ce has been described; but what are the
thoughts and feelings of a man who says with himself as he walks along
upon the familiar path, "A few more steps and I shall be gone;--what and
where shall I be then?" No mortal speech can tell. Meditations come, you
may imagine, at such a crisis in one's being, too vast, too trying for
utterance. Wearied and weighed down by them, I sometimes say, "I will
think no more about it; all my thinking will alter nothing that is to
be; what can I do but lay myself on the bosom of that Infinite Goodness,
in which, without doubting, I believe? What would I have other than what
God appoints?" [332] Yet, after all, I am far from losing my interest
in the world I am leaving. I am much struck with what you say about
the press,--the money interest involved, and the direction which that
interest is likely to give it. I wish there were a distinct education
for editorship, as there is for preaching, or for the lawyer or
physician. There is an article of Greg's in the last "Contemporary
Review," following out his "Rocks Ahead," that it has distressed me to
read. The great danger now is the rise of the lower and laboring classes
against capital and intelligence. And nothing will save the world,
but for the higher classes to rouse themselves to do their duty,--in
politics, in education, and in consideration and care for the lower.
Have you seen the pamphlet of Miss Octavia Hill, of England? That is
the spirit, and one kind of work that is wanted. O women! instead of
clamoring for your rights, come up to this!

This is the most beautiful summer that I remember. I am glad to hear of
your enjoying it, and of the bevy of young people around you. Such I see
every day in the street and the grounds, as if Sheffield were the very
paradise of the young and gay.

To William Cullen Bryant, Esq.

ST. DAVID'S, Dec. 30, 1875.

DEAR FRIEND,--. . . I am glad to have your opinion of Emerson's and
Whittier's verse Collections, and especially your good opinion of
Cranch's translation, `or I am much interested in him. . . .

My own reading runs very much in another direction, among those who
"reason of" the highest things. Especially I have been interested in
what those old [333] atheists, Lucretius and Omar Khayyam, say. Have you
seen the "Rubaiyat" of the latter? And, by the bye, have you an English
translation of Lucretius's "De Rerurn Natura"? It must be a small
volume, only six books; and if it is not too preci