intelligent, and appeared happy. I spoke to them about becoming a member
of their society, but have come to no decision on that point.

"We have had a pleasant journey enough.... I make innumerable
acquaintances, and sit down on the doorsteps with judges, generals, and
all the potentates of the land, discoursing about the Salem murder [that
of Mr. White], the cow-skinning of Isaac Hill, the price of hay, and the
value of horse-flesh. The country is very uneven, and your Uncle Sam
groans bitterly whenever we come to the foot of a low hill; though this
ought to make me groan rather than him, as I have to get out and trudge
every one of them."

The "Clippings with a Chisel" point to some further wanderings, to
Martha's Vineyard; and an uncollected sketch reveals the fact that he
had been to Niagara. It was probably then that he visited Ticonderoga;
[Footnote: A brief sketch of the fortress is included in The Snow Image
volume of the Works.] but not till some years later that he saw New
York. With these exceptions, and a trip to Washington before going to
Liverpool in 1853, every day of his life up to that date was passed
within New England. In "The Toll-Gatherer's Day" one sees the young
observer at work upon the details of an ordinary scene near home. The
"small square edifice which stands between shore and shore in the midst
of a long bridge," spanning an arm of the sea, refers undoubtedly to the
bridge from Salem to Beverly. But how lightly his spirit hovers over the
stream of actual life, scarcely touching it before springing up again,
like a sea-bird on the crest of a wave! Nothing could be more accurate
and polished than his descriptions and his presentation of the actual
facts; but his fancy rises resilient from these to some dreamy,
far-seeing perception or gentle moral inference. The visible human
pageant is only of value to him as it suggests the viewless host of