forces be mustered4 ,fear not1 thou drummer of the night1 we too will be there4 ,and still he drummed on in the silence and the dark4 ,this stray sound from a far-off sphere came to our ears from time to time1 far1 sweet1 and significant1 and we listened with such an unprejudiced sense as if for the first time we heard at all4 ,no doubt he was an insignificant drummer enough1 but his music afforded us a prime and leisure hour1 and we felt that we were in season wholly4 ,these simple sounds related us to the stars4 ,ay1 there was a logic in them so convincing that the combined sense of mankind could never make me doubt their conclusions4 ,i stop my habitual thinking1 as if the plough had suddenly run deeper in its furrow through the crust of the world4 ,how can ,i go on1 who have just stepped over such a bottomless skylight in the bog of my life4 ,suddenly old ,time winked at me1--,ah1 you know me1 you rogue1--and news had come that ,,it was well4 ,that ancient universe is in such capital health1 ,i think undoubtedly it will never die4 ,heal yourselves1 doctors2 by ,god1 ,i live4 ,then idle ,time ran gadding by ,and left me with ,eternity alone2 ,i hear beyond the range of sound1 ,i see beyond the verge of sight1-- ,i see1 smell1 taste1 hear1 feel1 that everlasting ,something to which we are allied1 at once our maker1 our abode1 our destiny1 our very ,selves2 the one historic truth1 the most remarkable fact which can become the distinct and uninvited subject of our thought1 the actual glory of the universe2 the only fact which a human being cannot avoid recognizing1 or in some way forget or dispense with4 ,it doth expand my privacies ,to all1 and leave me single in the crowd4 ,i have seen how the foundations of the world are laid1 and ,i have not the least doubt that it will stand a good while4 ,now chiefly is my natal hour1 ,and only now my prime of life4 ,i will not doubt the love untold1 ,which not my worth nor want hath bought1 ,which wooed me young and wooes me old1 ,and to this evening hath me brought4 ,what are ears8 what is ,time8 that this particular series of sounds called a strain of music1 an invisible and fairy troop which never brushed the dew from any mead1 can be wafted down through the centuries from ,homer to me1 and he have been conversant with that same aerial and mysterious charm which now so tingles my ears8 ,what a fine communication from age to age1 of the fairest and noblest thoughts1 the aspirations of ancient men1 even such as were never communicated by speech1 is music6 ,it is the flower of language1 thought colored and curved1 fluent and flexible1 its crystal fountain tinged with the sun's rays1 and its purling ripples reflecting the grass and the clouds4 ,a strain of music reminds me of a passage of the ,vedas1 and ,i associate with it the idea of infinite remoteness1 as well as of beauty and serenity1 for to the senses that is farthest from us which addresses the greatest depth within us4 ,it teaches us again and again to trust the remotest and finest as the divinest instinct1 and makes a dream our only real experience4 ,we feel a sad cheer when we hear it1 perchance because we that hear are not one with that which is heard4 ,therefore a torrent of sadness deep1 ,through the strains of thy triumph is heard to sweep4 ,the sadness is ours4 ,the ,indian poet ,calidas says in the ,sacontala3 8,perhaps the sadness of men on seeing beautiful forms and hearing sweet music arises from some faint remembrance of past joys1 and the traces of connections in a former state of existence40 ,as polishing expresses the vein in marble1 and grain in wood1 so music brings out what of heroic lurks anywhere4 ,the hero is the sole patron of music4 ,that harmony which exists naturally between the hero's moods and the universe the soldier would fain imitate with drum and trumpet4 ,when we are in health all sounds fife and drum for us2 we hear the notes of music in the air1 or catch its echoes dying away when we awake in the dawn4 ,marching is when the pulse of the hero beats in unison with the pulse of ,nature1 and he steps to the measure of the universe2 then there is true courage and invincible strength4 ,plutarch says that 8,plato thinks the gods never gave men music1 the science of melody and harmony1 for mere delectation or to tickle the ear2 but that the discordant parts of the circulations and beauteous fabric of the soul1 and that of it that roves about the body1 and many times1 for want of tune and air1 breaks forth into many extravagances and excesses1 might be sweetly recalled and artfully wound up to their former consent and agreement40 ,music is the sound of the universal laws promulgated4 ,it is the only assured tone4 ,there are in it such strains as far surpass any man's faith in the loftiness of his destiny4 ,things are to be learned which it will be worth the while to learn4 ,formerly ,i heard these ,,rumors ,,from ,,an ,,olian ,,harp4 ,there is a vale which none hath seen1 ,where foot of man has never been1 ,such as here lives with toil and strife1 ,an anxious and a sinful life4 ,there every virtue has its birth1 ,ere it descends upon the earth1 ,and thither every deed returns1 ,which in the generous bosom burns4 ,there love is warm1 and youth is young1 ,and poetry is yet unsung1 ,for ,virtue still adventures there1 ,and freely breathes her native air4 ,and ever1 if you hearken well1 ,you still may hear its vesper bell1 ,and tread of high-souled men go by1 ,their thoughts conversing with the sky4 ,according to ,jamblichus1 8,pythagoras did not procure for himself a thing of this kind through instruments or the voice1 but employing a certain ineffable divinity1 and which it is difficult to apprehend1 he extended his ears and fixed his intellect in the sublime symphonies of the world1 he alone hearing and understanding1 as it appears1 the universal harmony and consonance of the spheres1 and the stars that are moved through them1 and which produce a fuller and more intense melody than anything effected by mortal sounds40 ,travelling on foot very early one morning due east from here about twenty miles1 from ,caleb ,harriman's tavern in ,hampstead toward ,haverhill1 when ,i reached the railroad in ,plaistow1 ,i heard at some distance a faint music in the air like an olian harp1 which ,i immediately suspected to proceed from the cord of the telegraph vibrating in the just awakening morning wind1 and applying my ear to one of the posts ,i was convinced that it was so4 ,it was the telegraph harp singing its message through the country1 its message sent not by men1 but by gods4 ,perchance1 like the statue of ,memnon1 it resounds only in the morning1 when the first rays of the sun fall on it4 ,it was like the first lyre or shell heard on the sea-shore1--that vibrating cord high in the air over the shores of earth4 ,so have all things their higher and their lower uses4 ,i heard a fairer news than the journals ever print4 ,it told of things worthy to hear1 and worthy of the electric fluid to carry the news of1 not of the price of cotton and flour1 but it hinted at the price of the world itself and of things which are priceless1 of absolute truth and beauty4 ,still the drum rolled on1 and stirred our blood to fresh extravagance that night4 ,the clarion sound and clang of corselet and buckler were heard from many a hamlet of the soul1 and many a knight was arming for the fight behind the encamped stars4 8,before each van ,prick forth the aery knights1 and couch their spears ,till thickest legions close2 with feats of arms ,from either end of ,heaven the welkin burns40 ---------- ,away6 away6 away6 away6 ,ye have not kept your secret well1 ,i will abide that other day1 ,those other lands ye tell4 ,has time no leisure left for these1 ,the acts that ye rehearse8 ,is not eternity a lease ,for better deeds than verse8 ',t is sweet to hear of heroes dead1 ,to know them still alive1 ,but sweeter if we earn their bread1 ,and in us they survive4 ,our life should feed the springs of fame ,with a perennial wave4 ,as ocean feeds the babbling founts ,which find in it their grave4 ,ye skies drop gently round my breast1 ,and be my corselet blue1 ,ye earth receive my lance in rest1 ,my faithful charger you2 ,ye stars my spear-heads in the sky1 ,my arrow-tips ye are2 ,i see the routed foemen fly1 ,my bright spears fixed are4 ,give me an angel for a foe1 ,fix now the place and time1 ,and straight to meet him ,i will go ,above the starry chime4 ,and with our clashing bucklers' clang ,the heavenly spheres shall ring1 ,while bright the northern lights shall hang ,beside our tourneying4 ,and if she lose her champion true1 ,tell ,heaven not despair1 ,for ,i will be her champion new1 ,her fame ,i will repair4 ,there was a high wind this night1 which we afterwards learned had been still more violent elsewhere1 and had done much injury to the cornfields far and near2 but we only heard it sigh from time to time1 as if it had no license to shake the foundations of our tent2 the pines murmured1 the water rippled1 and the tent rocked a little1 but we only laid our ears closer to the ground1 while the blast swept on to alarm other men1 and long before sunrise we were ready to pursue our voyage as usual4 ,,tuesday 8,on either side the river lie ,long fields of barley and of rye1 ,that clothe the wold and meet the sky2 ,and through the fields the road runs by ,to many-towered ,camelot40 ,,tennyson4 ,long before daylight we ranged abroad1 hatchet in hand1 in search of fuel1 and made the yet slumbering and dreaming wood resound with our blows4 ,then with our fire we burned up a portion of the loitering night1 while the kettle sang its homely strain to the morning star4 ,we tramped about the shore1 waked all the muskrats1 and scared up the bittern and birds that were asleep upon their roosts2 we hauled up and upset our boat and washed it and rinsed out the clay1 talking aloud as if it were broad day1 until at length1 by three o'clock1 we had completed our preparations and were ready to pursue our voyage as usual2 so1 shaking the clay from our feet1 we pushed into the fog4 ,though we were enveloped in mist as usual1 we trusted that there was a bright day behind it4 ,ply the oars6 away6 away6 ,in each dew-drop of the morning ,lies the promise of a day4 ,rivers from the sunrise flow1 ,springing with the dewy morn2 ,voyageurs 'gainst time do row1 ,idle noon nor sunset know1 ,ever even with the dawn4 ,belknap1 the historian of this ,state1 says that1 8,in the neighborhood of fresh rivers and ponds1 a whitish fog in the morning lying over the water is a sure indication of fair weather for that day2 and when no fog is seen1 rain is expected before night40 ,that which seemed to us to invest the world was only a narrow and shallow wreath of vapor stretched over the channel of the ,merrimack from the seaboard to the mountains4 ,more extensive fogs1 however1 have their own limits4 ,i once saw the day break from the top of ,saddle-back ,mountain in ,massachusetts1 above the clouds4 ,as we cannot distinguish objects through this dense fog1 let me tell this story more at length4 ,i had come over the hills on foot and alone in serene summer days1 plucking the raspberries by the wayside1 and occasionally buying a loaf of bread at a farmer's house1 with a knapsack on my back which held a few traveller's books and a change of clothing1 and a staff in my hand4 ,i had that morning looked down from the ,hoosack ,mountain1 where the road crosses it1 on the village of ,north ,adams in the valley three miles away under my feet1 showing how uneven the earth may sometimes be1 and making it seem an accident that it should ever be level and convenient for the feet of man4 ,putting a little rice and sugar and a tin cup into my knapsack at this village1 ,i began in the afternoon to ascend the mountain1 whose summit is three thousand six hundred feet above the level of the sea1 and was seven or eight miles distant by the path4 ,my route lay up a long and spacious valley called the ,bellows1 because the winds rush up or down it with violence in storms1 sloping up to the very clouds between the principal range and a lower mountain4 ,there were a few farms scattered along at different elevations1 each commanding a fine prospect of the mountains to the north1 and a stream ran down the middle of the valley on which near the head there was a mill4 ,it seemed a road for the pilgrim to enter upon who would climb to the gates of heaven4 ,now ,i crossed a hay-field1 and now over the brook on a slight bridge1 still gradually ascending all the while with a sort of awe1 and filled with indefinite expectations as to what kind of inhabitants and what kind of nature ,i should come to at last4 ,it now seemed some advantage that the earth was uneven1 for one could not imagine a more noble position for a farm-house than this vale afforded1 farther from or nearer to its head1 from a glen-like seclusion overlooking the country at a great elevation between these two mountain walls4 ,it reminded me of the homesteads of the ,huguenots1 on ,staten ,island1 off the coast of ,new ,jersey4 ,the hills in the interior of this island1 though comparatively low1 are penetrated in various directions by similar sloping valleys on a humble scale1 gradually narrowing and rising to the centre1 and at the head of these the ,huguenots1 who were the first settlers1 placed their houses quite within the land1 in rural and sheltered places1 in leafy recesses where the breeze played with the poplar and the gum-tree1 from which1 with equal security in calm and storm1 they looked out through a widening vista1 over miles of forest and stretching salt marsh1 to the ,huguenot's ,tree1 an old elm on the shore at whose root they had landed1 and across the spacious outer bay of ,new ,york to ,sandy ,hook and the ,highlands of ,neversink1 and thence over leagues of the ,atlantic1 perchance to some faint vessel in the horizon1 almost a day's sail on her voyage to that ,europe whence they had come4 ,when walking in the interior there1 in the midst of rural scenery1 where there was as little to remind me of the ocean as amid the ,new ,hampshire hills1 ,i have suddenly1 through a gap1 a cleft or 8clove road10 as the ,dutch settlers called it1 caught sight of a ship under full sail1 over a field of corn1 twenty or thirty miles at sea4 ,the effect was similar1 since ,i had no means of measuring distances1 to seeing a painted ship passed backwards and forwards through a magic-lantern4 ,but to return to the mountain4 ,it seemed as if he must be the most singular and heavenly minded man whose dwelling stood highest up the valley4 ,the thunder had rumbled at my heels all the way1 but the shower passed off in another direction1 though if it had not1 ,i half believed that ,i should get above it4 ,i at length reached the last house but one1 where the path to the summit diverged to the right1 while the summit itself rose directly in front4 ,but ,i determined to follow up the valley to its head1 and then find my own route up the steep as the shorter and more adventurous way4 ,i had thoughts of returning to this house1 which was well kept and so nobly placed1 the next day1 and perhaps remaining a week there1 if ,i could have entertainment4 ,its mistress was a frank and hospitable young woman1 who stood before me in a dishabille1 busily and unconcernedly combing her long black hair while she talked1 giving her head the necessary toss with each sweep of the comb1 with lively1 sparkling eyes1 and full of interest in that lower world from which ,i had come1 talking all the while as familiarly as if she had known me for years1 and reminding me of a cousin of mine4 ,she at first had taken me for a student from ,williamstown1 for they went by in parties1 she said1 either riding or walking1 almost every pleasant day1 and were a pretty wild set of fellows2 but they never went by the way ,i was going4 ,as ,i passed the last house1 a man called out to know what ,i had to sell1 for seeing my knapsack1 he thought that ,i might be a pedler who was taking this unusual route over the ridge of the valley into ,south ,adams4 ,he told me that it was still four or five miles to the summit by the path which ,i had left1 though not more than two in a straight line from where ,i was1 but that nobody ever went this way2 there was no path1 and ,i should find it as steep as the roof of a house4 ,but ,i knew that ,i was more used to woods and mountains than he1 and went along through his cow-yard1 while he1 looking at the sun1 shouted after me that ,i should not get to the top that night4 ,i soon reached the head of the valley1 but as ,i could not see the summit from this point1 ,i ascended a low mountain on the opposite side1 and took its bearing with my compass4 ,i at once entered the woods1 and began to climb the steep side of the mountain in a diagonal direction1 taking the bearing of a tree every dozen rods4 ,the ascent was by no means difficult or unpleasant1 and occupied much less time than it would have taken to follow the path4 ,even country people1 ,i have observed1 magnify the difficulty of travelling in the forest1 and especially among mountains4 ,they seem to lack their usual common sense in this4 ,i have climbed several higher mountains without guide or path1 and have found1 as might be expected1 that it takes only more time and patience commonly than to travel the smoothest highway4 ,it is very rare that you meet with obstacles in this world which the humblest man has not faculties to surmount4 ,it is true we may come to a perpendicular precipice1 but we need not jump off nor run our heads against it4 ,a man may jump down his own cellar stairs or dash his brains out against his chimney1 if he is mad4 ,so far as my experience goes1 travellers generally exaggerate the difficulties of the way4 ,like most evil1 the difficulty is imaginary2 for what's the hurry8 ,if a person lost would conclude that after all he is not lost1 he is not beside himself1 but standing in his own old shoes on the very spot where he is1 and that for the time being he will live there2 but the places that have known him1 they are lost1--how much anxiety and danger would vanish4 ,i am not alone if ,i stand by myself4 ,who knows where in space this globe is rolling8 ,yet we will not give ourselves up for lost1 let it go where it will4 ,i made my way steadily upward in a straight line through a dense undergrowth of mountain laurel1 until the trees began to have a scraggy and infernal look1 as if contending with frost goblins1 and at length ,i reached the summit1 just as the sun was setting4 ,several acres here had been cleared1 and were covered with rocks and stumps1 and there was a rude observatory in the middle which overlooked the woods4 ,i had one fair view of the country before the sun went down1 but ,i was too thirsty to waste any light in viewing the prospect1 and set out directly to find water4 ,first1 going down a well-beaten path for half a mile through the low scrubby wood1 till ,i came to where the water stood in the tracks of the horses which had carried travellers up1 ,i lay down flat1 and drank these dry1 one after another1 a pure1 cold1 spring-like water1 but yet ,i could not fill my dipper1 though ,i contrived little siphons of grass-stems1 and ingenious aqueducts on a small scale2 it was too slow a process4 ,then remembering that ,i had passed a moist place near the top1 on my way up1 ,i returned to find it again1 and here1 with sharp stones and my hands1 in the twilight1 ,i made a well about two feet deep1 which was soon filled with pure cold water1 and the birds too came and drank at it4 ,so ,i filled my dipper1 and1 making my way back to the observatory1 collected some dry sticks1 and made a fire on some flat stones which had been placed on the floor for that purpose1 and so ,i soon cooked my supper of rice1 having already whittled a wooden spoon to eat it with4 ,i sat up during the evening1 reading by the light of the fire the scraps of newspapers in which some party had wrapped their luncheon2 the prices current in ,new ,york and ,boston1 the advertisements1 and the singular editorials which some had seen fit to publish1 not foreseeing under what critical circumstances they would be read4 ,i read these things at a vast advantage there1 and it seemed to me that the advertisements1 or what is called the business part of a paper1 were greatly the best1 the most useful1 natural1 and respectable4 ,almost all the opinions and sentiments expressed were so little considered1 so shallow and flimsy1 that ,i thought the very texture of the paper must be weaker in that part and tear the more easily4 ,the advertisements and the prices current were more closely allied to nature1 and were respectable in some measure as tide and meteorological tables are2 but the reading-matter1 which ,i remembered was most prized down below1 unless it was some humble record of science1 or an extract from some old classic1 struck me as strangely whimsical1 and crude1 and one-idea'd1 like a school-boy's theme1 such as youths write and after burn4 ,the opinions were of that kind that are doomed to wear a different aspect to-morrow1 like last year's fashions2 as if mankind were very green indeed1 and would be ashamed of themselves in a few years1 when they had outgrown this verdant period4 ,there was1 moreover1 a singular disposition to wit and humor1 but rarely the slightest real success2 and the apparent success was a terrible satire on the attempt2 the ,evil ,genius of man laughed the loudest at his best jokes4 ,the advertisements1 as ,i have said1 such as were serious1 and not of the modern quack kind1 suggested pleasing and poetic thoughts2 for commerce is really as interesting as nature4 ,the very names of the commodities were poetic1 and as suggestive as if they had been inserted in a pleasing poem1--,lumber1 ,cotton1 ,sugar1 ,hides1 ,guano1 ,logwood4 ,some sober1 private1 and original thought would have been grateful to read there1 and as much in harmony with the circumstances as if it had been written on a mountain-top2 for it is of a fashion which never changes1 and as respectable as hides and logwood1 or any natural product4 ,what an inestimable companion such a scrap of paper would have been1 containing some fruit of a mature life4 ,what a relic6 ,what a recipe6 ,it seemed a divine invention1 by which not mere shining coin1 but shining and current thoughts1 could be brought up and left there4 ,as it was cold1 ,i collected quite a pile of wood and lay down on a board against the side of the building1 not having any blanket to cover me1 with my head to the fire1 that ,i might look after it1 which is not the ,indian rule4 ,but as it grew colder towards midnight1 ,i at length encased myself completely in boards1 managing even to put a board on top of me1 with a large stone on it1 to keep it down1 and so slept comfortably4 ,i was reminded1 it is true1 of the ,irish children1 who inquired what their neighbors did who had no door to put over them in winter nights as they had2 but ,i am convinced that there was nothing very strange in the inquiry4 ,those who have never tried it can have no idea how far a door1 which keeps the single blanket down1 may go toward making one comfortable4 ,we are constituted a good deal like chickens1 which taken from the hen1 and put in a basket of cotton in the chimney-corner1 will often peep till they die1 nevertheless1 but if you put in a book1 or anything heavy1 which will press down the cotton1 and feel like the hen1 they go to sleep directly4 ,my only companions were the mice1 which came to pick up the crumbs that had been left in those scraps of paper2 still1 as everywhere1 pensioners on man1 and not unwisely improving this elevated tract for their habitation4 ,they nibbled what was for them2 ,i nibbled what was for me4 ,once or twice in the night1 when ,i looked up1 ,i saw a white cloud drifting through the windows1 and filling the whole upper story4 ,this observatory was a building of considerable size1 erected by the students of ,williamstown ,college1 whose buildings might be seen by daylight gleaming far down in the valley4 ,it would be no small advantage if every college were thus located at the base of a mountain1 as good at least as one well-endowed professorship4 ,it were as well to be educated in the shadow of a mountain as in more classical shades4 ,some will remember1 no doubt1 not only that they went to the college1 but that they went to the mountain4 ,every visit to its summit would1 as it were1 generalize the particular information gained below1 and subject it to more catholic tests4 ,i was up early and perched upon the top of this tower to see the daybreak1 for some time reading the names that had been engraved there1 before ,i could distinguish more distant objects4 ,an 8untamable fly0 buzzed at my elbow with the same nonchalance as on a molasses hogshead at the end of ,long ,wharf4 ,even there ,i must attend to his stale humdrum4 ,but now ,i come to the pith of this long digression4--,as the light increased ,i discovered around me an ocean of mist1 which by chance reached up exactly to the base of the tower1 and shut out every vestige of the earth1 while ,i was left floating on this fragment of the wreck of a world1 on my carved plank1 in cloudland2 a situation which required no aid from the imagination to render it impressive4 ,as the light in the east steadily increased1 it revealed to me more clearly the new world into which ,i had risen in the night1 the new terra firma perchance of my future life4 ,there was not a crevice left through which the trivial places we name ,massachusetts or ,vermont or ,new ,york could be seen1 while ,i still inhaled the clear atmosphere of a ,july morning1--if it were ,july there4 ,all around beneath me was spread for a hundred miles on every side1 as far as the eye could reach1 an undulating country of clouds1 answering in the varied swell of its surface to the terrestrial world it veiled4 ,it was such a country as we might see in dreams1 with all the delights of paradise4 ,there were immense snowy pastures1 apparently smooth-shaven and firm1 and shady vales between the vaporous mountains2 and far in the horizon ,i could see where some luxurious misty timber jutted into the prairie1 and trace the windings of a water-course1 some unimagined ,amazon or ,orinoko1 by the misty trees on its brink4 ,as there was wanting the symbol1 so there was not the substance of impurity1 no spot nor stain4 ,it was a favor for which to be forever silent to be shown this vision4 ,the earth beneath had become such a flitting thing of lights and shadows as the clouds had been before4 ,it was not merely veiled to me1 but it had passed away like the phantom of a shadow1 1 and this new platform was gained4 ,as ,i had climbed above storm and cloud1 so by successive days' journeys ,i might reach the region of eternal day1 beyond the tapering shadow of the earth2 ay1 8,heaven itself shall slide1 ,and roll away1 like melting stars that glide ,along their oily threads40 ,but when its own sun began to rise on this pure world1 ,i found myself a dweller in the dazzling halls of ,aurora1 into which poets have had but a partial glance over the eastern hills1 drifting amid the saffron-colored clouds1 and playing with the rosy fingers of the ,dawn1 in the very path of the ,sun's chariot1 and sprinkled with its dewy dust1 enjoying the benignant smile1 and near at hand the far-darting glances of the god4 ,the inhabitants of earth behold commonly but the dark and shadowy under-side of heaven's pavement2 it is only when seen at a favorable angle in the horizon1 morning or evening1 that some faint streaks of the rich lining of the clouds are revealed4 ,but my muse would fail to convey an impression of the gorgeous tapestry by which ,i was surrounded1 such as men see faintly reflected afar off in the chambers of the east4 ,here1 as on earth1 ,i saw the gracious god 8,flatter the mountain-tops with sovereign eye1 4 4 4 4 4 4 ,gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy40 ,but never here did 8,heaven's sun0 stain himself4 ,but1 alas1 owing1 as ,i think1 to some unworthiness in myself1 my private sun did stain himself1 and 8,anon permit the basest clouds to ride ,with ugly wrack on his celestial face10-- for before the god had reached the zenith the heavenly pavement rose and embraced my wavering virtue1 or rather ,i sank down again into that 8forlorn world10 from which the celestial sun had hid his visage1-- 8,how may a worm that crawls along the dust1 ,clamber the azure mountains1 thrown so high1 ,and fetch from thence thy fair idea just1 ,that in those sunny courts doth hidden lie1 ,clothed with such light as blinds the angel's eye8 ,how may weak mortal ever hope to file ,his unsmooth tongue1 and his deprostrate style8 ,o1 raise thou from his corse thy now entombed exile60 ,in the preceding evening ,i had seen the summits of new and yet higher mountains1 the ,catskills1 by which ,i might hope to climb to heaven again1 and had set my compass for a fair lake in the southwest1 which lay in my way1 for which ,i now steered1 descending the mountain by my own route1 on the side opposite to that by which ,i had ascended1 and soon found myself in the region of cloud and drizzling rain1 and the inhabitants affirmed that it had been a cloudy and drizzling day wholly4 ,but now we must make haste back before the fog disperses to the blithe ,merrimack water4 ,since that first 8,away6 away60 ,many a lengthy reach we've rowed1 ,still the sparrow on the spray ,hastes to usher in the day ,with her simple stanza'd ode4 ,we passed a canal-boat before sunrise1 groping its way to the seaboard1 and1 though we could not see it on account of the fog1 the few dull1 thumping1 stertorous sounds which we heard1 impressed us with a sense of weight and irresistible motion4 ,one little rill of commerce already awake on this distant ,new ,hampshire river4 ,the fog1 as it required more skill in the steering1 enhanced the interest of our early voyage1 and made the river seem indefinitely broad4 ,a slight mist1 through which objects are faintly visible1 has the effect of expanding even ordinary streams1 by a singular mirage1 into arms of the sea or inland lakes4 ,in the present instance it was even fragrant and invigorating1 and we enjoyed it as a sort of earlier sunshine1 or dewy and embryo light4 ,low-anchored cloud1 ,newfoundland air1 ,fountain-head and source of rivers1 ,dew-cloth1 dream drapery1 ,and napkin spread by fays2 ,drifting meadow of the air1 ,where bloom the daisied banks and violets1 ,and in whose fenny labyrinth ,the bittern booms and heron wades2 ,spirit of lakes and seas and rivers1 ,bear only perfumes and the scent ,of healing herbs to just men's fields6 ,the same pleasant and observant historian whom we quoted above says1 that1 8,in the mountainous parts of the country1 the ascent of vapors1 and their formation into clouds1 is a curious and entertaining object4 ,the vapors are seen rising in small columns like smoke from many chimneys4 ,when risen to a certain height1 they spread1 meet1 condense1 and are attracted to the mountains1 where they either distil in gentle dews1 and replenish the springs1 or descend in showers1 accompanied with thunder4 ,after short intermissions1 the process is repeated many times in the course of a summer day1 affording to travellers a lively illustration of what is observed in the ,book of ,job1 #8,they are wet with the showers of the mountains4'0 ,fogs and clouds which conceal the overshadowing mountains lend the breadth of the plains to mountain vales4 ,even a small-featured country acquires some grandeur in stormy weather when clouds are seen drifting between the beholder and the neighboring hills4 ,when1 in travelling toward ,haverhill through ,hampstead in this ,state1 on the height of land between the ,merrimack and the ,piscataqua or the sea1 you commence the descent eastward1 the view toward the coast is so distant and unexpected1 though the sea is invisible1 that you at first suppose the unobstructed atmosphere to be a fog in the lowlands concealing hills of corresponding elevation to that you are upon2 but it is the mist of prejudice alone1 which the winds will not disperse4 ,the most stupendous scenery ceases to be sublime when it becomes distinct1 or in other words limited1 and the imagination is no longer encouraged to exaggerate it4 ,the actual height and breadth of a mountain or a waterfall are always ridiculously small2 they are the imagined only that content us4 ,nature is not made after such a fashion as we would have her4 ,we piously exaggerate her wonders1 as the scenery around our home4 ,such was the heaviness of the dews along this river that we were generally obliged to leave our tent spread over the bows of the boat till the sun had dried it1 to avoid mildew4 ,we passed the mouth of ,penichook ,brook1 a wild salmon-stream1 in the fog1 without seeing it4 ,at length the sun's rays struggled through the mist and showed us the pines on shore dripping with dew1 and springs trickling from the moist banks1-- 8,and now the taller sons1 whom ,titan warms1 ,of unshorn mountains blown with easy winds1 ,dandle the morning's childhood in their arms1 ,and1 if they chanced to slip the prouder pines1 ,the under corylets did catch their shines1 ,to gild their leaves40 ,we rowed for some hours between glistening banks before the sun had dried the grass and leaves1 or the day had established its character4 ,its serenity at last seemed the more profound and secure for the denseness of the morning's fog4 ,the river became swifter1 and the scenery more pleasing than before4 ,the banks were steep and clayey for the most part1 and trickling with water1 and where a spring oozed out a few feet above the river the boatmen had cut a trough out of a slab with their axes1 and placed it so as to receive the water and fill their jugs conveniently4 ,sometimes this purer and cooler water1 bursting out from under a pine or a rock1 was collected into a basin close to the edge of and level with the river1 a fountain-head of the ,merrimack4 ,so near along life's stream are the fountains of innocence and youth making fertile its sandy margin2 and the voyageur will do well to replenish his vessels often at these uncontaminated sources4 ,some youthful spring1 perchance1 still empties with tinkling music into the oldest river1 even when it is falling into the sea1 and we imagine that its music is distinguished by the river-gods from the general lapse of the stream1 and falls sweeter on their ears in proportion as it is nearer to the ocean4 ,as the evaporations of the river feed thus these unsuspected springs which filter through its banks1 so1 perchance1 our aspirations fall back again in springs on the margin of life's stream to refresh and purify it4 ,the yellow and tepid river may float his scow1 and cheer his eye with its reflections and its ripples1 but the boatman quenches his thirst at this small rill alone4 ,it is this purer and cooler element that chiefly sustains his life4 ,the race will long survive that is thus discreet4 ,our course this morning lay between the territories of ,merrimack1 on the west1 and ,litchfield1 once called ,brenton's ,farm1 on the east1 which townships were anciently the ,indian ,naticook4 ,brenton was a fur-trader among the ,indians1 and these lands were granted to him in #afef4 ,the latter township contains about five hundred inhabitants1 of whom1 however1 we saw none1 and but few of their dwellings4 ,being on the river1 whose banks are always high and generally conceal the few houses1 the country appeared much more wild and primitive than to the traveller on the neighboring roads4 ,the river is by far the most attractive highway1 and those boatmen who have spent twenty or twenty-five years on it must have had a much fairer1 more wild1 and memorable experience than the dusty and jarring one of the teamster who has driven1 during the same time1 on the roads which run parallel with the stream4 ,as one ascends the ,merrimack he rarely sees a village1 but for the most part alternate wood and pasture lands1 and sometimes a field of corn or potatoes1 of rye or oats or ,english grass1 with a few straggling apple-trees1 and1 at still longer intervals1 a farmer's house4 ,the soil1 excepting the best of the interval1 is commonly as light and sandy as a patriot could desire4 ,sometimes this forenoon the country appeared in its primitive state1 and as if the ,indian still inhabited it1 and1 again1 as if many free1 new settlers occupied it1 their slight fences straggling down to the water's edge2 and the barking of dogs1 and even the prattle of children1 were heard1 and smoke was seen to go up from some hearthstone1 and the banks were divided into patches of pasture1 mowing1 tillage1 and woodland4 ,but when the river spread out broader1 with an uninhabited islet1 or a long1 low sandy shore which ran on single and devious1 not answering to its opposite1 but far off as if it were sea-shore or single coast1 and the land no longer nursed the river in its bosom1 but they conversed as equals1 the rustling leaves with rippling waves1 and few fences were seen1 but high oak woods on one side1 and large herds of cattle1 and all tracks seemed a point to one centre behind some statelier grove1--we imagined that the river flowed through an extensive manor1 and that the few inhabitants were retainers to a lord1 and a feudal state of things prevailed4 ,when there was a suitable reach1 we caught sight of the ,goffstown mountain1 the ,indian ,uncannunuc1 rising before us on the west side4 ,it was a calm and beautiful day1 with only a slight zephyr to ripple the surface of the water1 and rustle the woods on shore1 and just warmth enough to prove the kindly disposition of ,nature to her children4 ,with buoyant spirits and vigorous impulses we tossed our boat rapidly along into the very middle of this forenoon4 ,the fish-hawk sailed and screamed overhead4 ,the chipping or striped squirrel1 ,sciurus striatus 7,tamias ,lysteri1 ,aud471 sat upon the end of some ,virginia fence or rider reaching over the stream1 twirling a green nut with one paw1 as in a lathe1 while the other held it fast against its incisors as chisels4 ,like an independent russet leaf1 with a will of its own1 rustling whither it could2 now under the fence1 now over it1 now peeping at the voyageurs through a crack with only its tail visible1 now at its lunch deep in the toothsome kernel1 and now a rod off playing at hide-and-seek1 with the nut stowed away in its chops1 where were half a dozen more besides1 extending its cheeks to a ludicrous breadth1--as if it were devising through what safe valve of frisk or somerset to let its superfluous life escape2 the stream passing harmlessly off1 even while it sits1 in constant electric flashes through its tail4 ,and now with a chuckling squeak it dives into the root of a hazel1 and we see no more of it4 ,or the larger red squirrel or chickaree1 sometimes called the ,hudson ,bay squirrel 7,scriurus ,hudsonius71 gave warning of our approach by that peculiar alarum of his1 like the winding up of some strong clock1 in the top of a pine-tree1 and dodged behind its stem1 or leaped from tree to tree with such caution and adroitness1 as if much depended on the fidelity of his scout1 running along the white-pine boughs sometimes twenty rods by our side1 with such speed1 and by such unerring routes1 as if it were some well-worn familiar path to him2 and presently1 when we have passed1 he returns to his work of cutting off the pine-cones1 and letting them fall to the ground4 ,we passed ,cromwell's ,falls1 the first we met with on this river1 this forenoon1 by means of locks1 without using our wheels4 ,these falls are the ,nesenkeag of the ,indians4 ,great ,nesenkeag ,stream comes in on the right just above1 and ,little ,nesenkeag some distance below1 both in ,litchfield4 ,we read in the ,gazetteer1 under the head of ,merrimack1 that 8,the first house in this town was erected on the margin of the river soon after #affe for a house of traffic with the ,indians4 ,for some time one ,cromwell carried on a lucrative trade with them1 weighing their furs with his foot1 till1 enraged at his supposed or real deception1 they formed the resolution to murder him4 ,this intention being communicated to ,cromwell1 he buried his wealth and made his escape4 ,within a few hours after his flight1 a party of the ,penacook tribe arrived1 and1 not finding the object of their resentment1 burnt his habitation40 ,upon the top of the high bank here1 close to the river1 was still to be seen his cellar1 now overgrown with trees4 ,it was a convenient spot for such a traffic1 at the foot of the first falls above the settlements1 and commanding a pleasant view up the river1 where he could see the ,indians coming down with their furs4 ,the lock-man told us that his shovel and tongs had been ploughed up here1 and also a stone with his name on it4 ,but we will not vouch for the truth of this story4 ,in the ,new ,hampshire ,historical ,collections for #ahae it says1 8,some time after pewter was found in the well1 and an iron pot and trammel in the sand2 the latter are preserved40 ,these were the traces of the white trader4 ,on the opposite bank1 where it jutted over the stream cape-wise1 we picked up four arrow-heads and a small ,indian tool made of stone1 as soon as we had climbed it1 where plainly there had once stood a wigwam of the ,indians with whom ,cromwell traded1 and who fished and hunted here before he came4 ,as usual the gossips have not been silent respecting ,cromwell's buried wealth1 and it is said that some years ago a farmer's plough1 not far from here1 slid over a flat stone which emitted a hollow sound1 and1 on its being raised1 a small hole six inches in diameter was discovered1 stoned about1 from which a sum of money was taken4 ,the lock-man told us another similar story about a farmer in a neighboring town1 who had been a poor man1 but who suddenly bought a good farm1 and was well to do in the world1 and1 when he was questioned1 did not give a satisfactory account of the matter2 how few1 alas1 could6 ,this caused his hired man to remember that one day1 as they were ploughing together1 the plough struck something1 and his employer1 going back to look1 concluded not to go round again1 saying that the sky looked rather lowering1 and so put up his team4 ,the like urgency has caused many things to be remembered which never transpired4 ,the truth is1 there is money buried everywhere1 and you have only to go to work to find it4 ,not far from these falls stands an oak-tree1 on the interval1 about a quarter of a mile from the river1 on the farm of a ,mr4 ,lund1 which was pointed out to us as the spot where ,french1 the leader of the party which went in pursuit of the ,indians from ,dunstable1 was killed4 ,farwell dodged them in the thick woods near4 ,it did not look as if men had ever had to run for their lives on this now open and peaceful interval4 ,here too was another extensive desert by the side of the road in ,litchfield1 visible from the bank of the river4 ,the sand was blown off in some places to the depth of ten or twelve feet1 leaving small grotesque hillocks of that height1 where there was a clump of bushes firmly rooted4 ,thirty or forty years ago1 as we were told1 it was a sheep-pasture1 but the sheep1 being worried by the fleas1 began to paw the ground1 till they broke the sod1 and so the sand began to blow1 till now it had extended over forty or fifty acres4 ,this evil might easily have been remedied1 at first1 by spreading birches with their leaves on over the sand1 and fastening them down with stakes1 to break the wind4 ,the fleas bit the sheep1 and the sheep bit the ground1 and the sore had spread to this extent4 ,it is astonishing what a great sore a little scratch breedeth4 ,who knows but ,sahara1 where caravans and cities are buried1 began with the bite of an ,african flea8 ,this poor globe1 how it must itch in many places6 ,will no god be kind enough to spread a salve of birches over its sores8 ,here too we noticed where the ,indians had gathered a heap of stones1 perhaps for their council-fire1 which1 by their weight having prevented the sand under them from blowing away1 were left on the summit of a mound4 ,they told us that arrow-heads1 and also bullets of lead and iron1 had been found here4 ,we noticed several other sandy tracts in our voyage2 and the course of the ,merrimack can be traced from the nearest mountain by its yellow sandbanks1 though the river itself is for the most part invisible4 ,lawsuits1 as we hear1 have in some cases grown out of these causes4 ,railroads have been made through certain irritable districts1 breaking their sod1 and so have set the sand to blowing1 till it has converted fertile farms into deserts1 and the company has had to pay the damages4 ,this sand seemed to us the connecting link between land and water4 ,it was a kind of water on which you could walk1 and you could see the ripple-marks on its surface1 produced by the winds1 precisely like those at the bottom of a brook or lake4 ,we had read that ,mussulmen are permitted by the ,koran to perform their ablutions in sand when they cannot get water1 a necessary indulgence in ,arabia1 and we now understood the propriety of this provision4 ,plum ,island1 at the mouth of this river1 to whose formation1 perhaps1 these very banks have sent their contribution1 is a similar desert of drifting sand1 of various colors1 blown into graceful curves by the wind4 ,it is a mere sand-bar exposed1 stretching nine miles parallel to the coast1 and1 exclusive of the marsh on the inside1 rarely more than half a mile wide4 ,there are but half a dozen houses on it1 and it is almost without a tree1 or a sod1 or any green thing with which a countryman is familiar4 ,the thin vegetation stands half buried in sand1 as in drifting snow4 ,the only shrub1 the beach-plum1 which gives the island its name1 grows