156 EARLY SPRING IN MASSACHUSETTS. 
handsome form, but look like great wooden im¬ 
ages of birds, bluish slate, and white. But 
when they fly they are quite another creature. 
March 17, 1842. I have been making pen¬ 
cils all day, and then at evening walked to see 
an old schoolmate who is going to help make 
the Welland canal navigable for ships round 
Niagara. He cannot see any such motives and 
modes of living as I, professes not to look be¬ 
yond the securing of certain “ creature com¬ 
forts.” And so we go silently different ways 
with all serenity, I, in the still moonlight 
through the village this fair evening to write 
these thoughts in my journal, and he, forsooth, 
to mature his schemes to ends as good, may be, 
but different. So are we two made, while the 
same stars shine quietly over us. If I or he be 
wrong, nature yet consents placidly. She bites 
her lip and smiles to see how her children will 
agree. So does the Welland canal get built 
and other conveniences, while I live. Well and 
good, I must confess. Fast-sailing ships are 
hence not detained. 
What means this changing sky, that now I 
freeze and contract and go within myself to 
warm me, and now I say it is a south wind and 
go all soft and warm along the way ? I some¬ 
times wonder if I do not breathe the south 
wind. 
