last Sunday
morn--no; I mean last Saturday evening; for I went to church on Tremont
street, last Sunday. What's this? it looks as tempting as a banana, and
is not unlike one in color. 'Melibaeus in London,' in the summer, too:
good! I'll take that, it shall 'assist' the banana at my lunch. I hurry
out of this 'little heaven,' murmuring, as I depart: 'LORING, live
forever!'
Lady Macbeth undoubtedly alluded to you when she says:
'We _fail_? there's no such word as fail!'
I believe the Macbeths, and, in fact, everybody but Loring, has failed
during the war times. McClellan certainly has--not succeeded.
The police (those gentlemen of elegant leisure) do not even suspect how
much I have stolen, and what treasures I am carrying off before nine
o'clock A. M.! All the splendors of the early morning are mine; they
will gild the dull grey of my working hours. What a stock of perfumes
stolen from the garden! they will sweeten the 'business air' of
Washington street. The fountain's glistening spray will sprinkle the
dusty walk to 'the shop.'
I have not yet told you of the kisses taken--not from Fera's, but from
the cherry-ripe lips of two lovely children, with whom I formed an
intimacy in the garden by the pond; they were 'sailing' their mimic
boats there. I almost wished
'I were a boy again,'
and had a boat to sail! These children had such a brave and haughty
beauty, and their dress being of purple and fine linen, I supposed their
name must be Berkeley or Clarendon, but was grieved to learn from the
artless darlings that it was Muggins! However, their kisses were
unexceptionable, whatever their origin may have been.
But what a 'heap' of Beauty I stole in my return walk through
Beaconstreet mall! No wonder those magnificent elms are in love with
each other, and embrace over the people's heads! When I come into my
fortune, I intend, early the next morning, before breakfast, to make the
first use of my 'funds' in purchasing Mr. George Ticknor's house. (Of
course, he will not object.) I shall then laugh at the mill-dam
principalities and powers when I look from my library windows down that
long vista of noble trees. Come and see me when I am settled there! You
shall have a warm welcome in winter, and a cool one in summer. And now,
fare thee well, whoever thou art, who hast kindly walked with me to the
door of--my 'place of business.' I will not ask you to enter there. I
can worry through the day: unseen compan
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