but a few feet high2 but this is so abundant that parties of a hundred at once come from the main-land and down the ,merrimack1 in ,september1 pitch their tents1 and gather the plums1 which are good to eat raw and to preserve4 ,the graceful and delicate beach-pea1 too1 grows abundantly amid the sand1 and several strange1 moss-like and succulent plants4 ,the island for its whole length is scalloped into low hills1 not more than twenty feet high1 by the wind1 and1 excepting a faint trail on the edge of the marsh1 is as trackless as ,sahara4 ,there are dreary bluffs of sand and valleys ploughed by the wind1 where you might expect to discover the bones of a caravan4 ,schooners come from ,boston to load with the sand for masons' uses1 and in a few hours the wind obliterates all traces of their work4 ,yet you have only to dig a foot or two anywhere to come to fresh water2 and you are surprised to learn that woodchucks abound here1 and foxes are found1 though you see not where they can burrow or hide themselves4 ,i have walked down the whole length of its broad beach at low tide1 at which time alone you can find a firm ground to walk on1 and probably ,massachusetts does not furnish a more grand and dreary walk4 ,on the seaside there are only a distant sail and a few coots to break the grand monotony4 ,a solitary stake stuck up1 or a sharper sand-hill than usual1 is remarkable as a landmark for miles2 while for music you hear only the ceaseless sound of the surf1 and the dreary peep of the beach-birds4 ,there were several canal-boats at ,cromwell's ,falls passing through the locks1 for which we waited4 ,in the forward part of one stood a brawny ,new ,hampshire man1 leaning on his pole1 bareheaded and in shirt and trousers only1 a rude ,apollo of a man1 coming down from that 8vast uplandish country0 to the main2 of nameless age1 with flaxen hair1 and vigorous1 weather-bleached countenance1 in whose wrinkles the sun still lodged1 as little touched by the heats and frosts and withering cares of life as a maple of the mountain2 an undressed1 unkempt1 uncivil man1 with whom we parleyed awhile1 and parted not without a sincere interest in one another4 ,his humanity was genuine and instinctive1 and his rudeness only a manner4 ,he inquired1 just as we were passing out of earshot1 if we had killed anything1 and we shouted after him that we had shot a buoy1 and could see him for a long while scratching his head in vain to know if he had heard aright4 ,there is reason in the distinction of civil and uncivil4 ,the manners are sometimes so rough a rind that we doubt whether they cover any core or sap-wood at all4 ,we sometimes meet uncivil men1 children of ,amazons1 who dwell by mountain paths1 and are said to be inhospitable to strangers2 whose salutation is as rude as the grasp of their brawny hands1 and who deal with men as unceremoniously as they are wont to deal with the elements4 ,they need only to extend their clearings1 and let in more sunlight1 to seek out the southern slopes of the hills1 from which they may look down on the civil plain or ocean1 and temper their diet duly with the cereal fruits1 consuming less wild meat and acorns1 to become like the inhabitants of cities4 ,a true politeness does not result from any hasty and artificial polishing1 it is true1 but grows naturally in characters of the right grain and quality1 through a long fronting of men and events1 and rubbing on good and bad fortune4 ,perhaps ,i can tell a tale to the purpose while the lock is filling1--for our voyage this forenoon furnishes but few incidents of importance4 ,early one summer morning ,i had left the shores of the ,connecticut1 and for the livelong day travelled up the bank of a river1 which came in from the west2 now looking down on the stream1 foaming and rippling through the forest a mile off1 from the hills over which the road led1 and now sitting on its rocky brink and dipping my feet in its rapids1 or bathing adventurously in mid-channel4 ,the hills grew more and more frequent1 and gradually swelled into mountains as ,i advanced1 hemming in the course of the river1 so that at last ,i could not see where it came from1 and was at liberty to imagine the most wonderful meanderings and descents4 ,at noon ,i slept on the grass in the shade of a maple1 where the river had found a broader channel than usual1 and was spread out shallow1 with frequent sand-bars exposed4 ,in the names of the towns ,i recognized some which ,i had long ago read on teamsters' wagons1 that had come from far up country2 quiet1 uplandish towns1 of mountainous fame4 ,i walked along1 musing and enchanted1 by rows of sugar-maples1 through the small and uninquisitive villages1 and sometimes was pleased with the sight of a boat drawn up on a sand-bar1 where there appeared no inhabitants to use it4 ,it seemed1 however1 as essential to the river as a fish1 and to lend a certain dignity to it4 ,it was like the trout of mountain streams to the fishes of the sea1 or like the young of the land-crab born far in the interior1 who have never yet heard the sound of the ocean's surf4 ,the hills approached nearer and nearer to the stream1 until at last they closed behind me1 and ,i found myself just before nightfall in a romantic and retired valley1 about half a mile in length1 and barely wide enough for the stream at its bottom4 ,i thought that there could be no finer site for a cottage among mountains4 ,you could anywhere run across the stream on the rocks1 and its constant murmuring would quiet the passions of mankind forever4 ,suddenly the road1 which seemed aiming for the mountain-side1 turned short to the left1 and another valley opened1 concealing the former1 and of the same character with it4 ,it was the most remarkable and pleasing scenery ,i had ever seen4 ,i found here a few mild and hospitable inhabitants1 who1 as the day was not quite spent1 and ,i was anxious to improve the light1 directed me four or five miles farther on my way to the dwelling of a man whose name was ,rice1 who occupied the last and highest of the valleys that lay in my path1 and who1 they said1 was a rather rude and uncivil man4 ,but 8what is a foreign country to those who have science8 ,who is a stranger to those who have the habit of speaking kindly80 ,at length1 as the sun was setting behind the mountains in a still darker and more solitary vale1 ,i reached the dwelling of this man4 ,except for the narrowness of the plain1 and that the stones were solid granite1 it was the counterpart of that retreat to which ,belphbe bore the wounded ,timias1-- 8,in a pleasant glade1 ,with mountains round about environed1 ,and mighty woods1 which did the valley shade1 ,and like a stately theatre it made1 ,spreading itself into a spacious plain2 ,and in the midst a little river played ,amongst the pumy stones which seemed to plain1 ,with gentle murmur1 that his course they did restrain40 ,i observed1 as ,i drew near1 that he was not so rude as ,i had anticipated1 for he kept many cattle1 and dogs to watch them1 and ,i saw where he had made maple-sugar on the sides of the mountains1 and above all distinguished the voices of children mingling with the murmur of the torrent before the door4 ,as ,i passed his stable ,i met one whom ,i supposed to be a hired man1 attending to his cattle1 and ,i inquired if they entertained travellers at that house4 8,sometimes we do10 he answered1 gruffly1 and immediately went to the farthest stall from me1 and ,i perceived that it was ,rice himself whom ,i had addressed4 ,but pardoning this incivility to the wildness of the scenery1 ,i bent my steps to the house4 ,there was no sign-post before it1 nor any of the usual invitations to the traveller1 though ,i saw by the road that many went and came there1 but the owner's name only was fastened to the outside2 a sort of implied and sullen invitation1 as ,i thought4 ,i passed from room to room without meeting any one1 till ,i came to what seemed the guests' apartment1 which was neat1 and even had an air of refinement about it1 and ,i was glad to find a map against the wall which would direct me on my journey on the morrow4 ,at length ,i heard a step in a distant apartment1 which was the first ,i had entered1 and went to see if the landlord had come in2 but it proved to be only a child1 one of those whose voices ,i had heard1 probably his son1 and between him and me stood in the doorway a large watch-dog1 which growled at me1 and looked as if he would presently spring1 but the boy did not speak to him2 and when ,i asked for a glass of water1 he briefly said1 8,it runs in the corner40 ,so ,i took a mug from the counter and went out of doors1 and searched round the corner of the house1 but could find neither well nor spring1 nor any water but the stream which ran all along the front4 ,i came back1 therefore1 and1 setting down the mug1 asked the child if the stream was good to drink2 whereupon he seized the mug1 and1 going to the corner of the room1 where a cool spring which issued from the mountain behind trickled through a pipe into the apartment1 filled it1 and drank1 and gave it to me empty again1 and1 calling to the dog1 rushed out of doors4 ,erelong some of the hired men made their appearance1 and drank at the spring1 and lazily washed themselves and combed their hair in silence1 and some sat down as if weary1 and fell asleep in their seats4 ,but all the while ,i saw no women1 though ,i sometimes heard a bustle in that part of the house from which the spring came4 ,at length ,rice himself came in1 for it was now dark1 with an ox-whip in his hand1 breathing hard1 and he too soon settled down into his seat not far from me1 as if1 now that his day's work was done1 he had no farther to travel1 but only to digest his supper at his leisure4 ,when ,i asked him if he could give me a bed1 he said there was one ready1 in such a tone as implied that ,i ought to have known it1 and the less said about that the better4 ,so far so good4 ,and yet he continued to look at me as if he would fain have me say something further like a traveller4 ,i remarked1 that it was a wild and rugged country he inhabited1 and worth coming many miles to see4 8,not so very rough neither10 said he1 and appealed to his men to bear witness to the breadth and smoothness of his fields1 which consisted in all of one small interval1 and to the size of his crops2 8and if we have some hills10 added he1 8there's no better pasturage anywhere40 ,i then asked if this place was the one ,i had heard of1 calling it by a name ,i had seen on the map1 or if it was a certain other2 and he answered1 gruffly1 that it was neither the one nor the other2 that he had settled it and cultivated it1 and made it what it was1 and ,i could know nothing about it4 ,observing some guns and other implements of hunting hanging on brackets around the room1 and his hounds now sleeping on the floor1 ,i took occasion to change the discourse1 and inquired if there was much game in that country1 and he answered this question more graciously1 having some glimmering of my drift2 but when ,i inquired if there were any bears1 he answered impatiently that he was no more in danger of losing his sheep than his neighbors2 he had tamed and civilized that region4 ,after a pause1 thinking of my journey on the morrow1 and the few hours of daylight in that hollow and mountainous country1 which would require me to be on my way betimes1 ,i remarked that the day must be shorter by an hour there than on the neighboring plains2 at which he gruffly asked what ,i knew about it1 and affirmed that he had as much daylight as his neighbors2 he ventured to say1 the days were longer there than where ,i lived1 as ,i should find if ,i stayed2 that in some way1 ,i could not be expected to understand how1 the sun came over the mountains half an hour earlier1 and stayed half an hour later there than on the neighboring plains4 ,and more of like sort he said4 ,he was1 indeed1 as rude as a fabled satyr4 ,but ,i suffered him to pass for what he was1--for why should ,i quarrel with nature8--and was even pleased at the discovery of such a singular natural phenomenon4 ,i dealt with him as if to me all manners were indifferent1 and he had a sweet1 wild way with him4 ,i would not question nature1 and ,i would rather have him as he was than as ,i would have him4 ,for ,i had come up here not for sympathy1 or kindness1 or society1 but for novelty and adventure1 and to see what nature had produced here4 ,i therefore did not repel his rudeness1 but quite innocently welcomed it all1 and knew how to appreciate it1 as if ,i were reading in an old drama a part well sustained4 ,he was indeed a coarse and sensual man1 and1 as ,i have said1 uncivil1 but he had his just quarrel with nature and mankind1 ,i have no doubt1 only he had no artificial covering to his ill-humors4 ,he was earthy enough1 but yet there was good soil in him1 and even a long-suffering ,saxon probity at bottom4 ,if you could represent the case to him1 he would not let the race die out in him1 like a red ,indian4 ,at length ,i told him that he was a fortunate man1 and ,i trusted that he was grateful for so much light2 and1 rising1 said ,i would take a lamp1 and that ,i would pay him then for my lodging1 for ,i expected to recommence my journey even as early as the sun rose in his country2 but he answered in haste1 and this time civilly1 that ,i should not fail to find some of his household stirring1 however early1 for they were no sluggards1 and ,i could take my breakfast with them before ,i started1 if ,i chose2 and as he lighted the lamp ,i detected a gleam of true hospitality and ancient civility1 a beam of pure and even gentle humanity1 from his bleared and moist eyes4 ,it was a look more intimate with me1 and more explanatory1 than any words of his could have been if he had tried to his dying day4 ,it was more significant than any ,rice of those parts could even comprehend1 and long anticipated this man's culture1--a glance of his pure genius1 which did not much enlighten him1 but did impress and rule him for the moment1 and faintly constrain his voice and manner4 ,he cheerfully led the way to my apartment1 stepping over the limbs of his men1 who were asleep on the floor in an intervening chamber1 and showed me a clean and comfortable bed4 ,for many pleasant hours after the household was asleep ,i sat at the open window1 for it was a sultry night1 and heard the little river 8,amongst the pumy stones1 which seemed to plain1 ,with gentle murmur1 that his course they did restrain40 ,but ,i arose as usual by starlight the next morning1 before my host1 or his men1 or even his dogs1 were awake2 and1 having left a ninepence on the counter1 was already half-way over the mountain with the sun before they had broken their fast4 ,before ,i had left the country of my host1 while the first rays of the sun slanted over the mountains1 as ,i stopped by the wayside to gather some raspberries1 a very old man1 not far from a hundred1 came along with a milking-pail in his hand1 and turning aside began to pluck the berries near me3-- 8,his reverend locks ,in comelye curles did wave2 ,and on his aged temples grew ,the blossoms of the grave40 ,but when ,i inquired the way1 he answered in a low1 rough voice1 without looking up or seeming to regard my presence1 which ,i imputed to his years2 and presently1 muttering to himself1 he proceeded to collect his cows in a neighboring pasture2 and when he had again returned near to the wayside1 he suddenly stopped1 while his cows went on before1 and1 uncovering his head1 prayed aloud in the cool morning air1 as if he had forgotten this exercise before1 for his daily bread1 and also that ,he who letteth his rain fall on the just and on the unjust1 and without whom not a sparrow falleth to the ground1 would not neglect the stranger 7meaning me71 and with even more direct and personal applications1 though mainly according to the long-established formula common to lowlanders and the inhabitants of mountains4 ,when he had done praying1 ,i made bold to ask him if he had any cheese in his hut which he would sell me1 but he answered without looking up1 and in the same low and repulsive voice as before1 that they did not make any1 and went to milking4 ,it is written1 8,the stranger who turneth away from a house with disappointed hopes1 leaveth there his own offences1 and departeth1 taking with him all the good actions of the owner40 ,being now fairly in the stream of this week's commerce1 we began to meet with boats more frequently1 and hailed them from time to time with the freedom of sailors4 ,the boatmen appeared to lead an easy and contented life1 and we thought that we should prefer their employment ourselves to many professions which are much more sought after4 ,they suggested how few circumstances are necessary to the well-being and serenity of man1 how indifferent all employments are1 and that any may seem noble and poetic to the eyes of men1 if pursued with sufficient buoyancy and freedom4 ,with liberty and pleasant weather1 the simplest occupation1 any unquestioned country mode of life which detains us in the open air1 is alluring4 ,the man who picks peas steadily for a living is more than respectable1 he is even envied by his shop-worn neighbors4 ,we are as happy as the birds when our ,good ,genius permits us to pursue any out-door work1 without a sense of dissipation4 ,our penknife glitters in the sun2 our voice is echoed by yonder wood2 if an oar drops1 we are fain to let it drop again4 ,the canal-boat is of very simple construction1 requiring but little ship-timber1 and1 as we were told1 costs about two hundred dollars4 ,they are managed by two men4 ,in ascending the stream they use poles fourteen or fifteen feet long1 pointed with iron1 walking about one third the length of the boat from the forward end4 ,going down1 they commonly keep in the middle of the stream1 using an oar at each end2 or if the wind is favorable they raise their broad sail1 and have only to steer4 ,they commonly carry down wood or bricks1--fifteen or sixteen cords of wood1 and as many thousand bricks1 at a time1--and bring back stores for the country1 consuming two or three days each way between ,concord and ,charlestown4 ,they sometimes pile the wood so as to leave a shelter in one part where they may retire from the rain4 ,one can hardly imagine a more healthful employment1 or one more favorable to contemplation and the observation of nature4 ,unlike the mariner1 they have the constantly varying panorama of the shore to relieve the monotony of their labor1 and it seemed to us that as they thus glided noiselessly from town to town1 with all their furniture about them1 for their very homestead is a movable1 they could comment on the character of the inhabitants with greater advantage and security to themselves than the traveller in a coach1 who would be unable to indulge in such broadsides of wit and humor in so small a vessel for fear of the recoil4 ,they are not subject to great exposure1 like the lumberers of ,maine1 in any weather1 but inhale the healthfullest breezes1 being slightly encumbered with clothing1 frequently with the head and feet bare4 ,when we met them at noon as they were leisurely descending the stream1 their busy commerce did not look like toil1 but rather like some ancient ,oriental game still played on a large scale1 as the game of chess1 for instance1 handed down to this generation4 ,from morning till night1 unless the wind is so fair that his single sail will suffice without other labor than steering1 the boatman walks backwards and forwards on the side of his boat1 now stooping with his shoulder to the pole1 then drawing it back slowly to set it again1 meanwhile moving steadily forward through an endless valley and an everchanging scenery1 now distinguishing his course for a mile or two1 and now shut in by a sudden turn of the river in a small woodland lake4 ,all the phenomena which surround him are simple and grand1 and there is something impressive1 even majestic1 in the very motion he causes1 which will naturally be communicated to his own character1 and he feels the slow1 irresistible movement under him with pride1 as if it were his own energy4 ,the news spread like wildfire among us youths1 when formerly1 once in a year or two1 one of these boats came up the ,concord ,river1 and was seen stealing mysteriously through the meadows and past the village4 ,it came and departed as silently as a cloud1 without noise or dust1 and was witnessed by few4 ,one summer day this huge traveller might be seen moored at some meadow's wharf1 and another summer day it was not there4 ,where precisely it came from1 or who these men were who knew the rocks and soundings better than we who bathed there1 we could never tell4 ,we knew some river's bay only1 but they took rivers from end to end4 ,they were a sort of fabulous river-men to us4 ,it was inconceivable by what sort of mediation any mere landsman could hold communication with them4 ,would they heave to1 to gratify his wishes8 ,no1 it was favor enough to know faintly of their destination1 or the time of their possible return4 ,i have seen them in the summer when the stream ran low1 mowing the weeds in mid-channel1 and with hayers' jests cutting broad swaths in three feet of water1 that they might make a passage for their scow1 while the grass in long windrows was carried down the stream1 undried by the rarest hay-weather4 ,we admired unweariedly how their vessel would float1 like a huge chip1 sustaining so many casks of lime1 and thousands of bricks1 and such heaps of iron ore1 with wheelbarrows aboard1 and that1 when we stepped on it1 it did not yield to the pressure of our feet4 ,it gave us confidence in the prevalence of the law of buoyancy1 and we imagined to what infinite uses it might be put4 ,the men appeared to lead a kind of life on it1 and it was whispered that they slept aboard4 ,some affirmed that it carried sail1 and that such winds blew here as filled the sails of vessels on the ocean2 which again others much doubted4 ,they had been seen to sail across our ,fair ,haven bay by lucky fishers who were out1 but unfortunately others were not there to see4 ,we might then say that our river was navigable1--why not8 ,in after-years ,i read in print1 with no little satisfaction1 that it was thought by some that1 with a little expense in removing rocks and deepening the channel1 8there might be a profitable inland navigation40 ,i then lived some-where to tell of4 ,such is ,commerce1 which shakes the cocoa-nut and bread-fruit tree in the remotest isle1 and sooner or later dawns on the duskiest and most simple-minded savage4 ,if we may be pardoned the digression1 who can help being affected at the thought of the very fine and slight1 but positive relation1 in which the savage inhabitants of some remote isle stand to the mysterious white mariner1 the child of the sun8--as if we were to have dealings with an animal higher in the scale of being than ourselves4 ,it is a barely recognized fact to the natives that he exists1 and has his home far away somewhere1 and is glad to buy their fresh fruits with his superfluous commodities4 ,under the same catholic sun glances his white ship over ,pacific waves into their smooth bays1 and the poor savage's paddle gleams in the air4 ,man's little acts are grand1 ,beheld from land to land1 ,there as they lie in time1 ,within their native clime ,ships with the noontide weigh1 ,and glide before its ray ,to some retired bay1 ,their haunt1 ,whence1 under tropic sun1 ,again they run1 ,bearing gum ,senegal and ,tragicant4 ,for this was ocean meant1 ,for this the sun was sent1 ,and moon was lent1 ,and winds in distant caverns pent4 ,since our voyage the railroad on the bank has been extended1 and there is now but little boating on the ,merrimack4 ,all kinds of produce and stores were formerly conveyed by water1 but now nothing is carried up the stream1 and almost wood and bricks alone are carried down1 and these are also carried on the railroad4 ,the locks are fast wearing out1 and will soon be impassable1 since the tolls will not pay the expense of repairing them1 and so in a few years there will be an end of boating on this river4 ,the boating at present is principally between ,merrimack and ,lowell1 or ,hooksett and ,manchester4 ,they make two or three trips in a week1 according to wind and weather1 from ,merrimack to ,lowell and back1 about twenty-five miles each way4 ,the boatman comes singing in to shore late at night1 and moors his empty boat1 and gets his supper and lodging in some house near at hand1 and again early in the morning1 by starlight perhaps1 he pushes away up stream1 and1 by a shout1 or the fragment of a song1 gives notice of his approach to the lock-man1 with whom he is to take his breakfast4 ,if he gets up to his wood-pile before noon he proceeds to load his boat1 with the help of his single 8hand10 and is on his way down again before night4 ,when he gets to ,lowell he unloads his boat1 and gets his receipt for his cargo1 and1 having heard the news at the public house at ,middlesex or elsewhere1 goes back with his empty boat and his receipt in his pocket to the owner1 and to get a new load4 ,we were frequently advertised of their approach by some faint sound behind us1 and looking round saw them a mile off1 creeping stealthily up the side of the stream like alligators4 ,it was pleasant to hail these sailors of the ,merrimack from time to time1 and learn the news which circulated with them4 ,we imagined that the sun shining on their bare heads had stamped a liberal and public character on their most private thoughts4 ,the open and sunny interval still stretched away from the river sometimes by two or more terraces1 to the distant hill-country1 and when we climbed the bank we commonly found an irregular copse-wood skirting the river1 the primitive having floated down-stream long ago to----the 8,king's navy40 ,sometimes we saw the river-road a quarter or half a mile distant1 and the particolored ,concord stage1 with its cloud of dust1 its van of earnest travelling faces1 and its rear of dusty trunks1 reminding us that the country had its places of rendezvous for restless ,yankee men4 ,there dwelt along at considerable distances on this interval a quiet agricultural and pastoral people1 with every house its well1 as we sometimes proved1 and every household1 though never so still and remote it appeared in the noontide1 its dinner about these times4 ,there they lived on1 those ,new ,england people1 farmer lives1 father and grandfather and great-grandfather1 on and on without noise1 keeping up tradition1 and expecting1 beside fair weather and abundant harvests1 we did not learn what4 ,they were contented to live1 since it was so contrived for them1 and where their lines had fallen4 ,our uninquiring corpses lie more low ,than our life's curiosity doth go4 ,yet these men had no need to travel to be as wise as ,solomon in all his glory1 so similar are the lives of men in all countries1 and fraught with the same homely experiences4 ,one half the world knows how the other half lives4 ,about noon we passed a small village in ,merrimack at ,thornton's ,ferry1 and tasted of the waters of ,naticook ,brook on the same side1 where ,french and his companions1 whose grave we saw in ,dunstable1 were ambuscaded by the ,indians4 ,the humble village of ,litchfield1 with its steepleless meeting-house1 stood on the opposite or east bank1 near where a dense grove of willows backed by maples skirted the shore4 ,there also we noticed some shagbark-trees1 which1 as they do not grow in ,concord1 were as strange a sight to us as the palm would be1 whose fruit only we have seen4 ,our course now curved gracefully to the north1 leaving a low1 flat shore on the ,merrimack side1 which forms a sort of harbor for canal-boats4 ,we observed some fair elms and particularly large and handsome white-maples standing conspicuously on this interval2 and the opposite shore1 a quarter of a mile below1 was covered with young elms and maples six inches high1 which had probably sprung from the seeds which had been washed across4 ,some carpenters were at work here mending a scow on the green and sloping bank4 ,the strokes of their mallets echoed from shore to shore1 and up and down the river1 and their tools gleamed in the sun a quarter of a mile from us1 and we realized that boat-building was as ancient and honorable an art as agriculture1 and that there might be a naval as well as a pastoral life4 ,the whole history of commerce was made manifest in that scow turned bottom upward on the shore4 ,thus did men begin to go down upon the sea in ships2 quque diu steterant in montibus altis1 ,fluctibus ignotis insultavre carin2 8and keels which had long stood on high mountains careered insultingly 7insultavre7 over unknown waves40 7,ovid1 ,met4 ,i4 #acc47 ,we thought that it would be well for the traveller to build his boat on the bank of a stream1 instead of finding a ferry or a bridge4 ,in the ,adventures of ,henry the fur-trader1 it is pleasant to read that when with his ,indians he reached the shore of ,ontario1 they consumed two days in making two canoes of the bark of the elm-tree1 in which to transport themselves to ,fort ,niagara4 ,it is a worthy incident in a journey1 a delay as good as much rapid travelling4 ,a good share of our interest in ,xenophon's story of his retreat is in the manuvres to get the army safely over the rivers1 whether on rafts of logs or fagots1 or sheep-skins blown up4 ,and where could they better afford to tarry meanwhile than on the banks of a river8 ,as we glided past at a distance1 these out-door workmen appeared to have added some dignity to their labor by its very publicness4 ,it was a part of the industry of nature1 like the work of hornets and mud-wasps4 ,the waves slowly beat1 ,just to keep the noon sweet1 ,and no sound is floated o'er1 ,save the mallet on shore1 ,which echoing on high ,seems a-calking the sky4 ,the haze1 the sun's dust of travel1 had a ,lethean influence on the land and its inhabitants1 and all creatures resigned themselves to float upon the inappreciable tides of nature4 ,woof of the sun1 ethereal gauze1 ,woven of ,nature's richest stuffs1 ,visible heat1 air-water1 and dry sea1 ,last conquest of the eye2 ,toil of the day displayed sun-dust1 ,aerial surf upon the shores of earth4 ,ethereal estuary1 frith of light1 ,breakers of air1 billows of heat ,fine summer spray on inland seas2 ,bird of the sun1 transparent-winged ,owlet of noon1 soft-pinioned1 ,from heath or stubble rising without song2 ,establish thy serenity o'er the fields ,the routine which is in the sunshine and the finest days1 as that which has conquered and prevailed1 commends itself to us by its very antiquity and apparent solidity and necessity4 ,our weakness needs it1 and our strength uses it4 ,we cannot draw on our boots without bracing ourselves against it4 ,if there were but one erect and solid standing tree in the woods1 all creatures would go to rub against it and make sure of their footing4 ,during the many hours which we spend in this waking sleep1 the hand stands still on the face of the clock1 and we grow like corn in the night4 ,men are as busy as the brooks or bees1 and postpone everything to their business2 as carpenters discuss politics between the strokes of the hammer while they are shingling a roof4 ,this noontide was a fit occasion to make some pleasant harbor1 and there read the journal of some voyageur like ourselves1 not too moral nor inquisitive1 and which would not disturb the noon2 or else some old classic1 the very flower of all reading1 which we had postponed to such a season 8,of ,syrian peace1 immortal leisure40 ,but1 alas1 our chest1 like the cabin of a coaster1 contained only its well-thumbed 8,navigator0 for all literature1 and we were obliged to draw on our memory for these things4 ,we naturally remembered ,alexander ,henry's ,adventures here1 as a sort of classic among books of ,american travel4 ,it contains scenery and rough sketching of men and incidents enough to inspire poets for many years1 and to my fancy is as full of sounding names as any page of history1--,lake ,winnipeg1 ,hudson ,bay1 ,ottaway1 and portages innumerable2 ,chipeways1 ,gens de ,terres1 ,les ,pilleurs1 ,the ,weepers2 with reminiscences of ,hearne's journey1 and the like2 an immense and shaggy but sincere country1 summer and winter1 adorned with chains of lakes and rivers1 covered with snows1 with hemlocks1 and fir-trees4 ,there is a naturalness1 an unpretending and cold life in this traveller1 as in a ,canadian winter1 what life was preserved through low temperatures and frontier dangers by furs within a stout heart4 ,he has truth and moderation worthy of the father of history1 which belong only to an intimate experience1 and he does not defer too much to literature4 ,the unlearned traveller may quote his single line from the poets with as good right as the scholar4 ,he too may speak of the stars1 for he sees them shoot perhaps when the astronomer does not4 ,the good sense of this author is very conspicuous4 ,he is a traveller who does not exaggerate1 but writes for the information of his readers1 for science1 and for history4 ,his story is told with as much good faith and directness as if it were a report to his brother traders1 or the ,directors of the ,hudson ,bay ,company1 and is fitly dedicated to ,sir ,joseph ,banks4 ,it reads like the argument to a great poem on the primitive state of the country and its inhabitants1 and the reader imagines what in each case1 with the invocation of the ,muse1 might be sung1 and leaves off with suspended interest1 as if the full account were to follow4 ,in what school was this fur-trader educated8 ,he seems to travel the immense snowy country with such purpose only as the reader who accompanies him1 and to the latter's imagination1 it is1 as it were1 momentarily created to be the scene of his adventures4 ,what is most interesting and valuable in it1 however1 is not the materials for the history of ,pontiac1 or ,braddock1 or the ,northwest1 which it furnishes2 not the annals of the country1 but the natural facts1 or perennials1 which are ever without date4 ,when out of history the truth shall be extracted1 it will have shed its dates like withered leaves4 ,the ,souhegan1 or ,crooked ,river1 as some translate it1 comes in from the west about a mile and a half above ,thornton's ,ferry4 ,babboosuck ,brook empties into it near its mouth4 ,there are said to be some of the finest water privileges in the country still unimproved on the former stream1 at a short distance from the ,merrimack4 ,one spring morning1 ,march #bb1 in the year #afgg1 an incident occurred on the banks of the river here1 which is interesting to us as a slight memorial of an interview between two ancient tribes of men1 one of which is now extinct1 while the other1 though it is still represented by a miserable remnant1 has long since disappeared from its ancient hunting-grounds4 ,a ,mr4 ,james ,parker1 at 8,mr4 ,hinchmanne's farme ner ,meremack10 wrote thus 8to the ,honred ,governer and ,council at ,bostown1 ,hast1 ,post ,hast03-- 8,sagamore ,wanalancet come this morning to informe me1 and then went to ,mr4 ,tyng's to informe him1 that his son being on ye other sid of ,meremack river over against ,souhegan upon the #bb day of this instant1 about tene of the clock in the morning1 he discovered #ae ,indians on this sid the river1 which he soposed to be ,mohokes by ther spech4 ,he called to them2 they answered1 but he could not understand ther spech2 and he having a conow ther in the river1 he went to breck his conow that they might not have ani ues of it4 ,in the mean time they shot about thirty guns at him1 and he being much frighted fled1 and come home forthwith to ,nahamcock ,pawtucket ,falls or ,lowell1 wher ther wigowames now stand40 ,penacooks and ,mohawks6 ubique gentium sunt8 ,in the year #afgj1 a ,mohawk warrior scalped a ,naamkeak or else a ,wamesit ,indian maiden near where ,lowell now stands4 ,she1 however1 recovered4 ,even as late as #afhe1 ,john ,hogkins1 a ,penacook ,indian1 who describes his grandfather as having lived 8at place called ,malamake rever1 other name chef ,natukkog and ,panukkog1 that one rever great many names10 wrote thus to the governor3-- 8,may #aeth1 #afhe4 8,honor governor my friend1-- 8,you my friend ,i desire your worship and your power1 because ,i hope you can do som great matters this one4 ,i am poor and naked and ,i have no men at my place because ,i afraid allwayes ,mohogs he will kill me every day and night4 ,if your worship when please pray help me you no let ,mohogs kill me at my place at ,malamake river called ,pannukkog and ,natukkog1 ,i will submit your worship and your power4 ,and now ,i want pouder and such alminishon shatt and guns1 because ,i have forth at my hom and ,i plant theare4 8,this all ,indian hand1 but pray you do consider your humble servant1 ,,john ,,hogkins40 ,signed also by ,simon ,detogkom1 ,king ,hary1 ,sam ,linis1 ,mr4 ,jorge ,rodunnonukgus1 ,john ,owamosimmin1 and nine other ,indians1 with their marks against their names4 ,but now1 one hundred and fifty-four years having elapsed since the date of this letter1 we went unalarmed on our way without 8brecking0 our 8conow10 reading the ,new ,england ,gazetteer1 and seeing no traces of 8,mohogs0 on the banks4 ,the ,souhegan1 though a rapid river1 seemed to-day to have borrowed its character from the noon4 ,where gleaming fields of haze ,meet the voyageur's gaze1 ,and above1 the heated air ,seems to make a river there1 ,the pines stand up with pride ,by the ,souhegan's side1 ,and the hemlock and the larch ,with their triumphal arch ,are waving o'er its march ,to the sea4 ,no wind stirs its waves1 ,but the spirits of the braves ,hov'ring o'er1 ,whose antiquated graves ,its still water laves ,on the shore4 ,with an ,indian's stealthy tread ,it goes sleeping in its bed1 ,without joy or grief1 ,or the rustle of a leaf1 ,without a ripple or a billow1 ,or the sigh of a willow1 ,from the ,lyndeboro' hills ,to the ,merrimack mills4 ,with a louder din ,did its current begin1 ,when melted the snow ,on the far mountain's brow1 ,and the drops came together ,in that rainy weather4 ,experienced river1 ,hast thou flowed forever8 ,souhegan soundeth old1 ,but the half is not told1 ,what names hast thou borne1 ,in the ages far gone1 ,when the ,xanthus and ,meander ,commenced to wander1 ,ere the black bear haunted ,thy red forest-floor1 ,or ,nature had planted ,the pines by thy shore8 ,during the heat of the day1 we rested on a large island a mile above the mouth of this river1 pastured by a herd of cattle1 with steep banks and scattered elms and oaks1 and a sufficient channel for canal-boats on each side4 ,when we made a fire to boil some rice for our dinner1 the flames spreading amid the dry grass1 and the smoke curling silently upward and casting grotesque shadows on the ground1 seemed phenomena of the noon1 and we fancied that we progressed up the stream without effort1 and as naturally as the wind and tide went down1 not outraging the calm days by unworthy bustle or impatience4 ,the woods on the neighboring shore were alive with pigeons1 which were moving south1 looking for mast1 but now1 like ourselves1 spending their noon in the shade4 ,we could hear the slight1 wiry1 winnowing sound of their wings as they changed their roosts from time to time1 and their gentle and tremulous cooing4 ,they sojourned with us during the noontide1 greater travellers far than we4 ,you may frequently discover a single pair sitting upon the lower branches of the white-pine in the depths of the wood1 at this hour of the day1 so silent and solitary1 and with such a hermit-like appearance1 as if they had never strayed beyond its skirts1 while the acorn which was gathered in the forests of ,maine is still undigested in their crops4 ,we obtained one of these handsome birds1 which lingered too long upon its perch1 and plucked and broiled it here with some other game1 to be carried along for our supper2 for1 beside the provisions which we carried with us1 we depended mainly on the river and forest for our supply4 ,it is true1 it did not seem to be putting this bird to its right use to pluck off its feathers1 and extract its entrails1 and broil its carcass on the coals2 but we heroically persevered1 nevertheless1 waiting for further information4 ,the same regard for ,nature which excited our sympathy for her creatures nerved our hands to carry through what we had begun4 ,for we would be honorable to the party we deserted2 we would fulfil fate1 and so at length1 perhaps1 detect the secret innocence of these incessant tragedies which ,heaven allows4 8,too quick resolves do resolution wrong1 ,what1 part so soon to be divorced so long8 ,things to be done are long to be debated2 ,heaven is not day'd1 ,repentance is not dated40 ,we are double-edged blades1 and every time we whet our virtue the return stroke straps our vice4 ,where is the skilful swordsman who can give clean wounds1 and not rip up his work with the other edge8 ,nature herself has not provided the most graceful end for her creatures4 ,what becomes of all these birds that people the air and forest for our solacement8 ,the sparrows seem always chipper1 never infirm4 ,we do not see their bodies lie about4 ,yet there is a tragedy at the end of each one of their lives4 ,they must perish miserably2 not one of them is translated4 ,true1 8not a sparrow falleth to the ground without our ,heavenly ,father's knowledge10 but they do fall1 nevertheless4 ,the carcasses of some poor squirrels1 however1 the same that frisked so merrily in the morning1 which we had skinned and embowelled for our dinner1 we abandoned in disgust1 with tardy humanity1 as too wretched a resource for any but starving men4 ,it was to perpetuate the practice of a barbarous era4 ,if they had been larger1 our crime had been less4 ,their small red bodies1 little bundles of red tissue1 mere gobbets of venison1 would not have 8fattened fire40 ,with a sudden impulse we threw them away1 and washed our hands1 and boiled some rice for our dinner4 8,behold the difference between the one who eateth flesh1 and him to whom it belonged6 ,the first hath a momentary enjoyment1 whilst the latter is deprived of existence60 8,who would commit so great a crime against a poor animal1 who is fed only by the herbs which grow wild in the woods1 and whose belly is burnt up with hunger80 ,we remembered a picture of mankind in the hunter age1 chasing hares down the mountains2 ,o me miserable6 ,yet sheep and oxen are but larger squirrels1 whose hides are saved and meat is salted1 whose souls perchance are not so large in proportion to their bodies4 ,there should always be some flowering and maturing of the fruits of nature in the cooking process4 ,some simple dishes recommend themselves to our imaginations as well as palates4 ,in parched corn1 for instance1 there is a manifest sympathy between the bursting seed and the more perfect developments of vegetable life4 ,it is a perfect flower with its petals1 like the houstonia or anemone4 ,on my warm hearth these cerealian blossoms expanded2 here is the bank whereon they grew4 ,perhaps some such visible blessing would always attend the simple and wholesome repast4 ,here was that 8pleasant harbor0 which we had sighed for1 where the weary voyageur could read the journal of some other sailor1 whose bark had ploughed1 perchance1 more famous and classic seas4 ,at the tables of the gods1 after feasting follow music and song2 we will recline now under these island trees1 and for our minstrel call on ,,anacreon4 8,nor has he ceased his charming song1 for still that lyre1 ,though he is dead1 sleeps not in ,hades40 ,simonides' ,epigram on ,anacreon4 ,i lately met with an old volume from a ,london bookshop1 containing the ,greek ,minor ,poets1 and it was a pleasure to read once more only the words1 ,orpheus1 ,linus1 ,musus1--those faint poetic sounds and echoes of a name1 dying away on the ears of us modern men2 and those hardly more substantial sounds1 ,mimnermus1 ,ibycus1 ,alcaeus1 ,stesichorus1 ,menander4 ,they lived not in vain4 ,we can converse with these bodiless fames without reserve or personality4 ,i know of no studies so composing as those of the classical scholar4 ,when we have sat down to them1 life seems as still and serene as if it were very far off1 and ,i believe it is not habitually seen from any common platform so truly and unexaggerated as in the light of literature4 ,in serene hours we contemplate the tour of the ,greek and ,latin authors with more pleasure than the traveller does the fairest scenery of ,greece or ,italy4 ,where shall we find a more refined society8 ,that highway down from ,homer and ,hesiod to ,horace and ,juvenal is more attractive than the ,appian4 ,reading the classics1 or conversing with those old ,greeks and ,latins in their surviving works1 is like walking amid the stars and constellations1 a high and by way serene to travel4 ,indeed1 the true scholar will be not a little of an astronomer in his habits4 ,distracting cares will not be allowed to obstruct the field of his vision1 for the higher regions of literature1 like astronomy1 are above storm and darkness4 ,but passing by these rumors of bards1 let us pause for a moment at the ,teian poet4 ,there is something strangely modern about him4 ,he is very easily turned into ,english4 ,is it that our lyric poets have resounded but that lyre1 which would sound only light subjects1 and which ,simonides tells us does not sleep in ,hades8 ,his odes are like gems of pure ivory4 ,they possess an ethereal and evanescent beauty like summer evenings1 1--which you must perceive with the flower of the mind1--and show how slight a beauty could be expressed4 ,you have to consider them1 as the stars of lesser magnitude1 with the side of the eye1 and look aside from them to behold them4 ,they charm us by their serenity and freedom from exaggeration and passion1 and by a