KTAADN. 
71 
tore, nor mead, nor woodland, nor lea, nor arable, nor 
waste-land. It was the fresh and natural surface of the 
planet Earth, as it was made for ever and ever, — to be 
the dwelling of man, we say, — so Nature made it, and 
man may use it if he can. Man was not to be associ¬ 
ated with it. It was Matter, vast, terrific, —- not his 
Mother Earth that we have heard of, not for him to 
tread on, or be buried in, — no, it were being too famil¬ 
iar even to let his bones lie there, — the home, this, of 
Necessity and Fate. There was there felt the presence 
of a force not bound to be kind to man. It was a place 
for heathenism and superstitious rites, — to be inhabited 
by men nearer of kin to the rocks and to wild animals 
than we. We walked over it with a certain awe, stop¬ 
ping, from time to time, to pick the blueberries which 
grew there, and had a smart and spicy taste. Perchance 
where our wild pines stand, and leaves lie on their forest 
floor, in Concord, there were once reapers, and husband¬ 
men planted grain ; but here not even the surface had 
been scarred by man, but it was a specimen of what 
God saw fit to make this world. What is it to be ad¬ 
mitted to a museum, to see a myriad of particular things, 
compared with being shown some star’s surface, some 
hard matter in its home ! I stand in awe of my body, 
this matter to which I am bound has become so strange 
to me. I fear not spirits, ghosts, of which I am one, — 
that my body might, — but I fear bodies, I tremble to 
meet them. What is this Titan that has possession of 
me ? Talk of mysteries ! — Think of our life in nature, 
—-daily to be shown matter, to come in contact with it, 
— rocks, trees, wind on our cheeks! the solid earth 1 
the actual world ! the common sense ! Contact! Con¬ 
tact ! Who are we ? where are we ? 
