,,walden and ,,on ,,the ,,duty ,,of ,,civil ,,disobedience by ,henry ,david ,thoreau ,contents ,,walden ,economy ,where ,i ,lived1 and ,what ,i ,lived ,for ,reading ,sounds ,solitude ,visitors ,the ,bean-,field ,the ,village ,the ,ponds ,baker ,farm ,higher ,laws ,brute ,neighbors ,house-,warming ,former ,inhabitants and ,winter ,visitors ,winter ,animals ,the ,pond in ,winter ,spring ,conclusion ,,on ,,the ,,duty ,,of ,,civil ,,disobedience ,i do not propose to write an ode to dejection1 but to brag as lustily as chanticleer in the morning1 standing on his roost1 if only to wake my neighbors up4 ,,walden ,economy ,when ,i wrote the following pages1 or rather the bulk of them1 ,i lived alone1 in the woods1 a mile from any neighbor1 in a house which ,i had built myself1 on the shore of ,walden ,pond1 in ,concord1 ,massachusetts1 and earned my living by the labor of my hands only4 ,i lived there two years and two months4 ,at present ,i am a sojourner in civilized life again4 ,i should not obtrude my affairs so much on the notice of my readers if very particular inquiries had not been made by my townsmen concerning my mode of life1 which some would call impertinent1 though they do not appear to me at all impertinent1 but1 considering the circumstances1 very natural and pertinent4 ,some have asked what ,i got to eat2 if ,i did not feel lonesome2 if ,i was not afraid2 and the like4 ,others have been curious to learn what portion of my income ,i devoted to charitable purposes2 and some1 who have large families1 how many poor children ,i maintained4 ,i will therefore ask those of my readers who feel no particular interest in me to pardon me if ,i undertake to answer some of these questions in this book4 ,in most books1 the ,i1 or first person1 is omitted2 in this it will be retained2 that1 in respect to egotism1 is the main difference4 ,we commonly do not remember that it is1 after all1 always the first person that is speaking4 ,i should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom ,i knew as well4 ,unfortunately1 ,i am confined to this theme by the narrowness of my experience4 ,moreover1 ,i1 on my side1 require of every writer1 first or last1 a simple and sincere account of his own life1 and not merely what he has heard of other men's lives2 some such account as he would send to his kindred from a distant land2 for if he has lived sincerely1 it must have been in a distant land to me4 ,perhaps these pages are more particularly addressed to poor students4 ,as for the rest of my readers1 they will accept such portions as apply to them4 ,i trust that none will stretch the seams in putting on the coat1 for it may do good service to him whom it fits4 ,i would fain say something1 not so much concerning the ,chinese and ,sandwich ,islanders as you who read these pages1 who are said to live in ,new ,england2 something about your condition1 especially your outward condition or circumstances in this world1 in this town1 what it is1 whether it is necessary that it be as bad as it is1 whether it cannot be improved as well as not4 ,i have travelled a good deal in ,concord2 and everywhere1 in shops1 and offices1 and fields1 the inhabitants have appeared to me to be doing penance in a thousand remarkable ways4 ,what ,i have heard of ,brahmins sitting exposed to four fires and looking in the face of the sun2 or hanging suspended1 with their heads downward1 over flames2 or looking at the heavens over their shoulders 8until it becomes impossible for them to resume their natural position1 while from the twist of the neck nothing but liquids can pass into the stomach20 or dwelling1 chained for life1 at the foot of a tree2 or measuring with their bodies1 like caterpillars1 the breadth of vast empires2 or standing on one leg on the tops of pillars1--even these forms of conscious penance are hardly more incredible and astonishing than the scenes which ,i daily witness4 ,the twelve labors of ,hercules were trifling in comparison with those which my neighbors have undertaken2 for they were only twelve1 and had an end2 but ,i could never see that these men slew or captured any monster or finished any labor4 ,they have no friend ,iolas to burn with a hot iron the root of the hydra's head1 but as soon as one head is crushed1 two spring up4 ,i see young men1 my townsmen1 whose misfortune it is to have inherited farms1 houses1 barns1 cattle1 and farming tools2 for these are more easily acquired than got rid of4 ,better if they had been born in the open pasture and suckled by a wolf1 that they might have seen with clearer eyes what field they were called to labor in4 ,who made them serfs of the soil8 ,why should they eat their sixty acres1 when man is condemned to eat only his peck of dirt8 ,why should they begin digging their graves as soon as they are born8 ,they have got to live a man's life1 pushing all these things before them1 and get on as well as they can4 ,how many a poor immortal soul have ,i met well nigh crushed and smothered under its load1 creeping down the road of life1 pushing before it a barn seventy-five feet by forty1 its ,augean stables never cleansed1 and one hundred acres of land1 tillage1 mowing1 pasture1 and wood-lot6 ,the portionless1 who struggle with no such unnecessary inherited encumbrances1 find it labor enough to subdue and cultivate a few cubic feet of flesh4 ,but men labor under a mistake4 ,the better part of the man is soon plowed into the soil for compost4 ,by a seeming fate1 commonly called necessity1 they are employed1 as it says in an old book1 laying up treasures which moth and rust will corrupt and thieves break through and steal4 ,it is a fool's life1 as they will find when they get to the end of it1 if not before4 ,it is said that ,deucalion and ,pyrrha created men by throwing stones over their heads behind them3-- ,inde genus durum sumus1 experiensque laborum1 ,et documenta damus qu simus origine nati4 ,or1 as ,raleigh rhymes it in his sonorous way1-- 8,from thence our kind hard-hearted is1 enduring pain and care1 ,approving that our bodies of a stony nature are40 ,so much for a blind obedience to a blundering oracle1 throwing the stones over their heads behind them1 and not seeing where they fell4 ,most men1 even in this comparatively free country1 through mere ignorance and mistake1 are so occupied with the factitious cares and superfluously coarse labors of life that its finer fruits cannot be plucked by them4 ,their fingers1 from excessive toil1 are too clumsy and tremble too much for that4 ,actually1 the laboring man has not leisure for a true integrity day by day2 he cannot afford to sustain the manliest relations to men2 his labor would be depreciated in the market4 ,he has no time to be anything but a machine4 ,how can he remember well his ignorance--which his growth requires--who has so often to use his knowledge8 ,we should feed and clothe him gratuitously sometimes1 and recruit him with our cordials1 before we judge of him4 ,the finest qualities of our nature1 like the bloom on fruits1 can be preserved only by the most delicate handling4 ,yet we do not treat ourselves nor one another thus tenderly4 ,some of you1 we all know1 are poor1 find it hard to live1 are sometimes1 as it were1 gasping for breath4 ,i have no doubt that some of you who read this book are unable to pay for all the dinners which you have actually eaten1 or for the coats and shoes which are fast wearing or are already worn out1 and have come to this page to spend borrowed or stolen time1 robbing your creditors of an hour4 ,it is very evident what mean and sneaking lives many of you live1 for my sight has been whetted by experience2 always on the limits1 trying to get into business and trying to get out of debt1 a very ancient slough1 called by the ,latins s alienum1 another's brass1 for some of their coins were made of brass2 still living1 and dying1 and buried by this other's brass2 always promising to pay1 promising to pay1 tomorrow1 and dying today1 insolvent2 seeking to curry favor1 to get custom1 by how many modes1 only not state-prison offences2 lying1 flattering1 voting1 contracting yourselves into a nutshell of civility or dilating into an atmosphere of thin and vaporous generosity1 that you may persuade your neighbor to let you make his shoes1 or his hat1 or his coat1 or his carriage1 or import his groceries for him2 making yourselves sick1 that you may lay up something against a sick day1 something to be tucked away in an old chest1 or in a stocking behind the plastering1 or1 more safely1 in the brick bank2 no matter where1 no matter how much or how little4 ,i sometimes wonder that we can be so frivolous1 ,i may almost say1 as to attend to the gross but somewhat foreign form of servitude called ,negro ,slavery1 there are so many keen and subtle masters that enslave both north and south4 ,it is hard to have a southern overseer2 it is worse to have a northern one2 but worst of all when you are the slave-driver of yourself4 ,talk of a divinity in man6 ,look at the teamster on the highway1 wending to market by day or night2 does any divinity stir within him8 ,his highest duty to fodder and water his horses6 ,what is his destiny to him compared with the shipping interests8 ,does not he drive for ,squire ,make-a-stir8 ,how godlike1 how immortal1 is he8 ,see how he cowers and sneaks1 how vaguely all the day he fears1 not being immortal nor divine1 but the slave and prisoner of his own opinion of himself1 a fame won by his own deeds4 ,public opinion is a weak tyrant compared with our own private opinion4 ,what a man thinks of himself1 that it is which determines1 or rather indicates1 his fate4 ,self-emancipation even in the ,west ,indian provinces of the fancy and imagination1--what ,wilberforce is there to bring that about8 ,think1 also1 of the ladies of the land weaving toilet cushions against the last day1 not to betray too green an interest in their fates6 ,as if you could kill time without injuring eternity4 ,the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation4 ,what is called resignation is confirmed desperation4 ,from the desperate city you go into the desperate country1 and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats4 ,a stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind4 ,there is no play in them1 for this comes after work4 ,but it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things4 ,when we consider what1 to use the words of the catechism1 is the chief end of man1 and what are the true necessaries and means of life1 it appears as if men had deliberately chosen the common mode of living because they preferred it to any other4 ,yet they honestly think there is no choice left4 ,but alert and healthy natures remember that the sun rose clear4 ,it is never too late to give up our prejudices4 ,no way of thinking or doing1 however ancient1 can be trusted without proof4 ,what everybody echoes or in silence passes by as true to-day may turn out to be falsehood to-morrow1 mere smoke of opinion1 which some had trusted for a cloud that would sprinkle fertilizing rain on their fields4 ,what old people say you cannot do you try and find that you can4 ,old deeds for old people1 and new deeds for new4 ,old people did not know enough once1 perchance1 to fetch fresh fuel to keep the fire a-going2 new people put a little dry wood under a pot1 and are whirled round the globe with the speed of birds1 in a way to kill old people1 as the phrase is4 ,age is no better1 hardly so well1 qualified for an instructor as youth1 for it has not profited so much as it has lost4 ,one may almost doubt if the wisest man has learned any thing of absolute value by living4 ,practically1 the old have no very important advice to give the young1 their own experience has been so partial1 and their lives have been such miserable failures1 for private reasons1 as they must believe2 and it may be that they have some faith left which belies that experience1 and they are only less young than they were4 ,i have lived some thirty years on