certain flower-like beauty1 which does not propose itself1 but must be approached and studied like a natural object4 ,but perhaps their chief merit consists in the lightness and yet security of their tread2 8,the young and tender stalk ,ne'er bends when they do walk40 ,true1 our nerves are never strung by them2 it is too constantly the sound of the lyre1 and never the note of the trumpet2 but they are not gross1 as has been presumed1 but always elevated above the sensual4 ,these are some of the best that have come down to us4 ,,on ,,his ,,lyre4 ,i wish to sing the ,atrid1 ,and ,cadmus ,i wish to sing2 ,but my lyre sounds ,only love with its chords4 ,lately ,i changed the strings ,and all the lyre2 ,and ,i began to sing the labors ,of ,hercules2 but my lyre ,resounded loves4 ,farewell1 henceforth1 for me1 ,heroes6 for my lyre ,sings only loves4 ,,to ,a ,,swallow4 ,thou indeed1 dear swallow1 ,yearly going and coming1 ,in summer weavest thy nest1 ,and in winter go'st disappearing ,either to ,nile or to ,memphis4 ,but ,love always weaveth ,his nest in my heart'''4 ,,on ,a ,,silver ,,cup4 ,turning the silver1 ,vulcan1 make for me1 ,not indeed a panoply1 ,for what are battles to me8 ,but a hollow cup1 ,as deep as thou canst ,and make for me in it ,neither stars1 nor wagons1 ,nor sad ,orion2 ,what are the ,pleiades to me8 ,what the shining ,bootes8 ,make vines for me1 ,and clusters of grapes in it1 ,and of gold ,love and ,bathyllus ,treading the grapes ,with the fair ,lyus ,,on ,,himself4 ,thou sing'st the affairs of ,thebes1 ,and he the battles of ,troy1 ,but ,i of my own defeats4 ,no horse have wasted me1 ,nor foot1 nor ships2 ,but a new and different host1 ,from eyes smiting me4 ,,to ,a ,,dove4 ,lovely dove1 ,whence1 whence dost thou fly8 ,whence1 running on air1 ,dost thou waft and diffuse ,so many sweet ointments8 ,who art8 ,what thy errand8-- ,anacreon sent me ,to a boy1 to ,bathyllus1 ,who lately is ruler and tyrant of all4 ,cythere has sold me ,for one little song1 ,and ,i'm doing this service ,for ,anacreon4 ,and now1 as you see1 ,i bear letters from him4 ,and he says that directly ,he'll make me free1 ,but though he release me1 ,his slave ,i will tarry with him4 ,for why should ,i fly ,over mountains and fields1 ,and perch upon trees1 ,eating some wild thing8 ,now indeed ,i eat bread1 ,plucking it from the hands ,of ,anacreon himself2 ,and he gives me to drink ,the wine which he tastes1 ,and drinking1 ,i dance1 ,and shadow my master's ,face with my wings2 ,and1 going to rest1 ,on the lyre itself ,i sleep4 ,that is all2 get thee gone4 ,thou hast made me more talkative1 ,man1 than a crow4 ,,on ,,love4 ,love walking swiftly1 ,with hyacinthine staff1 ,bade me to take a run with him2 ,and hastening through swift torrents1 ,and woody places1 and over precipices1 ,a water-snake stung me4 ,and my heart leaped up to ,my mouth1 and ,i should have fainted2 ,but ,love fanning my brows ,with his soft wings1 said1 ,surely1 thou art not able to love4 ,,on ,,women4 ,nature has given horns ,to bulls1 and hoofs to horses1 ,swiftness to hares1 ,to lions yawning teeth1 ,to fishes swimming1 ,to birds flight1 ,to men wisdom4 ,for woman she had nothing beside2 ,what then does she give8 ,beauty1-- ,instead of all shields1 ,instead of all spears2 ,and she conquers even iron ,and fire1 who is beautiful4 ,,on ,,lovers4 ,horses have the mark ,of fire on their sides1 ,and some have distinguished ,the ,parthian men by their crests2 ,so ,i1 seeing lovers1 ,know them at once1 ,for they have a certain slight ,brand on their hearts4 ,,to ,a ,,swallow4 ,what dost thou wish me to do to thee1-- ,what1 thou loquacious swallow8 ,dost thou wish me taking thee ,thy light pinions to clip8 ,or rather to pluck out ,thy tongue from within1 ,as that ,tereus did8 ,why with thy notes in the dawn ,hast thou plundered ,bathyllus ,from my beautiful dreams8 ,,to ,a ,,colt4 ,thracian colt1 why at me ,looking aslant with thy eyes1 ,dost thou cruelly flee1 ,and think that ,i know nothing wise8 ,know ,i could well ,put the bridle on thee1 ,and holding the reins1 turn ,round the bounds of the course4 ,but now thou browsest the meads1 ,and gambolling lightly dost play1 ,for thou hast no skilful horseman ,mounted upon thy back4 ,,cupid ,,wounded4 ,love once among roses ,saw not ,a sleeping bee1 but was stung2 ,and being wounded in the finger ,of his hand1 cried for pain4 ,running as well as flying ,to the beautiful ,venus1 ,i am killed1 mother1 said he1 ,i am killed1 and ,i die4 ,a little serpent has stung me1 ,winged1 which they call ,a bee1--the husbandmen4 ,and she said1 ,if the sting ,of a bee afflicts you1 ,how1 think you1 are they afflicted1 ,love1 whom you smite8 ---------- ,late in the afternoon1 for we had lingered long on the island1 we raised our sail for the first time1 and for a short hour the southwest wind was our ally2 but it did not please ,heaven to abet us along4 ,with one sail raised we swept slowly up the eastern side of the stream1 steering clear of the rocks1 while1 from the top of a hill which formed the opposite bank1 some lumberers were rolling down timber to be rafted down the stream4 ,we could see their axes and levers gleaming in the sun1 and the logs came down with a dust and a rumbling sound1 which was reverberated through the woods beyond us on our side1 like the roar of artillery4 ,but ,zephyr soon took us out of sight and hearing of this commerce4 ,having passed ,read's ,ferry1 and another island called ,mc,gaw's ,island1 we reached some rapids called ,moore's ,falls1 and entered on 8that section of the river1 nine miles in extent1 converted1 by law1 into the ,union ,canal1 comprehending in that space six distinct falls2 at each of which1 and at several intermediate places1 work has been done40 ,after passing ,moore's ,falls by means of locks1 we again had recourse to our oars1 and went merrily on our way1 driving the small sandpiper from rock to rock before us1 and sometimes rowing near enough to a cottage on the bank1 though they were few and far between1 to see the sunflowers1 and the seed vessels of the poppy1 like small goblets filled with the water of ,lethe1 before the door1 but without disturbing the sluggish household behind4 ,thus we held on1 sailing or dipping our way along with the paddle up this broad river1 smooth and placid1 flowing over concealed rocks1 where we could see the pickerel lying low in the transparent water1 eager to double some distant cape1 to make some great bend as in the life of man1 and see what new perspective would open2 looking far into a new country1 broad and serene1 the cottages of settlers seen afar for the first time1 yet with the moss of a century on their roofs1 and the third or fourth generation in their shadows4 ,strange was it to consider how the sun and the summer1 the buds of spring and the seared leaves of autumn1 were related to these cabins along the shore2 how all the rays which paint the landscape radiate from them1 and the flight of the crow and the gyrations of the hawk have reference to their roofs4 ,still the ever rich and fertile shores accompanied us1 fringed with vines and alive with small birds and frisking squirrels1 the edge of some farmer's field or widow's wood-lot1 or wilder1 perchance1 where the muskrat1 the little medicine of the river1 drags itself along stealthily over the alder-leaves and muscle-shells1 and man and the memory of man are banished far4 ,at length the unwearied1 never-sinking shore1 still holding on without break1 with its cool copses and serene pasture-grounds1 tempted us to disembark2 and we adventurously landed on this remote coast1 to survey it1 without the knowledge of any human inhabitant probably to this day4 ,but we still remember the gnarled and hospitable oaks which grew even there for our entertainment1 and were no strangers to us1 the lonely horse in his pasture1 and the patient cows1 whose path to the river1 so judiciously chosen to overcome the difficulties of the way1 we followed1 and disturbed their ruminations in the shade2 and1 above all1 the cool1 free aspect of the wild apple-trees1 generously proffering their fruit to us1 though still green and crude1--the hard1 round1 glossy fruit1 which1 if not ripe1 still was not poison1 but ,new-,english too1 brought hither its ancestors by ours once4 ,these gentler trees imparted a half-civilized and twilight aspect to the otherwise barbarian land4 ,still farther on we scrambled up the rocky channel of a brook1 which had long served nature for a sluice there1 leaping like it from rock to rock through tangled woods1 at the bottom of a ravine1 which grew darker and darker1 and more and more hoarse the murmurs of the stream1 until we reached the ruins of a mill1 where now the ivy grew1 and the trout glanced through the crumbling flume2 and there we imagined what had been the dreams and speculations of some early settler4 ,but the waning day compelled us to embark once more1 and redeem this wasted time with long and vigorous sweeps over the rippling stream4 ,it was still wild and solitary1 except that at intervals of a mile or two the roof of a cottage might be seen over the bank4 ,this region1 as we read1 was once famous for the manufacture of straw bonnets of the ,leghorn kind1 of which it claims the invention in these parts2 and occasionally some industrious damsel tripped down to the water's edge1 to put her straw a-soak1 as it appeared1 and stood awhile to watch the retreating voyageurs1 and catch the fragment of a boat-song which we had made1 wafted over the water4 ,thus1 perchance1 the ,indian hunter1 ,many a lagging year agone1 ,gliding o'er thy rippling waters1 ,lowly hummed a natural song4 ,now the sun's behind the willows1 ,now he gleams along the waves1 ,faintly o'er the wearied billows ,come the spirits of the braves4 ,just before sundown we reached some more falls in the town of ,bedford1 where some stone-masons were employed repairing the locks in a solitary part of the river4 ,they were interested in our adventure1 especially one young man of our own age1 who inquired at first if we were bound up to 8',skeag02 and when he had heard our story1 and examined our outfit1 asked us other questions1 but temperately still1 and always turning to his work again1 though as if it were become his duty4 ,it was plain that he would like to go with us1 and1 as he looked up the river1 many a distant cape and wooded shore were reflected in his eye1 as well as in his thoughts4 ,when we were ready he left his work1 and helped us through the locks with a sort of quiet enthusiasm1 telling us that we were at ,coos ,falls1 and we could still distinguish the strokes of his chisel for many sweeps after we had left him4 ,we wished to camp this night on a large rock in the middle of the stream1 just above these falls1 but the want of fuel1 and the difficulty of fixing our tent firmly1 prevented us2 so we made our bed on the main-land opposite1 on the west bank1 in the town of ,bedford1 in a retired place1 as we supposed1 there being no house in sight4 ,,wednesday 8,man is man's foe and destiny40 ,,cotton4 ,early this morning1 as we were rolling up our buffaloes and loading our boat amid the dew1 while our embers were still smoking1 the masons who worked at the locks1 and whom we had seen crossing the river in their boat the evening before while we were examining the rock1 came upon us as they were going to their work1 and we found that we had pitched our tent directly in the path to their boat4 ,this was the only time that we were observed on our camping-ground4 ,thus1 far from the beaten highways and the dust and din of travel1 we beheld the country privately1 yet freely1 and at our leisure4 ,other roads do some violence to ,nature1 and bring the traveller to stare at her1 but the river steals into the scenery it traverses without intrusion1 silently creating and adorning it1 and is as free to come and go as the zephyr4 ,as we shoved away from this rocky coast1 before sunrise1 the smaller bittern1 the genius of the shore1 was moping along its edge1 or stood probing the mud for its food1 with ever an eye on us1 though so demurely at work1 or else he ran along over the wet stones like a wrecker in his storm-coat1 looking out for wrecks of snails and cockles4 ,now away he goes1 with a limping flight1 uncertain where he will alight1 until a rod of clear sand amid the alders invites his feet2 and now our steady approach compels him to seek a new retreat4 ,it is a bird of the oldest ,thalesian school1 and no doubt believes in the priority of water to the other elements2 the relic of a twilight antediluvian age which yet inhabits these bright ,american rivers with us ,yankees4 ,there is something venerable in this melancholy and contemplative race of birds1 which may have trodden the earth while it was yet in a slimy and imperfect state4 ,perchance their tracks too are still visible on the stones4 ,it still lingers into our glaring summers1 bravely supporting its fate without sympathy from man1 as if it looked forward to some second advent of which he has no assurance4 ,one wonders if1 by its patient study by rocks and sandy capes1 it has wrested the whole of her secret from ,nature yet4 ,what a rich experience it must have gained1 standing on one leg and looking out from its dull eye so long on sunshine and rain1 moon and stars6 ,what could it tell of stagnant pools and reeds and dank night-fogs6 ,it would be worth the while to look closely into the eye which has been open and seeing at such hours1 and in such solitudes1 its dull1 yellowish1 greenish eye4 ,methinks my own soul must be a bright invisible green4 ,i have seen these birds stand by the half-dozen together in the shallower water along the shore1 with their bills thrust into the mud at the bottom1 probing for food1 the whole head being concealed1 while the neck and body formed an arch above the water4 ,cohass ,brook1 the outlet of ,massabesic ,pond1--which last is five or six miles distant1 and contains fifteen hundred acres1 being the largest body of fresh water in ,rockingham ,county1--comes in near here from the east4 ,rowing between ,manchester and ,bedford1 we passed1 at an early hour1 a ferry and some falls1 called ,goff's ,falls1 the ,indian ,cohasset1 where there is a small village1 and a handsome green islet in the middle of the stream4 ,from ,bedford and ,merrimack have been boated the bricks of which ,lowell is made4 ,about twenty years before1 as they told us1 one ,moore1 of ,bedford1 having clay on his farm1 contracted to furnish eight millions of bricks to the founders of that city within two years4 ,he fulfilled his contract in one year1 and since then bricks have been the principal export from these towns4 ,the farmers found thus a market for their wood1 and when they had brought a load to the kilns1 they could cart a load of bricks to the shore1 and so make a profitable day's work of it4 ,thus all parties were benefited4 ,it was worth the while to see the place where ,lowell was 8dug out40 ,so likewise ,manchester is being built of bricks made still higher up the river at ,hooksett4 ,there might be seen here on the bank of the ,merrimack1 near ,goff's ,falls1 in what is now the town of ,bedford1 famous 8for hops and for its fine domestic manufactures10 some graves of the aborigines4 ,the land still bears this scar here1 and time is slowly crumbling the bones of a race4 ,yet1 without fail1 every spring1 since they first fished and hunted here1 the brown thrasher has heralded the morning from a birch or alder spray1 and the undying race of reed-birds still rustles through the withering grass4 ,but these bones rustle not4 ,these mouldering elements are slowly preparing for another metamorphosis1 to serve new masters1 and what was the ,indian's will erelong be the white man's sinew4 ,we learned that ,bedford was not so famous for hops as formerly1 since the price is fluctuating1 and poles are now scarce4 ,yet if the traveller goes back a few miles from the river1 the hop-kilns will still excite his curiosity4 ,there were few incidents in our voyage this forenoon1 though the river was now more rocky and the falls more frequent than before4 ,it was a pleasant change1 after rowing incessantly for many hours1 to lock ourselves through in some retired place1--for commonly there was no lock-man at hand1--one sitting in the boat1 while the other1 sometimes with no little labor and heave-yo-ing1 opened and shut the gates1 waiting patiently to see the locks fill4 ,we did not once use the wheels which we had provided4 ,taking advantage of the eddy1 we were sometimes floated up to the locks almost in the face of the falls2 and1 by the same cause1 any floating timber was carried round in a circle and repeatedly drawn into the rapids before it finally went down the stream4 ,these old gray structures1 with their quiet arms stretched over the river in the sun1 appeared like natural objects in the scenery1 and the kingfisher and sandpiper alighted on them as readily as on stakes or rocks4 ,we rowed leisurely up the stream for several hours1 until the sun had got high in the sky1 our thoughts monotonously beating time to our oars4 ,for outward variety there was only the river and the receding shores1 a vista continually opening behind and closing before us1 as we sat with our backs up-stream2 and1 for inward1 such thoughts as the muses grudgingly lent us4 ,we were always passing some low1 inviting shore1 or some overhanging bank1 on which1 however1 we never landed4 ,such near aspects had we ,of our life's scenery4 ,it might be seen by what tenure men held the earth4 ,the smallest stream is mediterranean sea1 a smaller ocean creek within the land1 where men may steer by their farm-bounds and cottage-lights4 ,for my own part1 but for the geographers1 ,i should hardly have known how large a portion of our globe is water1 my life has chiefly passed within so deep a cove4 ,yet ,i have sometimes ventured as far as to the mouth of my ,snug ,harbor4 ,from an old ruined fort on ,staten ,island1 ,i have loved to watch all day some vessel whose name ,i had read in the morning through the telegraph-glass1 when she first came upon the coast1 and her hull heaved up and glistened in the sun1 from the moment when the pilot and most adventurous news-boats met her1 past the ,hook1 and up the narrow channel of the wide outer bay1 till she was boarded by the health-officer1 and took her station at ,quarantine1 or held on her unquestioned course to the wharves of ,new ,york4 ,it was interesting1 too1 to watch the less adventurous newsman1 who made his assault as the vessel swept through the ,narrows1 defying plague and quarantine law1 and1 fastening his little cockboat to her huge side1 clambered up and disappeared in the cabin4 ,and then ,i could imagine what momentous news was being imparted by the captain1 which no ,american ear had ever heard1 that ,asia1 ,africa1 ,europe--were all sunk2 for which at length he pays the price1 and is seen descending the ship's side with his bundle of newspapers1 but not where he first got up1 for these arrivers do not stand still to gossip2 and he hastes away with steady sweeps to dispose of his wares to the highest bidder1 and we shall erelong read something startling1--8,by the latest arrival10--8by the good ship----40 ,on ,sunday ,i beheld1 from some interior hill1 the long procession of vessels getting to sea1 reaching from the city wharves through the ,narrows1 and past the ,hook1 quite to the ocean stream1 far as the eye could reach1 with stately march and silken sails1 all counting on lucky voyages1 but each time some of the number1 no doubt1 destined to go to ,davy's locker1 and never come on this coast again4 ,and1 again1 in the evening of a pleasant day1 it was my amusement to count the sails in sight4 ,but as the setting sun continually brought more and more to light1 still farther in the horizon1 the last count always had the advantage1 till1 by the time the last rays streamed over the sea1 ,i had doubled and trebled my first number2 though ,i could no longer class them all under the several heads of ships1 barks1 brigs1 schooners1 and sloops1 but most were faint generic vessels only4 ,and then the temperate twilight light1 perchance1 revealed the floating home of some sailor whose thoughts were already alienated from this ,american coast1 and directed towards the ,europe of our dreams4 ,i have stood upon the same hill-top when a thunder-shower1 rolling down from the ,catskills and ,highlands1 passed over the island1 deluging the land2 and1 when it had suddenly left us in sunshine1 have seen it overtake successively1 with its huge shadow and dark1 descending wall of rain1 the vessels in the bay4 ,their bright sails were suddenly drooping and dark1 like the sides of barns1 and they seemed to shrink before the storm2 while still far beyond them on the sea1 through this dark veil1 gleamed the sunny sails of those vessels which the storm had not yet reached4 ,and at midnight1 when all around and overhead was darkness1 ,i have seen a field of trembling1 silvery light far out on the sea1 the reflection of the moonlight from the ocean1 as if beyond the precincts of our night1 where the moon traversed a cloudless heaven1--and sometimes a dark speck in its midst1 where some fortunate vessel was pursuing its happy voyage by night4 ,but to us river sailors the sun never rose out of ocean waves1 but from some green coppice1 and went down behind some dark mountain line4 ,we1 too1 were but dwellers on the shore1 like the bittern of the morning2 and our pursuit1 the wrecks of snails and cockles4 ,nevertheless1 we were contented to know the better one fair particular shore4 ,my life is like a stroll upon the beach1 ,as near the ocean's edge as ,i can go1 ,my tardy steps its waves sometimes o'erreach1 ,sometimes ,i stay to let them overflow4 ,my sole employment 't is1 and scrupulous care1 ,to place my gains beyond the reach of tides1 ,each smoother pebble1 and each shell more rare1 ,which ocean kindly to my hand confides4 ,i have but few companions on the shore1 ,they scorn the strand who sail upon the sea1 ,yet oft ,i think the ocean they've sailed o'er ,is deeper known upon the strand to me4 ,the middle sea contains no crimson dulse1 ,its deeper waves cast up no pearls to view1 ,along the shore my hand is on its pulse1 ,and ,i converse with many a shipwrecked crew4 ,the small houses which were scattered along the river at intervals of a mile or more were commonly out of sight to us1 but sometimes1 when we rowed near the shore1 we heard the peevish note of a hen1 or some slight domestic sound1 which betrayed them4 ,the lock-men's houses were particularly well placed1 retired1 and high1 always at falls or rapids1 and commanding the pleasantest reaches of the river1--for it is generally wider and more lake-like just above a fall1--and there they wait for boats4 ,these humble dwellings1 homely and sincere1 in which a hearth was still the essential part1 were more pleasing to our eyes than palaces or castles would have been4 ,in the noon of these days1 as we have said1 we occasionally climbed the banks and approached these houses1 to get a glass of water and make acquaintance with their inhabitants4 ,high in the leafy bank1 surrounded commonly by a small patch of corn and beans1 squashes and melons1 with sometimes a graceful hop-yard on one side1 and some running vine over the windows1 they appeared like beehives set to gather honey for a summer4 ,i have not read of any ,arcadian life which surpasses the actual luxury and serenity of these ,new ,england dwellings4 ,for the outward gilding1 at least1 the age is golden enough4 ,as you approach the sunny doorway1 awakening the echoes by your steps1 still no sound from these barracks of repose1 and you fear that the gentlest knock may seem rude to the ,oriental dreamers4 ,the door is opened1 perchance1 by some ,yankee-,hindoo woman1 whose small-voiced but sincere hospitality1 out of the bottomless depths of a quiet nature1 has travelled quite round to the opposite side1 and fears only to obtrude its kindness4 ,you step over the white-scoured floor to the bright 8dresser0 lightly1 as if afraid to disturb the devotions of the household1--for ,oriental dynasties appear to have passed away since the dinner-table was last spread here1--and thence to the frequented curb1 where you see your long-forgotten1 unshaven face at the bottom1 in juxtaposition with new-made butter and the trout in the well4 8,perhaps you would like some molasses and ginger10 suggests the faint noon voice4 ,sometimes there sits the brother who follows the sea1 their representative man2 who knows only how far it is to the nearest port1 no more distances1 all the rest is sea and distant capes1--patting the dog1 or dandling the kitten in arms that were stretched by the cable and the oar1 pulling against ,boreas or the trade-winds4 ,he looks up at the stranger1 half pleased1 half astonished1 with a mariner's eye1 as if he were a dolphin within cast4 ,if men will believe it1 sua si bona nrint1 there are no more quiet ,tempes1 nor more poetic and ,arcadian lives1 than may be lived in these ,new ,england dwellings4 ,we thought that the employment of their inhabitants by day would be to tend the flowers and herds1 and at night1 like the shepherds of old1 to cluster and give names to the stars from the river banks4 ,we passed a large and densely wooded island this forenoon1 between ,short's and ,griffith's ,falls1 the fairest which we had met with1 with a handsome grove of elms at its head4 ,if it had been evening we should have been glad to camp there4 ,not long after1 one or two more were passed4 ,the boatmen told us that the current had recently made important changes here4 ,an island always pleases my imagination1 even the smallest1 as a small continent and integral portion of the globe4 ,i have a fancy for building my hut on one4 ,even a bare1 grassy isle1 which ,i can see entirely over at a glance1 has some undefined and mysterious charm for me4 ,there is commonly such a one at the junction of two rivers1 whose currents bring down and deposit their respective sands in the eddy at their confluence1 as it were the womb of a continent4 ,by what a delicate and far-stretched contribution every island is made6 ,what an enterprise of ,nature thus to lay the foundations of and to build up the future continent1 of golden and silver sands and the ruins of forests1 with ant-like industry6 ,pindar gives the following account of the origin of ,thera1 whence1 in after times1 ,libyan ,cyrene was settled by ,battus4 ,triton1 in the form of ,eurypylus1 presents a clod to ,euphemus1 one of the ,argonauts1 as they are about to return home4 8,he knew of our haste1 ,and immediately seizing a clod ,with his right hand1 strove to give it ,as a chance stranger's gift4 ,nor did the hero disregard him1 but leaping on the shore1 ,stretching hand to hand1 ,received the mystic clod4 ,but ,i hear it sinking from the deck1 ,go with the sea brine ,at evening1 accompanying the watery sea4 ,often indeed ,i urged the careless ,menials to guard it1 but their minds forgot4 ,and now in this island the imperishable seed of spacious ,libya ,is spilled before its hour40 ,it is a beautiful fable1 also related by ,pindar1 how ,helius1 or the ,sun1 looked down into the sea one day1--when perchance his rays were first reflected from some increasing glittering sandbar1--and saw the fair and fruitful island of ,rhodes 8springing up from the bottom1 ,capable of feeding many men1 and suitable for flocks2 and at the nod of ,zeus1 8,the island sprang from the watery ,sea2 and the genial ,father of penetrating beams1 ,ruler of fire-breathing horses1 has it40 ,the shifting islands6 who would not be willing that his house should be undermined by such a foe6 ,the inhabitant of an island can tell what currents formed the land which he cultivates2 and his earth is still being created or destroyed4 ,there before his door1 perchance1 still empties the stream which brought down the material of his farm ages before1 and is still bringing it down or washing it away1--the graceful1 gentle robber6 ,not long after this we saw the ,piscataquoag1 or ,sparkling ,water1 emptying in on our left1 and heard the ,falls of ,amoskeag above4 ,large quantities of lumber1 as we read in the ,gazetteer1 were still annually floated down the ,piscataquoag to the ,merrimack1 and there are many fine mill privileges on it4 ,just above the mouth of this river we passed the artificial falls where the canals of the ,manchester ,manufacturing ,company discharge themselves into the ,merrimack4 ,they are striking enough to have a name1 and1 with the scenery of a ,bashpish1 would be visited from far and near4 ,the water falls thirty or forty feet over seven or eight steep and narrow terraces of stone1 probably to break its force1 and is converted into one mass of foam4 ,this canal-water did not seem to be the worse for the wear1 but foamed and fumed as purely1 and boomed as savagely and impressively1 as a mountain torrent1 and1 though it came from under a factory1 we saw a rainbow here4 ,these are now the ,amoskeag ,falls1 removed a mile down-stream4 ,but we did not tarry to examine them minutely1 making haste to get past the village here collected1 and out of hearing of the hammer which was laying the foundation of another ,lowell on the banks4 ,at the time of our voyage ,manchester was a village of about two thousand inhabitants1 where we landed for a moment to get some cool water1 and where an inhabitant told us that he was accustomed to go across the river into ,goffstown for his water4 ,but now1 as ,i have been told1 and indeed have witnessed1 it contains fourteen thousand inhabitants4 ,from a hill on the road between ,goffstown and ,hooksett1 four miles distant1 ,i have seen a thunder-shower pass over1 and the sun break out and shine on a city there1 where ,i had landed nine years before in the fields2 and there was waving the flag of its ,museum1 where 8the only perfect skeleton of a ,greenland or river whale in the ,united ,states0 was to be seen1 and ,i also read in its directory of a 8,manchester ,athenum and ,gallery of the ,fine ,arts40 ,according to the ,gazetteer1 the descent of ,amoskeag ,falls1 which are the most considerable in the ,merrimack1 is fifty-four feet in half a mile4 ,we locked ourselves through here with much ado1 surmounting the successive watery steps of this river's staircase in the midst of a crowd of villagers1 jumping into the canal to their amusement1 to save our boat from upsetting1 and consuming much river-water in our service4 ,amoskeag1 or ,namaskeak1 is said to mean 8great fishing-place40 ,it was hereabouts that the ,sachem ,wannalancet resided4 ,tradition says that his tribe1 when at war with the ,mohawks1 concealed their provisions in the cavities of the rocks in the upper part of these falls4 ,the ,indians1 who hid their provisions in these holes1 and affirmed 8that ,god had cut them out for that purpose10 understood their origin and use better than the ,royal ,society1 who in their ,transactions1 in the last century1 speaking of these very holes1 declare that 8they seem plainly to be artificial40 ,similar 8pot-holes0 may be seen at the ,stone ,flume on this river1 on the ,ottaway1 at ,bellows' ,falls on the ,connecticut1 and in the limestone rock at ,shelburne ,falls on ,deerfield ,river in ,massachusetts1 and more or less generally about all falls4 ,perhaps the most remarkable curiosity of this kind in ,new ,england is the well-known ,basin on the ,pemigewasset1 one of the head-waters of this river1 twenty by thirty feet in extent and proportionably deep1 with a smooth and rounded brim1 and filled with a cold1 pellucid1 and greenish water4 ,at ,amoskeag the river is divided into many separate torrents and trickling rills by the rocks1 and its volume is so much reduced by the drain of the canals that it does not fill its bed4 ,there are many pot-holes here on a rocky island which the river washes over in high freshets4 ,as at ,shelburne ,falls1 where ,i first observed them1 they are from one foot to four or five in diameter1 and as many in depth1 perfectly round and regular1 with smooth and gracefully curved brims1 like goblets4 ,their origin is apparent to the most careless observer4 ,a stone which the current has washed down1 meeting with obstacles1 revolves as on a pivot where it lies1 gradually sinking in the course of centuries deeper and deeper into the rock1 and in new freshets receiving the aid of fresh stones1 which are drawn into this trap and doomed to revolve there for an indefinite period1 doing ,sisyphus-like penance for stony sins1 until they either wear out1 or wear through the bottom of their prison1 or else are released by some revolution of nature4 ,there lie the stones of various sizes1 from a pebble to a foot or two in diameter1 some of which have rested from their labor only since the spring1 and some higher up which have lain still and dry for ages1--we noticed some here at least sixteen feet above the present level of the water1--while others are still revolving1 and enjoy no respite at any season4 ,in one instance1 at ,shelburne ,falls1 they have worn quite through the rock1 so that a portion of the river leaks through in anticipation of the fall4 ,some of these pot-holes at ,amoskeag1 in a very hard brown-stone1 had an oblong1 cylindrical stone of the same material loosely fitting them4 ,one1 as much as fifteen feet deep and seven or eight in diameter1 which was worn quite through to the water1 had a huge rock of the same material1 smooth but of irregular form1 lodged in it4 ,everywhere there were the rudiments or the wrecks of a dimple in the rock2 the rocky shells of whirlpools4 ,as if by force of example and sympathy after so many lessons1 the rocks1 the hardest material1 had been endeavoring to whirl or flow into the forms of the most fluid4 ,the finest workers in stone are not copper or steel tools1 but the gentle touches of air and water working at their leisure with a liberal allowance of time4 ,not only have some of these basins been forming for countless ages1 but others exist which must have been completed in a former geological period4 ,in deepening the ,pawtucket ,canal1 in #ahbb1 the workmen came to ledges with pot-holes in them1 where probably was once the bed of the river1 and there are some1 we are told1 in the town of ,canaan in this ,state1 with the stones still in them1 on the height of land between the ,merrimack and ,connecticut1 and nearly a thousand feet above these rivers1 proving that the mountains and the rivers have changed places4 ,there lie the stones which completed their revolutions perhaps before thoughts began to revolve in the brain of man4 ,the periods of ,hindoo and ,chinese history1 though they reach back to the time when the race of mortals is confounded with the race of gods1 are as nothing compared with the periods which these stones have inscribed4 ,that which commenced a rock when time was young1 shall conclude a pebble in the unequal contest4 ,with such expense of time and natural forces are our very paving-stones produced4 ,they teach us lessons1 these dumb workers2 verily there are 8sermons in stones1 and books in the running streams40 ,in these very holes the ,indians hid their provisions2 but now there is no bread1 but only its old neighbor stones at the bottom4 ,who knows how many races they have served thus8 ,by as simple a law1 some accidental by-law1 perchance1 our system itself was made ready for its inhabitants4 ,these1 and such as these1 must be our antiquities1 for lack of human vestiges4 ,the monuments of heroes and the temples of the gods which may once have stood on the banks of this river are now1 at any rate1 returned to dust and primitive soil4 ,the murmur of unchronicled nations has died away along these shores1 and once more ,lowell and ,manchester are on the trail of the ,indian4 ,the fact that ,romans once inhabited her reflects no little dignity on ,nature herself2 that from some particular hill the ,roman once looked out on the sea4 ,she need not be ashamed of the vestiges of her children4 ,how gladly the antiquary informs us that their vessels penetrated into this frith1 or up that river of some remote isle6 ,their military monuments still remain on the hills and under the sod of the valleys4 ,the oft-repeated ,roman story is written in still legible characters in every quarter of the ,old ,world1 and but to-day1 perchance1 a new coin is dug up whose inscription repeats and confirms their fame4 ,some 8,juda ,capta0 with a woman mourning under a palm-tree1 with silent argument and demonstration confirms the pages of history4 8,rome living was the world's sole ornament2 ,and dead is now the world's sole monument4 99 99 99 99 99 ,with her own weight down pressed now she lies1 ,and by her heaps her hugeness testifies40 ,if one doubts whether ,grecian valor and patriotism are not a fiction of the poets1 he may go to ,athens and see still upon the walls of the temple of ,minerva the circular marks made by the shields taken from the enemy in the ,persian war1 which were suspended there4 ,we have not far to seek for living and unquestionable evidence4 ,the very dust takes shape and confirms some story which we had read4 ,as ,fuller said1 commenting on the zeal of ,camden1 8,a broken urn is a whole evidence2 or an old gate still surviving out of which the city is run out40 ,when ,solon endeavored to prove that ,salamis had formerly belonged to the ,athenians1 and not to the ,megareans1 he caused the tombs to be opened1 and showed that the inhabitants of ,salamis turned the faces of their dead to the same side with the ,athenians1 but the ,megareans to the opposite side4 ,there they were to be interrogated4 ,some minds are as little logical or argumentative as nature2 they can offer no reason or 8guess10 but they exhibit the solemn and incontrovertible fact4 ,if a historical question arises1 they cause the tombs to be opened4 ,their silent and practical logic convinces the reason and the understanding at the same time4 ,of such sort is always the only pertinent question and the only satisfactory reply4 ,our own country furnishes antiquities as ancient and durable1 and as useful1 as any2 rocks at least as well covered with lichens1 and a soil which1 if it is virgin1 is but virgin mould1 the very dust of nature4 ,what if we cannot read ,rome1 or ,greece1 ,etruria1 or ,carthage1 or ,egypt1 or ,babylon1 on these2 are our cliffs bare8 ,the lichen on the rocks is a rude and simple shield which beginning and imperfect ,nature suspended there4 ,still hangs her wrinkled trophy4 ,and here too the poet's eye may still detect the brazen nails which fastened ,time's inscriptions1 and if he has the gift1 decipher them by this clew4 ,the walls that fence our fields1 as well as modern ,rome1 and not less the ,parthenon itself1 are all built of ruins4 ,here may be heard the din of rivers1 and ancient winds which have long since lost their names sough through our woods2--the first faint sounds of spring1 older than the summer of ,athenian glory1 the titmouse lisping in the wood1 the jay's scream1 and blue-bird's warble1 and the hum of 8bees that fly ,about the laughing blossoms of sallowy40 ,here is the gray dawn for antiquity1 and our to-morrow's future should be at least paulo-post to theirs which we have put behind us4 ,there are the red-maple and birchen leaves1 old runes which are not yet deciphered2 catkins1 pine-cones1 vines1 oak-leaves1 and acorns2 the very things themselves1 and not their forms in stone1--so much the more ancient and venerable4 ,and even to the current summer there has come down tradition of a hoary-headed master of all art1 who once filled every field and grove with statues and god-like architecture1 of every design which ,greece has lately copied2 whose ruins are now mingled with the dust1 and not one block remains upon another4 ,the century sun and unwearied rain have wasted them1 till not one fragment from that quarry now exists2 and poets perchance will feign that gods sent down the material from heaven4 ,what though the traveller tell us of the ruins of ,egypt1 are we so sick or idle1 that we must sacrifice our ,america and to-day to some man's ill-remembered and indolent story8 ,carnac and ,luxor are but names1 or if their skeletons remain1 still more desert sand1 and at length a wave of the ,mediterranean ,sea are needed to wash away the filth that attaches to their grandeur4 ,carnac6 ,carnac6 here is ,carnac for me4 ,i behold the columns of a larger and purer temple4 ,this is my ,carnac1 whose unmeasured dome ,shelters the measuring art and measurer's home4 ,behold these flowers1 let us be up with time1 ,not dreaming of three thousand years ago1 ,erect ourselves and let those columns lie1 ,not stoop to raise a foil against the sky4 ,where is the spirit of that time but in ,this present day1 perchance the present line8 ,three thousand years ago are not agone1 ,they are still lingering in this summer morn1 ,and ,memnon's ,mother sprightly greets us now1 ,wearing her youthful radiance on her brow4 ,if ,carnac's columns still stand on the plain1 ,to enjoy our opportunities they remain4 ,in these parts dwelt the famous ,sachem ,pasaconaway1 who was seen by ,gookin 8at ,pawtucket1 when he was about one hundred and twenty years old40 ,he was reputed a wise man and a powwow1 and restrained his people from going to war with the ,english4 ,they believed 8that he could make water burn1 rocks move1 and trees dance1 and metamorphose himself into a flaming man2 that in winter he could raise a green leaf out of the ashes of a dry one1 and produce a living snake from the skin of a dead one1 and many similar miracles40 ,in #affj1 according to ,gookin1 at a great feast and dance1 he made his farewell speech to his people1 in which he said1 that as he was not likely to see them met together again1 he would leave them this word of advice1 to take heed how they quarrelled with their ,english neighbors1 for though they might do them much mischief at first1 it would prove the means of their own destruction4 ,he himself1 he said1 had been as much an enemy to the ,english at their first coming as any1 and had used all his arts to destroy them1 or at least to prevent their settlement1 but could by no means effect it4 ,gookin thought that he 8possibly might have such a kind of spirit upon him as was upon ,balaam1 who in xxiii4 ,numbers1 #bc1 said #8,surely1 there is no enchantment against ,jacob1 neither is there any divination against ,israel4'0 ,his son ,wannalancet carefully followed his advice1 and when ,philip's ,war broke out1 he withdrew his followers to ,penacook1 now ,concord in ,new ,hampshire1 from the scene of the war4 ,on his return afterwards1 he visited the minister of ,chelmsford1 and1 as is stated in the history of that town1 8wished to know whether ,chelmsford had suffered much during the war2 and being informed that it had not1 and that ,god should be thanked for it1 ,wannalancet replied1 #8,me next4'0 ,manchester was the residence of ,john ,stark1 a hero of two wars1 and survivor of a third1 and at his death the last but one of the ,american generals of the ,revolution4 ,he was born in the adjoining town of ,londonderry1 then ,nutfield1 in #agbh4 ,as early as #ageb1 he was taken prisoner by the ,indians while hunting in the wilderness near ,baker's ,river2 he performed notable service as a captain of rangers in the ,french war2 commanded a regiment of the ,new ,hampshire militia at the battle of ,bunker ,hill2 and fought and won the battle of ,bennington in #aggg4 ,he was past service in the last war1 and died here in #ahbb1 at the age of #id4 ,his monument stands upon the second bank of the river1 about a mile and a half above the falls1 and commands a prospect several miles up and down the ,merrimack4 ,it suggested how much more impressive in the landscape is the tomb of a hero than the dwellings of the inglorious living4 ,who is most dead1--a hero by whose monument you stand1 or his descendants of whom you have never heard8 ,the graves of ,pasaconaway and ,wannalancet are marked by no monument on the bank of their native river4 ,every town which we passed1 if we may believe the ,gazetteer1 had been the residence of some great man4 ,but though we knocked at many doors1 and even made particular inquiries1 we could not find that there were any now living4 ,under the head of ,litchfield we read3-- 8,the ,hon4 ,wyseman ,clagett closed his life in this town40 ,according to another1 8,he was a classical scholar1 a good lawyer1 a wit1 and a poet40 ,we saw his old gray house just below ,great ,nesenkeag ,brook4--,under the head of ,merrimack3 8,hon4 ,mathew ,thornton1 one of the signers of the ,declaration of ,american ,independence1 resided many years in this town40 ,his house too we saw from the river4--8,dr4 ,jonathan ,gove1 a man distinguished for his urbanity1 his talents and professional skill1 resided in this town ,goffstown4 ,he was one of the oldest practitioners of medicine in the county4 ,he was many years an active member of the legislature40--8,hon4 ,robert ,means1 who died ,jan4 #bd1 #ahbc1 at the age of #hj1 was for a long period a resident in ,amherst4 ,he was a native of ,ireland4 ,in #agfd he came to this country1 where1 by his industry and application to business1 he acquired a large property1 and great respect40--8,william ,stinson one of the first settlers of ,dunbarton1 born in ,ireland1 came to ,londonderry with his father4 ,he was much respected and was a useful man4 ,james ,rogers was from ,ireland1 and father to ,major ,robert ,rogers4 ,he was shot in the woods1 being mistaken for a bear40--8,rev4 ,matthew ,clark1 second minister of ,londonderry1 was a native of ,ireland1 who had in early life been an officer in the army1 and distinguished himself in the defence of the city of ,londonderry1 when besieged by the army of ,king ,james ,,ii4 ,a4 ,d4 #afhh-i4 ,he afterwards relinquished a military life