Thoreau writes in his journal:
I have provided my little snapping turtle with a tub of water and mud, and it is surprising how fast he learns to use his limbs and this world. He actually runs, with the yolk still trailing from him, as if he had got new vigor from contact with the mud. The insensibility and toughness of his infancy makes our life, with its disease and low spirits, ridiculous. He impresses me as the rudiment of a man worthy to inhabit the earth. He is born with a shell. That is symbolical of his toughness. His shell being so rounded and sharp on the back at this age he can turn over without trouble.
P.M.—To climbing fern . . .
7.30.—To Fair Haven Pond by boat . . .
Concord, Mass. Ralph Waldo Emerson records in his account book:
Recd. from Henry Thoreau on a/c of cash loaned to Mr. Flanery [Michael Flannery] last year 2.50 balance still due 2.50 (Thoreau Society Bulletin, 151 (Spring 1982):3; MS, Ralph Waldo Emerson journals and notebooks. Houghton Library, Harvard University).