this planet1 and ,i have yet to hear the first syllable of valuable or even earnest advice from my seniors4 ,they have told me nothing1 and probably cannot tell me any thing to the purpose4 ,here is life1 an experiment to a great extent untried by me2 but it does not avail me that they have tried it4 ,if ,i have any experience which ,i think valuable1 ,i am sure to reflect that this my ,mentors said nothing about4 ,one farmer says to me1 8,you cannot live on vegetable food solely1 for it furnishes nothing to make bones with20 and so he religiously devotes a part of his day to supplying his system with the raw material of bones2 walking all the while he talks behind his oxen1 which1 with vegetable-made bones1 jerk him and his lumbering plough along in spite of every obstacle4 ,some things are really necessaries of life in some circles1 the most helpless and diseased1 which in others are luxuries merely1 and in others still are entirely unknown4 ,the whole ground of human life seems to some to have been gone over by their predecessors1 both the heights and the valleys1 and all things to have been cared for4 ,according to ,evelyn1 8the wise ,solomon prescribed ordinances for the very distances of trees2 and the ,roman prtors have decided how often you may go into your neighbor's land to gather the acorns which fall on it without trespass1 and what share belongs to that neighbor40 ,hippocrates has even left directions how we should cut our nails2 that is1 even with the ends of the fingers1 neither shorter nor longer4 ,undoubtedly the very tedium and ennui which presume to have exhausted the variety and the joys of life are as old as ,adam4 ,but man's capacities have never been measured2 nor are we to judge of what he can do by any precedents1 so little has been tried4 ,whatever have been thy failures hitherto1 8be not afflicted1 my child1 for who shall assign to thee what thou hast left undone80 ,we might try our lives by a thousand simple tests2 as1 for instance1 that the same sun which ripens my beans illumines at once a system of earths like ours4 ,if ,i had remembered this it would have prevented some mistakes4 ,this was not the light in which ,i hoed them4 ,the stars are the apexes of what wonderful triangles6 ,what distant and different beings in the various mansions of the universe are contemplating the same one at the same moment6 ,nature and human life are as various as our several constitutions4 ,who shall say what prospect life offers to another8 ,could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other's eyes for an instant8 ,we should live in all the ages of the world in an hour2 ay1 in all the worlds of the ages4 ,history1 ,poetry1 ,mythology6--,i know of no reading of another's experience so startling and informing as this would be4 ,the greater part of what my neighbors call good ,i believe in my soul to be bad1 and if ,i repent of anything1 it is very likely to be my good behavior4 ,what demon possessed me that ,i behaved so well8 ,you may say the wisest thing you can1 old man1--you who have lived seventy years1 not without honor of a kind1--,i hear an irresistible voice which invites me away from all that4 ,one generation abandons the enterprises of another like stranded vessels4 ,i think that we may safely trust a good deal more than we do4 ,we may waive just so much care of ourselves as we honestly bestow elsewhere4 ,nature is as well adapted to our weakness as to our strength4 ,the incessant anxiety and strain of some is a well nigh incurable form of disease4 ,we are made to exaggerate the importance of what work we do2 and yet how much is not done by us6 or1 what if we had been taken sick8 ,how vigilant we are6 determined not to live by faith if we can avoid it2 all the day long on the alert1 at night we unwillingly say our prayers and commit ourselves to uncertainties4 ,so thoroughly and sincerely are we compelled to live1 reverencing our life1 and denying the possibility of change4 ,this is the only way1 we say2 but there are as many ways as there can be drawn radii from one centre4 ,all change is a miracle to contemplate2 but it is a miracle which is taking place every instant4 ,confucius said1 8,to know that we know what we know1 and that we do not know what we do not know1 that is true knowledge40 ,when one man has reduced a fact of the imagination to be a fact to his understanding1 ,i foresee that all men at length establish their lives on that basis4 ,let us consider for a moment what most of the trouble and anxiety which ,i have referred to is about1 and how much it is necessary that we be troubled1 or1 at least1 careful4 ,it would be some advantage to live a primitive and frontier life1 though in the midst of an outward civilization1 if only to learn what are the gross necessaries of life and what methods have been taken to obtain them2 or even to look over the old day-books of the merchants1 to see what it was that men most commonly bought at the stores1 what they stored1 that is1 what are the grossest groceries4 ,for the improvements of ages have had but little influence on the essential laws of man's existence2 as our skeletons1 probably1 are not to be distinguished from those of our ancestors4 ,by the words1 necessary of life1 ,i mean whatever1 of all that man obtains by his own exertions1 has been from the first1 or from long use has become1 so important to human life that few1 if any1 whether from savageness1 or poverty1 or philosophy1 ever attempt to do without it4 ,to many creatures there is in this sense but one necessary of life1 ,food4 ,to the bison of the prairie it is a few inches of palatable grass1 with water to drink2 unless he seeks the ,shelter of the forest or the mountain's shadow4 ,none of the brute creation requires more than ,food and ,shelter4 ,the necessaries of life for man in this climate may1 accurately enough1 be distributed under the several heads of ,food1 ,shelter1 ,clothing1 and ,fuel2 for not till we have secured these are we prepared to entertain the true problems of life with freedom and a prospect of success4 ,man has invented1 not only houses1 but clothes and cooked food2 and possibly from the accidental discovery of the warmth of fire1 and the consequent use of it1 at first a luxury1 arose the present necessity to sit by it4 ,we observe cats and dogs acquiring the same second nature4 ,by proper ,shelter and ,clothing we legitimately retain our own internal heat2 but with an excess of these1 or of ,fuel1 that is1 with an external heat greater than our own internal1 may not cookery properly be said to begin8 ,darwin1 the naturalist1 says of the inhabitants of ,tierra del ,fuego1 that while his own party1 who were well clothed and sitting close to a fire1 were far from too warm1 these naked savages1 who were farther off1 were observed1 to his great surprise1 8to be streaming with perspiration at undergoing such a roasting40 ,so1 we are told1 the ,new ,hollander goes naked with impunity1 while the ,european shivers in his clothes4 ,is it impossible to combine the hardiness of these savages with the intellectualness of the civilized man8 ,according to ,liebig1 man's body is a stove1 and food the fuel which keeps up the internal combustion in the lungs4 ,in cold weather we eat more1 in warm less4 ,the animal heat is the result of a slow combustion1 and disease and death take place when this is too rapid2 or for want of fuel1 or from some defect in the draught1 the fire goes out4 ,of course the vital heat is not to be confounded with fire2 but so much for analogy4 ,it appears1 therefore1 from the above list1 that the expression1 animal life1 is nearly synonymous with the expression1 animal heat2 for while ,food may be regarded as the ,fuel which keeps up the fire within us1--and ,fuel serves only to prepare that ,food or to increase the warmth of our bodies by addition from without1--,shelter and ,clothing also serve only to retain the heat thus generated and absorbed4 ,the grand necessity1 then1 for our bodies1 is to keep warm1 to keep the vital heat in us4 ,what pains we accordingly take1 not only with our ,food1 and ,clothing1 and ,shelter1 but with our beds1 which are our night-clothes1 robbing the nests and breasts of birds to prepare this shelter within a shelter1 as the mole has its bed of grass and leaves at the end of its burrow6 ,the poor man is wont to complain that this is a cold world2 and to cold1 no less physical than social1 we refer directly a great part of our ails4 ,the summer1 in some climates1 makes possible to man a sort of ,elysian life4 ,fuel1 except to cook his ,food1 is then unnecessary2 the sun is his fire1 and many of the fruits are sufficiently cooked by its rays2 while ,food generally is more various1 and more easily obtained1 and ,clothing and ,shelter are wholly or half unnecessary4 ,at the present day1 and in this country1 as ,i find by my own experience1 a few implements1 a knife1 an axe1 a spade1 a wheelbarrow1 c41 and for the studious1 lamplight1 stationery1 and access to a few books1 rank next to necessaries1 and can all be obtained at a trifling cost4 ,yet some1 not wise1 go to the other side of the globe1 to barbarous and unhealthy regions1 and devote themselves to trade for ten or twenty years1 in order that they may live1--that is1 keep comfortably warm1--and die in ,new ,england at last4 ,the luxuriously rich are not simply kept comfortably warm1 but unnaturally hot2 as ,i implied before1 they are cooked1 of course la mode4 ,most of the luxuries1 and many of the so called comforts of life1 are not only not indispensable1 but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind4 ,with respect to luxuries and comforts1 the wisest have ever lived a more simple and meagre life than the poor4 ,the ancient philosophers1 ,chinese1 ,hindoo1 ,persian1 and ,greek1 were a class than which none has been poorer in outward riches1 none so rich in inward4 ,we know not much about them4 ,it is remarkable that we know so much of them as we do4 ,the same is true of the more modern reformers and benefactors of their race4 ,none can be an impartial or wise observer of human life but from the vantage ground of what we should call voluntary poverty4 ,of a life of luxury the fruit is luxury1 whether in agriculture1 or commerce1 or literature1 or art4 ,there are nowadays professors of philosophy1 but not philosophers4 ,yet it is admirable to profess because it was once admirable to live4 ,to be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts1 nor even to found a school1 but so to love wisdom as to live according to its dictates1 a life of simplicity1 independence1 magnanimity1 and trust4 ,it is to solve some of the problems of life1 not only theoretically1 but practically4 ,the success of great scholars and thinkers is commonly a courtier-like success1 not kingly1 not manly4 ,they make shift to live merely by conformity1 practically as their fathers did1 and are in no sense the progenitors of a nobler race of men4 ,but why do men degenerate ever8 ,what makes families run out8 ,what is the nature of the luxury which enervates and destroys nations8 ,are we sure that there is none of it in our own lives8 ,the philosopher is in advance of his age even in the outward form of his life4 ,he is not fed1 sheltered1 clothed1 warmed1 like his contemporaries4 ,how can a man be a philosopher and not maintain his vital heat by better methods than other men8 ,when a man is warmed by the several modes which ,i have described1 what does he want next8 ,surely not more warmth of the same kind1 as more and richer food1 larger and more splendid houses1 finer and more abundant clothing1 more numerous incessant and hotter fires1 and the like4 ,when he has obtained those things which are necessary to life1 there is another alternative than to obtain the superfluities2 and that is1 to adventure on life now1 his vacation from humbler toil having commenced4 ,the soil1 it appears1 is suited to the seed1 for it has sent its radicle downward1 and it may now send its