for the clerical profession4 ,he possessed a strong mind1 marked by a considerable degree of eccentricity4 ,he died ,jan4 #be1 #agce1 and was borne to the grave1 at his particular request1 by his former companions in arms1 of whom there were a considerable number among the early settlers of this town2 several of them had been made free from taxes throughout the ,british dominions by ,king ,william1 for their bravery in that memorable siege40--,col4 ,george ,reid and ,capt4 ,david ,m',clary1 also citizens of ,londonderry1 were 8distinguished and brave0 officers4--8,major ,andrew ,m',clary1 a native of this town ,epsom1 fell at the battle of ,breed's ,hill40--,many of these heroes1 like the illustrious ,roman1 were ploughing when the news of the massacre at ,lexington arrived1 and straightway left their ploughs in the furrow1 and repaired to the scene of action4 ,some miles from where we now were1 there once stood a guide-post on which were the words1 8#c miles to ,squire ,mac,gaw's40 ,but generally speaking1 the land is now1 at any rate1 very barren of men1 and we doubt if there are as many hundreds as we read of4 ,it may be that we stood too near4 ,uncannunuc ,mountain in ,goffstown was visible from ,amoskeag1 five or six miles westward4 ,it is the north-easternmost in the horizon1 which we see from our native town1 but seen from there is too ethereally blue to be the same which the like of us have ever climbed4 ,its name is said to mean 8,the ,two ,breasts10 there being two eminences some distance apart4 ,the highest1 which is about fourteen hundred feet above the sea1 probably affords a more extensive view of the ,merrimack valley and the adjacent country than any other hill1 though it is somewhat obstructed by woods4 ,only a few short reaches of the river are visible1 but you can trace its course far down stream by the sandy tracts on its banks4 ,a little south of ,uncannunuc1 about sixty years ago1 as the story goes1 an old woman who went out to gather pennyroyal1 tript her foot in the bail of a small brass kettle in the dead grass and bushes4 ,some say that flints and charcoal and some traces of a camp were also found4 ,this kettle1 holding about four quarts1 is still preserved and used to dye thread in4 ,it is supposed to have belonged to some old ,french or ,indian hunter1 who was killed in one of his hunting or scouting excursions1 and so never returned to look after his kettle4 ,but we were most interested to hear of the pennyroyal1 it is soothing to be reminded that wild nature produces anything ready for the use of man4 ,men know that something is good4 ,one says that it is yellow-dock1 another that it is bitter-sweet1 another that it is slippery-elm bark1 burdock1 catnip1 calamint1 elicampane1 thoroughwort1 or pennyroyal4 ,a man may esteem himself happy when that which is his food is also his medicine4 ,there is no kind of herb1 but somebody or other says that it is good4 ,i am very glad to hear it4 ,it reminds me of the first chapter of ,genesis4 ,but how should they know that it is good8 ,that is the mystery to me4 ,i am always agreeably disappointed2 it is incredible that they should have found it out4 ,since all things are good1 men fail at last to distinguish which is the bane1 and which the antidote4 ,there are sure to be two prescriptions diametrically opposite4 ,stuff a cold and starve a cold are but two ways4 ,they are the two practices both always in full blast4 ,yet you must take advice of the one school as if there was no other4 ,in respect to religion and the healing art1 all nations are still in a state of barbarism4 ,in the most civilized countries the priest is still but a ,powwow1 and the physician a ,great ,medicine4 ,consider the deference which is everywhere paid to a doctor's opinion4 ,nothing more strikingly betrays the credulity of mankind than medicine4 ,quackery is a thing universal1 and universally successful4 ,in this case it becomes literally true that no imposition is too great for the credulity of men4 ,priests and physicians should never look one another in the face4 ,they have no common ground1 nor is there any to mediate between them4 ,when the one comes1 the other goes4 ,they could not come together without laughter1 or a significant silence1 for the one's profession is a satire on the other's1 and either's success would be the other's failure4 ,it is wonderful that the physician should ever die1 and that the priest should ever live4 ,why is it that the priest is never called to consult with the physician8 ,is it because men believe practically that matter is independent of spirit4 ,but what is quackery8 ,it is commonly an attempt to cure the diseases of a man by addressing his body alone4 ,there is need of a physician who shall minister to both soul and body at once1 that is1 to man4 ,now he falls between two souls4 ,after passing through the locks1 we had poled ourselves through the canal here1 about half a mile in length1 to the boatable part of the river4 ,above ,amoskeag the river spreads out into a lake reaching a mile or two without a bend4 ,there were many canal-boats here bound up to ,hooksett1 about eight miles1 and as they were going up empty with a fair wind1 one boatman offered to take us in tow if we would wait4 ,but when we came alongside1 we found that they meant to take us on board1 since otherwise we should clog their motions too much2 but as our boat was too heavy to be lifted aboard1 we pursued our way up the stream1 as before1 while the boatmen were at their dinner1 and came to anchor at length under some alders on the opposite shore1 where we could take our lunch4 ,though far on one side1 every sound was wafted over to us from the opposite bank1 and from the harbor of the canal1 and we could see everything that passed4 ,by and by came several canal-boats1 at intervals of a quarter of a mile1 standing up to ,hooksett with a light breeze1 and one by one disappeared round a point above4 ,with their broad sails set1 they moved slowly up the stream in the sluggish and fitful breeze1 like one-winged antediluvian birds1 and as if impelled by some mysterious counter-current4 ,it was a grand motion1 so slow and stately1 this 8standing out10 as the phrase is1 expressing the gradual and steady progress of a vessel1 as if it were by mere rectitude and disposition1 without shuffling4 ,their sails1 which stood so still1 were like chips cast into the current of the air to show which way it set4 ,at length the boat which we had spoken came along1 keeping the middle of the stream1 and when within speaking distance the steersman called out ironically to say1 that if we would come alongside now he would take us in tow2 but not heeding his taunt1 we still loitered in the shade till we had finished our lunch1 and when the last boat had disappeared round the point with flapping sail1 for the breeze had now sunk to a zephyr1 with our own sails set1 and plying our oars1 we shot rapidly up the stream in pursuit1 and as we glided close alongside1 while they were vainly invoking olus to their aid1 we returned their compliment by proposing1 if they would throw us a rope1 to 8take them in tow10 to which these ,merrimack sailors had no suitable answer ready4 ,thus we gradually overtook and passed each boat in succession until we had the river to ourselves again4 ,our course this afternoon was between ,manchester and ,goffstown4 ------------ ,while we float here1 far from that tributary stream on whose banks our ,friends and kindred dwell1 our thoughts1 like the stars1 come out of their horizon still2 for there circulates a finer blood than ,lavoisier has discovered the laws of1--the blood1 not of kindred merely1 but of kindness1 whose pulse still beats at any distance and forever4 ,true kindness is a pure divine affinity1 ,not founded upon human consanguinity4 ,it is a spirit1 not a blood relation1 ,superior to family and station4 ,after years of vain familiarity1 some distant gesture or unconscious behavior1 which we remember1 speaks to us with more emphasis than the wisest or kindest words4 ,we are sometimes made aware of a kindness long passed1 and realize that there have been times when our ,friends' thoughts of us were of so pure and lofty a character that they passed over us like the winds of heaven unnoticed2 when they treated us not as what we were1 but as what we aspired to be4 ,there has just reached us1 it may be1 the nobleness of some such silent behavior1 not to be forgotten1 not to be remembered1 and we shudder to think how it fell on us cold1 though in some true but tardy hour we endeavor to wipe off these scores4 ,in my experience1 persons1 when they are made the subject of conversation1 though with a ,friend1 are commonly the most prosaic and trivial of facts4 ,the universe seems bankrupt as soon as we begin to discuss the character of individuals4 ,our discourse all runs to slander1 and our limits grow narrower as we advance4 ,how is it that we are impelled to treat our old ,friends so ill when we obtain new ones8 ,the housekeeper says1 ,i never had any new crockery in my life but ,i began to break the old4 ,i say1 let us speak of mushrooms and forest trees rather4 ,yet we can sometimes afford to remember them in private4 ,lately1 alas1 ,i knew a gentle boy1 ,whose features all were cast in ,virtue's mould1 ,as one she had designed for ,beauty's toy1 ,but after manned him for her own strong-hold4 ,on every side he open was as day1 ,that you might see no lack of strength within1 ,for walls and ports do only serve alway ,for a pretence to feebleness and sin4 ,say not that ,csar was victorious1 ,with toil and strife who stormed the ,house of ,fame1 ,in other sense this youth was glorious1 ,himself a kingdom wheresoe'er he came4 ,no strength went out to get him victory1 ,when all was income of its own accord2 ,for where he went none other was to see1 ,but all were parcel of their noble lord4 ,he forayed like the subtile haze of summer1 ,that stilly shows fresh landscapes to our eyes1 ,and revolutions works without a murmur1 ,or rustling of a leaf beneath the skies4 ,so was ,i taken unawares by this1 ,i quite forgot my homage to confess2 ,yet now am forced to know1 though hard it is1 ,i might have loved him had ,i loved him less4 ,each moment as we nearer drew to each1 ,a stern respect withheld us farther yet1 ,so that we seemed beyond each other's reach1 ,and less acquainted than when first we met4 ,we two were one while we did sympathize1 ,so could we not the simplest bargain drive2 ,and what avails it now that we are wise1 ,if absence doth this doubleness contrive8 ,eternity may not the chance repeat1 ,but ,i must tread my single way alone1 ,in sad remembrance that we once did meet1 ,and know that bliss irrevocably gone4 ,the spheres henceforth my elegy shall sing1 ,for elegy has other subject none2 ,each strain of music in my ears shall ring ,knell of departure from that other one4 ,make haste and celebrate my tragedy2 ,with fitting strain resound ye woods and fields2 ,sorrow is dearer in such case to me ,than all the joys other occasion yields4 ---------- ,is't then too late the damage to repair8 ,distance1 forsooth1 from my weak grasp hath reft ,the empty husk1 and clutched the useless tare1 ,but in my hands the wheat and kernel left4 ,if ,i but love that virtue which he is1 ,though it be scented in the morning air1 ,still shall we be truest acquaintances1 ,nor mortals know a sympathy more rare4 ,friendship is evanescent in every man's experience1 and remembered like heat lightning in past summers4 ,fair and flitting like a summer cloud2--there is always some vapor in the air1 no matter how long the drought2 there are even ,april showers4 ,surely from time to time1 for its vestiges never depart1 it floats through our atmosphere4 ,it takes place1 like vegetation in so many materials1 because there is such a law1 but always without permanent form1 though ancient and familiar as the sun and moon1 and as sure to come again4 ,the heart is forever inexperienced4 ,they silently gather as by magic1 these never failing1 never quite deceiving visions1 like the bright and fleecy clouds in the calmest and clearest days4 ,the ,friend is some fair floating isle of palms eluding the mariner in ,pacific seas4 ,many are the dangers to be encountered1 equinoctial gales and coral reefs1 ere he may sail before the constant trades4 ,but who would not sail through mutiny and storm1 even over ,atlantic waves1 to reach the fabulous retreating shores of some continent man8 ,the imagination still clings to the faintest tradition of ,,the ,,atlantides4 ,the smothered streams of love1 which flow ,more bright than ,phlegethon1 more low1 ,island us ever1 like the sea1 ,in an ,atlantic mystery4 ,our fabled shores none ever reach1 ,no mariner has found our beach1 ,scarcely our mirage now is seen1 ,and neighboring waves with floating green1 ,yet still the oldest charts contain ,some dotted outline of our main2 ,in ancient times midsummer days ,unto the western islands' gaze1 ,to ,teneriffe and the ,azores1 ,have shown our faint and cloud-like shores4 ,but sink not yet1 ye desolate isles1 ,anon your coast with commerce smiles1 ,and richer freights ye'll furnish far ,than ,africa or ,malabar4 ,be fair1 be fertile evermore1 ,ye rumored but untrodden shore1 ,princes and monarchs will contend ,who first unto your land shall send1 ,and pawn the jewels of the crown ,to call your distant soil their own4 ,columbus has sailed westward of these isles by the mariner's compass1 but neither he nor his successors have found them4 ,we are no nearer than ,plato was4 ,the earnest seeker and hopeful discoverer of this ,new ,world always haunts the outskirts of his time1 and walks through the densest crowd uninterrupted1 and as it were in a straight line4 ,sea and land are but his neighbors1 ,and companions in his labors1 ,who on the ocean's verge and firm land's end ,doth long and truly seek his ,friend4 ,many men dwell far inland1 ,but he alone sits on the strand4 ,whether he ponders men or books1 ,always still he seaward looks1 ,marine news he ever reads1 ,and the slightest glances heeds1 ,feels the sea breeze on his cheek1 ,at each word the landsmen speak1 ,in every companion's eye ,a sailing vessel doth descry2 ,in the ocean's sullen roar ,from some distant port he hears1 ,of wrecks upon a distant shore1 ,and the ventures of past years4 ,who does not walk on the plain as amid the columns of ,tadmore of the desert8 ,there is on the earth no institution which ,friendship has established2 it is not taught by any religion2 no scripture contains its maxims4 ,it has no temple1 nor even a solitary column4 ,there goes a rumor that the earth is inhabited1 but the shipwrecked mariner has not seen a footprint on the shore4 ,the hunter has found only fragments of pottery and the monuments of inhabitants4 ,however1 our fates at least are social4 ,our courses do not diverge2 but as the web of destiny is woven it is fulled1 and we are cast more and more into the centre4 ,men naturally1 though feebly1 seek this alliance1 and their actions faintly foretell it4 ,we are inclined to lay the chief stress on likeness and not on difference1 and in foreign bodies we admit that there are many degrees of warmth below blood heat1 but none of cold above it4 ,mencius says3 8,if one loses a fowl or a dog1 he knows well how to seek them again2 if one loses the sentiments of his heart1 he does not know how to seek them again4 4 4 4 ,the duties of practical philosophy consist only in seeking after those sentiments of the heart which we have lost2 that is all40 ,one or two persons come to my house from time to time1 there being proposed to them the faint possibility of intercourse4 ,they are as full as they are silent1 and wait for my plectrum to stir the strings of their lyre4 ,if they could ever come to the length of a sentence1 or hear one1 on that ground they are dreaming of6 ,they speak faintly1 and do not obtrude themselves4 ,they have heard some news1 which none1 not even they themselves1 can impart4 ,it is a wealth they can bear about them which can be expended in various ways4 ,what came they out to seek8 ,no word is oftener on the lips of men than ,friendship1 and indeed no thought is more familiar to their aspirations4 ,all men are dreaming of it1 and its drama1 which is always a tragedy1 is enacted daily4 ,it is the secret of the universe4 ,you may thread the town1 you may wander the country1 and none shall ever speak of it1 yet thought is everywhere busy about it1 and the idea of what is possible in this respect affects our behavior toward all new men and women1 and a great many old ones4 ,nevertheless1 ,i can remember only two or three essays on this subject in all literature4 ,no wonder that the ,mythology1 and ,arabian ,nights1 and ,shakespeare1 and ,scott's novels entertain us1--we are poets and fablers and dramatists and novelists ourselves4 ,we are continually acting a part in a more interesting drama than any written4 ,we are dreaming that our ,friends are our ,friends1 and that we are our ,friends' ,friends4 ,our actual ,friends are but distant relations of those to whom we are pledged4 ,we never exchange more than three words with a ,friend in our lives on that level to which our thoughts and feelings almost habitually rise4 ,one goes forth prepared to say1 8,sweet ,friends60 and the salutation is1 8,damn your eyes60 ,but never mind2 faint heart never won true ,friend4 ,o my ,friend1 may it come to pass once1 that when you are my ,friend ,i may be yours4 ,of what use the friendliest dispositions even1 if there are no hours given to ,friendship1 if it is forever postponed to unimportant duties and relations8 ,friendship is first1 ,friendship last4 ,but it is equally impossible to forget our ,friends1 and to make them answer to our ideal4 ,when they say farewell1 then indeed we begin to keep them company4 ,how often we find ourselves turning our backs on our actual ,friends1 that we may go and meet their ideal cousins4 ,i would that ,i were worthy to be any man's ,friend4 ,what is commonly honored with the name of ,friendship is no very profound or powerful instinct4 ,men do not1 after all1 love their ,friends greatly4 ,i do not often see the farmers made seers and wise to the verge of insanity by their ,friendship for one another4 ,they are not often transfigured and translated by love in each other's presence4 ,i do not observe them purified1 refined1 and elevated by the love of a man4 ,if one abates a little the price of his wood1 or gives a neighbor his vote at town-meeting1 or a barrel of apples1 or lends him his wagon frequently1 it is esteemed a rare instance of ,friendship4 ,nor do the farmers' wives lead lives consecrated to ,friendship4 ,i do not see the pair of farmer ,friends of either sex prepared to stand against the world4 ,there are only two or three couples in history4 ,to say that a man is your ,friend1 means commonly no more than this1 that he is not your enemy4 ,most contemplate only what would be the accidental and trifling advantages of ,friendship1 as that the ,friend can assist in time of need1 by his substance1 or his influence1 or his counsel2 but he who foresees such advantages in this relation proves himself blind to its real advantage1 or indeed wholly inexperienced in the relation itself4 ,such services are particular and menial1 compared with the perpetual and all-embracing service which it is4 ,even the utmost good-will and harmony and practical kindness are not sufficient for ,friendship1 for ,friends do not live in harmony merely1 as some say1 but in melody4 ,we do not wish for ,friends to feed and clothe our bodies1--neighbors are kind enough for that1--but to do the like office to our spirits4 ,for this few are rich enough1 however well disposed they may be4 ,for the most part we stupidly confound one man with another4 ,the dull distinguish only races or nations1 or at most classes1 but the wise man1 individuals4 ,to his ,friend a man's peculiar character appears in every feature and in every action1 and it is thus drawn out and improved by him4 ,think of the importance of ,friendship in the education of men4 8,he that hath love and judgment too1 ,sees more than any other doe40 ,it will make a man honest2 it will make him a hero2 it will make him a saint4 ,it is the state of the just dealing with the just1 the magnanimous with the magnanimous1 the sincere with the sincere1 man with man4 ,and it is well said by another poet1 8,why love among the virtues is not known1 ,is that love is them all contract in one40 ,all the abuses which are the object of reform with the philanthropist1 the statesman1 and the housekeeper are unconsciously amended in the intercourse of ,friends4 ,a ,friend is one who incessantly pays us the compliment of expecting from us all the virtues1 and who can appreciate them in us4 ,it takes two to speak the truth1--one to speak1 and another to hear4 ,how can one treat with magnanimity mere wood and stone8 ,if we dealt only with the false and dishonest1 we should at last forget how to speak truth4 ,only lovers know the value and magnanimity of truth1 while traders prize a cheap honesty1 and neighbors and acquaintance a cheap civility4 ,in our daily intercourse with men1 our nobler faculties are dormant and suffered to rust4 ,none will pay us the compliment to expect nobleness from us4 ,though we have gold to give1 they demand only copper4 ,we ask our neighbor to suffer himself to be dealt with truly1 sincerely1 nobly2 but he answers no by his deafness4 ,he does not even hear this prayer4 ,he says practically1 ,i will be content if you treat me as 8no better than ,i should be10 as deceitful1 mean1 dishonest1 and selfish4 ,for the most part1 we are contented so to deal and to be dealt with1 and we do not think that for the mass of men there is any truer and nobler relation possible4 ,a man may have good neighbors1 so called1 and acquaintances1 and even companions1 wife1 parents1 brothers1 sisters1 children1 who meet himself and one another on this ground only4 ,the ,state does not demand justice of its members1 but thinks that it succeeds very well with the least degree of it1 hardly more than rogues practise2 and so do the neighborhood and the family4 ,what is commonly called ,friendship even is only a little more honor among rogues4 ,but sometimes we are said to love another1 that is1 to stand in a true relation to him1 so that we give the best to1 and receive the best from1 him4 ,between whom there is hearty truth1 there is love2 and in proportion to our truthfulness and confidence in one another1 our lives are divine and miraculous1 and answer to our ideal4 ,there are passages of affection in our intercourse with mortal men and women1 such as no prophecy had taught us to expect1 which transcend our earthly life1 and anticipate ,heaven for us4 ,what is this ,love that may come right into the middle of a prosaic ,goffstown day1 equal to any of the gods8 that discovers a new world1 fair and fresh and eternal1 occupying the place of the old one1 when to the common eye a dust has settled on the universe8 which world cannot else be reached1 and does not exist4 ,what other words1 we may almost ask1 are memorable and worthy to be repeated than those which love has inspired8 ,it is wonderful that they were ever uttered4 ,they are few and rare1 indeed1 but1 like a strain of music1 they are incessantly repeated and modulated by the memory4 ,all other words crumble off with the stucco which overlies the heart4 ,we should not dare to repeat these now aloud4 ,we are not competent to hear them at all times4 ,the books for young people say a great deal about the selection of ,friends2 it is because they really have nothing to say about ,friends4 ,they mean associates and confidants merely4 8,know that the contrariety of foe and ,friend proceeds from ,god40 ,friendship takes place between those who have an affinity for one another1 and is a perfectly natural and inevitable result4 ,no professions nor advances will avail4 ,even speech1 at first1 necessarily has nothing to do with it2 but it follows after silence1 as the buds in the graft do not put forth into leaves till long after the graft has taken4 ,it is a drama in which the parties have no part to act4 ,we are all ,mussulmen and fatalists in this respect4 ,impatient and uncertain lovers think that they must say or do something kind whenever they meet2 they must never be cold4 ,but they who are ,friends do not do what they think they must1 but what they must4 ,even their ,friendship is to some extent but a sublime phenomenon to them4 ,the true and not despairing ,friend will address his ,friend in some such terms as these4 8,i never asked thy leave to let me love thee1--,i have a right4 ,i love thee not as something private and personal1 which is your own1 but as something universal and worthy of love1 which ,i have found4 ,o1 how ,i think of you6 ,you are purely good1 --you are infinitely good4 ,i can trust you forever4 ,i did not think that humanity was so rich4 ,give me an opportunity to live40 8,you are the fact in a fiction1--you are the truth more strange and admirable than fiction4 ,consent only to be what you are4 ,i alone will never stand in your way40 8,this is what ,i would like1--to be as intimate with you as our spirits are intimate1--respecting you as ,i respect my ideal4 ,never to profane one another by word or action1 even by a thought4 ,between us1 if necessary1 let there be no acquaintance40 8,i have discovered you2 how can you be concealed from me80 ,the ,friend asks no return but that his ,friend will religiously accept and wear and not disgrace his apotheosis of him4 ,they cherish each other's hopes4 ,they are kind to each other's dreams4 ,though the poet says1 8',tis the pre-eminence of ,friendship to impute excellence10 yet we can never praise our ,friend1 nor esteem him praiseworthy1 nor let him think that he can please us by any behavior1 or ever treat us well enough4 ,that kindness which has so good a reputation elsewhere can least of all consist with this relation1 and no such affront can be offered to a ,friend1 as a conscious good-will1 a friendliness which is not a necessity of the ,friend's nature4 ,the sexes are naturally most strongly attracted to one another1 by constant constitutional differences1 and are most commonly and surely the complements of each other4 ,how natural and easy it is for man to secure the attention of woman to what interests himself4 ,men and women of equal culture1 thrown together1 are sure to be of a certain value to one another1 more than men to men4 ,there exists already a natural disinterestedness and liberality in such society1 and ,i think that any man will more confidently carry his favorite books to read to some circle of intelligent women1 than to one of his own sex4 ,the visit of man to man is wont to be an interruption1 but the sexes naturally expect one another4 ,yet ,friendship is no respecter of sex2 and perhaps it is more rare between the sexes than between two of the same sex4 ,friendship is1 at any rate1 a relation of perfect equality4 ,it cannot well spare any outward sign of equal obligation and advantage4 ,the nobleman can never have a ,friend among his retainers1 nor the king among his subjects4 ,not that the parties to it are in all respects equal1 but they are equal in all that respects or affects their ,friendship4 ,the one's love is exactly balanced and represented by the other's4 ,persons are only the vessels which contain the nectar1 and the hydrostatic paradox is the symbol of love's law4 ,it finds its level and rises to its fountain-head in all breasts1 and its slenderest column balances the ocean4 8,and love as well the shepherd can ,as can the mighty nobleman40 ,the one sex is not1 in this respect1 more tender than the other4 ,a hero's love is as delicate as a maiden's4 ,confucius said1 8,never contract ,friendship with a man who is not better than thyself40 ,it is the merit and preservation of ,friendship1 that it takes place on a level higher than the actual characters of the parties would seem to warrant4 ,the rays of light come to us in such a curve that every man whom we meet appears to be taller than he actually is4 ,such foundation has civility4 ,my ,friend is that one whom ,i can associate with my choicest thought4 ,i always assign to him a nobler employment in my absence than ,i ever find him engaged in2 and ,i imagine that the hours which he devotes to me were snatched from a higher society4 ,the sorest insult which ,i ever received from a ,friend was1 when he behaved with the license which only long and cheap acquaintance allows to one's faults1 in my presence1 without shame1 and still addressed me in friendly accents4 ,beware1 lest thy ,friend learn at last to tolerate one frailty of thine1 and so an obstacle be raised to the progress of thy love4 ,there are times when we have had enough even of our ,friends1 when we begin inevitably to profane one another1 and must withdraw religiously into solitude and silence1 the better to prepare ourselves for a loftier intimacy4 ,silence is the ambrosial night in the intercourse of ,friends1 in which their sincerity is recruited and takes deeper root4 ,friendship is never established as an understood relation4 ,do you demand that ,i be less your ,friend that you may know it8 ,yet what right have ,i to think that another cherishes so rare a sentiment for me8 ,it is a miracle which requires constant proofs4 ,it is an exercise of the purest imagination and the rarest faith4 ,it says by a silent but eloquent behavior1--8,i will be so related to thee as thou canst imagine2 even so thou mayest believe4 ,i will spend truth1--all my wealth on thee10--and the ,friend responds silently through his nature and life1 and treats his ,friend with the same divine courtesy4 ,he knows us literally through thick and thin4 ,he never asks for a sign of love1 but can distinguish it by the features which it naturally wears4 ,we never need to stand upon ceremony with him with regard to his visits4 ,wait not till ,i invite thee1 but observe that ,i am glad to see thee when thou comest4 ,it would be paying too dear for thy visit to ask for it4 ,where my ,friend lives there are all riches and every attraction1 and no slight obstacle can keep me from him4 ,let me never have to tell thee what ,i have not to tell4 ,let our intercourse be wholly above ourselves1 and draw us up to it4 ,the language of ,friendship is not words1 but meanings4 ,it is an intelligence above language4 ,one imagines endless conversations with his ,friend1 in which the tongue shall be loosed1 and thoughts be spoken without hesitancy or end2 but the experience is commonly far otherwise4 ,acquaintances may come and go1 and have a word ready for every occasion2 but what puny word shall he utter whose very breath is thought and meaning8 ,suppose you go to bid farewell to your ,friend who is setting out on a journey2 what other outward sign do you know than to shake his hand8 ,have you any palaver ready for him then8 any box of salve to commit to his pocket8 any particular message to send by him8 any statement which you had forgotten to make8--as if you could forget anything4--,no1 it is much that you take his hand and say ,farewell2 that you could easily omit2 so far custom has prevailed4 ,it is even painful1 if he is to go1 that he should linger so long4 ,if he must go1 let him go quickly4 ,have you any last words8 ,alas1 it is only the word of words1 which you have so long sought and found not2 you have not a first word yet4 ,there are few even whom ,i should venture to call earnestly by their most proper names4 ,a name pronounced is the recognition of the individual to whom it belongs4 ,he who can pronounce my name aright1 he can call me1 and is entitled to my love and service4 ,yet reserve is the freedom and abandonment of lovers4 ,it is the reserve of what is hostile or indifferent in their natures1 to give place to what is kindred and harmonious4 ,the violence of love is as much to be dreaded as that of hate4 ,when it is durable it is serene and equable4 ,even its famous pains begin only with the ebb of love1 for few are indeed lovers1 though all would fain be4 ,it is one proof of a man's fitness for ,friendship that he is able to do without that which is cheap and passionate4 ,a true ,friendship is as wise as it is tender4 ,the parties to it yield implicitly to the guidance of their love1 and know no other law nor kindness4 ,it is not extravagant and insane1 but what it says is something established henceforth1 and will bear to be stereotyped4 ,it is a truer truth1 it is better and fairer news1 and no time will ever shame it1 or prove it false4 ,this is a plant which thrives best in a temperate zone1 where summer and winter alternate with one another4 ,the ,friend is a necessarius1 and meets his ,friend on homely ground2 not on carpets and cushions1 but on the ground and on rocks they will sit1 obeying the natural and primitive laws4 ,they will meet without any outcry1 and part without loud sorrow4 ,their relation implies such qualities as the warrior prizes2 for it takes a valor to open the hearts of men as well as the gates of castles4 ,it is not an idle sympathy and mutual consolation merely1 but a heroic sympathy of aspiration and endeavor4 8,when manhood shall be matched so ,that fear can take no place1 ,then weary works make warriors ,each other to embrace40 ,the ,friendship which ,wawatam testified for ,henry the fur-trader1 as described in the latter's 8,adventures10 so almost bare and leafless1 yet not blossomless nor fruitless1 is remembered with satisfaction and security4 ,the stern1 imperturbable warrior1 after fasting1 solitude1 and mortification of body1 comes to the white man's lodge1 and affirms that he is the white brother whom he saw in his dream1 and adopts him henceforth4 ,he buries the hatchet as it regards his friend1 and they hunt and feast and make maple-sugar together4 8,metals unite from fluxility2 birds and beasts from motives of convenience2 fools from fear and stupidity2 and just men at sight40 ,if ,wawatam would taste the 8white man's milk0 with his tribe1 or take his bowl of human broth made of the trader's fellow-countrymen1 he first finds a place of safety for his ,friend1 whom he has rescued from a similar fate4 ,at length1 after a long winter of undisturbed and happy intercourse in the family of the chieftain in the wilderness1 hunting and fishing1 they return in the spring to ,michilimackinac to dispose of their furs2 and it becomes necessary for ,wawatam to take leave of his ,friend at the ,isle aux ,outardes1 when the latter1 to avoid his enemies1 proceeded to the ,sault de ,sainte ,marie1 supposing that they were to be separated for a short time only4 8,we now exchanged farewells10 says ,henry1 8with an emotion entirely reciprocal4 ,i did not quit the lodge without the most grateful sense of the many acts of goodness which ,i had experienced in it1 nor without the sincerest respect for the virtues which ,i had witnessed among its members4 ,all the family accompanied me to the beach2 and the canoe had no sooner put off than ,wawatam commenced an address to the ,kichi ,manito1 beseeching him to take care of me1 his brother1 till we should next meet4 ,we had proceeded to too great a distance to allow of our hearing his voice1 before ,wawatam had ceased to offer up his prayers40 ,we never hear of him again4 ,friendship is not so kind as is imagined2 it has not much human blood in it1 but consists with a certain disregard for men and their erections1 the ,christian duties and humanities1 while it purifies the air like electricity4 ,there may be the sternest tragedy in the relation of two more than usually innocent and true to their highest instincts4 ,we may call it an essentially heathenish intercourse1 free and irresponsible in its nature1 and practising all the virtues gratuitously4 ,it is not the highest sympathy merely1 but a pure and lofty society1 a fragmentary and godlike intercourse of ancient date1 still kept up at intervals1 which1 remembering itself1 does not hesitate to disregard the humbler rights and duties of humanity4 ,it requires immaculate and godlike qualities full-grown1 and exists at all only by condescension and anticipation of the remotest future4 ,we love nothing which is merely good and not fair1 if such a thing is possible4 ,nature puts some kind of blossom before every fruit1 not simply a calyx behind it4 ,when the ,friend comes out of his heathenism and superstition1 and breaks his idols1 being converted by the precepts of a newer testament2 when he forgets his mythology1 and treats his ,friend like a ,christian1 or as he can afford2 then ,friendship ceases to be ,friendship1 and becomes charity2 that principle which established the almshouse is now beginning with its charity at home1 and establishing an almshouse and pauper relations there4 ,as for the number which this society admits1 it is at any rate to be begun with one1 the noblest and greatest that we know1 and whether the world will ever carry it further1 whether1 as ,chaucer affirms1 8,there be mo sterres in the skie than a pair10 remains to be proved2 8,and certaine he is well begone ,among a thousand that findeth one40 ,we shall not surrender ourselves heartily to any while we are conscious that another is more deserving of our love4 ,yet ,friendship does not stand for numbers2 the ,friend does not count his ,friends on his fingers2 they are not numerable4 ,the more there are included by this bond1 if they are indeed included1 the rarer and diviner the quality of the love that binds them4 ,i am ready to believe that as private and intimate a relation may exist by which three are embraced1 as between two4 ,indeed1 we cannot have too many friends2 the virtue which we appreciate we to some extent appropriate1 so that thus we are made at last more fit for every relation of life4 ,a base ,friendship is of a narrowing and exclusive tendency1 but a noble one is not exclusive2 its very superfluity and dispersed love is the humanity which sweetens society1 and sympathizes with foreign nations2 for though its foundations are private1 it is1 in effect1 a public affair and a public advantage1 and the ,friend1 more than the father of a family1 deserves well of the state4 ,the only danger in ,friendship is that it will end4 ,it is a delicate plant1 though a native4 ,the least unworthiness1 even if it be unknown to one's self1 vitiates it4 ,let the ,friend know that those faults which he observes in his ,friend his own faults attract4 ,there is no rule more invariable than that we are paid for our suspicions by finding what we suspected4 ,by our narrowness and prejudices we say1 ,i will have so much and such of you1 my ,friend1 no more4 ,perhaps there are none charitable1 none disinterested1 none wise1 noble1 and heroic enough1 for a true and lasting ,friendship4 ,i sometimes hear my ,friends complain finely that ,i do not appreciate their fineness4 ,i shall not tell them whether ,i do or not4 ,as if they expected a vote of thanks for every fine thing which they uttered or did4 ,who knows but it was finely appreciated4 ,it may be that your silence was the finest thing of the two4 ,there are some things which a man never speaks of1 which are much finer kept silent about4 ,to the highest communications we only lend a silent ear4 ,our finest relations are not simply kept silent about1 but buried under a positive depth of silence never to be revealed4 ,it may be that we are not even yet acquainted4 ,in human intercourse the tragedy begins1 not when there is misunderstanding about words1 but when silence is not understood4 ,then there can never be an explanation4 ,what avails it that another loves you1 if he does not understand you8 ,such love is a curse4 ,what sort of companions are they who are presuming always that their silence is more expressive than yours8 ,how foolish1 and inconsiderate1 and unjust1 to conduct as if you were the only party aggrieved6 ,has not your ,friend always equal ground of complaint8 ,no doubt my ,friends sometimes speak to me in vain1 but they do not know what things ,i hear which they are not aware that they have spoken4 ,i know that ,i have frequently disappointed them by not giving them words when they expected them1 or such as they expected4 ,whenever ,i see my ,friend ,i speak to him2 but the expecter1 the man with the ears1 is not he4 ,they will complain too that you are hard4 ,o ye that would have the cocoa-nut wrong side outwards1 when next ,i weep ,i will let you know4 ,they ask for words and deeds1 when a true relation is word and deed4 ,if they know not of these things1 how can they be informed8 ,we often forbear to confess our feelings1 not from pride1 but for fear that we could not continue to love the one who required us to give such proof of our affection4 ,i know a woman who possesses a restless and intelligent mind1 interested in her own culture1 and earnest to enjoy the highest possible advantages1 and ,i meet her with pleasure as a natural person who not a little provokes me1 and ,i suppose is stimulated in turn by myself4 ,yet our acquaintance plainly does not attain to that degree of confidence and sentiment which women1 which all1 in fact1 covet4 ,i am glad to help her1 as ,i am helped by her2 ,i like very well to know her with a sort of stranger's privilege1 and hesitate to visit her often1 like her other ,friends4 ,my nature pauses here1 ,i do not well know why4 ,perhaps she does not make the highest demand on me1 a religious demand4 ,some1 with whose prejudices or peculiar bias ,i have no sympathy1 yet inspire me with confidence1 and ,i trust that they confide in me also as a religious heathen at least1--a good ,greek4 ,i1 too1 have principles as well founded as their own4 ,if this person could conceive that1 without wilfulness1 ,i associate with her as far as our destinies are coincident1 as far as our ,good ,geniuses permit1 and still value such intercourse1 it would be a grateful assurance to me4 ,i feel as if ,i appeared careless1 indifferent1 and without principle to her1 not expecting more1 and yet not content with less4 ,if she could know that ,i make an infinite demand on myself1 as well as on all others1 she would see that this true though incomplete intercourse1 is infinitely better than a more unreserved but falsely grounded one1 without the principle of growth in it4 ,for a companion1 ,i require one who will make an equal demand on me with my own genius4 ,such a one will always be rightly tolerant4 ,it is suicide1 and corrupts good manners to welcome any less than this4 ,i value and trust those who love and praise my aspiration rather than my performance4 ,if you would not stop to look at me1 but look whither ,i am looking1 and farther1 then my education could not dispense with your company4 ,my love must be as free ,as is the eagle's wing1 ,hovering o'er land and sea ,and everything4 ,i must not dim my eye ,in thy saloon1 ,i must not leave my sky ,and nightly moon4 ,be not the fowler's net ,which stays my flight1 ,and craftily is set ,t'allure the sight4 ,but be the favoring gale ,that bears me on1 ,and still doth fill my sail ,when thou art gone4 ,i cannot leave my sky ,for thy caprice1 ,true love would soar as high ,as heaven is4 ,the eagle would not brook ,her mate thus won1 ,who trained his eye to look ,beneath the sun4 ,few things are more difficult than to help a ,friend in matters which do not require the aid of ,friendship1 but only a cheap and trivial service1 if your ,friendship wants the basis of a thorough practical acquaintance4 ,i stand in the friendliest relation1 on social and spiritual grounds1 to one who does not perceive what practical skill ,i have1 but when he seeks my assistance in such matters1 is wholly ignorant of that one with whom he deals2 does not use my skill1 which in such matters is much greater than his1 but only my hands4 ,i know another1 who1 on the contrary1 is remarkable for his discrimination in this respect2 who knows how to make use of the talents of others when he does not possess the same2 knows when not to look after or oversee1 and stops short at his man4 ,it is a rare pleasure to serve him1 which all laborers know4 ,i am not a little pained by the other kind of treatment4 ,it is as if1 after the friendliest and most ennobling intercourse1 your ,friend should use you as a hammer1 and drive a nail with your head1 all in good faith2 notwithstanding that you are a tolerable carpenter1 as well as his good ,friend1 and would use a hammer cheerfully in his service4 ,this want of perception is a defect which all the virtues of the heart cannot supply3-- ,the ,good how can we trust8 ,only the ,wise are just4 ,the ,good we use1 ,the ,wise we cannot choose4 ,these there are none above2 ,the ,good they know and love1 ,but are not known again ,by those of lesser ken4 ,they do not charm us with their eyes1 ,but they transfix with their advice2 ,no partial sympathy they feel1 ,with private woe or private weal1 ,but with the universe joy and sigh1 ,whose knowledge is their sympathy4 ,confucius said3 8,to contract ties of ,friendship with any one1 is to contract ,friendship with his virtue4 ,there ought not to be any other motive in ,friendship40 ,but men wish us to contract ,friendship with their vice also4 ,i have a ,friend who wishes me to see that to be right which ,i know to be wrong4 ,but if ,friendship is to rob me of my eyes1 if it is to darken the day1 ,i will have none of it4 ,it should be expansive and inconceivably liberalizing in its effects4 ,true ,friendship can afford true knowledge4 ,it does not depend on darkness and ignorance4 ,a want of discernment cannot be an ingredient in it4 ,if ,i can see my ,friend's virtues more distinctly than another's1 his faults too are made more conspicuous by contrast4 ,we have not so good a right to hate any as our ,friend4 ,faults are not the less faults because they are invariably balanced by corresponding virtues1 and