With my somewhat vague aspiring mind, to be imprisoned in the rude details of a most material life was often irksome.

What is the good of life if its chief element, and that which must always be its chief element, is odious? No, the only true economy is to arrange so that your daily labor shall be itself a joy.

I might have simply settled down into an armchair literary life. I really don't know exactly why I didn't.

And where there had been only jeers or taunts at first, crowds came to listen with serious and sympathetic mien.

We lived within two hundred yards of the sea, and its voice was in our ears night and day.

The other thing that happened in 1883 was my reading of Thoreau's Walden.

Do not think too much of the dead husk of your friend, or mourn too much over it, but send your thoughts out towards the real soul or self which has escaped — to reach it. For so, surely you will cast a light of gladness upon his onward journey, and contribute your part towards the building of that kingdom of love which links our earth to heaven.