shoot upward also with confidence4 ,why has man rooted himself thus firmly in the earth1 but that he may rise in the same proportion into the heavens above8--for the nobler plants are valued for the fruit they bear at last in the air and light1 far from the ground1 and are not treated like the humbler esculents1 which1 though they may be biennials1 are cultivated only till they have perfected their root1 and often cut down at top for this purpose1 so that most would not know them in their flowering season4 ,i do not mean to prescribe rules to strong and valiant natures1 who will mind their own affairs whether in heaven or hell1 and perchance build more magnificently and spend more lavishly than the richest1 without ever impoverishing themselves1 not knowing how they live1--if1 indeed1 there are any such1 as has been dreamed2 nor to those who find their encouragement and inspiration in precisely the present condition of things1 and cherish it with the fondness and enthusiasm of lovers1--and1 to some extent1 ,i reckon myself in this number2 ,i do not speak to those who are well employed1 in whatever circumstances1 and they know whether they are well employed or not2--but mainly to the mass of men who are discontented1 and idly complaining of the hardness of their lot or of the times1 when they might improve them4 ,there are some who complain most energetically and inconsolably of any1 because they are1 as they say1 doing their duty4 ,i also have in my mind that seemingly wealthy1 but most terribly impoverished class of all1 who have accumulated dross1 but know not how to use it1 or get rid of it1 and thus have forged their own golden or silver fetters4 ,if ,i should attempt to tell how ,i have desired to spend my life in years past1 it would probably surprise those of my readers who are somewhat acquainted with its actual history2 it would certainly astonish those who know nothing about it4 ,i will only hint at some of the enterprises which ,i have cherished4 ,in any weather1 at any hour of the day or night1 ,i have been anxious to improve the nick of time1 and notch it on my stick too2 to stand on the meeting of two eternities1 the past and future1 which is precisely the present moment2 to toe that line4 ,you will pardon some obscurities1 for there are more secrets in my trade than in most men's1 and yet not voluntarily kept1 but inseparable from its very nature4 ,i would gladly tell all that ,i know about it1 and never paint 8,no ,admittance0 on my gate4 ,i long ago lost a hound1 a bay horse1 and a turtle-dove1 and am still on their trail4 ,many are the travellers ,i have spoken concerning them1 describing their tracks and what calls they answered to4 ,i have met one or two who had heard the hound1 and the tramp of the horse1 and even seen the dove disappear behind a cloud1 and they seemed as anxious to recover them as if they had lost them themselves4 ,to anticipate1 not the sunrise and the dawn merely1 but1 if possible1 ,nature herself6 ,how many mornings1 summer and winter1 before yet any neighbor was stirring about his business1 have ,i been about mine6 ,no doubt1 many of my townsmen have met me returning from this enterprise1 farmers starting for ,boston in the twilight1 or woodchoppers going to their work4 ,it is true1 ,i never assisted the sun materially in his rising1 but1 doubt not1 it was of the last importance only to be present at it4 ,so many autumn1 ay1 and winter days1 spent outside the town1 trying to hear what was in the wind1 to hear and carry it express6 ,i well-nigh sunk all my capital in it1 and lost my own breath into the bargain1 running in the face of it4 ,if it had concerned either of the political parties1 depend upon it1 it would have appeared in the ,gazette with the earliest intelligence4 ,at other times watching from the observatory of some cliff or tree1 to telegraph any new arrival2 or waiting at evening on the hill-tops for the sky to fall1 that ,i might catch something1 though ,i never caught much1 and that1 manna-wise1 would dissolve again in the sun4 ,for a long time ,i was reporter to a journal1 of no very wide circulation1 whose editor has never yet seen fit to print the bulk of my contributions1 and1 as is too common with writers1 ,i got only my labor for my pains4 ,however1 in this case my pains were their own reward4 ,for many years ,i was self-appointed inspector of snow storms and rain storms1 and did my duty faithfully2 surveyor1 if not of highways1 then of forest paths and all across-lot routes1 keeping them open1 and ravines bridged and passable at all seasons1 where the public heel had testified to their utility4 ,i have looked after the wild stock of the town1 which give a faithful herdsman a good deal of trouble by leaping fences2 and ,i have had an eye to the unfrequented nooks and corners of the farm2 though ,i did not always know whether ,jonas or ,solomon worked in a particular field to-day2 that was none of my business4 ,i have watered the red huckleberry1 the sand cherry and the nettle tree1 the red pine and the black ash1 the white grape and the yellow violet1 which might have withered else in dry seasons4 ,in short1 ,i went on thus for a long time1 ,i may say it without boasting1 faithfully minding my business1 till it became more and more evident that my townsmen would not after all admit me into the list of town officers1 nor make my place a sinecure with a moderate allowance4 ,my accounts1 which ,i can swear to have kept faithfully1 ,i have1 indeed1 never got audited1 still less accepted1 still less paid and settled4 ,however1 ,i have not set my heart on that4 ,not long since1 a strolling ,indian went to sell baskets at the house of a well-known lawyer in my neighborhood4 8,do you wish to buy any baskets80 he asked4 8,no1 we do not want any10 was the reply4 8,what60 exclaimed the ,indian as he went out the gate1 8do you mean to starve us80 ,having seen his industrious white neighbors so well off1--that the lawyer had only to weave arguments1 and by some magic1 wealth and standing followed1 he had said to himself2 ,i will go into business2 ,i will weave baskets2 it is a thing which ,i can do4 ,thinking that when he had made the baskets he would have done his part1 and then it would be the white man's to buy them4 ,he had not discovered that it was necessary for him to make it worth the other's while to buy them1 or at least make him think that it was so1 or to make something else which it would be worth his while to buy4 ,i too had woven a kind of basket of a delicate texture1 but ,i had not made it worth any one's while to buy them4 ,yet not the less1 in my case1 did ,i think it worth my while to weave them1 and instead of studying how to make it worth men's while to buy my baskets1 ,i studied rather how to avoid the necessity of selling them4 ,the life which men praise and regard as successful is but one kind4 ,why should we exaggerate any one kind at the expense of the others8 ,finding that my fellow-citizens were not likely to offer me any room in the court house1 or any curacy or living any where else1 but ,i must shift for myself1 ,i turned my face more exclusively than ever to the woods1 where ,i was better known4 ,i determined to go into business at once1 and not wait to acquire the usual capital1 using such slender means as ,i had already got4 ,my purpose in going to ,walden ,pond was not to live cheaply nor to live dearly there1 but to transact some private business with the fewest obstacles2 to be hindered from accomplishing which for want of a little common sense1 a little enterprise and business talent1 appeared not so sad as foolish4 ,i have always endeavored to acquire strict business habits2 they are indispensable to every man4 ,if your trade is with the ,celestial ,empire1 then some small counting house on the coast1 in some ,salem harbor1 will be fixture enough4 ,you will export such articles as the country affords1 purely native products1 much ice and pine timber and a little granite1 always in native bottoms4 ,these will be good ventures4 ,to oversee all the details yourself in person2 to be at once pilot and captain1 and owner and underwriter2 to buy and sell and keep the accounts2 to read every letter received1 and write or read every letter sent2 to superintend the discharge of imports night and day2 to be upon many parts of the coast almost at the same time2--often the richest freight will be discharged upon a ,jersey shore2--to be your own telegraph1 unweariedly sweeping the horizon1 speaking all passing vessels bound coastwise2 to keep up a steady despatch of commodities1 for the supply of such a distant and exorbitant market2 to keep yourself informed of the state of the markets1 prospects of war and peace every where1 and anticipate the tendencies of trade and civilization1--taking advantage of the results of all exploring expeditions1 using new passages and all improvements in navigation2--charts to be studied1 the position of reefs and new lights and buoys to be ascertained1 and ever1 and ever1 the logarithmic tables to be corrected1 for by the error of some calculator the vessel often splits upon a rock that should have reached a friendly pier1--there is the untold fate of ,la ,perouse2--universal science to be kept pace with1 studying the lives of all great discoverers and navigators1 great adventurers and merchants1 from ,hanno and the ,phnicians down to our day2 in fine1 account of stock to be taken from time to time1 to know how you stand4 ,it is a labor to task the faculties of a man1--such problems of profit and loss1 of interest1 of tare and tret1 and gauging of all kinds in it1 as demand a universal knowledge4 ,i have thought that ,walden ,pond would be a good place for business1 not solely on account of the railroad and the ice trade2 it offers advantages which it may not be good policy to divulge2 it is a good port and a good foundation4 ,no ,neva marshes to be filled2 though you must every where build on piles of your own driving4 ,it is said that a flood-tide1 with a westerly wind1 and ice in the ,neva1 would sweep ,st4 ,petersburg from the face of the earth4 ,as this business was to be entered into without the usual capital1 it may not be easy to conjecture where those means1 that will still be indispensable to every such undertaking1 were to be obtained4 ,as for ,clothing1 to come at once to the practical part of the question1 perhaps we are led oftener by the love of novelty1 and a regard for the opinions of men1 in procuring it1 than by a true utility4 ,let him who has work to do recollect that the object of clothing is1 first1 to retain the vital heat1 and secondly1 in this state of society1 to cover nakedness1 and he may judge how much of any necessary or important work may be accomplished without adding to his wardrobe4 ,kings and queens who wear a suit but once1 though made by some tailor or dressmaker to their majesties1 cannot know the comfort of wearing a suit that fits4 ,they are no better than wooden horses to hang the clean clothes on4 ,every day our garments become more assimilated to ourselves1 receiving the impress of the wearer's character1 until we hesitate to lay them aside1 without such delay and medical appliances and some such solemnity even as our bodies4 ,no man ever stood the lower in my estimation for having a patch in his clothes2 yet ,i am sure that there is greater anxiety1 commonly1 to have fashionable1 or at least clean and unpatched clothes1 than to have a sound conscience4 ,but even if the rent is not mended1 perhaps the worst vice betrayed is improvidence4 ,i sometimes try my acquaintances by such tests as this2--who could wear a patch1 or two extra seams only1 over the knee8 ,most behave as if they believed that their prospects for life would be ruined if they should do it4 ,it would be easier for them to hobble to town with a broken leg than with a broken pantaloon4 ,often if an accident happens to a gentleman's legs1 they can be mended2 but if a similar accident happens to the legs of his