for a fault there is no excuse1 though it may appear greater than it is in many ways4 ,i have never known one who could bear criticism1 who could not be flattered1 who would not bribe his judge1 or was content that the truth should be loved always better than himself4 ,if two travellers would go their way harmoniously together1 the one must take as true and just a view of things as the other1 else their path will not be strewn with roses4 ,yet you can travel profitably and pleasantly even with a blind man1 if he practises common courtesy1 and when you converse about the scenery will remember that he is blind but that you can see2 and you will not forget that his sense of hearing is probably quickened by his want of sight4 ,otherwise you will not long keep company4 ,a blind man1 and a man in whose eyes there was no defect1 were walking together1 when they came to the edge of a precipice4 8,take care6 my friend10 said the latter1 8here is a steep precipice2 go no farther this way40--8,i know better10 said the other1 and stepped off4 ,it is impossible to say all that we think1 even to our truest ,friend4 ,we may bid him farewell forever sooner than complain1 for our complaint is too well grounded to be uttered4 ,there is not so good an understanding between any two1 but the exposure by the one of a serious fault in the other will produce a misunderstanding in proportion to its heinousness4 ,the constitutional differences which always exist1 and are obstacles to a perfect ,friendship1 are forever a forbidden theme to the lips of ,friends4 ,they advise by their whole behavior4 ,nothing can reconcile them but love4 ,they are fatally late when they undertake to explain and treat with one another like foes4 ,who will take an apology for a ,friend8 ,they must apologize like dew and frost1 which are off again with the sun1 and which all men know in their hearts to be beneficent4 ,the necessity itself for explanation1--what explanation will atone for that8 ,true love does not quarrel for slight reasons1 such mistakes as mutual acquaintances can explain away1 but1 alas1 however slight the apparent cause1 only for adequate and fatal and everlasting reasons1 which can never be set aside4 ,its quarrel1 if there is any1 is ever recurring1 notwithstanding the beams of affection which invariably come to gild its tears2 as the rainbow1 however beautiful and unerring a sign1 does not promise fair weather forever1 but only for a season4 ,i have known two or three persons pretty well1 and yet ,i have never known advice to be of use but in trivial and transient matters4 ,one may know what another does not1 but the utmost kindness cannot impart what is requisite to make the advice useful4 ,we must accept or refuse one another as we are4 ,i could tame a hyena more easily than my ,friend4 ,he is a material which no tool of mine will work4 ,a naked savage will fell an oak with a firebrand1 and wear a hatchet out of a rock by friction1 but ,i cannot hew the smallest chip out of the character of my ,friend1 either to beautify or deform it4 ,the lover learns at last that there is no person quite transparent and trustworthy1 but every one has a devil in him that is capable of any crime in the long run4 ,yet1 as an ,oriental philosopher has said1 8,although ,friendship between good men is interrupted1 their principles remain unaltered4 ,the stalk of the lotus may be broken1 and the fibres remain connected40 ,ignorance and bungling with love are better than wisdom and skill without4 ,there may be courtesy1 there may be even temper1 and wit1 and talent1 and sparkling conversation1 there may be good-will even1--and yet the humanest and divinest faculties pine for exercise4 ,our life without love is like coke and ashes4 ,men may be pure as alabaster and ,parian marble1 elegant as a ,tuscan villa1 sublime as ,niagara1 and yet if there is no milk mingled with the wine at their entertainments1 better is the hospitality of ,goths and ,vandals4 ,my ,friend is not of some other race or family of men1 but flesh of my flesh1 bone of my bone4 ,he is my real brother4 ,i see his nature groping yonder so like mine4 ,we do not live far apart4 ,have not the fates associated us in many ways8 ,it says1 in the ,vishnu ,purana3 8,seven paces together is sufficient for the friendship of the virtuous1 but thou and ,i have dwelt together40 ,is it of no significance that we have so long partaken of the same loaf1 drank at the same fountain1 breathed the same air summer and winter1 felt the same heat and cold2 that the same fruits have been pleased to refresh us both1 and we have never had a thought of different fibre the one from the other6 ,nature doth have her dawn each day1 ,but mine are far between2 ,content1 ,i cry1 for sooth to say1 ,mine brightest are ,i ween4 ,for when my sun doth deign to rise1 ,though it be her noontide1 ,her fairest field in shadow lies1 ,nor can my light abide4 ,sometimes ,i bask me in her day1 ,conversing with my mate1 ,but if we interchange one ray1 ,forthwith her heats abate4 ,through his discourse ,i climb and see1 ,as from some eastern hill1 ,a brighter morrow rise to me ,than lieth in her skill4 ,as 't were two summer days in one1 ,two ,sundays come together1 ,our rays united make one sun1 ,with fairest summer weather4 ,as surely as the sunset in my latest ,november shall translate me to the ethereal world1 and remind me of the ruddy morning of youth2 as surely as the last strain of music which falls on my decaying ear shall make age to be forgotten1 or1 in short1 the manifold influences of nature survive during the term of our natural life1 so surely my ,friend shall forever be my ,friend1 and reflect a ray of ,god to me1 and time shall foster and adorn and consecrate our ,friendship1 no less than the ruins of temples4 ,as ,i love nature1 as ,i love singing birds1 and gleaming stubble1 and flowing rivers1 and morning and evening1 and summer and winter1 ,i love thee1 my ,friend4 ,but all that can be said of ,friendship1 is like botany to flowers4 ,how can the understanding take account of its friendliness8 ,even the death of ,friends will inspire us as much as their lives4 ,they will leave consolation to the mourners1 as the rich leave money to defray the expenses of their funerals1 and their memories will be incrusted over with sublime and pleasing thoughts1 as monuments of other men are overgrown with moss2 for our ,friends have no place in the graveyard4 ,this to our cis-,alpine and cis-,atlantic ,friends4 ,also this other word of entreaty and advice to the large and respectable nation of ,acquaintances1 beyond the mountains2--,greeting4 ,my most serene and irresponsible neighbors1 let us see that we have the whole advantage of each other2 we will be useful1 at least1 if not admirable1 to one another4 ,i know that the mountains which separate us are high1 and covered with perpetual snow1 but despair not4 ,improve the serene winter weather to scale them4 ,if need be1 soften the rocks with vinegar4 ,for here lie the verdant plains of ,italy ready to receive you4 ,nor shall ,i be slow on my side to penetrate to your ,provence4 ,strike then boldly at head or heart or any vital part4 ,depend upon it1 the timber is well seasoned and tough1 and will bear rough usage2 and if it should crack1 there is plenty more where it came from4 ,i am no piece of crockery that cannot be jostled against my neighbor without danger of being broken by the collision1 and must needs ring false and jarringly to the end of my days1 when once ,i am cracked2 but rather one of the old-fashioned wooden trenchers1 which one while stands at the head of the table1 and at another is a milking-stool1 and at another a seat for children1 and finally goes down to its grave not unadorned with honorable scars1 and does not die till it is worn out4 ,nothing can shock a brave man but dulness4 ,think how many rebuffs every man has experienced in his day2 perhaps has fallen into a horse-pond1 eaten fresh-water clams1 or worn one shirt for a week without washing4 ,indeed1 you cannot receive a shock unless you have an electric affinity for that which shocks you4 ,use me1 then1 for ,i am useful in my way1 and stand as one of many petitioners1 from toadstool and henbane up to dahlia and violet1 supplicating to be put to my use1 if by any means ye may find me serviceable2 whether for a medicated drink or bath1 as balm and lavender2 or for fragrance1 as verbena and geranium2 or for sight1 as cactus2 or for thoughts1 as pansy4 ,these humbler1 at least1 if not those higher uses4 ,ah1 my dear ,strangers and ,enemies1 ,i would not forget you4 ,i can well afford to welcome you4 ,let me subscribe myself ,yours ever and truly1--your much obliged servant4 ,we have nothing to fear from our foes2 ,god keeps a standing army for that service2 but we have no ally against our ,friends1 those ruthless ,vandals4 ,once more to one and all1 8,friends1 ,romans1 ,countrymen1 and ,lovers40 ,let such pure hate still underprop ,our love1 that we may be ,each other's conscience4 ,and have our sympathy ,mainly from thence4 ,we'll one another treat like gods1 ,and all the faith we have ,in virtue and in truth1 bestow ,on either1 and suspicion leave ,to gods below4 ,two solitary stars1-- ,unmeasured systems far ,between us roll1 ,but by our conscious light we are ,determined to one pole4 ,what need confound the sphere1-- ,love can afford to wait1 ,for it no hour's too late ,that witnesseth one duty's end1 ,or to another doth beginning lend4 ,it will subserve no use1 ,more than the tints of flowers1 ,only the independent guest ,frequents its bowers1 ,inherits its bequest4 ,no speech though kind has it1 ,but kinder silence doles ,unto its mates1 ,by night consoles1 ,by day congratulates4 ,what saith the tongue to tongue8 ,what heareth ear of ear8 ,by the decrees of fate ,from year to year1 ,does it communicate4 ,pathless the gulf of feeling yawns1-- ,no trivial bridge of words1 ,or arch of boldest span1 ,can leap the moat that girds ,the sincere man4 ,no show of bolts and bars ,can keep the foeman out1 ,or 'scape his secret mine ,who entered with the doubt ,that drew the line4 ,no warder at the gate ,can let the friendly in1 ,but1 like the sun1 o'er all ,he will the castle win1 ,and shine along the wall4 ,there's nothing in the world ,i know ,that can escape from love1 ,for every depth it goes below1 ,and every height above4 ,it waits as waits the sky1 ,until the clouds go by1 ,yet shines serenely on ,with an eternal day1 ,alike when they are gone1 ,and when they stay4 ,implacable is ,love1-- ,foes may be bought or teased ,from their hostile intent1 ,but he goes unappeased ,who is on kindness bent4 ,having rowed five or six miles above ,amoskeag before sunset1 and reached a pleasant part of the river1 one of us landed to look for a farm-house1 where we might replenish our stores1 while the other remained cruising about the stream1 and exploring the opposite shores to find a suitable harbor for the night4 ,in the mean while the canal-boats began to come round a point in our rear1 poling their way along close to the shore1 the breeze having quite died away4 ,this time there was no offer of assistance1 but one of the boatmen only called out to say1 as the truest revenge for having been the losers in the race1 that he had seen a wood-duck1 which we had scared up1 sitting on a tall white-pine1 half a mile down stream2 and he repeated the assertion several times1 and seemed really chagrined at the apparent suspicion with which this information was received4 ,but there sat the summer duck still1 undisturbed by us4 ,by and by the other voyageur returned from his inland expedition1 bringing one of the natives with him1 a little flaxen-headed boy1 with some tradition1 or small edition1 of ,robinson ,crusoe in his head1 who had been charmed by the account of our adventures1 and asked his father's leave to join us4 ,he examined1 at first from the top of the bank1 our boat and furniture1 with sparkling eyes1 and wished himself already his own man4 ,he was a lively and interesting boy1 and we should have been glad to ship him2 but ,nathan was still his father's boy1 and had not come to years of discretion4 ,we had got a loaf of home-made bread1 and musk and water melons for dessert4 ,for this farmer1 a clever and well-disposed man1 cultivated a large patch of melons for the ,hooksett and ,concord markets4 ,he hospitably entertained us the next day1 exhibiting his hop-fields and kiln and melon-patch1 warning us to step over the tight rope which surrounded the latter at a foot from the ground1 while he pointed to a little bower at one corner1 where it connected with the lock of a gun ranging with the line1 and where1 as he informed us1 he sometimes sat in pleasant nights to defend his premises against thieves4 ,we stepped high over the line1 and sympathized with our host's on the whole quite human1 if not humane1 interest in the success of his experiment4 ,that night especially thieves were to be expected1 from rumors in the atmosphere1 and the priming was not wet4 ,he was a ,methodist man1 who had his dwelling between the river and ,uncannunuc ,mountain2 who there belonged1 and stayed at home there1 and by the encouragement of distant political organizations1 and by his own tenacity1 held a property in his melons1 and continued to plant4 ,we suggested melon-seeds of new varieties and fruit of foreign flavor to be added to his stock4 ,we had come away up here among the hills to learn the impartial and unbribable beneficence of ,nature4 ,strawberries and melons grow as well in one man's garden as another's1 and the sun lodges as kindly under his hillside1--when we had imagined that she inclined rather to some few earnest and faithful souls whom we know4 ,we found a convenient harbor for our boat on the opposite or east shore1 still in ,hooksett1 at the mouth of a small brook which emptied into the ,merrimack1 where it would be out of the way of any passing boat in the night1--for they commonly hug the shore if bound up stream1 either to avoid the current1 or touch the bottom with their poles1--and where it would be accessible without stepping on the clayey shore4 ,we set one of our largest melons to cool in the still water among the alders at the mouth of this creek1 but when our tent was pitched and ready1 and we went to get it1 it had floated out into the stream1 and was nowhere to be seen4 ,so taking the boat in the twilight1 we went in pursuit of this property1 and at length1 after long straining of the eyes1 its green disk was discovered far down the river1 gently floating seaward with many twigs and leaves from the mountains that evening1 and so perfectly balanced that it had not keeled at all1 and no water had run in at the tap which had been taken out to hasten its cooling4 ,as we sat on the bank eating our supper1 the clear light of the western sky fell on the eastern trees1 and was reflected in the water1 and we enjoyed so serene an evening as left nothing to describe4 ,for the most part we think that there are few degrees of sublimity1 and that the highest is but little higher than that which we now behold2 but we are always deceived4 ,sublimer visions appear1 and the former pale and fade away4 ,we are grateful when we are reminded by interior evidence of the permanence of universal laws2 for our faith is but faintly remembered1 indeed1 is not a remembered assurance1 but a use and enjoyment of knowledge4 ,it is when we do not have to believe1 but come into actual contact with ,truth1 and are related to her in the most direct and intimate way4 ,waves of serener life pass over us from time to time1 like flakes of sunlight over the fields in cloudy weather4 ,in some happier moment1 when more sap flows in the withered stalk of our life1 ,syria and ,india stretch away from our present as they do in history4 ,all the events which make the annals of the nations are but the shadows of our private experiences4 ,suddenly and silently the eras which we call history awake and glimmer in us1 and there is room for ,alexander and ,hannibal to march and conquer4 ,in short1 the history which we read is only a fainter memory of events which have happened in our own experience4 ,tradition is a more interrupted and feebler memory4 ,this world is but canvas to our imaginations4 ,i see men with infinite pains endeavoring to realize to their bodies1 what ,i1 with at least equal pains1 would realize to my imagination1--its capacities2 for certainly there is a life of the mind above the wants of the body1 and independent of it4 ,often the body is warmed1 but the imagination is torpid2 the body is fat1 but the imagination is lean and shrunk4 ,but what avails all other wealth if this is wanting8 8,imagination is the air of mind10 in which it lives and breathes4 ,all things are as ,i am4 ,where is the ,house of ,change8 ,the past is only so heroic as we see it4 ,it is the canvas on which our idea of heroism is painted1 and so1 in one sense1 the dim prospectus of our future field4 ,our circumstances answer to our expectations and the demand of our natures4 ,i have noticed that if a man thinks that he needs a thousand dollars1 and cannot be convinced that he does not1 he will commonly be found to have them2 if he lives and thinks a thousand dollars will be forthcoming1 though it be to buy shoe-strings with4 ,a thousand mills will be just as slow to come to one who finds it equally hard to convince himself that he needs them4 ,men are by birth equal in this1 that given ,themselves and their condition1 they are even4 ,i am astonished at the singular pertinacity and endurance of our lives4 ,the miracle is1 that what is is1 when it is so difficult1 if not impossible1 for anything else to be2 that we walk on in our particular paths so far1 before we fall on death and fate1 merely because we must walk in some path2 that every man can get a living1 and so few can do anything more4 ,so much only can ,i accomplish ere health and strength are gone1 and yet this suffices4 ,the bird now sits just out of gunshot4 ,i am never rich in money1 and ,i am never meanly poor4 ,if debts are incurred1 why1 debts are in the course of events cancelled1 as it were by the same law by which they were incurred4 ,i heard that an engagement was entered into between a certain youth and a maiden1 and then ,i heard that it was broken off1 but ,i did not know the reason in either case4 ,we are hedged about1 we think1 by accident and circumstance1 now we creep as in a dream1 and now again we run1 as if there were a fate in it1 and all things thwarted or assisted4 ,i cannot change my clothes but when ,i do1 and yet ,i do change them1 and soil the new ones4 ,it is wonderful that this gets done1 when some admirable deeds which ,i could mention do not get done4 ,our particular lives seem of such fortune and confident strength and durability as piers of solid rock thrown forward into the tide of circumstance4 ,when every other path would fail1 with singular and unerring confidence we advance on our particular course4 ,what risks we run6 famine and fire and pestilence1 and the thousand forms of a cruel fate1--and yet every man lives till he--dies4 ,how did he manage that8 ,is there no immediate danger8 ,we wonder superfluously when we hear of a somnambulist walking a plank securely1--we have walked a plank all our lives up to this particular string-piece where we are4 ,my life will wait for nobody1 but is being matured still without delay1 while ,i go about the streets1 and chaffer with this man and that to secure it a living4 ,it is as indifferent and easy meanwhile as a poor man's dog1 and making acquaintance with its kind4 ,it will cut its own channel like a mountain stream1 and by the longest ridge is not kept from the sea at last4 ,i have found all things thus far1 persons and inanimate matter1 elements and seasons1 strangely adapted to my resources4 ,no matter what imprudent haste in my career2 ,i am permitted to be rash4 ,gulfs are bridged in a twinkling1 as if some unseen baggage-train carried pontoons for my convenience1 and while from the heights ,i scan the tempting but unexplored ,pacific ,ocean of ,futurity1 the ship is being carried over the mountains piecemeal on the backs of mules and lamas1 whose keel shall plough its waves1 and bear me to the ,indies4 ,day would not dawn if it were not for ,,the ,,inward ,,morning ,packed in my mind lie all the clothes ,which outward nature wears1 ,and in its fashion's hourly change ,it all things else repairs4 ,in vain ,i look for change abroad1 ,and can no difference find1 ,till some new ray of peace uncalled ,illumes my inmost mind4 ,what is it gilds the trees and clouds1 ,and paints the heavens so gay1 ,but yonder fast-abiding light ,with its unchanging ray8 ,lo1 when the sun streams through the wood1 ,upon a winter's morn1 ,where'er his silent beams intrude1 ,the murky night is gone4 ,how could the patient pine have known ,the morning breeze would come1 ,or humble flowers anticipate ,the insect's noonday hum1-- ,till the new light with morning cheer ,from far streamed through the aisles1 ,and nimbly told the forest trees ,for many stretching miles8 ,i've heard within my inmost soul ,such cheerful morning news1 ,in the horizon of my mind ,have seen such orient hues1 ,as in the twilight of the dawn1 ,when the first birds awake1 ,are heard within some silent wood1 ,where they the small twigs break1 ,or in the eastern skies are seen1 ,before the sun appears1 ,the harbingers of summer heats ,which from afar he bears4 ,whole weeks and months of my summer life slide away in thin volumes like mist and smoke1 till at length1 some warm morning1 perchance1 ,i see a sheet of mist blown down the brook to the swamp1 and ,i float as high above the fields with it4 ,i can recall to mind the stillest summer hours1 in which the grasshopper sings over the mulleins1 and there is a valor in that time the bare memory of which is armor that can laugh at any blow of fortune4 ,for our lifetime the strains of a harp are heard to swell and die alternately1 and death is but 8the pause when the blast is recollecting itself40 ,we lay awake a long while1 listening to the murmurs of the brook1 in the angle formed by whose bank with the river our tent was pitched1 and there was a sort of human interest in its story1 which ceases not in freshet or in drought the livelong summer1 and the profounder lapse of the river was quite drowned by its din4 ,but the rill1 whose 8,silver sands and pebbles sing ,eternal ditties with the spring10 is silenced by the first frosts of winter1 while mightier streams1 on whose bottom the sun never shines1 clogged with sunken rocks and the ruins of forests1 from whose surface comes up no murmur1 are strangers to the icy fetters which bind fast a thousand contributary rills4 ,i dreamed this night of an event which had occurred long before4 ,it was a difference with a ,friend1 which had not ceased to give me pain1 though ,i had no cause to blame myself4 ,but in my dream ideal justice was at length done me for his suspicions1 and ,i received that compensation which ,i had never obtained in my waking hours4 ,i was unspeakably soothed and rejoiced1 even after ,i awoke1 because in dreams we never deceive ourselves1 nor are deceived1 and this seemed to have the authority of a final judgment4 ,we bless and curse ourselves4 ,some dreams are divine1 as well as some waking thoughts4 ,donne sings of one 8,who dreamt devoutlier than most use to pray40 ,dreams are the touchstones of our characters4 ,we are scarcely less afflicted when we remember some unworthiness in our conduct in a dream1 than if it had been actual1 and the intensity of our grief1 which is our atonement1 measures the degree by which this is separated from an actual unworthiness4 ,for in dreams we but act a part which must have been learned and rehearsed in our waking hours1 and no doubt could discover some waking consent thereto4 ,if this meanness had not its foundation in us1 why are we grieved at it8 ,in dreams we see ourselves naked and acting out our real characters1 even more clearly than we see others awake4 ,but an unwavering and commanding virtue would compel even its most fantastic and faintest dreams to respect its ever-wakeful authority2 as we are accustomed to say carelessly1 we should never have dreamed of such a thing4 ,our truest life is when we are in dreams awake4 8,and1 more to lulle him in his slumber soft1 ,a trickling streame from high rock tumbling downe1 ,and ever-drizzling raine upon the loft1 ,mixt with a murmuring winde1 much like the sowne ,of swarming bees1 did cast him in a swowne4 ,no other noyse1 nor people's troublous cryes1 ,as still are wont t' annoy the walled towne1 ,might there be heard2 but careless ,quiet lyes ,wrapt in eternall silence farre from enemyes40 ,,thursday 8,he trode the unplanted forest floor1 whereon ,the all-seeing sun for ages hath not shone1 ,where feeds the moose1 and walks the surly bear1 ,and up the tall mast runs the woodpecker4 99 99 99 99 99 ,where darkness found him he lay glad at night2 ,there the red morning touched him with its light4 99 99 99 99 99 ,go where he will1 the wise man is at home1 ,his hearth the earth1--his hall the azure dome2 ,where his clear spirit leads him1 there's his road1 ,by ,god's own light illumined and foreshowed40 ,,emerson4 ,when we awoke this morning1 we heard the faint1 deliberate1 and ominous sound of rain-drops on our cotton roof4 ,the rain had pattered all night1 and now the whole country wept1 the drops falling in the river1 and on the alders1 and in the pastures1 and instead of any bow in the heavens1 there was the trill of the hair-bird all the morning4 ,the cheery faith of this little bird atoned for the silence of the whole woodland choir beside4 ,when we first stepped abroad1 a flock of sheep1 led by their rams1 came rushing down a ravine in our rear1 with heedless haste and unreserved frisking1 as if unobserved by man1 from some higher pasture where they had spent the night1 to taste the herbage by the river-side2 but when their leaders caught sight of our white tent through the mist1 struck with sudden astonishment1 with their fore-feet braced1 they sustained the rushing torrent in their rear1 and the whole flock stood stock-still1 endeavoring to solve the mystery in their sheepish brains4 ,at length1 concluding that it boded no mischief to them1 they spread themselves out quietly over the field4 ,we learned afterward that we had pitched our tent on the very spot which a few summers before had been occupied by a party of ,penobscots4 ,we could see rising before us through the mist a dark conical eminence called ,hooksett ,pinnacle1 a landmark to boatmen1 and also ,uncannunuc ,mountain1 broad off on the west side of the river4 ,this was the limit of our voyage1 for a few hours more in the rain would have taken us to the last of the locks1 and our boat was too heavy to be dragged around the long and numerous rapids which would occur4 ,on foot1 however1 we continued up along the bank1 feeling our way with a stick through the showery and foggy day1 and climbing over the slippery logs in our path with as much pleasure and buoyancy as in brightest sunshine2 scenting the fragrance of the pines and the wet clay under our feet1 and cheered by the tones of invisible waterfalls2 with visions of toadstools1 and wandering frogs1 and festoons of moss hanging from the spruce-trees1 and thrushes flitting silent under the leaves2 our road still holding together through that wettest of weather1 like faith1 while we confidently followed its lead4 ,we managed to keep our thoughts dry1 however1 and only our clothes were wet4 ,it was altogether a cloudy and drizzling day1 with occasional brightenings in the mist1 when the trill of the tree-sparrow seemed to be ushering in sunny hours4 8,nothing that naturally happens to man can hurt him1 earthquakes and thunder-storms not excepted10 said a man of genius1 who at this time lived a few miles farther on our road4 ,when compelled by a shower to take shelter under a tree1 we may improve that opportunity for a more minute inspection of some of ,nature's works4 ,i have stood under a tree in the woods half a day at a time1 during a heavy rain in the summer1 and yet employed myself happily and profitably there prying with microscopic eye into the crevices of the bark or the leaves or the fungi at my feet4 8,riches are the attendants of the miser2 and the heavens rain plenteously upon the mountains40 ,i can fancy that it would be a luxury to stand up to one's chin in some retired swamp a whole summer day1 scenting the wild honeysuckle and bilberry blows1 and lulled by the minstrelsy of gnats and mosquitoes6 ,a day passed in the society of those ,greek sages1 such as described in the ,banquet of ,xenophon1 would not be comparable with the dry wit of decayed cranberry vines1 and the fresh ,attic salt of the moss-beds4 ,say twelve hours of genial and familiar converse with the leopard frog2 the sun to rise behind alder and dogwood1 and climb buoyantly to his meridian of two hands' breadth1 and finally sink to rest behind some bold western hummock4 ,to hear the evening chant of the mosquito from a thousand green chapels1 and the bittern begin to boom from some concealed fort like a sunset gun6--,surely one may as profitably be soaked in the juices of a swamp for one day as pick his way dry-shod over sand4 ,cold and damp1--are they not as rich experience as warmth and dryness8 ,at present1 the drops come trickling down the stubble while we lie drenched on a bed of withered wild oats1 by the side of a bushy hill1 and the gathering in of the clouds1 with the last rush and dying breath of the wind1 and then the regular dripping of twigs and leaves the country over1 enhance the sense of inward comfort and sociableness4 ,the birds draw closer and are more familiar under the thick foliage1 seemingly composing new strains upon their roosts against the sunshine4 ,what were the amusements of the drawing-room and the library in comparison1 if we had them here8 ,we should still sing as of old1-- ,my books ,i'd fain cast off1 ,i cannot read1 ',twixt every page my thoughts go stray at large ,down in the meadow1 where is richer feed1 ,and will not mind to hit their proper targe4 ,plutarch was good1 and so was ,homer too1 ,our ,shakespeare's life were rich to live again1 ,what ,plutarch read1 that was not good nor true1 ,nor ,shakespeare's books1 unless his books were men4 ,here while ,i lie beneath this walnut bough1 ,what care ,i for the ,greeks or for ,troy town1 ,if juster battles are enacted now ,between the ants upon this hummock's crown8 ,bid ,homer wait till ,i the issue learn1 ,if red or black the gods will favor most1 ,or yonder ,ajax will the phalanx turn1 ,struggling to heave some rock against the host4 ,tell ,shakespeare to attend some leisure hour1 ,for now ,i've business with this drop of dew1 ,and see you not1 the clouds prepare a shower1-- ,i'll meet him shortly when the sky is blue4 ,this bed of herd's-grass and wild oats was spread ,last year with nicer skill than monarchs use1 ,a clover tuft is pillow for my head1 ,and violets quite overtop my shoes4 ,and now the cordial clouds have shut all in ,and gently swells the wind to say all's well ,the scattered drops are falling fast and thin1 ,some in the pool1 some in the flower-bell4 ,i am well drenched upon my bed of oats2 ,but see that globe come rolling down its stem ,now like a lonely planet there it floats1 ,and now it sinks into my garment's hem4 ,drip drip the trees for all the country round1 ,and richness rare distils from every bough1 ,the wind alone it is makes every sound1 ,shaking down crystals on the leaves below4 ,for shame the sun will never show himself1 ,who could not with his beams e'er melt me so1 ,my dripping locks1--they would become an elf1 ,who in a beaded coat does gayly go4 ,the ,pinnacle is a small wooded hill which rises very abruptly to the height of about two hundred feet1 near the shore at ,hooksett ,falls4 ,as ,uncannunuc ,mountain is perhaps the best point from which to view the valley of the ,merrimack1 so this hill affords the best view of the river itself4 ,i have sat upon its summit1 a precipitous rock only a few rods long1 in fairer weather1 when the sun was setting and filling the river valley with a flood of light4 ,you can see up and down the ,merrimack several miles each way4 ,the broad and straight river1 full of light and life1 with its sparkling and foaming falls1 the islet which divides the stream1 the village of ,hooksett on the shore almost directly under your feet1 so near that you can converse with its inhabitants or throw a stone into its yards1 the woodland lake at its western base1 and the mountains in the north and northeast1 make a scene of rare beauty and completeness1 which the traveller should take pains to behold4 ,we were hospitably entertained in ,concord1 ,new ,hampshire1 which we persisted in calling ,new ,concord1 as we had been wont1 to distinguish it from our native town1 from which we had been told that it was named and in part originally settled4 ,this would have been the proper place to conclude our voyage1 uniting ,concord with ,concord by these meandering rivers1 but our boat was moored some miles below its port4 ,the richness of the intervals at ,penacook1 now ,concord1 ,new ,hampshire1 had been observed by explorers1 and1 according to the historian of ,haverhill1 in the 8year #agbf1 considerable progress was made in the settlement1 and a road was cut through the wilderness from ,haverhill to ,penacook4 ,in the fall of #agbg1 the first family1 that of ,captain ,ebenezer ,eastman1 moved into the place4 ,his team was driven by ,jacob ,shute1 who was by birth a ,frenchman1 and he is said to have been the first person who drove a team through the wilderness4 ,soon after1 says tradition1 one ,ayer1 a lad of #ah1 drove a team consisting of ten yoke of oxen to ,penacook1 swam the river1 and ploughed a portion of the interval4 ,he is supposed to have been the first person who ploughed land in that place4 ,after he had completed his work1 he started on his return at sunrise1 drowned a yoke of oxen while recrossing the river1 and arrived at ,haverhill about midnight4 ,the crank of the first saw-mill was manufactured in ,haverhill1 and carried to ,penacook on a horse40 ,but we found that the frontiers were not this way any longer4 ,this generation has come into the world fatally late for some enterprises4 ,go where we will on the surface of things1 men have been there before us4 ,we cannot now have the pleasure of erecting the last house2 that was long ago set up in the suburbs of ,astoria ,city1 and our boundaries have literally been run to the ,south ,sea1 according to the old patents4 ,but the lives of men1 though more extended laterally in their range1 are still as shallow as ever4 ,undoubtedly1 as a ,western orator said1 8,men generally live over about the same surface2 some live long and narrow1 and others live broad and short02 but it is all superficial living4 ,a worm is as good a traveller as a grasshopper or a cricket1 and a much wiser settler4 ,with all their activity these do not hop away from drought nor forward to summer4 ,we do not avoid evil by fleeing before it1 but by rising above or diving below its plane2 as the worm escapes drought and frost by boring a few inches deeper4 ,the frontiers are not east or west1 north or south1 but wherever a man fronts a fact1 though that fact be his neighbor1 there is an unsettled wilderness between him and ,canada1 between him and the setting sun1 or1 farther still1 between him and it4 ,let him build himself a log-house with the bark on where he is1 fronting ,,it1 and wage there an ,old ,french war for seven or seventy years1 with ,indians and ,rangers1 or whatever else may come between him and the reality1 and save his scalp if he can4 ,we now no longer sailed or floated on the river1 but trod the unyielding land like pilgrims4 ,sadi tells who may travel2 among others1 8,a common mechanic1 who can earn a subsistence by the industry of his hand1 and shall not have to stake his reputation for every morsel of bread1 as philosophers have said40 ,he may travel who can subsist on the wild fruits and game of the most cultivated country4 ,a man may travel fast enough and earn his living on the road4 ,i have at times been applied to to do work when on a journey2 to do tinkering and repair clocks1 when ,i had a knapsack on my back4 ,a man once applied to me to go into a factory1 stating conditions and wages1 observing that ,i succeeded in shutting the window of a railroad car in which we were travelling1 when the other passengers had failed4 8,hast thou not heard of a ,sufi1 who was hammering some nails into the sole of his sandal2 an officer of cavalry took him by the sleeve1 saying1 ,come along and shoe my horse40 ,farmers have asked me to assist them in haying1 when ,i was passing their fields4 ,a man once applied to me to mend his umbrella1 taking me for an umbrella-mender1 because1 being on a journey1 ,i carried an umbrella in my hand while the sun shone4 ,another wished to buy a tin cup of me1 observing that ,i had one strapped to my belt1 and a sauce-pan on my back4 ,the cheapest way to travel1 and the way to travel the farthest in the shortest distance1 is to go afoot1 carrying a dipper1 a spoon1 and a fish-line1 some ,indian meal1 some salt1 and some sugar4 ,when you come to a brook or pond1 you can catch fish and cook them2 or you can boil a hasty-pudding2 or you can buy a loaf of bread at a farmer's house for fourpence1 moisten it in the next brook that crosses the road1 and dip into it your sugar1--this alone will last you a whole day2--or1 if you are accustomed to heartier living1 you can buy a quart of milk for two cents1 crumb your bread or cold pudding into it1 and eat it with your own spoon out of your own dish4 ,any one of these things ,i mean1 not all together4 ,i have travelled thus some hundreds of miles without taking any meal in a house1 sleeping on the ground when convenient1 and found it cheaper1 and in many respects more profitable1 than staying at home4 ,so that some have inquired why it would not be best to travel always4 ,but ,i never thought of travelling simply as a means of getting a livelihood4 ,a simple woman down in ,tyngsborough1 at whose house ,i once stopped to get a draught of water1 when ,i said1 recognizing the bucket1 that ,i had stopped there nine years before for the same purpose1 asked if ,i was not a traveller1 supposing that ,i had been travelling ever since1 and had now come round again2 that travelling was one of the professions1 more or less productive1 which her husband did not follow4 ,but continued travelling is far from productive4 ,it begins with wearing away the soles of the shoes1 and making the feet sore1 and erelong it will wear a man clean up1 after making his heart sore into the bargain4 ,i have observed that the after-life of those who have travelled much is very pathetic4 ,true and sincere travelling is no pastime1 but it is as serious as the grave1 or any part of the human journey1 and it requires a long probation to be broken into it4 ,i do not speak of those that travel sitting1 the sedentary travellers whose legs hang dangling the while1 mere idle symbols of the fact1 any more than when we speak of sitting hens we mean those that sit standing1 but ,i mean those to whom travelling is life for the legs1 and death too1 at last4 ,the traveller must be born again on the road1 and earn a passport from the elements1 the principal powers that be for him4 ,he shall experience at last that old threat of his mother fulfilled1 that he shall be skinned alive4 ,his sores shall gradually deepen themselves that they may heal inwardly1 while he gives no rest to the sole of his foot1 and at night weariness must be his pillow1 that so he may acquire experience against his rainy days4--,so was it with us4 ,sometimes we lodged at an inn in the woods1 where trout-fishers from distant cities had arrived before us1 and where1 to our astonishment1 the settlers dropped in at nightfall to have a chat and hear the news1 though there was but one road1 and no other house was visible1--as if they had come out of the earth4 ,there we sometimes read old newspapers1 who never before read new ones1 and in the rustle of their leaves heard the dashing of the surf along the ,atlantic shore1 instead of the sough of the wind among the pines4 ,but then walking had given us an appetite even for the least palatable and nutritious food4 ,some hard and dry book in a dead language1 which you have found it impossible to read at home1 but for which you have still a lingering regard1 is the best to carry with you on a journey4 ,at a country inn1 in the barren society of ostlers and travellers1 ,i could undertake the writers of the silver or the brazen age with confidence4 ,almost the last regular service which ,i performed in the cause of literature was to read the works of ,,aulus ,,persius ,,flaccus4 ,if you have imagined what a divine work is spread out for the poet1 and approach this author too1 in the hope of finding the field at length fairly entered on1 you will hardly dissent from the words of the prologue1 8,ipse semipaganus ,ad sacra ,vatum carmen affero nostrum40 ,i half pagan ,bring my verses to the shrine of the poets4 ,here is none of the interior dignity of ,virgil1 nor the elegance and vivacity of ,horace1 nor will any sibyl be needed to remind you1 that from those older ,greek poets there is a sad descent to ,persius4 ,you can scarcely distinguish one harmonious sound amid this unmusical bickering with the follies of men4 ,one sees that music has its place in thought1 but hardly as yet in language4 ,when the ,muse arrives1 we wait for her to remould language1 and impart to it her own rhythm4 ,hitherto the verse groans and labors with its load1 and goes not forward blithely1 singing by the way4 ,the best ode may be parodied1 indeed is itself a parody1 and has a poor and trivial sound1 like a man stepping on the rounds of a ladder4 ,homer and ,shakespeare and ,milton and ,marvell and ,wordsworth are but the rustling of leaves and crackling of twigs in the forest1 and there is not yet the sound of any bird4 ,the ,muse has never lifted up her voice to sing4 ,most of all1 satire will not be sung4 ,a ,juvenal or ,persius do not marry music to their verse1 but are measured fault-finders at best2 stand but just outside the faults they condemn1 and so are concerned rather about the monster which they have escaped1 than the fair prospect before them4 ,let them live on an age1 and they will have travelled out of his shadow and reach1 and found other objects to ponder4 ,as long as there is satire1 the poet is1 as it were1 particeps criminis4 ,one sees not but he had best let bad take care of itself1 and have to do only with what is beyond suspicion4 ,if you light on the least vestige of truth1 and it is the weight of the whole body still which stamps the faintest trace1 an eternity will not suffice to extol it1 while no evil is so huge1 but you grudge to bestow on it a moment of hate4 ,truth never turns to rebuke falsehood2 her own straightforwardness is the severest correction4 ,horace would not have written satire so well if he had not been inspired by it1 as by a passion1 and fondly cherished his vein4 ,in his odes1 the love always exceeds the hate1 so that the severest satire still sings itself1 and the poet is satisfied1 though the folly be not corrected4 ,a sort of necessary order in the development of ,genius is1 first1 ,complaint2 second1 ,plaint2 third1 ,love4 ,complaint1 which is the condition of ,persius1 lies not in the province of poetry4 ,erelong the enjoyment of a superior good would have changed his disgust into regret4 ,we can never have much sympathy with the complainer2 for after searching nature through1 we conclude that he must be both plaintiff and defendant too1 and so had best come to a settlement without a hearing4 ,he who receives an injury is to some extent an accomplice of the wrong-doer4 ,perhaps it would be truer to say1 that the highest strain of the muse is essentially plaintive4 ,the saint's are still tears of joy4 ,who has ever heard the ,innocent sing8 ,but the divinest poem1 or the life of a great man1 is the severest satire2 as impersonal as ,nature herself1 and like the sighs of her winds in the woods1 which convey ever a slight reproof to the hearer4 ,the greater the genius1 the keener the edge of the satire4 ,hence we have to do only with the rare and fragmentary traits1 which least belong to ,persius1 or shall we say1 are the properest utterances of his muse2 since that which he says best at any time is what he can best say at all times4 ,the ,spectators and ,ramblers have not failed to cull some quotable sentences from this garden too1 so pleasant is it to meet even the most familiar truth in a new dress1 when1 if our neighbor had said it1 we should have passed it by as hackneyed4 ,out of these six satires1 you may perhaps select some twenty lines1 which fit so well as many thoughts1 that they will recur to the scholar almost as readily as a natural image2 though when translated into familiar language1 they lose that insular emphasis1 which fitted them for quotation4 ,such lines as the following1 translation cannot render commonplace4 ,contrasting the man of true religion with those who1 with jealous privacy1 would fain carry on a secret commerce with the gods1 he says3-- 8,haud cuivis promptum est1 murmurque humilesque susurros ,tollere de templis2 et aperto vivere voto40 ,it is not easy for every one to take murmurs and low ,whispers out of the temples1 and live with open vow4 ,to the virtuous man1 the universe is the only sanctum sanctorum1 and the penetralia of the temple are the broad noon of his existence4 ,why should he betake himself to a subterranean crypt1 as if it were the only holy ground in all the world which he had left unprofaned8 ,the obedient soul would only