Page:Familiar letters of Henry David Thoreau.djvu/419

 JET. 41.] TO DANIEL RICKETSON. 393

the country s misfortunes in the Union war acted on his feelings with great force : he used to say he could never recover while the war lasted. &quot; Hawthorne had an experience somewhat similar, though he, too, was of stern stuff when need was, and had much of the old Salem sea-captains in his sensitive nature.

TO DANIEL RICKETSON (AT NEW BEDFORD).

CONCORD, November 6, 1858.

FRIEND EICKETSON, I was much pleased with your lively and lifelike account of your voyage. You were more than repaid for your trouble after all. The coast of Nova Scotia, which you sailed along from Windsor westward, is particularly interesting to the historian of this country, having been settled earlier than Plym outh. Your &quot; Isle of Haut &quot; is properly &quot; Isle Haute,&quot; or the High Island of Champlain s map. There is another off the coast of Maine. By the way, the American elk, of American authors (Cervus Canadensis),is a distinct animal from the moose (Oervus alees)^ though the latter is called elk by many.

You drew a very vivid portrait of the Austra lian, short and stout, with a pipe in his mouth, and his book inspired by beer, Pot First, Pot Second, etc. I suspect that he must be pot bellied withal. Methinks I see the smoke going