hbor, fearing I might
be _dull_, sent to offer me the use of a _book-caseful_ of
Souvenirs, Gems, and such-like glittering ware? I took a two
or three year old "Token," and chanced on a story, called the
"Gentle Boy," which I remembered to have heard was written by
somebody in Salem. It is marked by so much grace and delicacy
of feeling, that I am very desirous to know the author, whom I
take to be a lady.' * *

'With regard to what you say about the American Monthly, my
answer is, I would gladly sell some part of my mind for lucre,
to get the command of time; but I will not sell my soul: that
is, I am perfectly willing to take the trouble of writing for
money to pay the seamstress; but I am _not_ willing to have
what I write mutilated, or what I ought to say dictated to
suit the public taste. You speak of my writing about Tieck. It
is my earnest wish to interpret the German authors of whom
I am most fond to such Americans as are ready to receive.
Perhaps some might sneer at the notion of my becoming a
teacher; but where I love so much, surely I might inspire
others to love a little; and I think this kind of culture
would be precisely the counterpoise required by the
utilitarian tendencies of our day and place. My very
imperfections may be of value. While enthusiasm is yet fresh,
while I am still a novice, it may be more easy to communicate
with those quite uninitiated, than when I shall have attained
to a higher and calmer state of knowledge. I hope a periodical
may arise, by and by, which may think me worthy to furnish a
series of articles on German literature, giving room enough
and perfect freedom to say what I please. In this case, I
should wish to devote at least eight numbers to Tieck, and
should use the Garden of Poesy, and my other translations.

'I have sometimes thought of translating his Little Red Riding
Hood, for children. If it could be adorned with illustrations,
like those in the "Story without an End," it would make a
beautiful little book; but I do not know that this could be
done in Boston. There is much meaning that children could not
take in; but, as they would never discover this till able
to receive the whole, the book corresponds exactly with my
notions of what a child's book should be.

'I should like to begin the proposed series with a