In 1855, he wrote, “I have said in my heart, I wonder if Lucy Larcom will write to me, as she proposed? I should love to have her.” Their correspondence continued until the time of his death. CHAPTER IV. REFLECTIONS OF A TEACHER. It was not Miss Larcom’s regular habit to keep a diary, but at certain times she recorded her thoughts in private note-books. Her object in doing this was to cultivate clearness of expression by frequently writing, and to give definiteness to her ideas by putting them down in black and white, thus preserving them, either for immediate use as material for letters to her friends, or for her own inspection years afterwards. Long intervals of time elapsed between the periods when she wrote in her diaries; so they have not the value of a continuous life-history, but are interesting as records of phases of her thought which often reflect vividly the conditions in which she lived. The following extracts from her diary have been made with the purpose of showing how she was influenced by the circumstances of her life, and how deeply she entered into the spirit of her intellectual and political surroundings. Norton, May 4, 1860. Our talk has been of the mystics again to-day. With all the vagaries into which some of them wandered, I cannot help feeling that these men had more of the truth than any of those more strictly styled philosophers. Cousin has a cool, patronizing way with all systems that rather amuses me at times. What he says of the relation of philosophy to religion seems very conceited: that, while they have been separated, philosophy must now take religion by the hand, and gently guide her steps to the light. The history of philosophy would rather show that he was making a guide of the one who needed to be led! Certainly it must be so, if God is wiser than man. May 21. Out of door studies, these past days, among goldfinches, orioles, larks, brown thrushes, and all the singing brotherhood; and a course of lectures on natural history, to help out the classifying and naming. Better living than among philosophers.