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 332 FRIENDS AND FOLLOWERS. [1856,

the plain, a sermon on the mount, or a very pri vate ecstasy still higher up. We are not the less to aim at the summits, though the multitude does not ascend them. Use all the society that will abet you. But perhaps I do not enter into the spirit of your talk.

In the spring of 1856, Mr. Alcott, then living in Walpole, N. H., visited Concord, and while there suggested to Thoreau that the upper valley of the Connecticut, in which Walpole lies, was good walking-ground, and that he would be glad to see him there. When autumn began to hover in the distance, Thoreau recalled this invitation, and sent the letter below.

TO BRONSON ALCOTT (AT WALPOLE, N. H.).

CONCORD, September 1, 1856.

MR. ALCOTT, I remember that, in the spring, you invited me to visit you. I feel in clined to spend a day or two with you and on your hills at this season, returning, perhaps, by way of Brattleboro. What if I should take the cars for Walpole next Friday morning ? Are you at home ? And will it be convenient and agreeable to you to see me then ? I will await an answer.

I am but poor company, and it will not be worth the while to put yourself out on my ac-