Page:Familiar letters of Henry David Thoreau.djvu/349

 jsT.38.] TO DANIEL RICKETSON. 325

The Charming you have seen and described is the real Simon Pure. You have seen him. Many a good ramble may you have together ! You will see in him still more of the same kind to attract and to puzzle you. How to serve him most effectually has long been a problem with his friends. Perhaps it is left for you to solve it. I suspect that the most that you or any one can do for him is to appreciate his genius, to buy and read, and cause others to buy and read his poems. That is the hand which he has put forth to the world, take hold of that. Review them if you can, perhaps take the risk of publishing something more which he may write. Your knowledge of Cowper will help you to know Charming. He will accept sym pathy and aid, but he will not bear questioning, unless the aspects of the sky are particularly auspicious. He will ever be &quot; reserved and enigmatic,&quot; and you must deal with him at arm s length. I have no secrets to tell you concerning him, and do not wish to call obvious excellences and defects by far-fetched names. Nor need I suggest how witty and poetic he is, and what an inexhaustible fund of good fellow ship you will find in him.