the more discover and familiarize things1 and escape more and more into light and air1 as having henceforth done with secrecy1 so that the universe shall not seem open enough for it4 ,at length1 it is neglectful even of that silence which is consistent with true modesty1 but by its independence of all confidence in its disclosures1 makes that which it imparts so private to the hearer1 that it becomes the care of the whole world that modesty be not infringed4 ,to the man who cherishes a secret in his breast1 there is a still greater secret unexplored4 ,our most indifferent acts may be matter for secrecy1 but whatever we do with the utmost truthfulness and integrity1 by virtue of its pureness1 must be transparent as light4 ,in the third satire1 he asks3-- 8,est aliquid qu tendis1 et in quod dirigis arcum8 ,an passim sequeris corvos1 testve1 lutove1 ,securus qu pes ferat1 atque ex tempore vivis80 ,is there anything to which thou tendest1 and against which thou directest thy bow8 ,or dost thou pursue crows1 at random1 with pottery or clay1 ,careless whither thy feet bear thee1 and live ex tempore8 ,the bad sense is always a secondary one4 ,language does not appear to have justice done it1 but is obviously cramped and narrowed in its significance1 when any meanness is described4 ,the truest construction is not put upon it4 ,what may readily be fashioned into a rule of wisdom1 is here thrown in the teeth of the sluggard1 and constitutes the front of his offence4 ,universally1 the innocent man will come forth from the sharpest inquisition and lecturing1 the combined din of reproof and commendation1 with a faint sound of eulogy in his ears4 ,our vices always lie in the direction of our virtues1 and in their best estate are but plausible imitations of the latter4 ,falsehood never attains to the dignity of entire falseness1 but is only an inferior sort of truth2 if it were more thoroughly false1 it would incur danger of becoming true4 8,securus quo pes ferat1 atque ex tempore vivit10 is then the motto of a wise man4 ,for first1 as the subtle discernment of the language would have taught us1 with all his negligence he is still secure2 but the sluggard1 notwithstanding his heedlessness1 is insecure4 ,the life of a wise man is most of all extemporaneous1 for he lives out of an eternity which includes all time4 ,the cunning mind travels further back than ,zoroaster each instant1 and comes quite down to the present with its revelation4 ,the utmost thrift and industry of thinking give no man any stock in life2 his credit with the inner world is no better1 his capital no larger4 ,he must try his fortune again to-day as yesterday4 ,all questions rely on the present for their solution4 ,time measures nothing but itself4 ,the word that is written may be postponed1 but not that on the lip4 ,if this is what the occasion says1 let the occasion say it4 ,all the world is forward to prompt him who gets up to live without his creed in his pocket4 ,in the fifth satire1 which is the best1 ,i find1-- 8,stat contr ratio1 et secretam garrit in aurem1 ,ne liceat facere id1 quod quis vitiabit agendo40 ,reason opposes1 and whispers in the secret ear1 ,that it is not lawful to do that which one will spoil by doing4 ,only they who do not see how anything might be better done are forward to try their hand on it4 ,even the master workman must be encouraged by the reflection1 that his awkwardness will be incompetent to do that thing harm1 to which his skill may fail to do justice4 ,here is no apology for neglecting to do many things from a sense of our incapacity1--for what deed does not fall maimed and imperfect from our hands8--but only a warning to bungle less4 ,the satires of ,persius are the furthest possible from inspired2 evidently a chosen1 not imposed subject4 ,perhaps ,i have given him credit for more earnestness than is apparent2 but it is certain1 that that which alone we can call ,persius1 which is forever independent and consistent1 was in earnest1 and so sanctions the sober consideration of all4 ,the artist and his work are not to be separated4 ,the most wilfully foolish man cannot stand aloof from his folly1 but the deed and the doer together make ever one sober fact4 ,there is but one stage for the peasant and the actor4 ,the buffoon cannot bribe you to laugh always at his grimaces2 they shall sculpture themselves in ,egyptian granite1 to stand heavy as the pyramids on the ground of his character4 ,suns rose and set and found us still on the dank forest path which meanders up the ,pemigewasset1 now more like an otter's or a marten's trail1 or where a beaver had dragged his trap1 than where the wheels of travel raise a dust2 where towns begin to serve as gores1 only to hold the earth together4 ,the wild pigeon sat secure above our heads1 high on the dead limbs of naval pines1 reduced to a robin's size4 ,the very yards of our hostelries inclined upon the skirts of mountains1 and1 as we passed1 we looked up at a steep angle at the stems of maples waving in the clouds4 ,far up in the country1--for we would be faithful to our experience1--in ,thornton1 perhaps1 we met a soldier lad in the woods1 going to muster in full regimentals1 and holding the middle of the road2 deep in the forest1 with shouldered musket and military step1 and thoughts of war and glory all to himself4 ,it was a sore trial to the youth1 tougher than many a battle1 to get by us creditably and with soldierlike bearing4 ,poor man6 ,he actually shivered like a reed in his thin military pants1 and by the time we had got up with him1 all the sternness that becomes the soldier had forsaken his face1 and he skulked past as if he were driving his father's sheep under a sword-proof helmet4 ,it was too much for him to carry any extra armor then1 who could not easily dispose of his natural arms4 ,and for his legs1 they were like heavy artillery in boggy places2 better to cut the traces and forsake them4 ,his greaves chafed and wrestled one with another for want of other foes4 ,but he did get by and get off with all his munitions1 and lived to fight another day2 and ,i do not record this as casting any suspicion on his honor and real bravery in the field4 ,wandering on through notches which the streams had made1 by the side and over the brows of hoar hills and mountains1 across the stumpy1 rocky1 forested1 and bepastured country1 we at length crossed on prostrate trees over the ,amonoosuck1 and breathed the free air of ,unappropriated ,land4 ,thus1 in fair days as well as foul1 we had traced up the river to which our native stream is a tributary1 until from ,merrimack it became the ,pemigewasset that leaped by our side1 and when we had passed its fountain-head1 the ,wild ,amonoosuck1 whose puny channel was crossed at a stride1 guiding us toward its distant source among the mountains1 and at length1 without its guidance1 we were enabled to reach the summit of ,,agiocochook4 8,sweet days1 so cool1 so calm1 so bright1 ,the bridal of the earth and sky1 ,sweet dews shall weep thy fall to-night1 ,for thou must die40 ,,herbert4 ,when we returned to ,hooksett1 a week afterward1 the melon man1 in whose corn-barn we had hung our tent and buffaloes and other things to dry1 was already picking his hops1 with many women and children to help him4 ,we bought one watermelon1 the largest in his patch1 to carry with us for ballast4 ,it was ,nathan's1 which he might sell if he wished1 having been conveyed to him in the green state1 and owned daily by his eyes4 ,after due consultation with 8,father10 the bargain was concluded1--we to buy it at a venture on the vine1 green or ripe1 our risk1 and pay 8what the gentlemen pleased40 ,it proved to be ripe2 for we had had honest experience in selecting this fruit4 ,finding our boat safe in its harbor1 under ,uncannunuc ,mountain1 with a fair wind and the current in our favor1 we commenced our return voyage at noon1 sitting at our ease and conversing1 or in silence watching for the last trace of each reach in the river as a bend concealed it from our view4 ,as the season was further advanced1 the wind now blew steadily from the north1 and with our sail set we could occasionally lie on our oars without loss of time4 ,the lumbermen throwing down wood from the top of the high bank1 thirty or forty feet above the water1 that it might be sent down stream1 paused in their work to watch our retreating sail4 ,by this time1 indeed1 we were well known to the boatmen1 and were hailed as the ,revenue ,cutter of the stream4 ,as we sailed rapidly down the river1 shut in between two mounds of earth1 the sounds of this timber rolled down the bank enhanced the silence and vastness of the noon1 and we fancied that only the primeval echoes were awakened4 ,the vision of a distant scow just heaving in sight round a headland also increased by contrast the solitude4 ,through the din and desultoriness of noon1 even in the most ,oriental city1 is seen the fresh and primitive and savage nature1 in which ,scythians and ,ethiopians and ,indians dwell4 ,what is echo1 what are light and shade1 day and night1 ocean and stars1 earthquake and eclipse1 there8 ,the works of man are everywhere swallowed up in the immensity of ,nature4 ,the gean ,sea is but ,lake ,huron still to the ,indian4 ,also there is all the refinement of civilized life in the woods under a sylvan garb4 ,the wildest scenes have an air of domesticity and homeliness even to the citizen1 and when the flicker's cackle is heard in the clearing1 he is reminded that civilization has wrought but little change there4 ,science is welcome to the deepest recesses of the forest1 for there too nature obeys the same old civil laws4 ,the little red bug on the stump of a pine1--for it the wind shifts and the sun breaks through the clouds4 ,in the wildest nature1 there is not only the material of the most cultivated life1 and a sort of anticipation of the last result1 but a greater refinement already than is ever attained by man4 ,there is papyrus by the river-side1 and rushes for light1 and the goose only flies overhead1 ages before the studious are born or letters invented1 and that literature which the former suggest1 and even from the first have rudely served1 it may be man does not yet use them to express4 ,nature is prepared to welcome into her scenery the finest work of human art1 for she is herself an art so cunning that the artist never appears in his work4 ,art is not tame1 and ,nature is not wild1 in the ordinary sense4 ,a perfect work of man's art would also be wild or natural in a good sense4 ,man tames ,nature only that he may at last make her more free even than he found her1 though he may never yet have succeeded4 ,with this propitious breeze1 and the help of our oars1 we soon reached the ,falls of ,amoskeag1 and the mouth of the ,piscataquoag1 and recognized1 as we swept rapidly by1 many a fair bank and islet on which our eyes had rested in the upward passage4 ,our boat was like that which ,chaucer describes in his ,dream1 in which the knight took his departure from the island1 8,to journey for his marriage1 ,and return with such an host1 ,that wedded might be least and most4 4 4 4 4 ,which barge was as a man's thought1 ,after his pleasure to him brought1 ,the queene herself accustomed aye ,in the same barge to play1 ,it needed neither mast ne rother1 ,i have not heard of such another1 ,no master for the governance1 ,hie sayled by thought and pleasaunce1 ,without labor east and west1 ,all was one1 calme or tempest40 ,so we sailed this afternoon1 thinking of the saying of ,pythagoras1 though we had no peculiar right to remember it1 8,it is beautiful when prosperity is present with intellect1 and when sailing as it were with a prosperous wind1 actions are performed looking to virtue2 just as a pilot looks to the motions of the stars40 ,all the world reposes in beauty to him who preserves equipoise in his life1 and moves serenely on his path without secret violence2 as he who sails down a stream1 he has only to steer1 keeping his bark in the middle1 and carry it round the falls4 ,the ripples curled away in our wake1 like ringlets from the head of a child1 while we steadily held on our course1 and under the bows we watched 8,the swaying soft1 ,made by the delicate wave parted in front1 ,as through the gentle element we move ,like shadows gliding through untroubled dreams40 ,the forms of beauty fall naturally around the path of him who is in the performance of his proper work2 as the curled shavings drop from the plane1 and borings cluster round the auger4 ,undulation is the gentlest and most ideal of motions1 produced by one fluid falling on another4 ,rippling is a more graceful flight4 ,from a hill-top you may detect in it the wings of birds endlessly repeated4 ,the two waving lines which represent the flight of birds appear to have been copied from the ripple4 ,the trees made an admirable fence to the landscape1 skirting the horizon on every side4 ,the single trees and the groves left standing on the interval appeared naturally disposed1 though the farmer had consulted only his convenience1 for he too falls into the scheme of ,nature4 ,art can never match the luxury and superfluity of ,nature4 ,in the former all is seen2 it cannot afford concealed wealth1 and is niggardly in comparison2 but ,nature1 even when she is scant and thin outwardly1 satisfies us still by the assurance of a certain generosity at the roots4 ,in swamps1 where there is only here and there an ever-green tree amid the quaking moss and cranberry beds1 the bareness does not suggest poverty4 ,the single-spruce1 which ,i had hardly noticed in gardens1 attracts me in such places1 and now first ,i understand why men try to make them grow about their houses4 ,but though there may be very perfect specimens in front-yard plots1 their beauty is for the most part ineffectual there1 for there is no such assurance of kindred wealth beneath and around them1 to make them show to advantage4 ,as we have said1 ,nature is a greater and more perfect art1 the art of ,god2 though1 referred to herself1 she is genius2 and there is a similarity between her operations and man's art even in the details and trifles4 ,when the overhanging pine drops into the water1 by the sun and water1 and the wind rubbing it against the shore1 its boughs are worn into fantastic shapes1 and white and smooth1 as if turned in a lathe4 ,man's art has wisely imitated those forms into which all matter is most inclined to run1 as foliage and fruit4 ,a hammock swung in a grove assumes the exact form of a canoe1 broader or narrower1 and higher or lower at the ends1 as more or fewer persons are in it1 and it rolls in the air with the motion of the body1 like a canoe in the water4 ,our art leaves its shavings and its dust about2 her art exhibits itself even in the shavings and the dust which we make4 ,she has perfected herself by an eternity of practice4 ,the world is well kept2 no rubbish accumulates2 the morning air is clear even at this day1 and no dust has settled on the grass4 ,behold how the evening now steals over the fields1 the shadows of the trees creeping farther and farther into the meadow1 and erelong the stars will come to bathe in these retired waters4 ,her undertakings are secure and never fail4 ,if ,i were awakened from a deep sleep1 ,i should know which side of the meridian the sun might be by the aspect of nature1 and by the chirp of the crickets1 and yet no painter can paint this difference4 ,the landscape contains a thousand dials which indicate the natural divisions of time1 the shadows of a thousand styles point to the hour4 8,not only o'er the dial's face1 ,this silent phantom day by day1 ,with slow1 unseen1 unceasing pace ,steals moments1 months1 and years away2 ,from hoary rock and aged tree1 ,from proud ,palmyra's mouldering walls1 ,from ,teneriffe1 towering o'er the sea1 ,from every blade of grass it falls40 ,it is almost the only game which the trees play at1 this tit-for-tat1 now this side in the sun1 now that1 the drama of the day4 ,in deep ravines under the eastern sides of cliffs1 ,night forwardly plants her foot even at noonday1 and as ,day retreats she steps into his trenches1 skulking from tree to tree1 from fence to fence1 until at last she sits in his citadel and draws out her forces into the plain4 ,it may be that the forenoon is brighter than the afternoon1 not only because of the greater transparency of its atmosphere1 but because we naturally look most into the west1 as forward into the day1 and so in the forenoon see the sunny side of things1 but in the afternoon the shadow of every tree4 ,the afternoon is now far advanced1 and a fresh and leisurely wind is blowing over the river1 making long reaches of bright ripples4 ,the river has done its stint1 and appears not to flow1 but lie at its length reflecting the light1 and the haze over the woods is like the inaudible panting1 or rather the gentle perspiration of resting nature1 rising from a myriad of pores into the attenuated atmosphere4 ,on the thirty-first day of ,march1 one hundred and forty-two years before this1 probably about this time in the afternoon1 there were hurriedly paddling down this part of the river1 between the pine woods which then fringed these banks1 two white women and a boy1 who had left an island at the mouth of the ,contoocook before daybreak4 ,they were slightly clad for the season1 in the ,english fashion1 and handled their paddles unskilfully1 but with nervous energy and determination1 and at the bottom of their canoe lay the still bleeding scalps of ten of the aborigines4 ,they were ,hannah ,dustan1 and her nurse1 ,mary ,neff1 both of ,haverhill1 eighteen miles from the mouth of this river1 and an ,english boy1 named ,samuel ,lennardson1 escaping from captivity among the ,indians4 ,on the #aeth of ,march previous1 ,hannah ,dustan had been compelled to rise from child-bed1 and half dressed1 with one foot bare1 accompanied by her nurse1 commence an uncertain march1 in still inclement weather1 through the snow and the wilderness4 ,she had seen her seven elder children flee with their father1 but knew not of their fate4 ,she had seen her infant's brains dashed out against an apple-tree1 and had left her own and her neighbors' dwellings in ashes4 ,when she reached the wigwam of her captor1 situated on an island in the ,merrimack1 more than twenty miles above where we now are1 she had been told that she and her nurse were soon to be taken to a distant ,indian settlement1 and there made to run the gauntlet naked4 ,the family of this ,indian consisted of two men1 three women1 and seven children1 beside an ,english boy1 whom she found a prisoner among them4 ,having determined to attempt her escape1 she instructed the boy to inquire of one of the men1 how he should despatch an enemy in the quickest manner1 and take his scalp4 8,strike 'em there10 said he1 placing his finger on his temple1 and he also showed him how to take off the scalp4 ,on the morning of the #cast she arose before daybreak1 and awoke her nurse and the boy1 and taking the ,indians' tomahawks1 they killed them all in their sleep1 excepting one favorite boy1 and one squaw who fled wounded with him to the woods4 ,the ,english boy struck the ,indian who had given him the information1 on the temple1 as he had been directed4 ,they then collected all the provision they could find1 and took their master's tomahawk and gun1 and scuttling all the canoes but one1 commenced their flight to ,haverhill1 distant about sixty miles by the river4 ,but after having proceeded a short distance1 fearing that her story would not be believed if she should escape to tell it1 they returned to the silent wigwam1 and taking off the scalps of the dead1 put them into a bag as proofs of what they had done1 and then retracing their steps to the shore in the twilight1 recommenced their voyage4 ,early this morning this deed was performed1 and now1 perchance1 these tired women and this boy1 their clothes stained with blood1 and their minds racked with alternate resolution and fear1 are making a hasty meal of parched corn and moose-meat1 while their canoe glides under these pine roots whose stumps are still standing on the bank4 ,they are thinking of the dead whom they have left behind on that solitary isle far up the stream1 and of the relentless living warriors who are in pursuit4 ,every withered leaf which the winter has left seems to know their story1 and in its rustling to repeat it and betray them4 ,an ,indian lurks behind every rock and pine1 and their nerves cannot bear the tapping of a woodpecker4 ,or they forget their own dangers and their deeds in conjecturing the fate of their kindred1 and whether1 if they escape the ,indians1 they shall find the former still alive4 ,they do not stop to cook their meals upon the bank1 nor land1 except to carry their canoe about the falls4 ,the stolen birch forgets its master and does them good service1 and the swollen current bears them swiftly along with little need of the paddle1 except to steer and keep them warm by exercise4 ,for ice is floating in the river2 the spring is opening2 the muskrat and the beaver are driven out of their holes by the flood2 deer gaze at them from the bank2 a few faint-singing forest birds1 perchance1 fly across the river to the northernmost shore2 the fish-hawk sails and screams overhead1 and geese fly over with a startling clangor2 but they do not observe these things1 or they speedily forget them4 ,they do not smile or chat all day4 ,sometimes they pass an ,indian grave surrounded by its paling on the bank1 or the frame of a wigwam1 with a few coals left behind1 or the withered stalks still rustling in the ,indian's solitary cornfield on the interval4 ,the birch stripped of its bark1 or the charred stump where a tree has been burned down to be made into a canoe1 these are the only traces of man1--a fabulous wild man to us4 ,on either side1 the primeval forest stretches away uninterrupted to ,canada1 or to the 8,south ,sea02 to the white man a drear and howling wilderness1 but to the ,indian a home1 adapted to his nature1 and cheerful as the smile of the ,great ,spirit4 ,while we loiter here this autumn evening1 looking for a spot retired enough1 where we shall quietly rest to-night1 they thus1 in that chilly ,march evening1 one hundred and forty-two years before us1 with wind and current favoring1 have already glided out of sight1 not to camp1 as we shall1 at night1 but while two sleep one will manage the canoe1 and the swift stream bear them onward to the settlements1 it may be1 even to old ,john ,lovewell's house on ,salmon ,brook to-night4 ,according to the historian1 they escaped as by a miracle all roving bands of ,indians1 and reached their homes in safety1 with their trophies1 for which the ,general ,court paid them fifty pounds4 ,the family of ,hannah ,dustan all assembled alive once more1 except the infant whose brains were dashed out against the apple-tree1 and there have been many who in later times have lived to say that they had eaten of the fruit of that apple-tree4 ,this seems a long while ago1 and yet it happened since ,milton wrote his ,paradise ,lost4 ,but its antiquity is not the less great for that1 for we do not regulate our historical time by the ,english standard1 nor did the ,english by the ,roman1 nor the ,roman by the ,greek4 8,we must look a long way back10 says ,raleigh1 8to find the ,romans giving laws to nations1 and their consuls bringing kings and princes bound in chains to ,rome in triumph2 to see men go to ,greece for wisdom1 or ,ophir for gold2 when now nothing remains but a poor paper remembrance of their former condition40 ,and yet1 in one sense1 not so far back as to find the ,penacooks and ,pawtuckets using bows and arrows and hatchets of stone1 on the banks of the ,merrimack4 ,from this ,september afternoon1 and from between these now cultivated shores1 those times seemed more remote than the dark ages4 ,on beholding an old picture of ,concord1 as it appeared but seventy-five years ago1 with a fair open prospect and a light on trees and river1 as if it were broad noon1 ,i find that ,i had not thought the sun shone in those days1 or that men lived in broad daylight then4 ,still less do we imagine the sun shining on hill and valley during ,philip's war1 on the war-path of ,church or ,philip1 or later of ,lovewell or ,paugus1 with serene summer weather1 but they must have lived and fought in a dim twilight or night4 ,the age of the world is great enough for our imaginations1 even according to the ,mosaic account1 without borrowing any years from the geologist4 ,from ,adam and ,eve at one leap sheer down to the deluge1 and then through the ancient monarchies1 through ,babylon and ,thebes1 ,brahma and ,abraham1 to ,greece and the ,argonauts2 whence we might start again with ,orpheus and the ,trojan war1 the ,pyramids and the ,olympic games1 and ,homer and ,athens1 for our stages2 and after a breathing space at the building of ,rome1 continue our journey down through ,odin and ,christ to--,america4 ,it is a wearisome while4 ,and yet the lives of but sixty old women1 such as live under the hill1 say of a century each1 strung together1 are sufficient to reach over the whole ground4 ,taking hold of hands they would span the interval from ,eve to my own mother4 ,a respectable tea-party merely1--whose gossip would be ,universal ,history4 ,the fourth old woman from myself suckled ,columbus1--the ninth was nurse to the ,norman ,conqueror1--the nineteenth was the ,virgin ,mary1--the twenty-fourth the ,cuman ,sibyl1--the thirtieth was at the ,trojan war and ,helen her name1--the thirty-eighth was ,queen ,semiramis1--the sixtieth was ,eve the mother of mankind4 ,so much for the 8,old woman that lives under the hill1 ,and if she's not gone she lives there still40 ,it will not take a very great-granddaughter of hers to be in at the death of ,time4 ,we can never safely exceed the actual facts in our narratives4 ,of pure invention1 such as some suppose1 there is no instance4 ,to write a true work of fiction even1 is only to take leisure and liberty to describe some things more exactly as they are4 ,a true account of the actual is the rarest poetry1 for common sense always takes a hasty and superficial view4 ,though ,i am not much acquainted with the works of ,goethe1 ,i should say that it was one of his chief excellences as a writer1 that he was satisfied with giving an exact description of things as they appeared to him1 and their effect upon him4 ,most travellers have not self-respect enough to do this simply1 and make objects and events stand around them as the centre1 but still imagine more favorable positions and relations than the actual ones1 and so we get no valuable report from them at all4 ,in his ,italian ,travels ,goethe jogs along at a snail's pace1 but always mindful that the earth is beneath and the heavens are above him4 ,his ,italy is not merely the fatherland of lazzaroni and virtuosi1 and scene of splendid ruins1 but a solid turf-clad soil1 daily shined on by the sun1 and nightly by the moon4 ,even the few showers are faithfully recorded4 ,he speaks as an unconcerned spectator1 whose object is faithfully to describe what he sees1 and that1 for the most part1 in the order in which he sees it4 ,even his reflections do not interfere with his descriptions4 ,in one place he speaks of himself as giving so glowing and truthful a description of an old tower to the peasants who had gathered around him1 that they who had been born and brought up in the neighborhood must needs look over their shoulders1 8that10 to use his own words1 8they might behold with their eyes1 what ,i had praised to their ears10--8and ,i added nothing1 not even the ivy which for centuries had decorated the walls40 ,it would thus be possible for inferior minds to produce invaluable books1 if this very moderation were not the evidence of superiority2 for the wise are not so much wiser than others as respecters of their own wisdom4 ,some1 poor in spirit1 record plaintively only what has happened to them2 but others how they have happened to the universe1 and the judgment which they have awarded to circumstances4 ,above all1 he possessed a hearty good-will to all men1 and never wrote a cross or even careless word4 ,on one occasion the post-boy snivelling1 8,signor perdonate1 qusta la mia patria10 he confesses that 8to me poor northerner came something tear-like into the eyes40 ,goethe's whole education and life were those of the artist4 ,he lacks the unconsciousness of the poet4 ,in his autobiography he describes accurately the life of the author of ,wilhelm ,meister4 ,for as there is in that book1 mingled with a rare and serene wisdom1 a certain pettiness or exaggeration of trifles1 wisdom applied to produce a constrained and partial and merely well-bred man1--a magnifying of the theatre till life itself is turned into a stage1 for which it is our duty to study our parts well1 and conduct with propriety and precision1--so in the autobiography1 the fault of his education is1 so to speak1 its merely artistic completeness4 ,nature is hindered1 though she prevails at last in making an unusually catholic impression on the boy4 ,it is the life of a city boy1 whose toys are pictures and works of art1 whose wonders are the theatre and kingly processions and crownings4 ,as the youth studied minutely the order and the degrees in the imperial procession1 and suffered none of its effect to be lost on him1 so the man aimed to secure a rank in society which would satisfy his notion of fitness and respectability4 ,he was defrauded of much which the savage boy enjoys4 ,indeed1 he himself has occasion to say in this very autobiography1 when at last he escapes into the woods without the gates3 8,thus much is certain1 that only the undefinable1 wide-expanding feelings of youth and of uncultivated nations are adapted to the sublime1 which1 whenever it may be excited in us through external objects1 since it is either formless1 or else moulded into forms which are incomprehensible1 must surround us with a grandeur which we find above our reach40 ,he further says of himself3 8,i had lived among painters from my childhood1 and had accustomed myself to look at objects1 as they did1 with reference to art40 ,and this was his practice to the last4 ,he was even too well-bred to be thoroughly bred4 ,he says that he had had no intercourse with the lowest class of his towns-boys4 ,the child should have the advantage of ignorance as well as of knowledge1 and is fortunate if he gets his share of neglect and exposure4 8,the laws of ,nature break the rules of ,art40 ,the ,man of ,genius may at the same time be1 indeed is commonly1 an ,artist1 but the two are not to be confounded4 ,the ,man of ,genius1 referred to mankind1 is an originator1 an inspired or demonic man1 who produces a perfect work in obedience to laws yet unexplored4 ,the ,artist is he who detects and applies the law from observation of the works of ,genius1 whether of man or nature4 ,the ,artisan is he who merely applies the rules which others have detected4 ,there has been no man of pure ,genius2 as there has been none wholly destitute of ,genius4 ,poetry is the mysticism of mankind4 ,the expressions of the poet cannot be analyzed2 his sentence is one word1 whose syllables are words4 ,there are indeed no words quite worthy to be set to his music4 ,but what matter if we do not hear the words always1 if we hear the music8 ,much verse fails of being poetry because it was not written exactly at the right crisis1 though it may have been inconceivably near to it4 ,it is only by a miracle that poetry is written at all4 ,it is not recoverable thought1 but a hue caught from a vaster receding thought4 ,a poem is one undivided unimpeded expression fallen ripe into literature1 and it is undividedly and unimpededly received by those for whom it was matured4 ,if you can speak what you will never hear1 if you can write what you will never read1 you have done rare things4 ,the work we choose should be our own1 ,god lets alone4 ,the unconsciousness of man is the consciousness of ,god4 ,deep are the foundations of sincerity4 ,even stone walls have their foundation below the frost4 ,what is produced by a free stroke charms us1 like the forms of lichens and leaves4 ,there is a certain perfection in accident which we never consciously attain4 ,draw a blunt quill filled with ink over a sheet of paper1 and fold the paper before the ink is dry1 transversely to this line1 and a delicately shaded and regular figure will be produced1 in some respects more pleasing than an elaborate drawing4 ,the talent of composition is very dangerous1--the striking out the heart of life at a blow1 as the ,indian takes off a scalp4 ,i feel as if my life had grown more outward when ,i can express it4 ,on his journey from ,brenner to ,verona1 ,goethe writes3 8,the ,tees flows now more gently1 and makes in many places broad sands4 ,on the land1 near to the water1 upon the hillsides1 everything is so closely planted one to another1 that you think they must choke one another1--vineyards1 maize1 mulberry-trees1 apples1 pears1 quinces1 and nuts4 ,the dwarf elder throws itself vigorously over the walls4 ,ivy grows with strong stems up the rocks1 and spreads itself wide over them1 the lizard glides through the intervals1 and everything that wanders to and fro reminds one of the loveliest pictures of art4 ,the women's tufts of hair bound up1 the men's bare breasts and light jackets1 the excellent oxen which they drive home from market1 the little asses with their loads1--everything forms a living1 animated ,heinrich ,roos4 ,and now that it is evening1 in the mild air a few clouds rest upon the mountains1 in the heavens more stand still than move1 and immediately after sunset the chirping of crickets begins to grow more loud2 then one feels for once at home in the world1 and not as concealed or in exile4 ,i am contented as though ,i had been born and brought up here1 and were now returning from a ,greenland or whaling voyage4 ,even the dust of my ,fatherland1 which is often whirled about the wagon1 and which for so long a time ,i had not seen1 is greeted4 ,the clock-and-bell jingling of the crickets is altogether lovely1 penetrating1 and agreeable4 ,it sounds bravely when roguish boys whistle in emulation of a field of such songstresses4 ,one fancies that they really enhance one another4 ,also the evening is perfectly mild as the day40 8,if one who dwelt in the south1 and came hither from the south1 should hear of my rapture hereupon1 he would deem me very childish4 ,alas6 what ,i here express ,i have long known while ,i suffered under an unpropitious heaven1 and now may ,i joyful feel this joy as an exception1 which we should enjoy everforth as an eternal necessity of our nature40 ,thus we 8sayled by thought and pleasaunce10 as ,chaucer says1 and all things seemed with us to flow2 the shore itself1 and the distant cliffs1 were dissolved by the undiluted air4 ,the hardest material seemed to obey the same law with the most fluid1 and so indeed in the long run it does4 ,trees were but rivers of sap and woody fibre1 flowing from the atmosphere1 and emptying into the earth by their trunks1 as their roots flowed upward to the surface4 ,and in the heavens there were rivers of stars1 and milky-ways1 already beginning to gleam and ripple over our heads4 ,there were rivers of rock on the surface of the earth1 and rivers of ore in its bowels1 and our thoughts flowed and circulated1 and this portion of time was but the current hour4 ,let us wander where we will1 the universe is built round about us1 and we are central still4 ,if we look into the heavens they are concave1 and if we were to look into a gulf as bottomless1 it would be concave also4 ,the sky is curved downward to the earth in the horizon1 because we stand on the plain4 ,i draw down its skirts4 ,the stars so low there seem loath to depart1 but by a circuitous path to be remembering me1 and returning on their steps4 ,we had already passed by broad daylight the scene of our encampment at ,coos ,falls1 and at length we pitched our camp on the west bank1 in the northern part of ,merrimack1 nearly opposite to the large island on which we had spent the noon in our way up the river4 ,there we went to bed that summer evening1 on a sloping shelf in the bank1 a couple of rods from our boat1 which was drawn up on the sand1 and just behind a thin fringe of oaks which bordered the river2 without having disturbed any inhabitants but the spiders in the grass1 which came out by the light of our lamp1 and crawled over our buffaloes4 ,when we looked out from under the tent1 the trees were seen dimly through the mist1 and a cool dew hung upon the grass1 which seemed to rejoice in the night1 and with the damp air we inhaled a solid fragrance4 ,having eaten our supper of hot cocoa and bread and watermelon1 we soon grew weary of conversing1 and writing in our journals1 and1 putting out the lantern which hung from the tent-pole1 fell asleep4 ,unfortunately1 many things have been omitted which should have been recorded in our journal2 for though we made it a rule to set down all our experiences therein1 yet such a resolution is very hard to keep1 for the important experience rarely allows us to remember such obligations1 and so indifferent things get recorded1 while that is frequently neglected4 ,it is not easy to write in a journal what interests us at any time1 because to write it is not what interests us4 ,whenever we awoke in the night1 still eking out our dreams with half-awakened thoughts1 it was not till after an interval1 when the wind breathed harder than usual1 flapping the curtains of the tent1 and causing its cords to vibrate1 that we remembered that we lay on the bank of the ,merrimack1 and not in our chamber at home4 ,with our heads so low in the grass1 we heard the river whirling and sucking1 and lapsing downward1 kissing the shore as it went1 sometimes rippling louder than usual1 and again its mighty current making only a slight limpid1 trickling sound1 as if our water-pail had sprung a leak1 and the water were flowing into the grass by our side4 ,the wind1 rustling the oaks and hazels1 impressed us like a wakeful and inconsiderate person up at midnight1 moving about1 and putting things to rights1 occasionally stirring up whole drawers full of leaves at a puff4 ,there seemed to be a great haste and preparation throughout ,nature1 as for a distinguished visitor2 all her aisles had to be swept in the night1 by a thousand hand-maidens1 and a thousand pots to be boiled for the next day's feasting2--such a whispering bustle1 as if ten thousand fairies made their fingers fly1 silently sewing at the new carpet with which the earth was to be clothed1 and the new drapery which was to adorn the trees4 ,and then the wind would lull and die away1 and we like it fell asleep again4 ,,friday 8,the ,boteman strayt ,held on his course with stayed stedfastnesse1 ,ne ever shroncke1 ne ever sought to bayt ,his tryed armes for toylesome wearinesse2 ,but with his oares did sweepe the watry wildernesse40 ,,spenser4 8,summer's robe grows ,dusky1 and like an oft-dyed garment shows40 ,,donne4 ,as we lay awake long before daybreak1 listening to the rippling of the river1 and the rustling of the leaves1 in suspense whether the wind blew up or down the stream1 was favorable or unfavorable to our voyage1 we already suspected that there was a change in the weather1 from a freshness as of autumn in these sounds4 ,the wind in the woods sounded like an incessant waterfall dashing and roaring amid rocks1 and we even felt encouraged by the unusual activity of the elements4 ,he who hears the rippling of rivers in these degenerate days will not utterly despair4 ,that night was the turning-point in the season4 ,we had gone to bed in summer1 and we awoke in autumn2 for summer passes into autumn in some unimaginable point of time1 like the turning of a leaf4 ,we found our boat in the dawn just as we had left it1 and as if waiting for us1 there on the shore1 in autumn1 all cool and dripping with dew1 and our tracks still fresh in the wet sand around it1 the fairies all gone or concealed4 ,before five o'clock we pushed it into the fog1 and1 leaping in1 at one shove were out of sight of the shores1 and began to sweep downward with the rushing river1 keeping a sharp lookout for rocks4 ,we could see only the yellow gurgling water1 and a solid bank of fog on every side1 forming a small yard around us4 ,we soon passed the mouth of the ,souhegan1 and the village of ,merrimack1 and as the mist gradually rolled away1 and we were relieved from the trouble of watching for rocks1 we saw by the flitting clouds1 by the first russet tinge on the hills1 by the rushing river1 the cottages on shore1 and the shore itself1 so coolly fresh and shining with dew1 and later in the day1 by the hue of the grape-vine1 the goldfinch on the willow1 the flickers flying in flocks1 and when we passed near enough to the shore1 as we fancied1 by the faces of men1 that the ,fall had commenced4 ,the cottages looked more snug and comfortable1 and their inhabitants were seen only for a moment1 and then went quietly in and shut the door1 retreating inward to the haunts of summer4 8,and now the cold autumnal dews are seen ,to cobweb ev'ry green2 ,and by the low-shorn rowens doth appear ,the fast-declining year40 ,we heard the sigh of the first autumnal wind1 and even the water had acquired a grayer hue4 ,the sumach1 grape1 and maple were already changed1 and the milkweed had turned to a deep rich yellow4 ,in all woods the leaves were fast ripening for their fall2 for their full veins and lively gloss mark the ripe leaf1 and not the sered one of the poets2 and we knew that the maples1 stripped of their leaves among the earliest1 would soon stand like a wreath of smoke along the edge of the meadow4 ,already the cattle were heard to low wildly in the pastures and along the highways1 restlessly running to and fro1 as if in apprehension of the withering of the grass and of the approach of winter4 ,our thoughts1 too1 began to rustle4 ,as ,i pass along the streets of our village of ,concord on the day of our annual ,cattle-,show1 when it usually happens that the leaves of the elms and buttonwoods begin first to strew the ground under the breath of the ,october wind1 the lively spirits in their sap seem to mount as high as any plough-boy's let loose that day2 and they lead my thoughts away to the rustling woods1 where the trees are preparing for their winter campaign4 ,this autumnal festival1 when men are gathered in crowds in the streets as regularly and by as natural a law as the leaves cluster and rustle by the wayside1 is naturally associated in my mind with the fall of the year4 ,the low of cattle in the streets sounds like a hoarse symphony or running bass to the rustling of the leaves4 ,the wind goes hurrying down the country1 gleaning every loose straw that is left in the fields1 while every farmer lad too appears to scud before it1--having donned his best pea-jacket and pepper-and-salt waistcoat1 his unbent trousers1 outstanding rigging of duck or kerseymere or corduroy1 and his furry hat withal1--to country fairs and cattle-shows1 to that ,rome among the villages where the treasures of the year are gathered4 ,all the land over they go leaping the fences with their tough1 idle palms1 which have never learned to hang by their sides1 amid the low of calves and the bleating of sheep1--,amos1 ,abner1 ,elnathan1 ,elbridge1-- 8,from steep pine-bearing mountains to the plain40 ,i love these sons of earth every mother's son of them1 with their great hearty hearts rushing tumultuously in herds from spectacle to spectacle1 as if fearful lest there should not be time between sun and sun to see them all1 and the sun does not wait more than in haying-time4 8,wise ,nature's darlings1 they live in the world ,perplexing not themselves how it is hurled40 ,running hither and thither with appetite for the coarse pastimes of the day1 now with boisterous speed at the heels of the inspired negro from whose larynx the melodies of all ,congo and ,guinea ,coast have broke loose into our streets2 now to see the procession of a hundred yoke of oxen1 all as august and grave as ,osiris1 or the droves of neat cattle and milch cows as unspotted as ,isis or ,io4 ,such as had no love for ,nature 8at all1 ,came lovers home from this great festival40 ,they may bring their fattest cattle and richest fruits to the fair1 but they are all eclipsed by the show of men4 ,these are stirring autumn days1 when men sweep by in crowds1 amid the rustle of leaves1 like migrating finches2 this is the true harvest of the year1 when the air is but the breath of men1 and the rustling of leaves is as the trampling of the crowd4 ,we read now-a-days of the ancient festivals1 games1 and processions of the ,greeks and ,etruscans1 with a little incredulity1 or at least with little sympathy2 but how natural and irrepressible in every people is some hearty and palpable greeting of ,nature4 ,the ,corybantes1 the ,bacchantes1 the rude primitive tragedians with their procession and goat-song1 and the whole paraphernalia of the ,panathena1 which appear so antiquated and peculiar1 have their parallel now4 ,the husbandman is always a better ,greek than the scholar is prepared to appreciate1 and the old custom still survives1 while antiquarians and scholars grow gray in commemorating it4 ,the farmers crowd to the fair to-day in obedience to the same ancient law1 which ,solon or ,lycurgus did not enact1 as naturally as bees swarm and follow their queen4 ,it is worth the while to see the country's people1 how they pour into the town1 the sober farmer folk1 now all agog1 their very shirt and coat-collars pointing forward1--collars so broad as if they had put their shirts on wrong end upward1 for the fashions always tend to superfluity1--and with an unusual springiness in their gait1 jabbering earnestly to one another4 ,the more supple vagabond1 