Page:Familiar letters of Henry David Thoreau.djvu/191

 MT. 30.] TO R. W. EMERSON. 167

am not unwilling to think great thoughts if there are any in the wind, but what they are I am not sure. They suffice to keep me awake while the day lasts, at any rate. Perhaps they will redeem some portion of the night erelong.

I can imagine you astonishing, bewildering, confounding, and sometimes delighting John Bull with your Yankee notions, and that he be gins to take a pride in the relationship at last ; introduced to all the stars of England in succes sion, after the lecture, until you pine to thrust your head once more into a genuine and unques tionable nebula, if there be any left. I trust a common man will be the most uncommon to you before you return to these parts. I have thought there was some advantage even in death, by which we &quot; mingle with the herd of common men.&quot;

Hugh [the gardener] still has his eye on the Walden agellum, and orchards are waving there in the windy future for him. That s the where- I 11-go-next, thinks he ; but no important steps are yet taken. He reminds me occasionally of this open secret of his, with which the very sea son seems to labor, and affirms seriously that as to his wants wood, stone, or timber I know better than he. That is a clincher which I shall have to avoid to some extent ; but I fear that it is a wrought nail and will not break. Un-