refined quality of their sin, and would be the last
to enter the kingdom. Henry frankly affirmed
to both the wise men that they were wholly defi
cient in the faculty in question, and therefore
could not judge of it. And Mr. Alcott as
frankly answered that it was because they went
beyond the mere material objects, and were filled
with spiritual love and perception (as Mr. T.
was not), that they seemed to Mr. Thoreau not
to appreciate outward nature. I am very heavy,
and have spoiled a most excellent story. I have
given you no idea of the scene, which was ineffa
bly comic, though it made no laugh at the time 5
I scarcely laughed at it myself, too deeply
amused to give the usual sign. Henry was brave
and noble ; well as I have always liked him, he
still grows upon me."
Before going to Staten Island in May, 1843,
Thoreau answered a letter from the same Rich
ard Fuller who had made him the musical gift
in the previous winter. He was at Harvard
College, and desired to know something of Tho
reau s pursuits there, concerning which Chan-
ning says in his Life :[1] " He was a respectable
- ↑ Thoreau the Poet-Naturalist. With Memorial Verses. By William Ellery Channing (Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1873). This volume, in some respects the best biography of Thoreau, is now quite rare. Among the Memorial Verses are those written by Channing for his friend's funeral; at which, also, Mr. Alcott read Thoreau's poem of Sympathy.
