Page:Familiar letters of Henry David Thoreau.djvu/115

 J5T.25.] TO MRS. EMERSON. 91

a doubt, for I am sure that it is nothing but an insatiable faith after all that deepens and dark ens its current. And your doubt and my confi dence are only a difference of expression.

I have hardly begun to live on Staten Island yet ; but, like the man who, when forbidden to tread on English ground, carried Scottish ground in his boots, I carry Concord ground in my boots and in my hat, and am I not made of Concord dust ? I cannot realize that it is the roar of the sea I hear now, and not the wind in Walden woods. I find more of Concord, after all, in the prospect of the sea, beyond Sandy Hook, than in the fields and woods.

If you were to have this Hugh the gardener for your man, you would think a new dispensa tion had commenced. He might put a fairer aspect on the natural world for you, or at any rate a screen between you and the almshouse. There is a beautiful red honeysuckle now in blossom in the woods here, which should be transplanted to Concord ; and if what they tell me about the tulip-tree be true, you should have that also. I have not seen Mrs. Black yet, but I intend to call on her soon. Have you estab lished those simpler modes of living yet ? &quot;In the full tide of successful operation ? &quot;

Tell Mrs. Brown that I hope she is anchored in a secure haven and derives much pleasure