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68 a copy in his handwriting. All are indorsed by him in his systematic way, with date and theme, and at first with the name “Miss S. M. Fuller;” then the more familiar “Margaret Fuller” takes its place. She in turn, beginning with remote and reverential phrases, grows gradually more intimate. In the first letter I have seen (September, 1836), she writes meekly from Boston, “My dear friend, — I may venture to say so, since you have subscribed yourself my friend, — but in a year or two it becomes “Dear Waldo,” at least. In this first letter there is a phrase which shows the honest beginning of their friendship: “While I was with you,” she says, “you very justly corrected me for using too strong expressions on some subject. But there is no exaggeration in saying — I must be allowed to say — that I detest Mr. Robinson at this time,” — he being her Groton pastor who had twice invited Mr. Emerson to preach there while she was away from home. In this same letter she speaks of “Nature,” then just published, which he had sent her, and which she and Miss Anna Barker had also mutually presented to each other. To “show Anna to Mr. Emerson” was just then one of her strong desires.

Soon the borrowing of books becomes a constant theme. On April 11, 1837, she returns him Goethe’s letters to Merck and the first two volumes of those to Zelter, and writes, “I look to Concord as my Lethe and Eunoë after this purgatory of distracting petty tasks. I am sure you will