EARLY SPRING IN MASSACHUSETTS. ' 141 
the plank bridge behind the hill which have 
been buried so long, are suddenly uncovered, 
as if we had returned to our earth after an ab¬ 
sence and took pleasure in finding things so 
nearly in the state in which we left them. We 
go out without overcoats, saunter along the 
street, look at the aments of the willow begin¬ 
ning to appear, and the swelling buds of the 
maple and the elm. The Great Meadows are 
water instead of ice. I see the ice on the bot¬ 
tom in white sheets. 
Most men find farming unprofitable. But 
there are some who can get their living any¬ 
where. If you set them down on a bare rock, 
they will thrive there. The true farmer is to 
those that come after him and take the benefit 
of his improvements like the lichen which 
plants itself on the bare rock and grows and 
thrives and cracks it, making vegetable mould 
for the garden vegetables which are to grow in 
it. 
March 15, 1854. I am sorry to think that 
you do not get a man’s most effective criticism 
until you provoke him. Severe truth is ex¬ 
pressed with some bitterness. 
March 15, 1855. Mr. Rice tells me that 
when he was getting mud out of the little 
swamp at the foot of Brister’s Hill he heard a 
squeaking and found that he was digging into 
