Page:Familiar letters of Henry David Thoreau.djvu/396

 370 FRIENDS AND FOLLOWERS. [1857,

and anything that fairly excites our admiration expands us. The Indian, who can find his way so wonderfully in the woods, possesses so much intelligence which the white man does not, and it increases my own capacity, as well as faith, to observe it. I rejoice to find that intel ligence flows in other channels than I knew. It redeems for me portions of what seemed bru tish before.

It is a great satisfaction to find that your oldest convictions are permanent. With re gard to essentials, I have never had occasion to change my mind. The aspect of the world varies from year to year, as the landscape is differently clothed, but I find that the truth is still true, and I never regret any emphasis which it may have inspired. Ktaadn is there still, but much more surely my old conviction is there, resting with more than mountain breadth and weight on the world, the source still of fertiliz ing streams, and affording glorious views from its summit, if I can get up to it again. As the mountains still stand on the plain, and far more unchangeable and permanent, -- stand still grouped around, farther or nearer to my maturer eye, the ideas which I have entertained, the everlasting teats from which we draw our nourishment.