J5T.25.] TO R. W. EMERSON. 109
tell him there are plenty of jack-snipes here. As for William P., the "worthy young man," as I live, my eyes have not fallen on him yet.
I have not had the influenza, though here are its headquarters, unless my first week s cold was it. Tell Helen I shall write to her soon. I have heard Lucretia Mott. This is badly writ ten ; but the worse the writing the sooner you get it this time from
Your affectionate son,
H. D. T.
TO R. W. EMERSON (AT CONCORD).
STATEN ISLAND, July 8, 1843.
DEAR FRIENDS, I was very glad to hear your voices from so far. I do not believe there are eight hundred human beings on the globe. It is all a fable, and I cannot but think that you speak with a slight outrage and disrespect of Concord when you talk of fifty of them. There are not so many. Yet think not that I have left all behind, for already I begin to track my way over the earth, and find the cope of heaven ex tending beyond its horizon, forsooth, like the roofs of these Dutch houses. My thoughts re vert to those dear hills and that river which so fills up the world to its brim, worthy to be named with Mincius and Alpheus, still drink ing its meadows while I am far away. How can
