Page:Some unpublished letters of Henry D. and Sophia E. Thoreau; a chapter in the history of a still-born book.djvu/131

 After this, called upon Mr. Alcott, in company with X., also upon Mr. Emerson. A pleasant fifteen or twenty minutes' interview. Mr. Emerson enquired if I knew much about the Michigan University, spoke in high terms of President Tappan; asked if the young men of the West were not, some of them at least, seeking for more light and truth.

After dinner, when I bade the Thoreaus good bye, Mrs. Thoreau's sister, having come down from her room, stood at the foot of the stairs weeping. It was a tender leave-taking.

August 21th, 1874. At the Middlesex House once more, arriving a little after noon. Dined and then started for Walden Pond. On my way out, on the Lincoln Road, I stopped at Blister's Spring, and as it had become a sacred fountain, I lay down and deliberately drank seven swallows of its cool, clear water to the memory of its absent poet. And now upon the site of that house in which Henry