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priest had built it ; a priest had succeeded to it ; other 

 priestly men had, from time to time, dwelt in it; and 

 children born in its chambers, had grown up to assume 

 the priestly character. The latest inhabitant alone had 

 penned in it nearly three thousand discourses, besides the 

 better, if not the greater number, that had flowed living 

 from his lips. Here Emerson wrote "Nature," and here 

 Hawthorne sojourned, sending forth his "Mosses from the 

 Old Manse" with the declaration : 



"For myself the book will always retain one charm, as 

 reminding me of the river, with its delightful solitudes, 

 and of the avenue, the garden and the orchard, and espe- 

 cially the dear Old Manse, with the little study on its 

 western side, and the sunshine glimmering through the 

 willow branches, while I wrote." 



The Old Manse is now the residence of Judge Ripley, 

 who gave the visitors a kindly welcome. 



We must pass over the visits to other places connected 

 with the memory of Hawthorne, his later residence, his 

 walk on the Ridge Path, and his grave ; the home and 

 haunts of Thoreau, the poet-naturalist, whose favorite 

 Walden Pond, around whose borders he studied nature 

 so closety and of which he wrote so delightfully, was 

 passed on the way, and was the scene of a gay picnic 

 party, who probably little thought of the man who had 

 so often wandered on its former quiet banks ; and of the 

 many other objects of interest, which crowded a day which 

 will be remembered with delight. 



The dinner was spread in the vestry of the First 

 Church, and here the ladies of Concord took the entire 

 charge of the preparations, with a lavishness altogether 

 opposed to the simple requirements of the Institute. 

 The Concord ladies added largely to the ordinary refresh- 

 ments, laid and decked the tables in a refreshing and 



