1892
July 27
(No 2)
Concord, Massachusetts.
Mass.
Concord.- the slightest pressure of the foot. A pail-full
of water poured into such a cavity had little effect
other than making the furnace beneath hiss angrily
for a moment and send up a cloud of steam instead
of smoke.
  There was but one attractive feature connected with
this deplorable fire and that was the smoke which
had a rich, resinous, almost fruity aroma more
pleasing to the nostrils than the choicest incense:
It seemed the epitome of a century's growth, the
fragrance of the hundred or more summers that have passed
since these giant trees were young, gathered, season
after season, from the south wind, from the breath
of the white azola[??: maybe Azolla?] and Clethra that grow in the
neighboring swamp, from the white water lilies that
float on the river, [delete]or[/delete] from the [delete]thousands[/delete] myriad
wild flowers that deck the [delete]neighboring[/delete] adjacent
fields and woods and stored carefully away by
provident Nature in the deep mat of fallen leaves,
[delete]had been[/delete] to be at length released by the subtle agency
of fire and disseminated to the four quarters of
the earth. I could [delete]detect this[/delete] smell this smoke
distinctly at the Buttricks' after my return in the
evening although the wind was apparently unfavorable
to its progress in that direction. It must have
been wafted westward by some upper current
of air and then have descended again.

  The absence of rain for so many weeks is fast
bringing on a severe drought. The smaller trees & shrubs
are wilting and the grass turning brown.