pantaloons1 there is no help for it2 for he considers1 not what is truly respectable1 but what is respected4 ,we know but few men1 a great many coats and breeches4 ,dress a scarecrow in your last shift1 you standing shiftless by1 who would not soonest salute the scarecrow8 ,passing a cornfield the other day1 close by a hat and coat on a stake1 ,i recognized the owner of the farm4 ,he was only a little more weather-beaten than when ,i saw him last4 ,i have heard of a dog that barked at every stranger who approached his master's premises with clothes on1 but was easily quieted by a naked thief4 ,it is an interesting question how far men would retain their relative rank if they were divested of their clothes4 ,could you1 in such a case1 tell surely of any company of civilized men1 which belonged to the most respected class8 ,when ,madam ,pfeiffer1 in her adventurous travels round the world1 from east to west1 had got so near home as ,asiatic ,russia1 she says that she felt the necessity of wearing other than a travelling dress1 when she went to meet the authorities1 for she 8was now in a civilized country1 where ---- -- people are judged of by their clothes40 ,even in our democratic ,new ,england towns the accidental possession of wealth1 and its manifestation in dress and equipage alone1 obtain for the possessor almost universal respect4 ,but they yield such respect1 numerous as they are1 are so far heathen1 and need to have a missionary sent to them4 ,beside1 clothes introduced sewing1 a kind of work which you may call endless2 a woman's dress1 at least1 is never done4 ,a man who has at length found something to do will not need to get a new suit to do it in2 for him the old will do1 that has lain dusty in the garret for an indeterminate period4 ,old shoes will serve a hero longer than they have served his valet1--if a hero ever has a valet1--bare feet are older than shoes1 and he can make them do4 ,only they who go to soires and legislative halls must have new coats1 coats to change as often as the man changes in them4 ,but if my jacket and trousers1 my hat and shoes1 are fit to worship ,god in1 they will do2 will they not8 ,who ever saw his old clothes1--his old coat1 actually worn out1 resolved into its primitive elements1 so that it was not a deed of charity to bestow it on some poor boy1 by him perchance to be bestowed on some poorer still1 or shall we say richer1 who could do with less8 ,i say1 beware of all enterprises that require new clothes1 and not rather a new wearer of clothes4 ,if there is not a new man1 how can the new clothes be made to fit8 ,if you have any enterprise before you1 try it in your old clothes4 ,all men want1 not something to do with1 but something to do1 or rather something to be4 ,perhaps we should never procure a new suit1 however ragged or dirty the old1 until we have so conducted1 so enterprised or sailed in some way1 that we feel like new men in the old1 and that to retain it would be like keeping new wine in old bottles4 ,our moulting season1 like that of the fowls1 must be a crisis in our lives4 ,the loon retires to solitary ponds to spend it4 ,thus also the snake casts its slough1 and the caterpillar its wormy coat1 by an internal industry and expansion2 for clothes are but our outmost cuticle and mortal coil4 ,otherwise we shall be found sailing under false colors1 and be inevitably cashiered at last by our own opinion1 as well as that of mankind4 ,we don garment after garment1 as if we grew like exogenous plants by addition without4 ,our outside and often thin and fanciful clothes are our epidermis1 or false skin1 which partakes not of our life1 and may be stripped off here and there without fatal injury2 our thicker garments1 constantly worn1 are our cellular integument1 or cortex2 but our shirts are our liber or true bark1 which cannot be removed without girdling and so destroying the man4 ,i believe that all races at some seasons wear something equivalent to the shirt4 ,it is desirable that a man be clad so simply that he can lay his hands on himself in the dark1 and that he live in all respects so compactly and preparedly1 that1 if an enemy take the town1 he can1 like the old philosopher1 walk out the gate empty-handed without anxiety4 ,while one thick garment is1 for most purposes1 as good as three thin ones1 and cheap clothing can be obtained at prices really to suit customers2 while a thick coat can be bought for five dollars1 which will last as many years1 thick pantaloons for two dollars1 cowhide boots for a dollar and a half a pair1 a summer hat for a quarter of a dollar1 and a winter cap for sixty-two and a half cents1 or a better be made at home at a nominal cost1 where is he so poor that1 clad in such a suit1 of his own earning1 there will not be found wise men to do him reverence8 ,when ,i ask for a garment of a particular form1 my tailoress tells me gravely1 8,they do not make them so now10 not emphasizing the 8,they0 at all1 as if she quoted an authority as impersonal as the ,fates1 and ,i find it difficult to get made what ,i want1 simply because she cannot believe that ,i mean what ,i say1 that ,i am so rash4 ,when ,i hear this oracular sentence1 ,i am for a moment absorbed in thought1 emphasizing to myself each word separately that ,i may come at the meaning of it1 that ,i may find out by what degree of consanguinity ,they are related to me1 and what authority they may have in an affair which affects me so nearly2 and1 finally1 ,i am inclined to answer her with equal mystery1 and without any more emphasis of the 8they10--8,it is true1 they did not make them so recently1 but they do now40 ,of what use this measuring of me if she does not measure my character1 but only the breadth of my shoulders1 as it were a peg to hang the coat on8 ,we worship not the ,graces1 nor the ,parc1 but ,fashion4 ,she spins and weaves and cuts with full authority4 ,the head monkey at ,paris puts on a traveller's cap1 and all the monkeys in ,america do the same4 ,i sometimes despair of getting anything quite simple and honest done in this world by the help of men4 ,they would have to be passed through a powerful press first1 to squeeze their old notions out of them1 so that they would not soon get upon their legs again1 and then there would be some one in the company with a maggot in his head1 hatched from an egg deposited there nobody knows when1 for not even fire kills these things1 and you would have lost your labor4 ,nevertheless1 we will not forget that some ,egyptian wheat was handed down to us by a mummy4 ,on the whole1 ,i think that it cannot be maintained that dressing has in this or any country risen to the dignity of an art4 ,at present men make shift to wear what they can get4 ,like shipwrecked sailors1 they put on what they can find on the beach1 and at a little distance1 whether of space or time1 laugh at each other's masquerade4 ,every generation laughs at the old fashions1 but follows religiously the new4 ,we are amused at beholding the costume of ,henry ,,viii41 or ,queen ,elizabeth1 as much as if it was that of the ,king and ,queen of the ,cannibal ,islands4 ,all costume off a man is pitiful or grotesque4 ,it is only the serious eye peering from and the sincere life passed within it1 which restrain laughter and consecrate the costume of any people4 ,let ,harlequin be taken with a fit of the colic and his trappings will have to serve that mood too4 ,when the soldier is hit by a cannon ball rags are as becoming as purple4 ,the childish and savage taste of men and women for new patterns keeps how many shaking and squinting through kaleidoscopes that they may discover the particular figure which this generation requires today4 ,the manufacturers have learned that this taste is merely whimsical4 ,of two patterns which differ only by a few threads more or less of a particular color1 the one will be sold readily1 the other lie on the shelf1 though it frequently happens that after the lapse of a season the latter becomes the most fashionable4 ,comparatively1 tattooing is not the hideous custom which it is called4 ,it is not barbarous merely because the printing is skin-deep and unalterable4 ,i cannot believe that our factory system is the best mode by which men may get clothing4 ,the condition of the operatives is becoming every day more like that of the ,english2 and it cannot be wondered at1 since1 as far as ,i have heard or observed1 the principal object is1 not that mankind may be well and honestly clad1 but1 unquestionably1 that corporations may be enriched4 ,in the long run men hit only what they aim at4 ,therefore1 though they should fail immediately1 they had better aim at something high4 ,as for a ,shelter1 ,i will not deny that this is now a necessary of life1 though there are instances of men having done without it for long periods in colder countries than this4 ,samuel ,laing says that 8the ,laplander in his skin dress1 and in a skin bag which he puts over his head and shoulders1 will sleep night after night on the snow--in a degree of cold which would extinguish the life of one exposed to it in any woollen clothing40 ,he had seen them asleep thus4 ,yet he adds1 8,they are not hardier than other people40 ,but1 probably1 man did not live long on the earth without discovering the convenience which there is in a house1 the domestic comforts1 which phrase may have originally signified the satisfactions of the house more than of the family2 though these must be extremely partial and occasional in those climates where the house is associated in our thoughts with winter or the rainy season chiefly1 and two thirds of the year1 except for a parasol1 is unnecessary4 ,in our climate1 in the summer1 it was formerly almost solely a covering at night4 ,in the ,indian gazettes a wigwam was the symbol of a day's march1 and a row of them cut or painted on the bark of a tree signified that so many times they had camped4 ,man was not made so large limbed and robust but that he must seek to narrow his world1 and wall in a space such as fitted him4 ,he was at first bare and out of doors2 but though this was pleasant enough in serene and warm weather1 by daylight1 the rainy season and the winter1 to say nothing of the torrid sun1 would perhaps have nipped his race in the bud if he had not made haste to clothe himself with the shelter of a house4 ,adam and ,eve1 according to the fable1 wore the bower before other clothes4 ,man wanted a home1 a place of warmth1 or comfort1 first of physical warmth1 then the warmth of the affections4 ,we may imagine a time when1 in the infancy of the human race1 some enterprising mortal crept into a hollow in a rock for shelter4 ,every child begins the world again1 to some extent1 and loves to stay out doors1 even in wet and cold4 ,it plays house1 as well as horse1 having an instinct for it4 ,who does not remember the interest with which when young he looked at shelving rocks1 or any approach to a cave8 ,it was the natural yearning of that portion of our most primitive ancestor which still survived in us4 ,from the cave we have advanced to roofs of palm leaves1 of bark and boughs1 of linen woven and stretched1 of grass and straw1 of boards and shingles1 of stones and tiles4 ,at last1 we know not what it is to live in the open air1 and our lives are domestic in more senses than we think4 ,from the hearth to the field is a great distance4 ,it would be well perhaps if we were to spend more of our days and nights without any obstruction between us and the celestial bodies1 if the poet did not speak so much from under a roof1 or the saint dwell there so long4 ,birds do not sing in caves1 nor do doves cherish their innocence in dovecots4 ,however1 if one designs to construct a dwelling house1 it behooves him to exercise a little ,yankee shrewdness1 lest after all he find himself in a workhouse1 a labyrinth without a clue1 a museum1 an almshouse1 a prison1 or a splendid mausoleum instead4 ,consider first how slight a shelter is absolutely necessary4 ,i have seen ,penobscot ,indians1 in this town1 living in tents of thin cotton cloth1 while the snow was nearly a foot deep around them1 and ,i thought that they would be glad to have it deeper to keep out the wind4 ,formerly1 when how to get my living honestly1 with freedom left for my proper pursuits1 was a question which vexed me even more than it does now1 for unfortunately ,i am become somewhat callous1 ,i used to see a large box by the railroad1 six feet long by three wide1 in which the laborers locked up their tools at night1 and it suggested to me that every man who was hard pushed might get such a one for a dollar1 and1 having bored a few auger holes in it1 to admit the air at least1 get into it when it rained and at night1 and hook down the lid1 and so have freedom in his love1 and in his soul be free4 ,this did not appear the worst1 nor by any means a despicable alternative4 ,you could sit up as late as you pleased1 and1 whenever you got up1 go abroad without any landlord or house-lord dogging you for rent4 ,many a man is harassed to death to pay the rent of a larger and more luxurious box who would not have frozen to death in such a box as this4 ,i am far from jesting4 ,economy is a subject which admits of being treated with levity1 but it cannot so be disposed of4 ,a comfortable house for a rude and hardy race1 that lived mostly out of doors1 was once made here almost entirely of such materials as ,nature furnished ready to their hands4 ,gookin1 who was superintendent of the ,indians subject to the ,massachusetts ,colony1 writing in #afgd1 says1 8,the best of their houses are covered very neatly1 tight and warm1 with barks of trees1 slipped from their bodies at those seasons when the sap is up1 and made into great flakes1 with pressure of weighty timber1 when they are green4444 ,the meaner sort are covered with mats which they make of a kind of bulrush1 and are also indifferently tight and warm1 but not so good as the former4444 ,some ,i have seen1 sixty or a hundred feet long and thirty feet broad4444 ,i have often lodged in their wigwams1 and found them as warm as the best ,english houses40 ,he adds1 that they were commonly carpeted and lined within with well-wrought embroidered mats1 and were furnished with various utensils4 ,the ,indians had advanced so far as to regulate the effect of the wind by a mat suspended over the hole in the roof and moved by a string4 ,such a lodge was in the first instance constructed in a day or two at most1 and taken down and put up in a few hours2 and every family owned one1 or its apartment in one4 ,in the savage state every family owns a shelter as good as the best1 and sufficient for its coarser and simpler wants2 but ,i think that ,i speak within bounds when ,i say that1 though the birds of the air have their nests1 and the foxes their holes1 and the savages their wigwams1 in modern civilized society not more than one half the families own a shelter4 ,in the large towns and cities1 where civilization especially prevails1 the number of those who own a shelter is a very small fraction of the whole4 ,the rest pay an annual tax for this outside garment of all1 become indispensable summer and winter1 which would buy a village of ,indian wigwams1 but now helps to keep them poor as long as they live4 ,i do not mean to insist here on the disadvantage of hiring compared with owning1 but it is evident that the savage owns his shelter because it costs so little1 while the civilized man hires his commonly because he cannot afford to own it2 nor can he1 in the long run1 any better afford to hire4 ,but1 answers one1 by merely paying this tax the poor civilized man secures an abode which is a palace compared with the savage's4 ,an annual rent of from twenty-five to a hundred dollars1 these are the country rates1 entitles him to the benefit of the improvements of centuries1 spacious apartments1 clean paint and paper1 ,rumford fireplace1 back plastering1 ,venetian blinds1 copper pump1 spring lock1 a commodious cellar1 and many other things4 ,but how happens it that he who is said to enjoy these things is so commonly a poor civilized man1 while the savage1 who has them not1 is rich as a savage8 ,if it is asserted that civilization is a real advance in the condition of man1--and ,i think that it is1 though only the wise improve their advantages1--it must be shown that it has produced better dwellings without making them more costly2 and the cost of a thing is the amount of what ,i will call life which is required to be exchanged for it1 immediately or in the long run4 ,an average house in this neighborhood costs perhaps eight hundred dollars1 and to lay up this sum will take from ten to fifteen years of the laborer's life1 even if he is not encumbered with a family2--estimating the pecuniary value of every man's labor at one dollar a day1 for if some receive more1 others receive less2--so that he must have spent more than half his life commonly before his wigwam will be earned4 ,if we suppose him to pay a rent instead1 this is but a doubtful choice of evils4 ,would the savage have been wise to exchange his wigwam for a palace on these terms8 ,it may be guessed that ,i reduce almost the whole advantage of holding this superfluous property as a fund in store against the future1 so far as the individual is concerned1 mainly to the defraying of funeral expenses4 ,but perhaps a man is not required to bury himself4 ,nevertheless this points to an important distinction between the civilized man and the savage2 and1 no doubt1 they have designs on us for our benefit1 in making the life of a civilized people an institution1 in which the life of the individual is to a great extent absorbed1 in order to preserve and perfect that of the race4 ,but ,i wish to show at what a sacrifice this advantage is at present obtained1 and to suggest that we may possibly so live as to secure all the advantage without suffering any of the disadvantage4 ,what mean ye by saying that the poor ye have always with you1 or that the fathers have eaten sour grapes1 and the children's teeth are set on edge8 8,as ,i live1 saith the ,lord ,god1 ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in ,israel40 8,behold all souls are mine2 as the soul of the father1 so also the soul of the son is mine3 the soul that sinneth1 it shall die40 ,when ,i consider my neighbors1 the farmers of ,concord1 who are at least as well off as the other classes1 ,i find that for the most part they have been toiling twenty1 thirty1 or forty years1 that they may become the real owners of their farms1 which commonly they have inherited with encumbrances1 or else bought with hired money1--and we may regard one third of that toil as the cost of their houses1--but commonly they have not paid for them yet4 ,it is true1 the encumbrances sometimes outweigh the value of the farm1 so that the farm itself becomes one great encumbrance1 and still a man is found to inherit it1 being well acquainted with it1 as he says4 ,on applying to the assessors1 ,i am surprised to learn that they cannot at once name a dozen in the town who own their farms free and clear4 ,if you would know the history of these homesteads1 inquire at the bank where they are mortgaged4 ,the man who has actually paid for his farm with labor on it is so rare that every neighbor can point to him4 ,i doubt if there are three such men in ,concord4 ,what has been said of the merchants1 that a very large majority1 even ninety-seven in a hundred1 are sure to fail1 is equally true of the farmers4 ,with regard to the merchants1 however1 one of them says pertinently that a great part of their failures are not genuine pecuniary failures1 but merely failures to fulfil their engagements1 because it is inconvenient2 that is1 it is the moral character that breaks down4 ,but this puts an infinitely worse face on the matter1 and suggests1 beside1 that probably not even the other three succeed in saving their souls1 but are perchance bankrupt in a worse sense than they who fail honestly4 ,bankruptcy and repudiation are the springboards from which much of our civilization vaults and turns its somersets1 but the savage stands on the unelastic plank of famine4 ,yet the ,middlesex ,cattle ,show goes off here with clat annually1 as if all the joints of the agricultural machine were suent4 ,the farmer is endeavoring to solve the problem of a livelihood by a formula more complicated than the problem itself4 ,to get his shoestrings he speculates in herds of cattle4 ,with consummate skill he has set his trap with a hair spring to catch comfort and independence1 and then1 as he turned away1 got his own leg into it4 ,this is the reason he is poor2 and for a similar reason we are all poor in respect to a thousand savage comforts1 though surrounded by luxuries4 ,as ,chapman sings1-- 8,the false society of men-- --for earthly greatness ,all heavenly comforts rarefies to air40 ,and when the farmer has got his house1 he may not be the richer but the poorer for it1 and it be the house that has got him4 ,as ,i understand it1 that was a valid objection urged by ,momus against the house which ,minerva made1 that she 8had not made it movable1 by which means a bad neighborhood might be avoided20 and it may still be urged1 for our houses are such unwieldy property that we are often imprisoned rather than housed in them2 and the bad neighborhood to be avoided is our own scurvy selves4 ,i know one or two families1 at least1 in this town1 who1 for nearly a generation1 have been wishing to sell their houses in the outskirts and move into the village1 but have not been able to accomplish it1 and only death will set them free4 ,granted that the majority are able at last either to own or hire the modern house with all its improvements4 ,while civilization has been improving our houses1 it has not equally improved the men who are to inhabit them4 ,it has created palaces1 but it was not so easy to create noblemen and kings4 ,and if the civilized man's pursuits are no worthier than the savage's1 if he is employed the greater part of his life in obtaining gross necessaries and comforts merely1 why should he have a better dwelling than the former8 ,but how do the poor minority fare8 ,perhaps it will be found1 that just in proportion as some have been placed in outward circumstances above the savage1 others have been degraded below him4 ,the luxury of one class is counterbalanced by the indigence of another4 ,on the one side is the palace1 on the other are the almshouse and 8silent poor40 ,the myriads who built the pyramids to be the tombs of the ,pharaohs were fed on garlic1 and it may be were not decently buried themselves4 ,the mason who finishes the cornice of the palace returns at night perchance to a hut not so good as a wigwam4 ,it is a mistake to suppose that1 in a country where the usual evidences of civilization exist1 the condition of a very large body of the inhabitants may not be as degraded as that of savages4 ,i refer to the degraded poor1 not now to the degraded rich4 ,to know this ,i should not need to look farther than to the shanties which every where border our railroads1 that last improvement in civilization2 where ,i see in my daily walks human beings living in sties1 and all winter with an open door1 for the sake of light1 without any visible1 often imaginable1 wood pile1 and the forms of both old and young are permanently contracted by the long habit of shrinking from cold and misery1 and the development of all their limbs and faculties is checked4 ,it certainly is fair to look at that class by whose labor the works which distinguish this generation are accomplished4 ,such too1 to a greater or less extent1 is the condition of the operatives of every denomination in ,england1 which is the great workhouse of the world4 ,or ,i could refer you to ,ireland1 which is marked as one of the white or enlightened spots on the map4 ,contrast the physical condition of the ,irish with that of the ,north ,american ,indian1 or the ,south ,sea ,islander1 or any other