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Rh intimate. Emerson found the younger man an inspiration to nature-study and also a practical adviser and assistant. To Carlyle he had already written of this young poet "full of melodies and inventions." Again, he paid him full tribute,—"And he is thus far a great benefactor and physician to me, for he is an indefatigable and skilful laborer." He attended to the business affairs of the household, he supervised and planted the gardens and waste lands, and acted for his host in many matters connected with the editorship of The Dial. All readers of Emerson's journal recall his frank confessions of dismay at tasks of husbandry. Little Waldo's famous comment,—"Papa, I am afraid you will dig your leg," is sufficient commentary upon his lack of skill with garden tools. He enjoyed walks which "cleared and expanded the brain," but he revolted from the patient, slow "stoopings and scrapings and fingerings" which left him "peevish and poor-spirited." In contrast was the light-hearted skill of Thoreau as a gardener.

Further discussion of Thoreau's friendship with the members of the Emerson home will be reserved for the chapter upon his friends but one must note the formative influences of these years of residence as house-inmate in one of the most intellectual and