taken to be dead, to be all really living in this world.
The machinery might be a person's being persuaded to believe that he had
been mad; or having dwelt many years on a desolate island; or having
been in the heart of Africa or China; and a friend amuses himself with
giving this account. Or some traveller from Europe shall thus correct
popular errors.

* * * * *

The life of a woman, who, by the old Colony law, was condemned to wear
always the letter A sewed on her garment in token of her sin.

* * * * *

To make literal pictures of figurative expressions. For instance, he
burst into tears,--a man suddenly turned into a shower of briny drops.
An explosion of laughter,--a man blowing up, and his fragments flying
about on all sides. He cast his eyes upon the ground,--a man standing
eyeless, with his eyes thrown down, and staring up at him in wonderment,
etc., etc., etc.

* * * * *

An uneducated countryman, supposing he had a live frog in his stomach,
applied himself to the study of medicine, in order to find a cure, and
so became a profound physician. Thus some misfortune, physical or moral,
may be the means of educating and elevating us.

_Concord, March 12, 1845._--Last night was very cold, and bright
starlight; yet there was a mist or fog diffused all over the landscape,
lying close to the ground, and extending upwards, probably not much
above the tops of the trees. This fog was crystallized by the severe
frost; and its little feathery crystals covered all the branches and
smallest twigs of trees and shrubs; so that, this morning, at first
sight, it appeared as if they were covered with snow. On closer
examination, however, these most delicate feathers appeared shooting out
in all directions from the branches,--above as well as beneath,--and
looking, not as if they had been attached, but had been put forth by
the plant,--a new kind of foliage. It is impossible to describe the
exquisite beauty of the effect, when close to the eye; and even at a
distance this delicate appearance was not lost, but imparted a graceful,
evanescent aspect to great trees, perhaps a quarter of a mile off,
making them look like immense plumes, or something that would vanish at
a breath. The so-much admired sight of icy trees cannot compare with it
in point of grace, delicacy, and beauty; and, moreover, there is a life
and animation in this