savage race before it was degraded by contact with the civilized man4 ,yet ,i have no doubt that that people's rulers are as wise as the average of civilized rulers4 ,their condition only proves what squalidness may consist with civilization4 ,i hardly need refer now to the laborers in our ,southern ,states who produce the staple exports of this country1 and are themselves a staple production of the ,south4 ,but to confine myself to those who are said to be in moderate circumstances4 ,most men appear never to have considered what a house is1 and are actually though needlessly poor all their lives because they think that they must have such a one as their neighbors have4 ,as if one were to wear any sort of coat which the tailor might cut out for him1 or1 gradually leaving off palmleaf hat or cap of woodchuck skin1 complain of hard times because he could not afford to buy him a crown6 ,it is possible to invent a house still more convenient and luxurious than we have1 which yet all would admit that man could not afford to pay for4 ,shall we always study to obtain more of these things1 and not sometimes to be content with less8 ,shall the respectable citizen thus gravely teach1 by precept and example1 the necessity of the young man's providing a certain number of superfluous glow-shoes1 and umbrellas1 and empty guest chambers for empty guests1 before he dies8 ,why should not our furniture be as simple as the ,arab's or the ,indian's8 ,when ,i think of the benefactors of the race1 whom we have apotheosized as messengers from heaven1 bearers of divine gifts to man1 ,i do not see in my mind any retinue at their heels1 any car-load of fashionable furniture4 ,or what if ,i were to allow--would it not be a singular allowance8--that our furniture should be more complex than the ,arab's1 in proportion as we are morally and intellectually his superiors6 ,at present our houses are cluttered and defiled with it1 and a good housewife would sweep out the greater part into the dust hole1 and not leave her morning's work undone4 ,morning work6 ,by the blushes of ,aurora and the music of ,memnon1 what should be man's morning work in this world8 ,i had three pieces of limestone on my desk1 but ,i was terrified to find that they required to be dusted daily1 when the furniture of my mind was all undusted still1 and ,i threw them out the window in disgust4 ,how1 then1 could ,i have a furnished house8 ,i would rather sit in the open air1 for no dust gathers on the grass1 unless where man has broken ground4 ,it is the luxurious and dissipated who set the fashions which the herd so diligently follow4 ,the traveller who stops at the best houses1 so called1 soon discovers this1 for the publicans presume him to be a ,sardanapalus1 and if he resigned himself to their tender mercies he would soon be completely emasculated4 ,i think that in the railroad car we are inclined to spend more on luxury than on safety and convenience1 and it threatens without attaining these to become no better than a modern drawing room1 with its divans1 and ottomans1 and sun-shades1 and a hundred other oriental things1 which we are taking west with us1 invented for the ladies of the harem and the effeminate natives of the ,celestial ,empire1 which ,jonathan should be ashamed to know the names of4 ,i would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself than be crowded on a velvet cushion4 ,i would rather ride on earth in an ox cart with a free circulation1 than go to heaven in the fancy car of an excursion train and breathe a malaria all the way4 ,the very simplicity and nakedness of man's life in the primitive ages imply this advantage at least1 that they left him still but a sojourner in nature4 ,when he was refreshed with food and sleep he contemplated his journey again4 ,he dwelt1 as it were1 in a tent in this world1 and was either threading the valleys1 or crossing the plains1 or climbing the mountain tops4 ,but lo6 men have become the tools of their tools4 ,the man who independently plucked the fruits when he was hungry is become a farmer2 and he who stood under a tree for shelter1 a housekeeper4 ,we now no longer camp as for a night1 but have settled down on earth and forgotten heaven4 ,we have adopted ,christianity merely as an improved method of agri-culture4 ,we have built for this world a family mansion1 and for the next a family tomb4 ,the best works of art are the expression of man's struggle to free himself from this condition1 but the effect of our art is merely to make this low state comfortable and that higher state to be forgotten4 ,there is actually no place in this village for a work of fine art1 if any had come down to us1 to stand1 for our lives1 our houses and streets1 furnish no proper pedestal for it4 ,there is not a nail to hang a picture on1 nor a shelf to receive the bust of a hero or a saint4 ,when ,i consider how our houses are built and paid for1 or not paid for1 and their internal economy managed and sustained1 ,i wonder that the floor does not give way under the visitor while he is admiring the gewgaws upon the mantel-piece1 and let him through into the cellar1 to some solid and honest though earthy foundation4 ,i cannot but perceive that this so called rich and refined life is a thing jumped at1 and ,i do not get on in the enjoyment of the fine arts which adorn it1 my attention being wholly occupied with the jump2 for ,i remember that the greatest genuine leap1 due to human muscles alone1 on record1 is that of certain wandering ,arabs1 who are said to have cleared twenty-five feet on level ground4 ,without factitious support1 man is sure to come to earth again beyond that distance4 ,the first question which ,i am tempted to put to the proprietor of such great impropriety is1 ,who bolsters you8 ,are you one of the ninety-seven who fail1 or of the three who succeed8 ,answer me these questions1 and then perhaps ,i may look at your bawbles and find them ornamental4 ,the cart before the horse is neither beautiful nor useful4 ,before we can adorn our houses with beautiful objects the walls must be stripped1 and our lives must be stripped1 and beautiful housekeeping and beautiful living be laid for a foundation3 now1 a taste for the beautiful is most cultivated out of doors1 where there is no house and no housekeeper4 ,old ,johnson1 in his 8,wonder-,working ,providence10 speaking of the first settlers of this town1 with whom he was contemporary1 tells us that 8they burrow themselves in the earth for their first shelter under some hillside1 and1 casting the soil aloft upon timber1 they make a smoky fire against the earth1 at the highest side40 ,they did not 8provide them houses10 says he1 8till the earth1 by the ,lord's blessing1 brought forth bread to feed them10 and the first year's crop was so light that 8they were forced to cut their bread very thin for a long season40 ,the secretary of the ,province of ,new ,netherland1 writing in ,dutch1 in #afej1 for the information of those who wished to take up land there1 states more particularly that 8those in ,new ,netherland1 and especially in ,new ,england1 who have no means to build farmhouses at first according to their wishes1 dig a square pit in the ground1 cellar fashion1 six or seven feet deep1 as long and as broad as they think proper1 case the earth inside with wood all round the wall1 and line the wood with the bark of trees or something else to prevent the caving in of the earth2 floor this cellar with plank1 and wainscot it overhead for a ceiling1 raise a roof of spars clear up1 and cover the spars with bark or green sods1 so that they can live dry and warm in these houses with their entire families for two1 three1 and four years1 it being understood that partitions are run through those cellars which are adapted to the size of the family4 ,the wealthy and principal men in ,new ,england1 in the beginning of the colonies1 commenced their first dwelling houses in this fashion for two reasons2 firstly1 in order not to waste time in building1 and not to want food the next season2 secondly1 in order not to discourage poor laboring people whom they brought over in numbers from ,fatherland4 ,in the course of three or four years1 when the country became adapted to agriculture1 they built themselves handsome houses1 spending on them several thousands40 ,in this course which our ancestors took there was a show of prudence at least1 as if their principle were to satisfy the more pressing wants first4 ,but are the more pressing wants satisfied now8 ,when ,i think of acquiring for myself one of our luxurious dwellings1 ,i am deterred1 for1 so to speak1 the country is not yet adapted to human culture1 and we are still forced to cut our spiritual bread far thinner than our forefathers did their wheaten4 ,not that all architectural ornament is to be neglected even in the rudest periods2 but let our houses first be lined with beauty1 where they come in contact with our lives1 like the tenement of the shellfish1 and not overlaid with it4 ,but1 alas6 ,i have been inside one or two of them1 and know what they are lined with4 ,though we are not so degenerate but that we might possibly live in a cave or a wigwam or wear skins today1 it certainly is better to accept the advantages1 though so dearly bought1 which the invention and industry of mankind offer4 ,in such a neighborhood as this1 boards and shingles1 lime and bricks1 are cheaper and more easily obtained than suitable caves1 or whole logs1 or bark in sufficient quantities1 or even well-tempered clay or flat stones4 ,i speak understandingly on this subject1 for ,i have made myself acquainted with it both theoretically and practically4 ,with a little more wit we might use these materials so as to become richer than the richest now are1 and make our civilization a blessing4 ,the civilized man is a more experienced and wiser savage4 ,but to make haste to my own experiment4 ,near the end of ,march1 #ahde1 ,i borrowed an axe and went down to the woods by ,walden ,pond1 nearest to where ,i intended to build my house1 and began to cut down some tall1 arrowy white pines1 still in their youth1 for timber4 ,it is difficult to begin without borrowing1 but perhaps it is the most generous course thus to permit your fellow-men to have an interest in your enterprise4 ,the owner of the axe1 as he released his hold on it1 said that it was the apple of his eye2 but ,i returned it sharper than ,i received it4 ,it was a pleasant hillside where ,i worked1 covered with pine woods1 through which ,i looked out on the pond1 and a small open field in the woods where pines and hickories were springing up4 ,the ice in the pond was not yet dissolved1 though there were some open spaces1 and it was all dark colored and saturated with water4 ,there were some slight flurries of snow during the days that ,i worked there2 but for the most part when ,i came out on to the railroad1 on my way home1 its yellow sand heap stretched away gleaming in the hazy atmosphere1 and the rails shone in the spring sun1 and ,i heard the lark and pewee and other birds already come to commence another year with us4 ,they were pleasant spring days1 in which the winter of man's discontent was thawing as well as the earth1 and the life that had lain torpid began to stretch itself4 ,one day1 when my axe had come off and ,i had cut a green hickory for a wedge1 driving it with a stone1 and had placed the whole to soak in a pond hole in order to swell the wood1 ,i saw a striped snake run into the water1 and he lay on the bottom1 apparently without inconvenience1 as long as ,i stayed there1 or more than a quarter of an hour2 perhaps because he had not yet fairly come out of the torpid state4 ,it appeared to me that for a like reason men remain in their present low and primitive condition2 but if they should feel the influence of the spring of springs arousing them1 they would of necessity rise to a higher and more ethereal life4 ,i had previously seen the snakes in frosty mornings in my path with portions of their bodies