for this reason I had
knelt down near the doorway, among the crowd of transient poor
people. Oh, how he eased my spirit by sympathizing with my sentiment,
and satisfied me by declaring that the renting of pews was only from
necessity, and he wished we could get along without it."

His relations with some of his former friends at Brook Farm still
continued, though in a somewhat attenuated condition. From a long and
appreciative letter sent him by Burrill Curtis, we make an extract,
followed by Isaac's comments on it:

"October 13, 1844.--Your preparedness for any fate has been one of
the chief attractions of your character to me, for I believe it is
deeper than a mere state of mind. But, for all that, your
restlessness is uppermost just now; not as a contradictory element,
for it is not; but as a discovering power."

Isaac's journal, just at this time, was chiefly devoted to what he
calls "the many smaller, venial sins which beset my path and keep me
down to earth. Also to prescribe such remedies as may seem to me best
for these thorns in the flesh." On October 26 he notes that he has
received the letter just quoted, and remarks:

"It showed more regard for me than I thought he had. The truth is, I
do not feel myself worthy to be the friend of any one, and would pass
my life in being a friend to all, without recognizing their
friendship towards me.

"To-day I have felt more humanly tender than ever. The past has come
up before me with much emotion. ----- has been much in my thoughts.

"I have experienced those unnatural feelings which I have felt
heretofore. I feel that the spirit world is near and glimmering all
around me. The nervous shocks I have been subject to, but which I
have not experienced for some time back, recurred this evening. I am
known to spirits, or else I apprehend them."

He had taken up Latin and Greek again, and seems to have entered a
class of young men under the tutorship of a Mr. Owen. The entry just
quoted from goes on as follows:

"I do not devote as much time to study as I should, or as I might. I
fear I shall never make anything of my studies. I do not endeavor
with all my might. This study has thrown me into another sphere. I
like it not. I feel apprehensive of something, of somewhat. Ten years
from now will fix my destiny, if I have any."

Much good as he continued to receive from the sacrament of penance,
he found a not altogether usual difficulty in preparing for it.
Perhaps it