20 
EARLY SPRING IN MASSACHUSETTS. 
borne on the cutting March wind, or through 
sleet or rain, as if its coming w r ere premature. 
February 27, 1858.The hedges on 
the hill are all cut off. The journals think 
they cannot say too much on improvements in 
husbandry. But as for one of these farms 
brushed up, — a model farm, — I had as lief 
see a patent churn and a man turning it. It 
is simply a place where somebody is making 
money. 
I see a snow bunting, though it is pleasant 
and warm. 
February 27, 1859. P. M. To Cliffs; though 
it was a dry, powdery snow-storm, yesterday, 
the sun is now so high that the snow is soft and 
sticky this P. M. The sky, too, is soft to look 
at, and the air to feel on my cheek. 
Health makes the poet, or sympathy with nat¬ 
ure, a good appetite for his food, which is con¬ 
stantly renewing him, —whetting his senses. 
Pay for your victuals then with poetry, give 
back life for life . 
February 27, 1860. 2 P. M. To Abner But- 
trick’s Hill. .... I walk down by the river 
below Flint’s, on the north side. The sudden 
apparition of the dark blue water on the sur¬ 
face of the earth is exciting. I must now walk 
where I can see the most water, as to the most 
living part of nature. This is the blood of the 