still numb and inflexible1 waiting for the sun to thaw them4 ,on the #ast of ,april it rained and melted the ice1 and in the early part of the day1 which was very foggy1 ,i heard a stray goose groping about over the pond and cackling as if lost1 or like the spirit of the fog4 ,so ,i went on for some days cutting and hewing timber1 and also studs and rafters1 all with my narrow axe1 not having many communicable or scholar-like thoughts1 singing to myself1-- ,men say they know many things2 ,but lo6 they have taken wings1-- ,the arts and sciences1 ,and a thousand appliances2 ,the wind that blows ,is all that any body knows4 ,i hewed the main timbers six inches square1 most of the studs on two sides only1 and the rafters and floor timbers on one side1 leaving the rest of the bark on1 so that they were just as straight and much stronger than sawed ones4 ,each stick was carefully mortised or tenoned by its stump1 for ,i had borrowed other tools by this time4 ,my days in the woods were not very long ones2 yet ,i usually carried my dinner of bread and butter1 and read the newspaper in which it was wrapped1 at noon1 sitting amid the green pine boughs which ,i had cut off1 and to my bread was imparted some of their fragrance1 for my hands were covered with a thick coat of pitch4 ,before ,i had done ,i was more the friend than the foe of the pine tree1 though ,i had cut down some of them1 having become better acquainted with it4 ,sometimes a rambler in the wood was attracted by the sound of my axe1 and we chatted pleasantly over the chips which ,i had made4 ,by the middle of ,april1 for ,i made no haste in my work1 but rather made the most of it1 my house was framed and ready for the raising4 ,i had already bought the shanty of ,james ,collins1 an ,irishman who worked on the ,fitchburg ,railroad1 for boards4 ,james ,collins' shanty was considered an uncommonly fine one4 ,when ,i called to see it he was not at home4 ,i walked about the outside1 at first unobserved from within1 the window was so deep and high4 ,it was of small dimensions1 with a peaked cottage roof1 and not much else to be seen1 the dirt being raised five feet all around as if it were a compost heap4 ,the roof was the soundest part1 though a good deal warped and made brittle by the sun4 ,door-sill there was none1 but a perennial passage for the hens under the door board4 ,mrs4 ,c4 came to the door and asked me to view it from the inside4 ,the hens were driven in by my approach4 ,it was dark1 and had a dirt floor for the most part1 dank1 clammy1 and aguish1 only here a board and there a board which would not bear removal4 ,she lighted a lamp to show me the inside of the roof and the walls1 and also that the board floor extended under the bed1 warning me not to step into the cellar1 a sort of dust hole two feet deep4 ,in her own words1 they were 8good boards overhead1 good boards all around1 and a good window10--of two whole squares originally1 only the cat had passed out that way lately4 ,there was a stove1 a bed1 and a place to sit1 an infant in the house where it was born1 a silk parasol1 gilt-framed looking-glass1 and a patent new coffee mill nailed to an oak sapling1 all told4 ,the bargain was soon concluded1 for ,james had in the meanwhile returned4 ,i to pay four dollars and twenty-five cents to-night1 he to vacate at five to-morrow morning1 selling to nobody else meanwhile3 ,i to take possession at six4 ,it were well1 he said1 to be there early1 and anticipate certain indistinct but wholly unjust claims on the score of ground rent and fuel4 ,this he assured me was the only encumbrance4 ,at six ,i passed him and his family on the road4 ,one large bundle held their all1--bed1 coffee-mill1 looking-glass1 hens1--all but the cat1 she took to the woods and became a wild cat1 and1 as ,i learned afterward1 trod in a trap set for woodchucks1 and so became a dead cat at last4 ,i took down this dwelling the same morning1 drawing the nails1 and removed it to the pond side by small cartloads1 spreading the boards on the grass there to bleach and warp back again in the sun4 ,one early thrush gave me a note or two as ,i drove along the woodland path4 ,i was informed treacherously by a young ,patrick that neighbor ,seeley1 an ,irishman1 in the intervals of the carting1 transferred the still tolerable1 straight1 and drivable nails1 staples1 and spikes to his pocket1 and then stood when ,i came back to pass the time of day1 and look freshly up1 unconcerned1 with spring thoughts1 at the devastation2 there being a dearth of work1 as he said4 ,he was there to represent spectatordom1 and help make this seemingly insignificant event one with the removal of the gods of ,troy4 ,i dug my cellar in the side of a hill sloping to the south1 where a woodchuck had formerly dug his burrow1 down through sumach and blackberry roots1 and the lowest stain of vegetation1 six feet square by seven deep1 to a fine sand where potatoes would not freeze in any winter4 ,the sides were left shelving1 and not stoned2 but the sun having never shone on them1 the sand still keeps its place4 ,it was but two hours' work4 ,i took particular pleasure in this breaking of ground1 for in almost all latitudes men dig into the earth for an equable temperature4 ,under the most splendid house in the city is still to be found the cellar where they store their roots as of old1 and long after the superstructure has disappeared posterity remark its dent in the earth4 ,the house is still but a sort of porch at the entrance of a burrow4 ,at length1 in the beginning of ,may1 with the help of some of my acquaintances1 rather to improve so good an occasion for neighborliness than from any necessity1 ,i set up the frame of my house4 ,no man was ever more honored in the character of his raisers than ,i4 ,they are destined1 ,i trust1 to assist at the raising of loftier structures one day4 ,i began to occupy my house on the #dth of ,july1 as soon as it was boarded and roofed1 for the boards were carefully feather-edged and lapped1 so that it was perfectly impervious to rain2 but before boarding ,i laid the foundation of a chimney at one end1 bringing two cartloads of stones up the hill from the pond in my arms4 ,i built the chimney after my hoeing in the fall1 before a fire became necessary for warmth1 doing my cooking in the mean while out of doors on the ground1 early in the morning3 which mode ,i still think is in some respects more convenient and agreeable than the usual one4 ,when it stormed before my bread was baked1 ,i fixed a few boards over the fire1 and sat under them to watch my loaf1 and passed some pleasant hours in that way4 ,in those days1 when my hands were much employed1 ,i read but little1 but the least scraps of paper which lay on the ground1 my holder1 or tablecloth1 afforded me as much entertainment1 in fact answered the same purpose as the ,iliad4 ,it would be worth the while to build still more deliberately than ,i did1 considering1 for instance1 what foundation a door1 a window1 a cellar1 a garret1 have in the nature of man1 and perchance never raising any superstructure until we found a better reason for it than our temporal necessities even4 ,there is some of the same fitness in a man's building his own house that there is in a bird's building its own nest4 ,who knows but if men constructed their dwellings with their own hands1 and provided food for themselves and families simply and honestly enough1 the poetic faculty would be universally developed1 as birds universally sing when they are so engaged8 ,but alas6 we do like cowbirds and cuckoos1 which lay their eggs in nests which other birds have built1 and cheer no traveller with their chattering and unmusical notes4 ,shall we forever resign the pleasure of construction to the carpenter8 ,what does architecture amount to in the experience of the mass of men8 ,i never in all my walks came across a man engaged in so simple and natural an occupation as building his house4 ,we belong to the community4 ,it is not the tailor alone who is the ninth part of a man2 it is as much the preacher1 and the merchant1 and the farmer4 ,where is this division of labor to end8 and what object does it finally serve8 ,no doubt another may also think for me2 but it is not therefore desirable that he should do so to the exclusion of my thinking for myself4 ,true1 there are architects so called in this country1 and ,i have heard of one at least possessed with the idea of making architectural ornaments have a core of truth1 a necessity1 and hence a beauty1 as if it were a revelation to him4 ,all very well perhaps from his point of view1 but only a little better than the common dilettantism4 ,a sentimental reformer in architecture1 he began at the cornice1 not at the foundation4 ,it was only how to put a core of truth within the ornaments1 that every sugar plum in fact might have an almond or caraway seed in it1--though ,i hold that almonds are most wholesome without the sugar1--and not how the inhabitant1 the indweller1 might build truly within and without1 and let the ornaments take care of themselves4 ,what reasonable man ever supposed that ornaments were something outward and in the skin merely1--that the tortoise got his spotted shell1 or the shellfish its mother-o'-pearl tints1 by such a contract as the inhabitants of ,broadway their ,trinity ,church8 ,but a man has no more to do with the style of architecture of his house than a tortoise with that of its shell3 nor need the soldier be so idle as to try to paint the precise color of his virtue on his standard4 ,the enemy will find it out4 ,he may turn pale when the trial comes4 ,this man seemed to me to lean over the cornice1 and timidly whisper his half truth to the rude occupants who really knew it better than he4 ,what of architectural beauty ,i now see1 ,i know has gradually grown from within outward1 out of the necessities and character of the indweller1 who is the only builder1--out of some unconscious truthfulness1 and nobleness1 without ever a thought for the appearance and whatever additional beauty of this kind is destined to be produced will be preceded by a like unconscious beauty of life4 ,the most interesting dwellings in this country1 as the painter knows1 are the most unpretending1 humble log huts and cottages of the poor commonly2 it is the life of the inhabitants whose shells they are1 and not any peculiarity in their surfaces merely1 which makes them picturesque2 and equally interesting will be the citizen's suburban box1 when his life shall be as simple and as agreeable to the imagination1 and there is as little straining after effect in the style of his dwelling4 ,a great proportion of architectural ornaments are literally hollow1 and a ,september gale would strip them off1 like borrowed plumes1 without injury to the substantials4 ,they can do without architecture who have no olives nor wines in the cellar4 ,what if an equal ado were made about the ornaments of style in literature1 and the architects of our bibles spent as much time about their cornices as the architects of our churches do8 ,so are made the belles-lettres and the beaux-arts and their professors4 ,much it concerns a man1 forsooth1 how a few sticks are slanted over him or under him1 and what colors are daubed upon his box4 ,it would signify somewhat1 if1 in any earnest sense1 he slanted them and daubed it2 but the spirit having departed out of the tenant1 it is of a piece with constructing his own coffin1--the architecture of the grave1 and 8carpenter0 is but another name for 8coffin-maker40 ,one man says1 in his despair or indifference to life1 take up a handful of the earth at your feet1 and paint your house that color4 ,is he thinking of his last and narrow house8 ,toss up a copper for it as well4 ,what an abundance of leisure he must have6 ,why do you take up a handful of dirt8 ,better paint your house your own complexion2 let it turn pale or blush for you4 ,an enterprise to improve the style of cottage architecture6 ,when you have got my ornaments