Page:Summer - from the Journal of Henry D. Thoreau.djvu/239

Rh June 24, 1860. Saw young blue-birds fully grown yesterday, but with a feeble note and dull colors.

June 25, 1840. Let me see no other conflict but with prosperity. If my path run on before me level and smooth, it is all a mirage. In reality it is steep and arduous as a chamois pass. I will not let the years roll over me like a Juggernaut car.

We will warm us at each other s fire. Friendship is not such a cold refining process as a double sieve, but a glowing furnace in which all impurities are consumed. Men have learned to touch before they scrutinize, to shake hands and not to stare.

June 25, 1852. Just as the sun was rising this morning under clouds, I saw a rainbow in the western horizon, the lower parts quite bright.

A few moments after, it rained heavily and continued to do so for half an hour, and it has continued cloudy as well as cool most of the clay.

I observe that young birds are usually of a duller color and more speckled than old ones, as if for their protection in their tender state. They have not yet the markings and the beauty