84 EARLY SPRING IN MASSACHUSETTS. 
light, when he says, “ The reason obviously is 
that in consequence of loss of fluid from the 
tissue of the stem on the side on which the 
light falls, it is contracted, whilst that of the 
other side remains turgid with fluid ; the stem 
makes a bend, therefore, until its growing point 
becomes opposite to the light, and then in¬ 
creases in that direction. 1 There is no ripe¬ 
ness which is not, so to speak, something ulti¬ 
mate in itself, and not merely a perfected means 
to a higher end. In order to be ripe it must 
serve a transcendent use. The ripeness of a 
leaf, being perfected, leaves the tree at that 
point and never returns to it. It has nothing 
to do with any other fruit which the tree may 
bear, and only genius can pluck it. The fruit 
of a tree is neither in the seed nor in the full- 
grown tree, but it is simply the highest use to 
which it can be put. 
March 8, 1840. The wind shifts from north¬ 
east and east to northwest and south, and every 
icicle which has tinkled in the meadow grass so 
long, trickles down its stem and seeks its water 
level, unerringly with a million comrades. In 
the ponds the ice cracks with a busy and in¬ 
spiriting din, and down the larger streams is 
whirled, grating hoarsely and crashing its way 
along, which was so lately a firm field for the 
1 Carpenter’s Vegetable Physiology , page 174. 
