Page:Poems of Nature and Life.djvu/116

 I08 INTRODUCTION

also, one mile to Walden Lake, if the woods had not been cut away. It was formerly celebrated for its depth and beauty, as well as for being near the residence of the Mr. Thoreau at whose house you live, and who passed a studi- ous year upon its banks. But its beauty is now almost wholly gone, nor can it present the same aspect when the woods have grown again, since Nature plants in the place of an old one, not only a new tree, but one of a different race ; and, as the landscape derives much of its peculiarity from the character of its foliage, I find that many beautiful scenes endeared to memory for the eternal green of the pines, which relieved the desolation of winter, have now lost their interest, since black oaks and chestnuts intrude themselves in the place of the old inhabitants.

Let us sometimes please ourselves with the idea of vis- iting together, before we go to Europe, some of the beauti- ful scenes in our own country which you have not seen, such as the Rumford Falls, Montmorency, Niagara, the Katahdin and Bigelow and Saddle Mountains, Moosehead Lake, etc., which in foreign travelling will become interest- ing objects of comparison. I hope you have your guitar with you, which I think might be a resource at evening; yet, as to proficiency as a performer, I do not think much of it, for an amateur will not by long practice learn to play as well as he may hear at almost any concert, and the study of the science of music easily enables him to enjoy reading and composing as he would a book.

If it is as cold in Concord as it is here, you must, I fear, sometimes be uncomfortable. How pleasant is the fancy of a bitter night, a bright fire, and a circle of fond com- panions, all cultivated, all generous, and united all the more closely for the inclemency of the season ! But how seldom do we realize visions so delightful to the fancy ! Is it not

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