VII 



IN OLD CONCORD 



The Unspoiled Haunts of Emerson, Hawthorne 

 and Thoreau 



One may seek in vain in Concord the reason 

 for Concord. " It is an odd jealousy," says Emer- 

 son, " but the poet finds himself not near enough 

 to his object. The pine tree, the river, the bank 

 of flowers before him, does not seem to be nature. 

 Nature is still elsewhere. This or this is but 

 outskirt and far-off reflection and echo of the 

 triumph that has passed by, and is now in its 

 glancing splendor and heyday, perchance in the 

 neighboring fields, or if you stand in the field, 

 then in the adjacent wood." 



With this same odd jealousy one may tramp 

 the fields and woods, the pleasant highways and 

 the village green to-day and not quite find Con- 

 cord, for the Concord that one's mind presaged 

 has passed on. This is but far-off reflection and 

 echo of the triumph. Fuit Ilium. Yet here is 



