Page:Familiar letters of Henry David Thoreau.djvu/466

 440 FRIENDS AND FOLLOWERS. [1861,

not suppose that I have forgotten you, or shall ever cease to cherish in my mind those days at dear old Concord. The last I heard about you all was from Morton, 1 who was in England about a year ago ; and I hope that he has got over his difficulties and is now in his own country again. I think he has seen rather more of English country life than most Yankee tourists ; and ap peared to find it curious, though I fear he was dulled by our ways ; for he was too full of cere mony and compliments and bows, which is a mistake here ; though very well in Spain. I am afraid he was rather on pins and needles ; but he made a splendid speech at a volunteer sup per, and indeed the very best, some said, ever heard in this part of the country.

We are here in a state of alarm and appre hension, the world being so troubled in East and West and everywhere. Last year the har vest was bad and scanty. This year our trade is beginning to feel the events in America. In reply to the northern tariff, of course we are going to smuggle as much as we can. The sup ply of cotton being such a necessity to us, we must work up India and South Africa a little better. There is war even in old New Zealand,

1 Edwin Morton of Plymouth, Mass., a friend of John Brown and Gerrit Smith, who went to England in October, 1859, to avoid testifying against his friends.