Nathaniel Hawthorne writes in his journal:
Mr. [Ralph Waldo] Emerson came, with a sunbeam in his face; and we had as good a talk as I ever remember experiencing with him . . . Mr. Thoreau was discussed, and his approaching departure; in respect to which we agreed pretty well; but Mr. Emerson appears to have suffered some inconveniency from his experience of Mr. Thoreau as an inmate. It may well be that such a sturdy and uncompromising person is fitter to meet occasionally in the open air, than to have as a permanent guest at table and fireside.
(The American Notebooks, 176)
