Page:Some unpublished letters of Henry D. and Sophia E. Thoreau; a chapter in the history of a still-born book.djvu/130

 years before. Took a memento, a broken shingle, as a fitting emblem. Here is the field of boulders, some from eight to ten feet high, and such clumps of barberry bushes! Evening at Mrs. Horace Mann's with Miss Thoreau. Met there Miss Elizabeth Peabody, Mrs. Mann's sister, and her eldest son [Mrs. Horace Mann's], who accompanied Thoreau on his trip West seeking health. Found the young man greatly interested in Botany. Miss Peabody spoke very feelingly and freely of Margaret Fuller of blessed memory.

Sept. 7th. Arose rather early this morning and took a walk westward some mile and a half to a mill on the Assabet. On returning, found a branch from a young maple already turned of a fire-red, a part of which I broke off and took back with me and threw up into the branches of an evergreen that faced one side of the Thoreau house. After breakfast, it caught Mrs. Thoreau's eye and she began wondering what it meant. When I showed her, she exclaimed: "There! that was just like my son, Henry." I could n't help but feel a little flattered.

Afternoon. Took a ride up the Assabet with Mr. S. That was a very pleasant interview: Mr. S. seemed so easily to make it such—he talked so kindly and well of Thoreau.