, and then curl over and lap its smooth sides, and
by-and-by begin to lash itself into rage and show its white teeth and
spring at its bars, and howl the cry of its mad, but, to me, harmless
fury.--And then,--to look at it with that inward eye,--who does not
love to shuffle off time and its concerns, at intervals,--to forget
who is President and who is Governor, what race he belongs to, what
language he speaks, which golden-headed nail of the firmament his
particular planetary system is hung upon, and listen to the great
liquid metronome as it beats its solemn measure, steadily swinging
when the solo or duet of human life began, and to swing just as
steadily after the human chorus has died out and man is a fossil on
its shores?

--What should decide one, in choosing a summer
residence?--Constitution, first of all. How much snow could you melt
in an hour, if you were planted in a hogshead of it? Comfort is
essential to enjoyment. All sensitive people should remember that
persons in easy circumstances suffer much more from cold in
summer--that is, the warm half of the year--than in winter, or the
other half. You must cut your climate to your constitution, as much as
your clothing to your shape. After this, consult your taste and
convenience. But if you would be happy in Berkshire, you must carry
mountains in your brain; and if you would enjoy Nahant, you must have
an ocean in your soul. Nature plays at dominos with you; you must
match her piece, or she will never give it up to you.

----The schoolmistress said, in rather a mischievous way, that she was
afraid some minds or souls would be a little crowded, if they took in
the Rocky Mountains or the Atlantic.

Have you ever read the little book called "The Stars and the
Earth?"--said I.--Have you seen the Declaration of Independence
photographed in a surface that a fly's foot would cover? The forms or
conditions of Time and Space, as Kant will tell you, are nothing in
themselves,--only our way of looking at things. You are right, I
think, however, in recognizing the category of Space as being quite as
applicable to minds as to the outer world. Every man of reflection is
vaguely conscious of an imperfectly-defined circle which is drawn
about his intellect. He has a perfectly clear sense that the fragments
of his intellectual circle include the curves of many other minds of
which he is cognizant. He often recognizes those as manifestly
concentric with his own, but of less