316 EARLY SPRING IN MASSACHUSETTS. 
to his house he substituted a bare ugly wall for 
an interesting grove. 
April 10, 1851. April rain. How sure a 
rain is to bring the tree-sparrows into the yard, 
to sing sweetly, canary-like. 
I bought me a spy-glass somejweeks since. I 
buy but few things, and those not till long after 
I begin to want them, so that when I do get 
them I am prepared to make a perfect use of 
them and extract their whole sweetness. 
April 11, 1841. A greater baldness my life 
seeks, as the crest of some bare hill, which 
towns and cities do not afford. I want a di- 
recter relation with the sun. 
April 11, 1852. .... The sight of Nut 
Meadow Brook in Brown’s land reminds me 
that the attractiveness of a brook depends much 
on the character of its bottom. I love just now 
to see one flowing through soft sand like this 
where it wears a deep but irregular channel, 
now wider and shallower with distinct ripple 
marks, now shelving off suddenly to indistinct 
depths, meandering as well up and down as 
from side to side, deepest where narrowest, and 
even gullying under this bank or that, its bot¬ 
tom lifted up to one side or the other, the cur¬ 
rent inclining to one side. I stop to look at the 
circular shadows of the dimples, over the yellow 
sand, and the dark brown clams on their edges 
