these simple verses one must recall that they were designed for a boy of seven years, and belong to the juvenile literature, at that time scanty and prim.
"In the midst of the poplar that stands by our door
We planted a bluebird's box,
And we hoped before the summer was o'er,
A transient pair to coax.
"One warm summer day the bluebirds came,
And lighted on our tree;
But at first the wanderers were not so tame,
But they were afraid of me.
"They seemed to come from the distant south
Just over the Walden Wood,
And skimmed along with open mouth,
Close by where the bellows stood.
******
"Methinks I had never seen them before,
Nor indeed had they seen me;
Till I chanced to stand by our back-door,
And they came to the poplar-tree."
Mingled with the reserve of Thoreau was ever a strong, basal affection and the sentiments of a poet. At this time, when he was twenty-three years old, the heart-sentiment was near the surface and required only cultivation, rather than repression, to cause quite a different development of his entire nature. The years from 1839 to 1842 are very im-