too1 is sure to appear on the least rumor of such a gathering1 and the next day to disappear1 and go into his hole like the seventeen-year locust1 in an ever-shabby coat1 though finer than the farmer's best1 yet never dressed2 come to see the sport1 and have a hand in what is going1--to know 8what's the row10 if there is any2 to be where some men are drunk1 some horses race1 some cockerels fight2 anxious to be shaking props under a table1 and above all to see the 8striped pig40 ,he especially is the creature of the occasion4 ,he empties both his pockets and his character into the stream1 and swims in such a day4 ,he dearly loves the social slush4 ,there is no reserve of soberness in him4 ,i love to see the herd of men feeding heartily on coarse and succulent pleasures1 as cattle on the husks and stalks of vegetables4 ,though there are many crooked and crabbled specimens of humanity among them1 run all to thorn and rind1 and crowded out of shape by adverse circumstances1 like the third chestnut in the burr1 so that you wonder to see some heads wear a whole hat1 yet fear not that the race will fail or waver in them2 like the crabs which grow in hedges1 they furnish the stocks of sweet and thrifty fruits still4 ,thus is nature recruited from age to age1 while the fair and palatable varieties die out1 and have their period4 ,this is that mankind4 ,how cheap must be the material of which so many men are made4 ,the wind blew steadily down the stream1 so that we kept our sails set1 and lost not a moment of the forenoon by delays1 but from early morning until noon were continually dropping downward4 ,with our hands on the steering-paddle1 which was thrust deep into the river1 or bending to the oar1 which indeed we rarely relinquished1 we felt each palpitation in the veins of our steed1 and each impulse of the wings which drew us above4 ,the current of our thoughts made as sudden bends as the river1 which was continually opening new prospects to the east or south1 but we are aware that rivers flow most rapidly and shallowest at these points4 ,the steadfast shores never once turned aside for us1 but still trended as they were made2 why then should we always turn aside for them8 ,a man cannot wheedle nor overawe his ,genius4 ,it requires to be conciliated by nobler conduct than the world demands or can appreciate4 ,these winged thoughts are like birds1 and will not be handled2 even hens will not let you touch them like quadrupeds4 ,nothing was ever so unfamiliar and startling to a man as his own thoughts4 ,to the rarest genius it is the most expensive to succumb and conform to the ways of the world4 ,genius is the worst of lumber1 if the poet would float upon the breeze of popularity4 ,the bird of paradise is obliged constantly to fly against the wind1 lest its gay trappings1 pressing close to its body1 impede its free movements4 ,he is the best sailor who can steer within the fewest points of the wind1 and extract a motive power out of the greatest obstacles4 ,most begin to veer and tack as soon as the wind changes from aft1 and as within the tropics it does not blow from all points of the compass1 there are some harbors which they can never reach4 ,the poet is no tender slip of fairy stock1 who requires peculiar institutions and edicts for his defence1 but the toughest son of earth and of ,heaven1 and by his greater strength and endurance his fainting companions will recognize the ,god in him4 ,it is the worshippers of beauty1 after all1 who have done the real pioneer work of the world4 ,the poet will prevail to be popular in spite of his faults1 and in spite of his beauties too4 ,he will hit the nail on the head1 and we shall not know the shape of his hammer4 ,he makes us free of his hearth and heart1 which is greater than to offer one the freedom of a city4 ,great men1 unknown to their generation1 have their fame among the great who have preceded them1 and all true worldly fame subsides from their high estimate beyond the stars4 ,orpheus does not hear the strains which issue from his lyre1 but only those which are breathed into it2 for the original strain precedes the sound1 by as much as the echo follows after4 ,the rest is the perquisite of the rocks and trees and beasts4 ,when ,i stand in a library where is all the recorded wit of the world1 but none of the recording1 a mere accumulated1 and not truly cumulative treasure1 where immortal works stand side by side with anthologies which did not survive their month1 and cobweb and mildew have already spread from these to the binding of those2 and happily ,i am reminded of what poetry is1--,i perceive that ,shakespeare and ,milton did not foresee into what company they were to fall4 ,alas6 that so soon the work of a true poet should be swept into such a dust-hole6 ,the poet will write for his peers alone4 ,he will remember only that he saw truth and beauty from his position1 and expect the time when a vision as broad shall overlook the same field as freely4 ,we are often prompted to speak our thoughts to our neighbors1 or the single travellers whom we meet on the road1 but poetry is a communication from our home and solitude addressed to all ,intelligence4 ,it never whispers in a private ear4 ,knowing this1 we may understand those sonnets said to be addressed to particular persons1 or 8,to a ,mistress's ,eyebrow40 ,let none feel flattered by them4 ,for poetry write love1 and it will be equally true4 ,no doubt it is an important difference between men of genius or poets1 and men not of genius1 that the latter are unable to grasp and confront the thought which visits them4 ,but it is because it is too faint for expression1 or even conscious impression4 ,what merely quickens or retards the blood in their veins and fills their afternoons with pleasure they know not whence1 conveys a distinct assurance to the finer organization of the poet4 ,we talk of genius as if it were a mere knack1 and the poet could only express what other men conceived4 ,but in comparison with his task1 the poet is the least talented of any2 the writer of prose has more skill4 ,see what talent the smith has4 ,his material is pliant in his hands4 ,when the poet is most inspired1 is stimulated by an aura which never even colors the afternoons of common men1 then his talent is all gone1 and he is no longer a poet4 ,the gods do not grant him any skill more than another4 ,they never put their gifts into his hands1 but they encompass and sustain him with their breath4 ,to say that ,god has given a man many and great talents1 frequently means that he has brought his heavens down within reach of his hands4 ,when the poetic frenzy seizes us1 we run and scratch with our pen1 intent only on worms1 calling our mates around us1 like the cock1 and delighting in the dust we make1 but do not detect where the jewel lies1 which1 perhaps1 we have in the mean time cast to a distance1 or quite covered up again4 ,the poet's body even is not fed like other men's1 but he sometimes tastes the genuine nectar and ambrosia of the gods1 and lives a divine life4 ,by the healthful and invigorating thrills of inspiration his life is preserved to a serene old age4 ,some poems are for holidays only4 ,they are polished and sweet1 but it is the sweetness of sugar1 and not such as toil gives to sour bread4 ,the breath with which the poet utters his verse must be that by which he lives4 ,great prose1 of equal elevation1 commands our respect more than great verse1 since it implies a more permanent and level height1 a life more pervaded with the grandeur of the thought4 ,the poet often only makes an irruption1 like a ,parthian1 and is off again1 shooting while he retreats2 but the prose writer has conquered like a ,roman1 and settled colonies4 ,the true poem is not that which the public read4 ,there is always a poem not printed on paper1 coincident with the production of this1 stereotyped in the poet's life4 ,it is what he has become through his work4 ,not how is the idea expressed in stone1 or on canvas or paper1 is the question1 but how far it has obtained form and expression in the life of the artist4 ,his true work will not stand in any prince's gallery4 ,my life has been the poem ,i would have writ1 ,but ,i could not both live and utter it4 ,,the ,,poet',s ,,delay4 ,in vain ,i see the morning rise1 ,in vain observe the western blaze1 ,who idly look to other skies1 ,expecting life by other ways4 ,amidst such boundless wealth without1 ,i only still am poor within1 ,the birds have sung their summer out1 ,but still my spring does not begin4 ,shall ,i then wait the autumn wind1 ,compelled to seek a milder day1 ,and leave no curious nest behind1 ,no woods still echoing to my lay8 ,this raw and gusty day1 and the creaking of the oaks and pines on shore1 reminded us of more northern climes than ,greece1 and more wintry seas than the gean4 ,the genuine remains of ,ossian1 or those ancient poems which bear his name1 though of less fame and extent1 are1 in many respects1 of the same stamp with the ,iliad itself4 ,he asserts the dignity of the bard no less than ,homer1 and in his era we hear of no other priest than he4 ,it will not avail to call him a heathen1 because he personifies the sun and addresses it2 and what if his heroes did 8worship the ghosts of their fathers10 their thin1 airy1 and unsubstantial forms8 we worship but the ghosts of our fathers in more substantial forms4 ,we cannot but respect the vigorous faith of those heathen1 who sternly believed somewhat1 and are inclined to say to the critics1 who are offended by their superstitious rites1--,don't interrupt these men's prayers4 ,as if we knew more about human life and a ,god1 than the heathen and ancients4 ,does ,english theology contain the recent discoveries6 ,ossian reminds us of the most refined and rudest eras1 of ,homer1 ,pindar1 ,isaiah1 and the ,american ,indian4 ,in his poetry1 as in ,homer's1 only the simplest and most enduring features of humanity are seen1 such essential parts of a man as ,stonehenge exhibits of a temple2 we see the circles of stone1 and the upright shaft alone4 ,the phenomena of life acquire almost an unreal and gigantic size seen through his mists4 ,like all older and grander poetry1 it is distinguished by the few elements in the lives of its heroes4 ,they stand on the heath1 between the stars and the earth1 shrunk to the bones and sinews4 ,the earth is a boundless plain for their deeds4 ,they lead such a simple1 dry1 and everlasting life1 as hardly needs depart with the flesh1 but is transmitted entire from age to age4 ,there are but few objects to distract their sight1 and their life is as unencumbered as the course of the stars they gaze at4 8,the wrathful kings1 on cairns apart1 ,look forward from behind their shields1 ,and mark the wandering stars1 ,that brilliant westward move40 ,it does not cost much for these heroes to live2 they do not want much furniture4 ,they are such forms of men only as can be seen afar through the mist1 and have no costume nor dialect1 but for language there is the tongue itself1 and for costume there are always the skins of beasts and the bark of trees to be had4 ,they live out their years by the vigor of their constitutions4 ,they survive storms and the spears of their foes1 and perform a few heroic deeds1 and then 8,mounds will answer questions of them1 ,for many future years40 ,blind and infirm1 they spend the remnant of their days listening to the lays of the bards1 and feeling the weapons which laid their enemies low1 and when at length they die1 by a convulsion of nature1 the bard allows us a short and misty glance into futurity1 yet as clear1 perchance1 as their lives had been4 ,when ,mac-,roine was slain1 8,his soul departed to his warlike sires1 ,to follow misty forms of boars1 ,in tempestuous islands bleak40 ,the hero's cairn is erected1 and the bard sings a brief significant strain1 which will suffice for epitaph and biography4 8,the weak will find his bow in the dwelling1 ,the feeble will attempt to bend it40 ,compared with this simple1 fibrous life1 our civilized history appears the chronicle of debility1 of fashion1 and the arts of luxury4 ,but the civilized man misses no real refinement in the poetry of the rudest era4 ,it reminds him that civilization does but dress men4 ,it makes shoes1 but it does not toughen the soles of the feet4 ,it makes cloth of finer texture1 but it does not touch the skin4 ,inside the civilized man stand the savage still in the place of honor4 ,we are those blue-eyed1 yellow-haired ,saxons1 those slender1 dark-haired ,normans4 ,the profession of the bard attracted more respect in those days from the importance attached to fame4 ,it was his province to record the deeds of heroes4 ,when ,ossian hears the traditions of inferior bards1 he exclaims1-- 8,i straightway seize the unfutile tales1 ,and send them down in faithful verse40 ,his philosophy of life is expressed in the opening of the third ,duan of ,ca-,lodin4 8,whence have sprung the things that are8 ,and whither roll the passing years8 ,where does ,time conceal its two heads1 ,in dense impenetrable gloom1 ,its surface marked with heroes' deeds alone8 ,i view the generations gone2 ,the past appears but dim2 ,as objects by the moon's faint beams1 ,reflected from a distant lake4 ,i see1 indeed1 the thunderbolts of war1 ,but there the unmighty joyless dwell1 ,all those who send not down their deeds ,to far1 succeeding times40 ,the ignoble warriors die and are forgotten2 8,strangers come to build a tower1 ,and throw their ashes overhand2 ,some rusted swords appear in dust2 ,one1 bending forward1 says1 #8,the arms belonged to heroes gone2 ,we never heard their praise in song4'0 ,the grandeur of the similes is another feature which characterizes great poetry4 ,ossian seems to speak a gigantic and universal language4 ,the images and pictures occupy even much space in the landscape1 as if they could be seen only from the sides of mountains1 and plains with a wide horizon1 or across arms of the sea4 ,the machinery is so massive that it cannot be less than natural4 ,oivana says to the spirit of her father1 8,gray-haired ,torkil of ,torne10 seen in the skies1 8,thou glidest away like receding ships40 ,so when the hosts of ,fingal and ,starne approach to battle1 8,with murmurs loud1 like rivers far1 ,the race of ,torne hither moved40 ,and when compelled to retire1 8dragging his spear behind1 ,cudulin sank in the distant wood1 ,like a fire upblazing ere it dies40 ,nor did ,fingal want a proper audience when he spoke2 8,a thousand orators inclined ,to hear the lay of ,fingal40 ,the threats too would have deterred a man4 ,vengeance and terror were real4 ,trenmore threatens the young warrior whom he meets on a foreign strand1 8,thy mother shall find thee pale on the shore1 ,while lessening on the waves she spies ,the sails of him who slew her son40 ,if ,ossian's heroes weep1 it is from excess of strength1 and not from weakness1 a sacrifice or libation of fertile natures1 like the perspiration of stone in summer's heat4 ,we hardly know that tears have been shed1 and it seems as if weeping were proper only for babes and heroes4 ,their joy and their sorrow are made of one stuff1 like rain and snow1 the rainbow and the mist4 ,when ,fillan was worsted in fight1 and ashamed in the presence of ,fingal1 8,he strode away forthwith1 ,and bent in grief above a stream1 ,his cheeks bedewed with tears4 ,from time to time the thistles gray ,he lopped with his inverted lance40 ,crodar1 blind and old1 receives ,ossian1 son of ,fingal1 who comes to aid him in war2-- 8#8,my eyes have failed1' says he1 #8,crodar is blind1 ,is thy strength like that of thy fathers8 ,stretch1 ,ossian1 thine arm to the hoary-haired4' ,i gave my arm to the king4 ,the aged hero seized my hand2 ,he heaved a heavy sigh2 ,tears flowed incessant down his cheek4 ',strong art thou1 son of the mighty1 ,though not so dreadful as ,morven's prince4 ,let my feast be spread in the hall1 ,let every sweet-voiced minstrel sing2 ,great is he who is within my walls1 ,sons of wave-echoing ,croma4'0 ,even ,ossian himself1 the hero-bard1 pays tribute to the superior strength of his father ,fingal4 8,how beauteous1 mighty man1 was thy mind1 ,why succeeded ,ossian without its strength80 ---------------- ,while we sailed fleetly before the wind1 with the river gurgling under our stern1 the thoughts of autumn coursed as steadily through our minds1 and we observed less what was passing on the shore1 than the dateless associations and impressions which the season awakened1 anticipating in some measure the progress of the year4 ,i hearing get1 who had but ears1 ,and sight1 who had but eyes before1 ,i moments live1 who lived but years1 ,and truth discern1 who knew but learning's lore4 ,sitting with our faces now up stream1 we studied the landscape by degrees1 as one unrolls a map1 rock1 tree1 house1 hill1 and meadow1 assuming new and varying positions as wind and water shifted the scene1 and there was variety enough for our entertainment in the metamorphoses of the simplest objects4 ,viewed from this side the scenery appeared new to us4 ,the most familiar sheet of water viewed from a new hill-top1 yields a novel and unexpected pleasure4 ,when we have travelled a few miles1 we do not recognize the profiles even of the hills which overlook our native village1 and perhaps no man is quite familiar with the horizon as seen from the hill nearest to his house1 and can recall its outline distinctly when in the valley4 ,we do not commonly know1 beyond a short distance1 which way the hills range which take in our houses and farms in their sweep4 ,as if our birth had at first sundered things1 and we had been thrust up through into nature like a wedge1 and not till the wound heals and the scar disappears1 do we begin to discover where we are1 and that nature is one and continuous everywhere4 ,it is an important epoch when a man who has always lived on the east side of a mountain1 and seen it in the west1 travels round and sees it in the east4 ,yet the universe is a sphere whose centre is wherever there is intelligence4 ,the sun is not so central as a man4 ,upon an isolated hill-top1 in an open country1 we seem to ourselves to be standing on the boss of an immense shield1 the immediate landscape being apparently depressed below the more remote1 and rising gradually to the horizon1 which is the rim of the shield1 villas1 steeples1 forests1 mountains1 one above another1 till they are swallowed up in the heavens4 ,the most distant mountains in the horizon appear to rise directly from the shore of that lake in the woods by which we chance to be standing1 while from the mountain-top1 not only this1 but a thousand nearer and larger lakes1 are equally unobserved4 ,seen through this clear atmosphere1 the works of the farmer1 his ploughing and reaping1 had a beauty to our eyes which he never saw4 ,how fortunate were we who did not own an acre of these shores1 who had not renounced our title to the whole4 ,one who knew how to appropriate the true value of this world would be the poorest man in it4 ,the poor rich man6 all he has is what he has bought4 ,what ,i see is mine4 ,i am a large owner in the ,merrimack intervals4 ,men dig and dive but cannot my wealth spend1 ,who yet no partial store appropriate1 ,who no armed ship into the ,indies send1 ,to rob me of my orient estate4 ,he is the rich man1 and enjoys the fruits of riches1 who summer and winter forever can find delight in his own thoughts4 ,buy a farm6 ,what have ,i to pay for a farm which a farmer will take8 ,when ,i visit again some haunt of my youth1 ,i am glad to find that nature wears so well4 ,the landscape is indeed something real1 and solid1 and sincere1 and ,i have not put my foot through it yet4 ,there is a pleasant tract on the bank of the ,concord1 called ,conantum1 which ,i have in my mind2--the old deserted farm-house1 the desolate pasture with its bleak cliff1 the open wood1 the river-reach1 the green meadow in the midst1 and the moss-grown wild-apple orchard1--places where one may have many thoughts and not decide anything4 ,it is a scene which ,i can not only remember1 as ,i might a vision1 but when ,i will can bodily revisit1 and find it even so1 unaccountable1 yet unpretending in its pleasant dreariness4 ,when my thoughts are sensible of change1 ,i love to see and sit on rocks which ,i have known1 and pry into their moss1 and see unchangeableness so established4 ,i not yet gray on rocks forever gray1 ,i no longer green under the evergreens4 ,there is something even in the lapse of time by which time recovers itself4 ,as we have said1 it proved a cool as well as breezy day1 and by the time we reached ,penichook ,brook we were obliged to sit muffled in our cloaks1 while the wind and current carried us along4 ,we bounded swiftly over the rippling surface1 far by many cultivated lands and the ends of fences which divided innumerable farms1 with hardly a thought for the various lives which they separated2 now by long rows of alders or groves of pines or oaks1 and now by some homestead where the women and children stood outside to gaze at us1 till we had swept out of their sight1 and beyond the limit of their longest ,saturday ramble4 ,we glided past the mouth of the ,nashua1 and not long after1 of ,salmon ,brook1 without more pause than the wind4 ,salmon ,brook1 ,penichook1 ,ye sweet waters of my brain1 ,when shall ,i look1 ,or cast the hook1 ,in your waves again8 ,silver eels1 ,wooden creels1 ,these the baits that still allure1 ,and dragon-fly ,that floated by1 ,may they still endure8 ,the shadows chased one another swiftly over wood and meadow1 and their alternation harmonized with our mood4 ,we could distinguish the clouds which cast each one1 though never so high in the heavens4 ,when a shadow flits across the landscape of the soul1 where is the substance8 ,probably1 if we were wise enough1 we should see to what virtue we are indebted for any happier moment we enjoy4 ,no doubt we have earned it at some time2 for the gifts of ,heaven are never quite gratuitous4 ,the constant abrasion and decay of our lives makes the soil of our future growth4 ,the wood which we now mature1 when it becomes virgin mould1 determines the character of our second growth1 whether that be oaks or pines4 ,every man casts a shadow2 not his body only1 but his imperfectly mingled spirit4 ,this is his grief4 ,let him turn which way he will1 it falls opposite to the sun2 short at noon1 long at eve4 ,did you never see it8--,but1 referred to the sun1 it is widest at its base1 which is no greater than his own opacity4 ,the divine light is diffused almost entirely around us1 and by means of the refraction of light1 or else by a certain self-luminousness1 or1 as some will have it1 transparency1 if we preserve ourselves untarnished1 we are able to enlighten our shaded side4 ,at any rate1 our darkest grief has that bronze color of the moon eclipsed4 ,there is no ill which may not be dissipated1 like the dark1 if you let in a stronger light upon it4 ,shadows1 referred to the source of light1 are pyramids whose bases are never greater than those of the substances which cast them1 but light is a spherical congeries of pyramids1 whose very apexes are the sun itself1 and hence the system shines with uninterrupted light4 ,but if the light we use is but a paltry and narrow taper1 most objects will cast a shadow wider than themselves4 ,the places where we had stopped or spent the night in our way up the river1 had already acquired a slight historical interest for us2 for many upward day's voyaging were unravelled in this rapid downward passage4 ,when one landed to stretch his limbs by walking1 he soon found himself falling behind his companion1 and was obliged to take advantage of the curves1 and ford the brooks and ravines in haste1 to recover his ground4 ,already the banks and the distant meadows wore a sober and deepened tinge1 for the ,september air had shorn them of their summer's pride4 8,and what's a life8 ,the flourishing array ,of the proud summer meadow1 which to-day ,wears her green plush1 and is to-morrow hay40 ,the air was really the 8fine element0 which the poets describe4 ,it had a finer and sharper grain1 seen against the russet pastures and meadows1 than before1 as if cleansed of the summer's impurities4 ,having passed the ,new ,hampshire line and reached the ,horseshoe ,interval in ,tyngsborough1 where there is a high and regular second bank1 we climbed up this in haste to get a nearer sight of the autumnal flowers1 asters1 golden-rod1 and yarrow1 and blue-curls 7,trichostema dichotoma71 humble roadside blossoms1 and1 lingering still1 the harebell and the ,rhexia ,virginica4 ,the last1 growing in patches of lively pink flowers on the edge of the meadows1 had almost too gay an appearance for the rest of the landscape1 like a pink ribbon on the bonnet of a ,puritan woman4 ,asters and golden-rods were the livery which nature wore at present4 ,the latter alone expressed all the ripeness of the season1 and shed their mellow lustre over the fields1 as if the now declining summer's sun had bequeathed its hues to them4 ,it is the floral solstice a little after midsummer1 when the particles of golden light1 the sun-dust1 have1 as it were1 fallen like seeds on the earth1 and produced these blossoms4 ,on every hillside1 and in every valley1 stood countless asters1 coreopses1 tansies1 golden-rods1 and the whole race of yellow flowers1 like ,brahminical devotees1 turning steadily with their luminary from morning till night4 8,i see the golden-rod shine bright1 ,as sun-showers at the birth of day1 ,a golden plume of yellow light1 ,that robs the ,day-god's splendid ray4 8,the aster's violet rays divide ,the bank with many stars for me1 ,and yarrow in blanch tints is dyed1 ,as moonlight floats across the sea4 8,i see the emerald woods prepare ,to shed their vestiture once more1 ,and distant elm-trees spot the air ,with yellow pictures softly o'er4 99 99 99 99 99 8,no more the water-lily's pride ,in milk-white circles swims content1 ,no more the blue-weed's clusters ride ,and mock the heavens' element4 99 99 99 99 99 8,autumn1 thy wreath and mine are blent ,with the same colors1 for to me ,a richer sky than all is lent1 ,while fades my dream-like company4 8,our skies glow purple1 but the wind ,sobs chill through green trees and bright grass1 ,to-day shines fair1 and lurk behind ,the times that into winter pass4 8,so fair we seem1 so cold we are1 ,so fast we hasten to decay1 ,yet through our night glows many a star1 ,that still shall claim its sunny day40 ,so sang a ,concord poet once4 ,there is a peculiar interest belonging to the still later flowers1 which abide with us the approach of winter4 ,there is something witch-like in the appearance of the witch-hazel1 which blossoms late in ,october and in ,november1 with its irregular and angular spray and petals like furies' hair1 or small ribbon streamers4 ,its blossoming1 too1 at this irregular period1 when other shrubs have lost their leaves1 as well as blossoms1 looks like witches' craft4 ,certainly it blooms in no garden of man's4 ,there is a whole fairy-land on the hillside where it grows4 ,some have thought that the gales do not at present waft to the voyager the natural and original fragrance of the land1 such as the early navigators described1 and that the loss of many odoriferous native plants1 sweet-scented grasses and medicinal herbs1 which formerly sweetened the atmosphere1 and rendered it salubrious1--by the grazing of cattle and the rooting of swine1 is the source of many diseases which now prevail2 the earth1 say they1 having been long subjected to extremely artificial and luxurious modes of cultivation1 to gratify the appetite1 converted into a stye and hot-bed1 where men for profit increase the ordinary decay of nature4 ,according to the record of an old inhabitant of ,tyngsborough1 now dead1 whose farm we were now gliding past1 one of the greatest freshets on this river took place in ,october1 #aghe1 and its height was marked by a nail driven into an apple-tree behind his house4 ,one of his descendants has shown this to me1 and ,i judged it to be at least seventeen or eighteen feet above the level of the river at the time4 ,according to ,barber1 the river rose twenty-one feet above the common high-water mark1 at ,bradford in the year #ahah4 ,before the ,lowell and ,nashua railroad was built1 the engineer made inquiries of the inhabitants along the banks as to how high they had known the river to rise4 ,when he came to this house he was conducted to the apple-tree1 and as the nail was not then visible1 the lady of the house placed her hand on the trunk where she said that she remembered the nail to have been from her childhood4 ,in the mean while the old man put his arm inside the tree1 which was hollow1 and felt the point of the nail sticking through1 and it was exactly opposite to her hand4 ,the spot is now plainly marked by a notch in the bark4 ,but as no one else remembered the river to have risen so high as this1 the engineer disregarded this statement1 and ,i learn that there has since been a freshet which rose within nine inches of the rails at ,biscuit ,brook1 and such a freshet as that of #aghe would have covered the railroad two feet deep4 ,the revolutions of nature tell as fine tales1 and make as interesting revelations1 on this river's banks1 as on the ,euphrates or the ,nile4 ,this apple-tree1 which stands within a few rods of the river1 is called 8,elisha's apple-tree10 from a friendly ,indian1 who was anciently in the service of ,jonathan ,tyng1 and1 with one other man1 was killed here by his own race in one of the ,indian wars1--the particulars of which affair were told us on the spot4 ,he was buried close by1 no one knew exactly where1 but in the flood of #aghe1 so great a weight of water standing over the grave1 caused the earth to settle where it had once been disturbed1 and when the flood went down1 a sunken spot1 exactly of the form and size of the grave1 revealed its locality2 but this was now lost again1 and no future flood can detect it2 yet1 no doubt1 ,nature will know how to point it out in due time1 if it be necessary1 by methods yet more searching and unexpected4 ,thus there is not only the crisis when the spirit ceases to inspire and expand the body1 marked by a fresh mound in the churchyard1 but there is also a crisis when the body ceases to take up room as such in nature1 marked by a fainter depression in the earth4 ,we sat awhile to rest us here upon the brink of the western bank1 surrounded by the glossy leaves of the red variety of the mountain laurel1 just above the head of ,wicasuck ,island1 where we could observe some scows which were loading with clay from the opposite shore1 and also overlook the grounds of the farmer1 of whom ,i have spoken1 who once hospitably entertained us for a night4 ,he had on his pleasant farm1 besides an abundance of the beach-plum1 or ,prunus littoralis1 which grew wild1 the ,canada plum under cultivation1 fine ,porter apples1 some peaches1 and large patches of musk and water melons1 which he cultivated for the ,lowell market4 ,elisha's apple-tree1 too1 bore a native fruit1 which was prized by the family4 ,he raised the blood peach1 which1 as he showed us with satisfaction1 was more like the oak in the color of its bark and in the setting of its branches1 and was less liable to break down under the weight of the fruit1 or the snow1 than other varieties4 ,it was of slower growth1 and its branches strong and tough4 ,there1 also1 was his nursery of native apple-trees1 thickly set upon the bank1 which cost but little care1 and which he sold to the neighboring farmers when they were five or six years old4 ,to see a single peach upon its stem makes an impression of paradisaical fertility and luxury4 ,this reminded us even of an old ,roman farm1 as described by ,varro3--,csar ,vopiscus dilicius1 when he pleaded before the ,censors1 said that the grounds of ,rosea were the garden 7sumen the tid-bit7 of ,italy1 in which a pole being left would not be visible the day after1 on account of the growth of the herbage4 ,this soil may not have been remarkably fertile1 yet at this distance we thought that this anecdote might be told of the ,tyngsborough farm4 ,when we passed ,wicasuck ,island1 there was a pleasure-boat containing a youth and a maiden on the island brook1 which we were pleased to see1 since it proved that there were some hereabouts to whom our excursion would not be wholly strange4 ,before this1 a canal-boatman1 of whom we made some inquiries respecting ,wicasuck ,island1 and who told us that it was disputed property1 suspected that we had a claim upon it1 and though we assured him that all this was news to us1 and explained1 as well as we could1 why we had come to see it1 he believed not a word of it1 and seriously offered us one hundred dollars for our title4 ,the only other small boats which we met with were used to pick up driftwood4 ,some of the poorer class along the stream collect1 in this way1 all the fuel which they require4 ,while one of us landed not far from this island to forage for provisions among the farm-houses whose roofs we saw1 for our supply was now exhausted1 the other1 sitting in the boat1 which was moored to the shore1 was left alone to his reflections4 ,if there is nothing new on the earth1 still the traveller always has a resource in the skies4 ,they are constantly turning a new page to view4 ,the wind sets the types on this blue ground1 and the inquiring may always read a new truth there4 ,there are things there written with such fine and subtile tinctures1 paler than the juice of limes1 that to the diurnal eye they leave no trace1 and only the chemistry of night reveals them4 ,every man's daylight firmament answers in his mind to the brightness of the vision in his starriest hour4 ,these continents and hemispheres are soon run over1 but an always unexplored and infinite region makes off on every side from the mind1 further than to sunset1 and we can make no highway or beaten track into it1 but the grass immediately springs up in the path1 for we travel there chiefly with our wings4 ,sometimes we see objects as through a thin haze1 in their eternal relations1 and they stand like ,palenque and the ,pyramids1 and we wonder who set them up1 and for what purpose4 ,if we see the reality in things1 of what moment is the superficial and apparent longer8 ,what are the earth and all its interests beside the deep surmise which pierces and scatters them8 ,while ,i sit here listening to the waves which ripple and break on this shore1 ,i am absolved from all obligation to the past1 and the council of nations may reconsider its votes4 ,the grating of a pebble annuls them4 ,still occasionally in my dreams ,i remember that rippling water4 ,oft1 as ,i turn me on my pillow o'er1 ,i hear the lapse of waves upon the shore1 ,distinct as if it were at broad noonday1 ,and ,i were drifting down from ,nashua4 ,with a bending sail we glided rapidly by ,tyngsborough and ,chelmsford1 each holding in one hand half of a tart country apple-pie which we had purchased to celebrate our return1 and in the other a fragment of the newspaper in which it was wrapped1 devouring these with divided relish1 and learning the news which had transpired since we sailed4 ,the river here opened into a broad and straight reach of great length1 which we bounded merrily over before a smacking breeze1 with a devil-may-care look in our faces1 and our boat a white bone in its mouth1 and a speed which greatly astonished some scow boatmen whom we met4 ,the wind in the horizon rolled like a flood over valley and plain1 and every tree bent to the blast1 and the mountains like school-boys turned their cheeks to it4 ,they were great and current motions1 the flowing sail1 the running stream1 the waving tree1 the roving wind4 ,the north-wind stepped readily into the harness which we had provided1 and pulled us along with good will4 ,sometimes we sailed as gently and steadily as the clouds overhead1 watching the receding shores and the motions of our sail2 the play of its pulse so like our own lives1 so thin and yet so full of life1 so noiseless when it labored hardest1 so noisy and impatient when least effective2 now bending to some generous impulse of the breeze1 and then fluttering and flapping with a kind of human suspense4 ,it was the scale on which the varying temperature of distant atmospheres was graduated1 and it was some attraction for us that the breeze it played with had been out of doors so long4 ,thus we sailed1 not being able to fly1 but as next best1 making a long furrow in the fields of the ,merrimack toward our home1 with our wings spread1 but never lifting our heel from the watery trench2 gracefully ploughing homeward with our brisk and willing team1 wind and stream1 pulling together1 the former yet a wild steer1 yoked to his more sedate fellow4 ,it was very near flying1 as when the duck rushes through the water with an impulse of her wings1 throwing the spray about her1 before she can rise4 ,how we had stuck fast if drawn up but a few feet on the shore6 ,when we reached the great bend just above ,middlesex1 where the river runs east thirty-five miles to the sea1 we at length lost the aid of this propitious wind1 though we contrived to make one long and judicious tack carry us nearly to the locks of the canal4 ,we were here locked through at noon by our old friend1 the lover of the higher mathematics1 who seemed glad to see us safe back again through so many locks2 but we did not stop to consider any of his problems1 though we could cheerfully have spent a whole autumn in this way another time1 and never have asked what his religion was4 ,it is so rare to meet with a man out-doors who cherishes a worthy thought in his mind1 which is independent of the labor of his hands4 ,behind every man's busy-ness there should be a level of undisturbed serenity and industry1 as within the reef encircling a coral isle there is always an expanse of still water1 where the depositions are going on which will finally raise it above the surface4 ,the eye which can appreciate the naked and absolute beauty of a scientific truth is far more rare than that which is attracted by a moral one4 ,few detect the morality in the former1 or the science in the latter4 ,aristotle defined art to be 1 ,the principle of the work without the wood2 but most men prefer to have some of the wood along with the principle2 they demand that the truth be clothed in flesh and blood and the warm colors of life4 ,they prefer the partial statement because it fits and measures them and their commodities best4 ,but science still exists everywhere as the sealer of weights and measures at least4 ,we have heard much about the poetry of mathematics1 but very little of it has yet been sung4 ,the ancients had a juster notion of their poetic value than we4 ,the most distinct and beautiful statement of any truth must take at last the mathematical form4 ,we might so simplify the rules of moral philosophy1 as well as of arithmetic1 that one formula would express them both4 ,all the moral laws are readily translated into natural philosophy1 for often we have only to restore the primitive meaning of the words by which they are expressed1 or to attend to their literal instead of their metaphorical sense4 ,they are already supernatural philosophy4 ,the whole body of what is now called moral or ethical truth existed in the golden age as abstract science4 ,or1 if we prefer1 we may say that the laws of ,nature are the purest morality4 ,the ,tree of ,knowledge is a ,tree of ,knowledge of good and evil4 ,he is not a true man of science who does not bring some sympathy to his studies1 and expect to learn something by behavior as well as by application4 ,it is childish to rest in the discovery of mere coincidences1 or of partial and extraneous laws4 ,the study of geometry is a petty and idle exercise of the mind1 if it is applied to no larger system than the starry one4 ,mathematics should be mixed not only with physics but with ethics1 that is mixed mathematics4 ,the fact which interests us most is the life of the naturalist4 ,the purest science is still biographical4 ,nothing will dignify and elevate science while it is sundered so wholly from the moral life of its devotee1 and he professes another religion than it teaches1 and worships at a foreign shrine4 ,anciently the faith of a philosopher was identical with his system1 or1 in other words1 his view of the universe4 ,my friends mistake when they communicate facts to me with so much pains4 ,their presence1 even their exaggerations and loose statements1 are equally good facts for me4 ,i have no respect for facts even except when ,i would use them1 and for the most part ,i am independent of those which ,i hear1 and can afford to be inaccurate1 or1 in other words1 to substitute more present and pressing facts in their place4 ,the poet uses the results of science and philosophy1 and generalizes their widest deductions4 ,the process of discovery is very simple4 ,an unwearied and systematic application of known laws to nature1 causes the unknown to reveal themselves4 ,almost any mode of observation will be successful at last1 for what is most wanted is method4 ,only let something be determined and fixed around which observation may rally4 ,how many new relations a foot-rule alone will reveal1 and to how many things still this has not been applied6 ,what wonderful discoveries have been1 and may still be1 made1 with a plumb-line1 a level1 a surveyor's compass1 a thermometer1 or a barometer6 ,where there is an observatory and a telescope1 we expect that any eyes will see new worlds at once4 ,i should say that the most prominent scientific men of our country1 and perhaps of this age1 are either serving the arts and not pure science1 or are performing faithful but quite subordinate labors in particular departments4 ,they make no steady and systematic approaches to the central fact4 ,a discovery is made1 and at once the attention of all observers is distracted to that1 and it draws many analogous discoveries in its train2 as if their work were not already laid out for them1 but they had been lying on their oars4 ,there is wanting constant and accurate observation with enough of theory to direct and discipline it4 ,but1 above all1 there is wanting genius4 ,our books of science1 as they improve in accuracy1 are in danger of losing the freshness and vigor and readiness to appreciate the real laws of ,nature1 which is a marked merit in the ofttimes false theories of the ancients4 ,i am attracted by the slight pride and satisfaction1 the emphatic and even exaggerated style in which some of the older naturalists speak of the operations of ,nature1 though they are better qualified to appreciate than to discriminate the facts4 ,their assertions are not without value when disproved4 ,if they are not facts1 they are suggestions for ,nature herself to act upon4 8,the ,greeks10 says ,gesner1 8had a common proverb 7 7 a sleeping hare1 for a dissembler or counterfeit2 because the hare sees when she sleeps2 for this is an admirable and rare work of ,nature1 that all the residue of her bodily parts take their rest1 but the eye standeth continually sentinel40 ,observation is so wide awake1 and facts are being so rapidly added to the sum of human experience1 that it appears as if the theorizer would always be in arrears1 and were doomed forever to arrive at imperfect conclusions2 but the power to perceive a law is equally rare in all ages of the world1 and depends but little on the number of facts observed4 ,the senses of the savage will furnish him with facts enough to set him up as a philosopher4 ,the ancients can still speak to us with authority1 even on the themes of geology and chemistry1 though these studies are thought to have had their birth in modern times4 ,much is said about the progress of science in these centuries4 ,i should say that the useful results of science had accumulated1 but that there had been no accumulation of knowledge1 strictly speaking1 for posterity2 for knowledge is to be acquired only by a corresponding experience4 ,how can we know what we are told merely8 ,each man can interpret another's experience only by his own4 ,we read that ,newton discovered the law of gravitation1 but how many who have heard of his famous discovery have recognized the same truth that he did8 ,it may be not one4 ,the revelation which was then made to him has not been superseded by the revelation made to any successor4 ,we see the planet fall1 ,and that is all4 ,in a review of ,sir ,james ,clark ,ross's ,antarctic ,voyage of ,discovery1 there is a passage which shows how far a body of men are commonly impressed by an object of sublimity1 and which is also a good instance of the step from the sublime to the ridiculous4 ,after describing the discovery of the ,antarctic ,continent1 at first seen a hundred miles distant over fields of ice1--stupendous ranges of mountains from seven and eight to twelve and fourteen thousand feet high1 covered with eternal snow and ice1 in solitary and inaccessible grandeur1 at one time the weather being beautifully clear1 and the sun shining on the icy landscape2 a continent whose islands only are accessible1 and these exhibited 8not the smallest trace of vegetation10 only in a few places the rocks protruding through their icy covering1 to convince the beholder that land formed the nucleus1 and that it was not an iceberg2--the practical ,british reviewer proceeds thus1 sticking to his last1 8,on the #bb;d of ,january1 afternoon1 the ,expedition made the latitude of #gd #bj' and by #g;h ,p4,m41 having ground 7ground6 where did they get ground87 to believe that they were then in a higher southern latitude than had been attained by that enterprising seaman1 the late ,captain ,james ,weddel1 and therefore higher than all their predecessors1 an extra allowance of grog was issued to the crews as a reward for their perseverance40 ,let not