. Backgrounds of literature. t,not gloom nor sadness, but something of thetwilight eiFect of the pine groves. When onerecalls its traditions of plain living and highthinking, one is reminded of Dove Cottage; butthe little stone cottage embosomed in foliagewhere Wordsworth spent the most productivedecade of his life is now a shrine set apart tomemory, while the Old Manse is still a homefrom which in these later years has come picto-rial genius of a high order; and the impulseswhich have made Concord a place apart havenot spent their force. In this rural community, snugly at home ina landscape f
. Backgrounds of literature. t,not gloom nor sadness, but something of thetwilight eiFect of the pine groves. When onerecalls its traditions of plain living and highthinking, one is reminded of Dove Cottage; butthe little stone cottage embosomed in foliagewhere Wordsworth spent the most productivedecade of his life is now a shrine set apart tomemory, while the Old Manse is still a homefrom which in these later years has come picto-rial genius of a high order; and the impulseswhich have made Concord a place apart havenot spent their force. In this rural community, snugly at home ina landscape full of repose, Emerson found thebest conditions for his growth and work, andthrough his long life lived on most intimateterms with his nearest and most companionableneighbor. Nature. Hail to the quiet fields ofmy fathers, he wrote when he had settled him-self in the Old Manse. Not wholly unat-tended by supernatural friendship and favorlet me come hither. Bless my purposes as theyare simple and virtuous. . Henceforth I 86. EMERSON AND CONCORD design not to utter any speech, poem, or bookthat is not entirely and peculiarly my work. Iwill say, at public lectures and the like, thosethings which I have meditated for their ownsake and not for the first time with a view tothat occasion. In these words is to be foundthe secret of his relation to Concord and of hisbeautiful and fruitful life; he came to Natureas to the word of God, and he gave the worldonly the ripe fruit of his quiet, meditative, con-secrated life. The twin activities of his spiritfound their field and their inspiration under theopen sky. He played with Nature and sheworked with him. With him, as with Words-worth, his working-room was out-doors; hiswriting-room was the place where he made arecord of his hours and studies under the opensky. No season barred the woods to his eagerfeet; he was abroad in winter as in summer, andhe loved lonely walks at night, finding compan-ionship with the stars full of inspiration. The p
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