Page:Some unpublished letters of Henry D. and Sophia E. Thoreau; a chapter in the history of a still-born book.djvu/128

 he and Thoreau used to go in bathing. X. wanted me to repeat that performance with him; I let him go in, while I took notes. The opposite and sunward bank is lined with a thick growth of evergreens which cast their dark shadow into the water below. The faint ripple on its surface gave the view the appearance of an inverted forest seen through a huge sheet of frosted glass. From here we went up on to the Concord Cliffs. X. showed me the Hollowell Place, Baker Farm, and the house where John Field the Irishman once lived. Thence to Walden Pond through a growth of young timber, where X. showed me a patch, a rod or so square, of "American Yew" [Taxus Canadensis] which, he said, Thoreau was very partial to, not showing it to everybody.

From the Pond and house-plot (the building itself has been moved away some three miles North) through the deserted beanfleld, to the Lincoln Road where, following North, through a hollow, X. pointed out to me, a few rods away, "Blister's Spring," whither I went, lay down and took a good, cold drink to the memory of the writer who has given it its consequence.

Sept. 4th. At home with the Thoreau family. P. M. Went with Miss Thoreau up, N. W., on to the hill ("Nashawtuck"?). A fine view! Ponkawtasset off to the N. E. a mile or so.