48 EARLY SPRING IN MASSACHUSETTS. 
and horns are heard from over the fields. And 
now I see the full meaning and beauty of that 
word, sound. Nature always possesses a cer¬ 
tain sonorousness, as in the hum of insects, the 
booming of ice, the crowing of cocks in the 
morning, and the barking of dogs in the night, 
which indicates her sound state. God’s voice 
is but a clear bell sound. I drink in a wonder¬ 
ful health, a cordial, in sound. The effect of 
the slightest tinkling in the horizon measures 
my own soundness. I thank God for sound. It 
always mounts and makes me mount. I think 
I will not trouble myself for any wealth when 
I can be so cheaply enriched. Here I contem¬ 
plate to drudge that I may own a farm, and 
may have such a limitless estate for the listen¬ 
ing. All good things are cheap, all bad are 
very dear. 
As for these communities, I think I had 
rather keep bachelor’s hall in hell than go to 
board in heaven. Do not think your virtue 
will be boarded with you. It will never live 
on the interest of your money, depend upon it. 
The boarder has no home. In heaven I hope to 
bake my own bread and clean my own linen. 
The tomb is the only boarding-house in which 
a hundred are served at once. In the cata¬ 
combs we may dwell together and prop one 
another up without loss. 
