[470] There are days, etc. The passage in Emerson's journal is hardly less beautiful. Under date of October 30, 1841, he wrote: "On this wonderful day when heaven and earth seem to glow with magnificence, and all the wealth of all the elements is put under contribution to make the world fine, as if Nature would indulge her offspring, it seemed ungrateful to hide in the house. Are there not dull days enough in the year for you to write and read in, that you should waste this glittering season when Florida and Cuba seem to have left their glittering seats and come to visit us with all their shining hours, and almost we expect to see the jasmine and cactus burst from the ground instead of these last gentians and asters which have loitered to attend this latter glory of the year? All insects are out, all birds come forth, the very cattle that lie on the ground seem to have great thoughts, and Egypt and India look from their eyes."
[471] Halcyons. Halcyon days, ones of peace and tranquillity; anciently, days of calm weather in mid-winter, when the halcyon, or kingfisher, was supposed to brood. It was fabled that this bird laid its eggs in a nest that floated on the sea, and that it charmed the winds and waves to make them calm while it brooded.
[472] Indian Summer. Calm, dry, hazy weather which comes in the autumn in America. The Century Dictionary says it was called Indian Summer because the season was most marked in the sections of the upper eastern Mississippi valley inhabited by Indians about the time the term became current.
[473] Gabriel. One of the seven archangels. The Hebrew name means "God is my strong one."
[474] Uriel. Another of the seven archangels; the name means "Light of God."
[475] Converts all trees to wind-harps. Compare with this passage the lines in Emerson's poem, Woodnotes: "And the countless leaves of the pines are strings Tuned to the lay the wood-god sings."
[476] The village. Concord, Massachusetts. Emerson's home the greater part of the time from 1832 till his death.
[477] I go with my friend, etc. With Henry Thoreau, the lover of Nature.
[478] Our little river. The Concord river.
[479] Novitiate and probation. Explain the meaning of these words, in the Roman Catholic Church. What does Emerson mean by them here?