Page:Familiar letters of Henry David Thoreau.djvu/54

30 ideas at any given season, preserving the chain of thought as complete as may be.

This is the style pedagogical. I am much obliged to you for your piece of information. Knowing your dislike to a sentimental letter, I remain

Your affectionate brother, H. D. T.

The next letter to Helen carries this pedagogical style a little farther, for it is in Latin, addressed &quot;Ad Helenam L. Thoreau, Roxbury, Mass.,&quot; and postmarked &quot;Concord, Jan. 25&quot; (1840).

1em ,—Est magnus acervus nivis ad limina, et frigus intolerabile intus. Coelurn ipsum ruit, credo, et terrain operit. Sero stratum linquo et mature repeto; in fenestris multa pruina prospectum absumit; et hie miser scribo, non currente calamo, nam digiti mentesque torpescunt. Canerem cum Horatio, si vox non faucibus haeserit,—

Vides ut alta stet nive candidura Nawshawtuct, nee jam sustineant onus Silvae laborantes, geluque Flumina constiterint acuto?