Page:Familiar letters of Henry David Thoreau.djvu/163

 J5T.2G.] THE DIAL. 139

stalks, I fear. Let me not be forgotten by Charming and Hawthorne, nor our gray-suited neighbor under the hill [Edmund Hosmer].

This letter will be best explained by a refer ence to the &quot;Dial&quot; for October, 1843. The &quot; Ethnical Scriptures &quot; were selections from the Brahminical books, from Confucius, etc., such as we have since seen in great abundance. The Autumn verses are by Charming ; &quot; Sweep Ho ! &quot; by Ellen Sturgis, afterwards Mrs. Hooper ; the &quot; Youth of the Poet and Painter &quot; also by Charming. The Letter to Contributors, which is headed simply &quot;A Letter,&quot; is by Em erson, and has been much overlooked by his later readers ; his &quot; Ode to Beauty &quot; is very well known, and does not deserve the slashing cen sure of Thoreau, though, as it now stands, it is better than first printed. Instead of

friends, shall miss you much, and follow you with remem brance and all best wishes and confidence. Will you take this little inkstand and try if it will carry ink safely from Concord to Staten Island ? and the pen, which, if you can write with steel, may be made sometimes the interpreter of friendly thoughts to those whom you leave beyond the reach of your voice, or record the inspirations of Nature, who, I doubt not, will be as faithful to you who trust her in the sea-girt Staten Island as in Concord woods and meadows. Good-by, and eS trparreiv, which, a wise man says, is the only salutation fit for the wise.

Truly your friend, E. HOAR.