us sailors of late centuries take upon ourselves any airs on account of our ,newtons and our ,cuviers2 we deserve an extra allowance of grog only4 ,we endeavored in vain to persuade the wind to blow through the long corridor of the canal1 which is here cut straight through the woods1 and were obliged to resort to our old expedient of drawing by a cord4 ,when we reached the ,concord1 we were forced to row once more in good earnest1 with neither wind nor current in our favor1 but by this time the rawness of the day had disappeared1 and we experienced the warmth of a summer afternoon4 ,this change in the weather was favorable to our contemplative mood1 and disposed us to dream yet deeper at our oars1 while we floated in imagination farther down the stream of time1 as we had floated down the stream of the ,merrimack1 to poets of a milder period than had engaged us in the morning4 ,chelmsford and ,billerica appeared like old ,english towns1 compared with ,merrimack and ,nashua1 and many generations of civil poets might have lived and sung here4 ,what a contrast between the stern and desolate poetry of ,ossian1 and that of ,chaucer1 and even of ,shakespeare and ,milton1 much more of ,dryden1 and ,pope1 and ,gray4 ,our summer of ,english poetry like the ,greek and ,latin before it1 seems well advanced toward its fall1 and laden with the fruit and foliage of the season1 with bright autumnal tints1 but soon the winter will scatter its myriad clustering and shading leaves1 and leave only a few desolate and fibrous boughs to sustain the snow and rime1 and creak in the blasts of ages4 ,we cannot escape the impression that the ,muse has stooped a little in her flight1 when we come to the literature of civilized eras4 ,now first we hear of various ages and styles of poetry2 it is pastoral1 and lyric1 and narrative1 and didactic2 but the poetry of runic monuments is of one style1 and for every age4 ,the bard has in a great measure lost the dignity and sacredness of his office4 ,formerly he was called a seer1 but now it is thought that one man sees as much as another4 ,he has no longer the bardic rage1 and only conceives the deed1 which he formerly stood ready to perform4 ,hosts of warriors earnest for battle could not mistake nor dispense with the ancient bard4 ,his lays were heard in the pauses of the fight4 ,there was no danger of his being overlooked by his contemporaries4 ,but now the hero and the bard are of different professions4 ,when we come to the pleasant ,english verse1 the storms have all cleared away and it will never thunder and lighten more4 ,the poet has come within doors1 and exchanged the forest and crag for the fireside1 the hut of the ,gael1 and ,stonehenge with its circles of stones1 for the house of the ,englishman4 ,no hero stands at the door prepared to break forth into song or heroic action1 but a homely ,englishman1 who cultivates the art of poetry4 ,we see the comfortable fireside1 and hear the crackling fagots in all the verse4 ,notwithstanding the broad humanity of ,chaucer1 and the many social and domestic comforts which we meet with in his verse1 we have to narrow our vision somewhat to consider him1 as if he occupied less space in the landscape1 and did not stretch over hill and valley as ,ossian does4 ,yet1 seen from the side of posterity1 as the father of ,english poetry1 preceded by a long silence or confusion in history1 unenlivened by any strain of pure melody1 we easily come to reverence him4 ,passing over the earlier continental poets1 since we are bound to the pleasant archipelago of ,english poetry1 ,chaucer's is the first name after that misty weather in which ,ossian lived1 which can detain us long4 ,indeed1 though he represents so different a culture and society1 he may be regarded as in many respects the ,homer of the ,english poets4 ,perhaps he is the youthfullest of them all4 ,we return to him as to the purest well1 the fountain farthest removed from the highway of desultory life4 ,he is so natural and cheerful1 compared with later poets1 that we might almost regard him as a personification of spring4 ,to the faithful reader his muse has even given an aspect to his times1 and when he is fresh from perusing him1 they seem related to the golden age4 ,it is still the poetry of youth and life1 rather than of thought2 and though the moral vein is obvious and constant1 it has not yet banished the sun and daylight from his verse4 ,the loftiest strains of the muse are1 for the most part1 sublimely plaintive1 and not a carol as free as nature's4 ,the content which the sun shines to celebrate from morning to evening1 is unsung4 ,the muse solaces herself1 and is not ravished but consoled4 ,there is a catastrophe implied1 and a tragic element in all our verse1 and less of the lark and morning dews1 than of the nightingale and evening shades4 ,but in ,homer and ,chaucer there is more of the innocence and serenity of youth than in the more modern and moral poets4 ,the ,iliad is not ,sabbath but morning reading1 and men cling to this old song1 because they still have moments of unbaptized and uncommitted life1 which give them an appetite for more4 ,to the innocent there are neither cherubim nor angels4 ,at rare intervals we rise above the necessity of virtue into an unchangeable morning light1 in which we have only to live right on and breathe the ambrosial air4 ,the ,iliad represents no creed nor opinion1 and we read it with a rare sense of freedom and irresponsibility1 as if we trod on native ground1 and were autochthones of the soil4 ,chaucer had eminently the habits of a literary man and a scholar4 ,there were never any times so stirring that there were not to be found some sedentary still4 ,he was surrounded by the din of arms4 ,the battles of ,hallidon ,hill and ,neville's ,cross1 and the still more memorable battles of ,cressy and ,poictiers1 were fought in his youth2 but these did not concern our poet much1 ,wickliffe and his reform much more4 ,he regarded himself always as one privileged to sit and converse with books4 ,he helped to establish the literary class4 ,his character as one of the fathers of the ,english language would alone make his works important1 even those which have little poetical merit4 ,he was as simple as ,wordsworth in preferring his homely but vigorous ,saxon tongue1 when it was neglected by the court1 and had not yet attained to the dignity of a literature1 and rendered a similar service to his country to that which ,dante rendered to ,italy4 ,if ,greek sufficeth for ,greek1 and ,arabic for ,arabian1 and ,hebrew for ,jew1 and ,latin for ,latin1 then ,english shall suffice for him1 for any of these will serve to teach truth 8right as divers pathes leaden divers folke the right waye to ,rome40 ,in the ,testament of ,love he writes1 8,let then clerkes enditen in ,latin1 for they have the propertie of science1 and the knowinge in that facultie1 and lette ,frenchmen in their ,frenche also enditen their queinte termes1 for it is kyndely to their mouthes1 and let us shewe our fantasies in soche wordes as we lerneden of our dames tonge40 ,he will know how to appreciate ,chaucer best1 who has come down to him the natural way1 through the meagre pastures of ,saxon and ante-,chaucerian poetry2 and yet1 so human and wise he appears after such diet1 that we are liable to misjudge him still4 ,in the ,saxon poetry extant1 in the earliest ,english1 and the contemporary ,scottish poetry1 there is less to remind the reader of the rudeness and vigor of youth1 than of the feebleness of a declining age4 ,it is for the most part translation of imitation merely1 with only an occasional and slight tinge of poetry1 oftentimes the falsehood and exaggeration of fable1 without its imagination to redeem it1 and we look in vain to find antiquity restored1 humanized1 and made blithe again by some natural sympathy between it and the present4 ,but ,chaucer is fresh and modern still1 and no dust settles on his true passages4 ,it lightens along the line1 and we are reminded that flowers have bloomed1 and birds sung1 and hearts beaten in ,england4 ,before the earnest gaze of the reader1 the rust and moss of time gradually drop off1 and the original green life is revealed4 ,he was a homely and domestic man1 and did breathe quite as modern men do4 ,there is no wisdom that can take place of humanity1 and we find that in ,chaucer4 ,we can expand at last in his breadth1 and we think that we could have been that man's acquaintance4 ,he was worthy to be a citizen of ,england1 while ,petrarch and ,boccacio lived in ,italy1 and ,tell and ,tamerlane in ,switzerland and in ,asia1 and ,bruce in ,scotland1 and ,wickliffe1 and ,gower1 and ,edward the ,third1 and ,john of ,gaunt1 and the ,black ,prince1 were his own countrymen as well as contemporaries2 all stout and stirring names4 ,the fame of ,roger ,bacon came down from the preceding century1 and the name of ,dante still possessed the influence of a living presence4 ,on the whole1 ,chaucer impresses us as greater than his reputation1 and not a little like ,homer and ,shakespeare1 for he would have held up his head in their company4 ,among early ,english poets he is the landlord and host1 and has the authority of such4 ,the affectionate mention which succeeding early poets make of him1 coupling him with ,homer and ,virgil1 is to be taken into the account in estimating his character and influence4 ,king ,james and ,dunbar of ,scotland speak of him with more love and reverence than any modern author of his predecessors of the last century4 ,the same childlike relation is without a parallel now4 ,for the most part we read him without criticism1 for he does not plead his own cause1 but speaks for his readers1 and has that greatness of trust and reliance which compels popularity4 ,he confides in the reader1 and speaks privily with him1 keeping nothing back4 ,and in return the reader has great confidence in him1 that he tells no lies1 and reads his story with indulgence1 as if it were the circumlocution of a child1 but often discovers afterwards that he has spoken with more directness and economy of words than a sage4 ,he is never heartless1 8,for first the thing is thought within the hart1 ,er any word out from the mouth astart40 ,and so new was all his theme in those days1 that he did not have to invent1 but only to tell4 ,we admire ,chaucer for his sturdy ,english wit4 ,the easy height he speaks from in his ,prologue to the ,canterbury ,tales1 as if he were equal to any of the company there assembled1 is as good as any particular excellence in it4 ,but though it is full of good sense and humanity1 it is not transcendent poetry4 ,for picturesque description of persons it is1 perhaps1 without a parallel in ,english poetry2 yet it is essentially humorous1 as the loftiest genius never is4 ,humor1 however broad and genial1 takes a narrower view than enthusiasm4 ,to his own finer vein he added all the common wit and wisdom of his time1 and everywhere in his works his remarkable knowledge of the world1 and nice perception of character1 his rare common sense and proverbial wisdom1 are apparent4 ,his genius does not soar like ,milton's1 but is genial and familiar4 ,it shows great tenderness and delicacy1 but not the heroic sentiment4 ,it is only a greater portion of humanity with all its weakness4 ,he is not heroic1 as ,raleigh1 nor pious1 as ,herbert1 nor philosophical1 as ,shakespeare1 but he is the child of the ,english muse1 that child which is the father of the man4 ,the charm of his poetry consists often only in an exceeding naturalness1 perfect sincerity1 with the behavior of a child rather than of a man4 ,gentleness and delicacy of character are everywhere apparent in his verse4 ,the simplest and humblest words come readily to his lips4 ,no one can read the ,prioress's tale1 understanding the spirit in which it was written1 and in which the child sings ,o alma redemptoris mater1 or the account of the departure of ,constance with her child upon the sea1 in the ,man of ,lawe's tale1 without feeling the native innocence and refinement of the author4 ,nor can we be mistaken respecting the essential purity of his character1 disregarding the apology of the manners of the age4 ,a simple pathos and feminine gentleness1 which ,wordsworth only occasionally approaches1 but does not equal1 are peculiar to him4 ,we are tempted to say that his genius was feminine1 not masculine4 ,it was such a feminineness1 however1 as is rarest to find in woman1 though not the appreciation of it2 perhaps it is not to be found at all in woman1 but is only the feminine in man4 ,such pure and genuine and childlike love of ,nature is hardly to be found in any poet4 ,chaucer's remarkably trustful and affectionate character appears in his familiar1 yet innocent and reverent1 manner of speaking of his ,god4 ,he comes into his thought without any false reverence1 and with no more parade than the zephyr to his ear4 ,if ,nature is our mother1 then ,god is our father4 ,there is less love and simple1 practical trust in ,shakespeare and ,milton4 ,how rarely in our ,english tongue do we find expressed any affection for ,god4 ,certainly1 there is no sentiment so rare as the love of ,god4 ,herbert almost alone expresses it1 8,ah1 my dear ,god60 ,our poet uses similar words with propriety2 and whenever he sees a beautiful person1 or other object1 prides himself on the 8maistry0 of his ,god4 ,he even recommends ,dido to be his bride1-- 8if that ,god that heaven and yearth made1 ,would have a love for beauty and goodnesse1 ,and womanhede1 trouth1 and semeliness40 ,but in justification of our praise1 we must refer to his works themselves2 to the ,prologue to the ,canterbury ,tales1 the account of ,gentilesse1 the ,flower and the ,leaf1 the stories of ,griselda1 ,virginia1 ,ariadne1 and ,blanche the ,dutchesse1 and much more of less distinguished merit4 ,there are many poets of more taste1 and better manners1 who knew how to leave out their dulness2 but such negative genius cannot detain us long2 we shall return to ,chaucer still with love4 ,some natures1 which are really rude and ill-developed1 have yet a higher standard of perfection than others which are refined and well balanced4 ,even the clown has taste1 whose dictates1 though he disregards them1 are higher and purer than those which the artist obeys4 ,if we have to wander through many dull and prosaic passages in ,chaucer1 we have at least the satisfaction of knowing that it is not an artificial dulness1 but too easily matched by many passages in life4 ,we confess that we feel a disposition commonly to concentrate sweets1 and accumulate pleasures2 but the poet may be presumed always to speak as a traveller1 who leads us through a varied scenery1 from one eminence to another1 and it is1 perhaps1 more pleasing1 after all1 to meet with a fine thought in its natural setting4 ,surely fate has enshrined it in these circumstances for some end4 ,nature strews her nuts and flowers broadcast1 and never collects them into heaps4 ,this was the soil it grew in1 and this the hour it bloomed in2 if sun1 wind1 and rain came here to cherish and expand the flower1 shall not we come here to pluck it8 ,a true poem is distinguished not so much by a felicitous expression1 or any thought it suggests1 as by the atmosphere which surrounds it4 ,most have beauty of outline merely1 and are striking as the form and bearing of a stranger2 but true verses come toward us indistinctly1 as the very breath of all friendliness1 and envelop us in their spirit and fragrance4 ,much of our poetry has the very best manners1 but no character4 ,it is only an unusual precision and elasticity of speech1 as if its author had taken1 not an intoxicating draught1 but an electuary4 ,it has the distinct outline of sculpture1 and chronicles an early hour4 ,under the influence of passion all men speak thus distinctly1 but wrath is not always divine4 ,there are two classes of men called poets4 ,the one cultivates life1 the other art1--one seeks food for nutriment1 the other for flavor2 one satisfies hunger1 the other gratifies the palate4 ,there are two kinds of writing1 both great and rare2 one that of genius1 or the inspired1 the other of intellect and taste1 in the intervals of inspiration4 ,the former is above criticism1 always correct1 giving the law to criticism4 ,it vibrates and pulsates with life forever4 ,it is sacred1 and to be read with reverence1 as the works of nature are studied4 ,there are few instances of a sustained style of this kind2 perhaps every man has spoken words1 but the speaker is then careless of the record4 ,such a style removes us out of personal relations with its author2 we do not take his words on our lips1 but his sense into our hearts4 ,it is the stream of inspiration1 which bubbles out1 now here1 now there1 now in this man1 now in that4 ,it matters not through what ice-crystals it is seen1 now a fountain1 now the ocean stream running under ground4 ,it is in ,shakespeare1 ,alpheus1 in ,burns1 ,arethuse2 but ever the same4 ,the other is self-possessed and wise4 ,it is reverent of genius1 and greedy of inspiration4 ,it is conscious in the highest and the least degree4 ,it consists with the most perfect command of the faculties4 ,it dwells in a repose as of the desert1 and objects are as distinct in it as oases or palms in the horizon of sand4 ,the train of thought moves with subdued and measured step1 like a caravan4 ,but the pen is only an instrument in its hand1 and not instinct with life1 like a longer arm4 ,it leaves a thin varnish or glaze over all its work4 ,the works of ,goethe furnish remarkable instances of the latter4 ,there is no just and serene criticism as yet4 ,nothing is considered simply as it lies in the lap of eternal beauty1 but our thoughts1 as well as our bodies1 must be dressed after the latest fashions4 ,our taste is too delicate and particular4 ,it says nay to the poet's work1 but never yea to his hope4 ,it invites him to adorn his deformities1 and not to cast them off by expansion1 as the tree its bark4 ,we are a people who live in a bright light1 in houses of pearl and porcelain1 and drink only light wines1 whose teeth are easily set on edge by the least natural sour4 ,if we had been consulted1 the backbone of the earth would have been made1 not of granite1 but of ,bristol spar4 ,a modern author would have died in infancy in a ruder age4 ,but the poet is something more than a scald1 8a smoother and polisher of language02 he is a ,cincinnatus in literature1 and occupies no west end of the world4 ,like the sun1 he will indifferently select his rhymes1 and with a liberal taste weave into his verse the planet and the stubble4 ,in these old books the stucco has long since crumbled away1 and we read what was sculptured in the granite4 ,they are rude and massive in their proportions1 rather than smooth and delicate in their finish4 ,the workers in stone polish only their chimney ornaments1 but their pyramids are roughly done4 ,there is a soberness in a rough aspect1 as of unhewn granite1 which addresses a depth in us1 but a polished surface hits only the ball of the eye4 ,the true finish is the work of time1 and the use to which a thing is put4 ,the elements are still polishing the pyramids4 ,art may varnish and gild1 but it can do no more4 ,a work of genius is rough-hewn from the first1 because it anticipates the lapse of time1 and has an ingrained polish1 which still appears when fragments are broken off1 an essential quality of its substance4 ,its beauty is at the same time its strength1 and it breaks with a lustre4 ,the great poem must have the stamp of greatness as well as its essence4 ,the reader easily goes within the shallowest contemporary poetry1 and informs it with all the life and promise of the day1 as the pilgrim goes within the temple1 and hears the faintest strains of the worshippers2 but it will have to speak to posterity1 traversing these deserts1 through the ruins of its outmost walls1 by the grandeur and beauty of its proportions4 -------------- ,but here on the stream of the ,concord1 where we have all the while been bodily1 ,nature1 who is superior to all styles and ages1 is now1 with pensive face1 composing her poem ,autumn1 with which no work of man will bear to be compared4 ,in summer we live out of doors1 and have only impulses and feelings1 which are all for action1 and must wait commonly for the stillness and longer nights of autumn and winter before any thought will subside2 we are sensible that behind the rustling leaves1 and the stacks of grain1 and the bare clusters of the grape1 there is the field of a wholly new life1 which no man has lived2 that even this earth was made for more mysterious and nobler inhabitants than men and women4 ,in the hues of ,october sunsets1 we see the portals to other mansions than those which we occupy1 not far off geographically1-- 8,there is a place beyond that flaming hill1 ,from whence the stars their thin appearance shed1 ,a place beyond all place1 where never ill1 ,nor impure thought was ever harbored40 ,sometimes a mortal feels in himself ,nature1 not his ,father but his ,mother stirs within him1 and he becomes immortal with her immortality4 ,from time to time she claims kindredship with us1 and some globule from her veins steals up into our own4 ,i am the autumnal sun1 ,with autumn gales my race is run2 ,when will the hazel put forth its flowers1 ,or the grape ripen under my bowers8 ,when will the harvest or the hunter's moon1 ,turn my midnight into mid-noon8 ,i am all sere and yellow1 ,and to my core mellow4 ,the mast is dropping within my woods1 ,the winter is lurking within my moods1 ,and the rustling of the withered leaf ,is the constant music of my grief4 ,to an unskilful rhymer the ,muse thus spoke in prose3 ,the moon no longer reflects the day1 but rises to her absolute rule1 and the husbandman and hunter acknowledge her for their mistress4 ,asters and golden-rods reign along the way1 and the life-everlasting withers not4 ,the fields are reaped and shorn of their pride1 but an inward verdure still crowns them4 ,the thistle scatters its down on the pool1 and yellow leaves clothe the vine1 and naught disturbs the serious life of men4 ,but behind the sheaves1 and under the sod1 there lurks a ripe fruit1 which the reapers have not gathered1 the true harvest of the year1 which it bears forever1 annually watering and maturing it1 and man never severs the stalk which bears this palatable fruit4 ,men nowhere1 east or west1 live yet a natural life1 round which the vine clings1 and which the elm willingly shadows4 ,man would desecrate it by his touch1 and so the beauty of the world remains veiled to him4 ,he needs not only to be spiritualized1 but naturalized1 on the soil of earth4 ,who shall conceive what kind of roof the heavens might extend over him1 what seasons minister to him1 and what employment dignify his life6 ,only the convalescent raise the veil of nature4 ,an immortality in his life would confer immortality on his abode4 ,the winds should be his breath1 the seasons his moods1 and he should impart of his serenity to ,nature herself4 ,but such as we know him he is ephemeral like the scenery which surrounds him1 and does not aspire to an enduring existence4 ,when we come down into the distant village1 visible from the mountain-top1 the nobler inhabitants with whom we peopled it have departed1 and left only vermin in its desolate streets4 ,it is the imagination of poets which puts those brave speeches into the mouths of their heroes4 ,they may feign that ,cato's last words were 8,the earth1 the air1 and seas ,i know1 and all ,the joys and horrors of their peace and wars2 ,and now will view the ,gods' state and the stars10 but such are not the thoughts nor the destiny of common men4 ,what is this heaven which they expect1 if it is no better than they expect8 ,are they prepared for a better than they can now imagine8 ,where is the heaven of him who dies on a stage1 in a theatre8 ,here or nowhere is our heaven4 8,although we see celestial bodies move ,above the earth1 the earth we till and love40 ,we can conceive of nothing more fair than something which we have experienced4 8,the remembrance of youth is a sigh40 ,we linger in manhood to tell the dreams of our childhood1 and they are half forgotten ere we have learned the language4 ,we have need to be earth-born as well as heaven-born1 1 as was said of the ,titans of old1 or in a better sense than they4 ,there have been heroes for whom this world seemed expressly prepared1 as if creation had at last succeeded2 whose daily life was the stuff of which our dreams are made1 and whose presence enhanced the beauty and ampleness of ,nature herself4 ,where they walked1 8,largior hic campos ther et lumine vestit ,purpureo3 ,solemque suum1 sua sidera nrunt40 8,here a more copious air invests the fields1 and clothes with purple light2 and they know their own sun and their own stars40 ,we love to hear some men speak1 though we hear not what they say2 the very air they breathe is rich and perfumed1 and the sound of their voices falls on the ear like the rustling of leaves or the crackling of the fire4 ,they stand many deep4 ,they have the heavens for their abettors1 as those who have never stood from under them1 and they look at the stars with an answering ray4 ,their eyes are like glow-worms1 and their motions graceful and flowing1 as if a place were already found for them1 like rivers flowing through valleys4 ,the distinctions of morality1 of right and wrong1 sense and nonsense1 are petty1 and have lost their significance1 beside these pure primeval natures4 ,when ,i consider the clouds stretched in stupendous masses across the sky1 frowning with darkness or glowing with downy light1 or gilded with the rays of the setting sun1 like the battlements of a city in the heavens1 their grandeur appears thrown away on the meanness of my employment2 the drapery is altogether too rich for such poor acting4 ,i am hardly worthy to be a suburban dweller outside those walls 8,unless above himself he can ,erect himself1 how poor a thing is man60 ,with our music we would fain challenge transiently another and finer sort of intercourse than our daily toil permits4 ,the strains come back to us amended in the echo1 as when a friend reads our verse4 ,why have they so painted the fruits1 and freighted them with such fragrance as to satisfy a more than animal appetite8 8,i asked the schoolman1 his advice was free1 ,but scored me out too intricate a way40 ,these things imply1 perchance1 that we live on the verge of another and purer realm1 from which these odors and sounds are wafted over to us4 ,the borders of our plot are set with flowers1 whose seeds were blown from more ,elysian fields adjacent4 ,they are the pot-herbs of the gods4 ,some fairer fruits and sweeter fragrances wafted over to us1 betray another realm's vicinity4 ,there1 too1 does ,echo dwell1 and there is the abutment of the rainbow's arch4 ,a finer race and finer fed ,feast and revel o'er our head1 ,and we titmen are only able ,to catch the fragments from their table4 ,theirs is the fragrance of the fruits1 ,while we consume the pulp and roots4 ,what are the moments that we stand ,astonished on the ,olympian land6 ,we need pray for no higher heaven than the pure senses can furnish1 a purely sensuous life4 ,our present senses are but the rudiments of what they are destined to become4 ,we are comparatively deaf and dumb and blind1 and without smell or taste or feeling4 ,every generation makes the discovery1 that its divine vigor has been dissipated1 and each sense and faculty misapplied and debauched4 ,the ears were made1 not for such trivial uses as men are wont to suppose1 but to hear celestial sounds4 ,the eyes were not made for such grovelling uses as they are now put to and worn out by1 but to behold beauty now invisible4 ,may we not see ,god8 ,are we to be put off and amused in this life1 as it were with a mere allegory8 ,is not ,nature1 rightly read1 that of which she is commonly taken to be the symbol merely8 ,when the common man looks into the sky1 which he has not so much profaned1 he thinks it less gross than the earth1 and with reverence speaks of 8the ,heavens10 but the seer will in the same sense speak of 8the ,earths10 and his ,father who is in them4 8,did not he that made that which is within1 make that which is without also80 ,what is it1 then1 to educate but to develop these divine germs called the senses8 for individuals and states to deal magnanimously with the rising generation1 leading it not into temptation1--not teach the eye to squint1 nor attune the ear to profanity4 ,but where is the instructed teacher8 ,where are the normal schools8 ,a ,hindoo sage said1 8,as a dancer1 having exhibited herself to the spectator1 desists from the dance1 so does ,nature desist1 having manifested herself to soul--4 ,nothing1 in my opinion1 is more gentle than ,nature2 once aware of having been seen1 she does not again expose herself to the gaze of soul40 ,it is easier to discover another such a new world as ,columbus did1 than to go within one fold of this which we appear to know so well2 the land is lost sight of1 the compass varies1 and mankind mutiny2 and still history accumulates like rubbish before the portals of nature4 ,but there is only necessary a moment's sanity and sound senses1 to teach us that there is a nature behind the ordinary1 in which we have only some vague pre-emption right and western reserve as yet4 ,we live on the outskirts of that region4 ,carved wood1 and floating boughs1 and sunset skies1 are all that we know of it4 ,we are not to be imposed on by the longest spell of weather4 ,let us not1 my friends1 be wheedled and cheated into good behavior to earn the salt of our eternal porridge1 whoever they are that attempt it4 ,let us wait a little1 and not purchase any clearing here1 trusting that richer bottoms will soon be put up4 ,it is but thin soil where we stand2 ,i have felt my roots in a richer ere this4 ,i have seen a bunch of violets in a glass vase1 tied loosely with a straw1 which reminded me of myself4 ,i am a parcel of vain strivings tied ,by a chance bond together1 ,dangling this way and that1 their links ,were made so loose and wide1 ,methinks1 ,for milder weather4 ,a bunch of violets without their roots1 ,and sorrel intermixed1 ,encircled by a wisp of straw ,once coiled about their shoots1 ,the law ,by which ,i'm fixed4 ,a nosegay which ,time clutched from out ,those fair ,elysian fields1 ,with weeds and broken stems1 in haste1 ,doth make the rabble rout ,that waste ,the day he yields4 ,and here ,i bloom for a short hour unseen1 ,drinking my juices up1 ,with no root in the land ,to keep my branches green1 ,but stand ,in a bare cup4 ,some tender buds were left upon my stem ,in mimicry of life1 ,but ah6 the children will not know1 ,till time has withered them1 ,the woe ,with which they're rife4 ,but now ,i see ,i was not plucked for naught1 ,and after in life's vase ,of glass set while ,i might survive1 ,but by a kind hand brought ,alive ,to a strange place4 ,that stock thus thinned will soon redeem its hours1 ,and by another year1 ,such as ,god knows1 with freer air1 ,more fruits and fairer flowers ,will bear1 ,while ,i droop here4 ,this world has many rings1 like ,saturn1 and we live now on the outmost of them all4 ,none can say deliberately that he inhabits the same sphere1 or is contemporary with1 the flower which his hands have plucked1 and though his feet may seem to crush it1 inconceivable spaces and ages separate them1 and perchance there is no danger that he will hurt it4 ,what do the botanists know8 ,our lives should go between the lichen and the bark4 ,the eye may see for the hand1 but not for the mind4 ,we are still being born1 and have as yet but a dim vision of sea and land1 sun1 moon and stars1 and shall not see clearly till after nine days at least4 ,that is a pathetic inquiry among travellers and geographers after the site of ancient ,troy4 ,it is not near where they think it is4 ,when a thing is decayed and gone1 how indistinct must be the place it occupied6 ,the anecdotes of modern astronomy affect me in the same way as do those faint revelations of the ,real which are vouchsafed to men from time to time1 or rather from eternity to eternity4 ,when ,i remember the history of that faint light in our firmament1 which we call ,venus1 which ancient men regarded1 and which most modern men still regard1 as a bright spark attached to a hollow sphere revolving about our earth1 but which we have discovered to be another world1 in itself1--how ,copernicus1 reasoning long and patiently about the matter1 predicted confidently concerning it1 before yet the telescope had been invented1 that if ever men came to see it more clearly than they did then1 they would discover that it had phases like our moon1 and that within a century after his death the telescope was invented1 and that prediction verified1 by ,galileo1--,i am not without hope that we may1 even here and now obtain some accurate information concerning that ,,other ,,world which the instinct of mankind has so long predicted4 ,indeed1 all that we call science1 as well as all that we call poetry1 is a particle of such information1 accurate as far as it goes1 though it be but to the confines of the truth4 ,if we can reason so accurately1 and with such wonderful confirmation of our reasoning1 respecting so-called material objects and events infinitely removed beyond the range of our natural vision1 so that the mind hesitates to trust its calculations even when they are confirmed by observation1 why may not our speculations penetrate as far into the immaterial starry system1 of which the former is but the outward and visible type8 ,surely1 we are provided with senses as well fitted to penetrate the spaces of the real1 the substantial1 the eternal1 as these outward are to penetrate the material universe4 ,veias1 ,menu1 ,zoroaster1 ,socrates1 ,christ1 ,shakespeare1 ,swedenborg1--these are some of our astronomers4 ,there are perturbations in our orbits produced by the influence of outlying spheres1 and no astronomer has ever yet calculated the elements of that undiscovered world which produces them4 ,i perceive in the common train of my thoughts a natural and uninterrupted sequence1 each implying the next1 or1 if interruption occurs1 it is occasioned by a new object being presented to my senses4 ,but a steep1 and sudden1 and by these means unaccountable transition1 is that from a comparatively narrow and partial1 what is called common sense view of things1 to an infinitely expanded and liberating one1 from seeing things as men describe them1 to seeing them as men cannot describe them4 ,this implies a sense which is not common1 but rare in the wisest man's experience2 which is sensible or sentient of more than common4 ,in what enclosures does the astronomer loiter6 ,his skies are shoal1 and imagination1 like a thirsty traveller1 pants to be through their desert4 ,the roving mind impatiently bursts the fetters of astronomical orbits1 like cobwebs in a corner of its universe1 and launches itself to where distance fails to follow1 and law1 such as science has discovered1 grows weak and weary4 ,the mind knows a distance and a space of which all those sums combined do not make a unit of measure1--the interval between that which appears1 and that which is4 ,i know that there are many stars1 ,i know that they are far enough off1 bright enough1 steady enough in their orbits1--but what are they all worth8 ,they are more waste land in the ,west1--star territory1--to be made slave ,states1 perchance1 if we colonize them4 ,i have interest but for six feet of star1 and that interest is transient4 ,then farewell to all ye bodies1 such as ,i have known ye4 ,every man1 if he is wise1 will stand on such bottom as will sustain him1 and if one gravitates downward more strongly than another1 he will not venture on those meads where the latter walks securely1 but rather leave the cranberries which grow there unraked by himself4 ,perchance1 some spring a higher freshet will float them within his reach1 though they may be watery and frost-bitten by that time4 ,such shrivelled berries ,i have seen in many a poor man's garret1 ay1 in many a church-bin and state-coffer1 and with a little water and heat they swell again to their original size and fairness1 and added sugar enough1 stead mankind for sauce to this world's dish4 ,what is called common sense is excellent in its department1 and as invaluable as the virtue of conformity in the army and navy1--for there must be subordination1--but uncommon sense1 that sense which is common only to the wisest1 is as much more excellent as it is more rare4 ,some aspire to excellence in the subordinate department1 and may ,god speed them4 ,what ,fuller says of masters of colleges is universally applicable1 that 8a little alloy of dulness in a master of a college makes him fitter to manage secular affairs40 8,he that wants faith1 and apprehends a grief ,because he wants it1 hath a true belief2 ,and he that grieves because his grief's so small1 ,has a true grief1 and the best ,faith of all40 ,or be encouraged by this other poet's strain1-- 8,by them went ,fido marshal of the field3 ,weak was his mother when she gave him day2 ,and he at first a sick and weakly child1 ,as e'er with tears welcomed the sunny ray2 ,yet when more years afford more growth and might1 ,a champion stout he was1 and puissant knight1 ,as ever came in field1 or shone in armor bright4 8,mountains he flings in seas with mighty hand2 ,stops and turns back the sun's impetuous course2 ,nature breaks ,nature's laws at his command2 ,no force of ,hell or ,heaven withstands his force2 ,events to come yet many ages hence1 ,he present makes1 by wondrous prescience2 ,proving the senses blind by being blind to sense40 8,yesterday1 at dawn10 says ,hafiz1 8,god delivered me from all worldly affliction2 and amidst the gloom of night presented me with the water of immortality40 ,in the life of ,sadi by ,dowlat ,shah occurs this sentence3 8,the eagle of the immaterial soul of ,shaikh ,sadi shook from his plumage the dust of his body40 ,thus thoughtfully we were rowing homeward to find some autumnal work to do1 and help on the revolution of the seasons4 ,perhaps ,nature would condescend to make use of us even without our knowledge1 as when we help to scatter her seeds in our walks1 and carry burrs and cockles on our clothes from field to field4 ,all things are current found ,on earthly ground1 ,spirits and elements ,have their descents4 ,night and day1 year on year1 ,high and low1 far and near1 ,these are our own aspects1 ,these are our own regrets4 ,ye gods of the shore1 ,who abide evermore1 ,i see your far headland1 ,stretching on either hand2 ,i hear the sweet evening sounds ,from your undecaying grounds2 ,cheat me no more with time1 ,take me to your clime4 ,as it grew later in the afternoon1 and we rowed leisurely up the gentle stream1 shut in between fragrant and blooming banks1 where we had first pitched our tent1 and drew nearer to the fields where our lives had passed1 we seemed to detect the hues of our native sky in the southwest horizon4 ,the sun was just setting behind the edge of a wooded hill1 so rich a sunset as would never have ended but for some reason unknown to men1 and to be marked with brighter colors than ordinary in the scroll of time4 ,though the shadows of the hills were beginning to steal over the stream1 the whole river valley undulated with mild light1 purer and more memorable than the noon4 ,for so day bids farewell even to solitary vales uninhabited by man4 ,two herons1 ,ardea herodias1 with their long and slender limbs relieved against the sky1 were seen travelling high over our heads1--their lofty and silent flight1 as they were wending their way at evening1 surely not to alight in any marsh on the earth's surface1 but1 perchance1 on the other side of our atmosphere1 a symbol for the ages to study1 whether impressed upon the sky1 or sculptured amid the hieroglyphics of ,egypt4 ,bound to some northern meadow1 they held on their stately1 stationary flight1 like the storks in the picture1 and disappeared at length behind the clouds4 ,dense flocks of blackbirds were winging their way along the river's course1 as if on a short evening pilgrimage to some shrine of theirs1 or to celebrate so fair a sunset4 8,therefore1 as doth the pilgrim1 whom the night ,hastes darkly to imprison on his way1 ,think on thy home1 my soul1 and think aright ,of what's yet left thee of life's wasting day3 ,thy sun posts westward1 passed is thy morn1 ,and twice it is not given thee to be born40 ,the sun-setting presumed all men at leisure1 and in a contemplative mood2 but the farmer's boy only whistled the more thoughtfully as he drove his cows home from pasture1 and the teamster refrained from cracking his whip1 and guided his team with a subdued voice4 ,the last vestiges of daylight at length disappeared1 and as we rowed silently along with our backs toward home through the darkness1 only a few stars being visible1 we had little to say1 but sat absorbed in thought1 or in silence listened to the monotonous sound of our oars1 a sort of rudimental music1 suitable for the ear of ,night and the acoustics of her dimly lighted halls2 8,puls referunt ad sidera valles10 and the valleys echoed the sound to the stars4 ,as we looked up in silence to those distant lights1 we were reminded that it was a rare imagination which first taught that the stars are worlds1 and had conferred a great benefit on mankind4 ,it is recorded in the ,chronicle of ,bernaldez1 that in ,columbus's first voyage the natives 8pointed towards the heavens1 making signs that they believed that there was all power and holiness40 ,we have reason to be grateful for celestial phenomena1 for they chiefly answer to the ideal in man4 ,the stars are distant and unobtrusive1 but bright and enduring as our fairest and most memorable experiences4 8,let the immortal depth of your soul lead you1 but earnestly extend your eyes upwards40 ,as the truest society approaches always nearer to solitude1 so the most excellent speech finally falls into ,silence4 ,silence is audible to all men1 at all times1 and in all places4 ,she is when we hear inwardly1 sound when we hear outwardly4 ,creation has not displaced her1 but is her visible framework and foil4 ,all sounds are her servants1 and purveyors1 proclaiming not only that their mistress is1 but is a rare mistress1 and earnestly to be sought after4 ,they are so far akin to ,silence1 that they are but bubbles on her surface1 which straightway burst1 an evidence of the strength and prolificness of the under-current2 a faint utterance of ,silence1 and then only agreeable to our auditory nerves when they contrast themselves with and relieve the former4 ,in proportion as they do this1 and are heighteners and intensifiers of the ,silence1 they are harmony and purest melody4 ,silence is the universal refuge1 the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts1 a balm to our every chagrin1 as welcome after satiety as after disappointment2 that background which the painter may not daub1 be he master or bungler1 and which1 however awkward a figure we may have made in the foreground1 remains ever our inviolable asylum1 where no indignity can assail1 no personality disturb us4 ,the orator puts off his individuality1 and is then most eloquent when most silent4 ,he listens while he speaks1 and is a hearer along with his audience4 ,who has not hearkened to ,her infinite din8 ,she is ,truth's speaking-trumpet1 the sole oracle1 the true ,delphi and ,dodona1 which kings and courtiers would do well to consult1 nor will they be balked by an ambiguous answer4 ,for through ,her all revelations have been made1 and just in proportion as men have consulted her oracle within1 they have obtained a clear insight1 and their age has been marked as an enlightened one4 ,but as often as they have gone gadding abroad to a strange ,delphi and her mad priestess1 their age has been dark and leaden4 ,such were garrulous and noisy eras1 which no longer yield any sound1 but the ,grecian or silent and melodious era is ever sounding and resounding in the ears of men4 ,a good book is the plectrum with which our else silent lyres are struck4 ,we not unfrequently refer the interest which belongs to our own unwritten sequel1 to the written and comparatively lifeless body of the work4 ,of all books this sequel is the most indispensable part4 ,it should be the author's aim to say once and emphatically1 8,he said10 1 4 ,this is the most the book-maker can attain to4 ,if he make his volume a mole whereon the waves of ,silence may break1 it is well4 ,it were vain for me to endeavor to interrupt the ,silence4 ,she cannot be done into ,english4 ,for six thousand years men have translated her with what fidelity belonged to each1 and still she is little better than a sealed book4 ,a man may run on confidently for a time1 thinking he has her under his thumb1 and shall one day exhaust her1 but he too must at last be silent1 and men remark only how brave a beginning he made2 for when he at length dives into her1 so vast is the disproportion of the told to the untold1 that the former will seem but the bubble on the surface where he disappeared4 ,nevertheless1 we will go on1 like those ,chinese cliff swallows1 feathering our nests with the froth1 which may one day be bread of life to such as dwell by the sea-shore4 ,we had made about fifty miles this day with sail and oar1 and now1 far in the evening1 our boat was grating against the bulrushes of its native port1 and its keel recognized the ,concord mud1 where some semblance of its outline was still preserved in the flattened flags which had scarce yet erected themselves since our departure2 and we leaped gladly on shore1 drawing it up1 and fastening it to the wild apple-tree1 whose stem still bore the mark which its chain had worn in the chafing of the spring freshets4 ,,the ,,end4