ready ,i will wear them4 ,before winter ,i built a chimney1 and shingled the sides of my house1 which were already impervious to rain1 with imperfect and sappy shingles made of the first slice of the log1 whose edges ,i was obliged to straighten with a plane4 ,i have thus a tight shingled and plastered house1 ten feet wide by fifteen long1 and eight-feet posts1 with a garret and a closet1 a large window on each side1 two trap doors1 one door at the end1 and a brick fireplace opposite4 ,the exact cost of my house1 paying the usual price for such materials as ,i used1 but not counting the work1 all of which was done by myself1 was as follows2 and ,i give the details because very few are able to tell exactly what their houses cost1 and fewer still1 if any1 the separate cost of the various materials which compose them3-- ,boards44444444444444444444444444 #h4jc1 mostly shanty boards4 ,refuse shingles for roof sides144 #d4jj ,laths1444444444444444444444444444 #a4be ,two second-hand windows with glass14444444444444444444 #b4dc ,one thousand old brick14444444444 #d4jj ,two casks of lime1444444444444444 #b4dj ,that was high4 ,hair14444444444444444444444444444 #j4ca ,more than ,i needed4 ,mantle-tree iron14444444444444444 #j4ae ,nails1444444444444444444444444444 #c4ij ,hinges and screws1444444444444444 #j4ad ,latch1444444444444444444444444444 #j4aj ,chalk1444444444444444444444444444 #j4ja ,transportation1444444444444444444 #a4dj ,i carried a good part -------- on my back4 ,in all1444444444444444444444 #bh4ab ,these are all the materials excepting the timber stones and sand1 which ,i claimed by squatter's right4 ,i have also a small wood-shed adjoining1 made chiefly of the stuff which was left after building the house4 ,i intend to build me a house which will surpass any on the main street in ,concord in grandeur and luxury1 as soon as it pleases me as much and will cost me no more than my present one4 ,i thus found that the student who wishes for a shelter can obtain one for a lifetime at an expense not greater than the rent which he now pays annually4 ,if ,i seem to boast more than is becoming1 my excuse is that ,i brag for humanity rather than for myself2 and my shortcomings and inconsistencies do not affect the truth of my statement4 ,notwithstanding much cant and hypocrisy1--chaff which ,i find it difficult to separate from my wheat1 but for which ,i am as sorry as any man1--,i will breathe freely and stretch myself in this respect1 it is such a relief to both the moral and physical system2 and ,i am resolved that ,i will not through humility become the devil's attorney4 ,i will endeavor to speak a good word for the truth4 ,at ,cambridge ,college the mere rent of a student's room1 which is only a little larger than my own1 is thirty dollars each year1 though the corporation had the advantage of building thirty-two side by side and under one roof1 and the occupant suffers the inconvenience of many and noisy neighbors1 and perhaps a residence in the fourth story4 ,i cannot but think that if we had more true wisdom in these respects1 not only less education would be needed1 because1 forsooth1 more would already have been acquired1 but the pecuniary expense of getting an education would in a great measure vanish4 ,those conveniences which the student requires at ,cambridge or elsewhere cost him or somebody else ten times as great a sacrifice of life as they would with proper management on both sides4 ,those things for which the most money is demanded are never the things which the student most wants4 ,tuition1 for instance1 is an important item in the term bill1 while for the far more valuable education which he gets by associating with the most cultivated of his contemporaries no charge is made4 ,the mode of founding a college is1 commonly1 to get up a subscription of dollars and cents1 and then following blindly the principles of a division of labor to its extreme1 a principle which should never be followed but with circumspection1--to call in a contractor who makes this a subject of speculation1 and he employs ,irishmen or other operatives actually to lay the foundations1 while the students that are to be are said to be fitting themselves for it2 and for these oversights successive generations have to pay4 ,i think that it would be better than this1 for the students1 or those who desire to be benefited by it1 even to lay the foundation themselves4 ,the student who secures his coveted leisure and retirement by systematically shirking any labor necessary to man obtains but an ignoble and unprofitable leisure1 defrauding himself of the experience which alone can make leisure fruitful4 8,but10 says one1 8you do not mean that the students should go to work with their hands instead of their heads80 ,i do not mean that exactly1 but ,i mean something which he might think a good deal like that2 ,i mean that they should not play life1 or study it merely1 while the community supports them at this expensive game1 but earnestly live it from beginning to end4 ,how could youths better learn to live than by at once trying the experiment of living8 ,methinks this would exercise their minds as much as mathematics4 ,if ,i wished a boy to know something about the arts and sciences1 for instance1 ,i would not pursue the common course1 which is merely to send him into the neighborhood of some professor1 where any thing is professed and practised but the art of life2--to survey the world through a telescope or a microscope1 and never with his natural eye2 to study chemistry1 and not learn how his bread is made1 or mechanics1 and not learn how it is earned2 to discover new satellites to ,neptune1 and not detect the motes in his eyes1 or to what vagabond he is a satellite himself2 or to be devoured by the monsters that swarm all around him1 while contemplating the monsters in a drop of vinegar4 ,which would have advanced the most at the end of a month1--the boy who had made his own jackknife from the ore which he had dug and smelted1 reading as much as would be necessary for this1--or the boy who had attended the lectures on metallurgy at the ,institute in the mean while1 and had received a ,rodgers' penknife from his father8 ,which would be most likely to cut his fingers8444 ,to my astonishment ,i was informed on leaving college that ,i had studied navigation6--why1 if ,i had taken one turn down the harbor ,i should have known more about it4 ,even the poor student studies and is taught only political economy1 while that economy of living which is synonymous with philosophy is not even sincerely professed in our colleges4 ,the consequence is1 that while he is reading ,adam ,smith1 ,ricardo1 and ,say1 he runs his father in debt irretrievably4 ,as with our colleges1 so with a hundred 8modern improvements02 there is an illusion about them2 there is not always a positive advance4 ,the devil goes on exacting compound interest to the last for his early share and numerous succeeding investments in them4 ,our inventions are wont to be pretty toys1 which distract our attention from serious things4 ,they are but improved means to an unimproved end1 an end which it was already but too easy to arrive at2 as railroads lead to ,boston or ,new ,york4 ,we are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from ,maine to ,texas2 but ,maine and ,texas1 it may be1 have nothing important to communicate4 ,either is in such a predicament as the man who was earnest to be introduced to a distinguished deaf woman1 but when he was presented1 and one end of her ear trumpet was put into his hand1 had nothing to say4 ,as if the main object were to talk fast and not to talk sensibly4 ,we are eager to tunnel under the ,atlantic and bring the old world some weeks nearer to the new2 but perchance the first news that will leak through into the broad1 flapping ,american ear will be that the ,princess ,adelaide has the whooping cough4 ,after all1 the man whose horse trots a mile in a minute does not carry the most important messages2 he is not an evangelist1 nor does he come round eating locusts and wild honey4 ,i doubt if ,flying ,childers ever carried a peck of corn to mill4 ,one says to me1 8,i wonder that you do not lay up money2 you love to travel2 you might take the cars and go to ,fitchburg to-day and see the country40 ,but ,i am wiser than that4 ,i have learned that the swiftest traveller is he that goes afoot4 ,i say to my friend1 ,suppose we try who will get there first4 ,the distance is thirty miles2 the fare ninety cents4 ,that is almost a day's wages4 ,i remember when wages were sixty cents a day for laborers on this very road4 ,well1 ,i start now on foot1 and get there before night2 ,i have travelled at that rate by the week together4 ,you will in the mean while have earned your fare1 and arrive there some time to-morrow1 or possibly this evening1 if you are lucky enough to get a job in season4 ,instead of going to ,fitchburg1 you will be working here the greater part of the day4 ,and so1 if the railroad reached round the world1 ,i think that ,i should keep ahead of you2 and as for seeing the country and getting experience of that kind1 ,i should have to cut your acquaintance altogether4 ,such is the universal law1 which no man can ever outwit1 and with regard to the railroad even we may say it is as broad as it is long4 ,to make a railroad round the world available to all mankind is equivalent to grading the whole surface of the planet4 ,men have an indistinct notion that if they keep up this activity of joint stocks and spades long enough all will at length ride somewhere1 in next to no time1 and for nothing2 but though a crowd rushes to the depot1 and the conductor shouts 8,all aboard60 when the smoke is blown away and the vapor condensed1 it will be perceived that a few are riding1 but the rest are run over1--and it will be called1 and will be1 8,a melancholy accident40 ,no doubt they can ride at last who shall have earned their fare1 that is1 if they survive so long1 but they will probably have lost their elasticity and desire to travel by that time4 ,this spending of the best part of one's life earning money in order to enjoy a questionable liberty during the least valuable part of it1 reminds me of the ,englishman who went to ,india to make a fortune first1 in order that he might return to ,england and live the life of a poet4 ,he should have gone up garret at once4 8,what60 exclaim a million ,irishmen starting up from all the shanties in the land1 8is not this railroad which we have built a good thing80 ,yes1 ,i answer1 comparatively good1 that is1 you might have done worse2 but ,i wish1 as you are brothers of mine1 that you could have spent your time better than digging in this dirt4 ,before ,i finished my house1 wishing to earn ten or twelve dollars by some honest and agreeable method1 in order to meet my unusual expenses1 ,i planted about two acres and a half of light and sandy soil near it chiefly with beans1 but also a small part with potatoes1 corn1 peas1 and turnips4 ,the whole lot contains eleven acres1 mostly growing up to pines and hickories1 and was sold the preceding season for eight dollars and eight cents an acre4 ,one farmer said that it was 8good for nothing but to raise cheeping squirrels on40 ,i put no manure whatever on this land1 not being the owner1 but merely a squatter1 and not expecting to cultivate so much again1 and ,i did not quite hoe it all once4 ,i got out several cords of stumps in ploughing1 which supplied me with fuel for a long time1 and left small circles of virgin mould1 easily distinguishable through the summer by the greater luxuriance of the beans there4 ,the dead and for the most part unmerchantable wood behind my house1 and the driftwood from the pond1 have supplied the remainder of my fuel4 ,i was obliged to hire a team and a man for the ploughing1 though ,i held the plough myself4 ,my farm outgoes for the first season were1 for implements1 seed1 work1 c41 #ad4gb4 ,the seed corn was given me4 ,this never costs anything to speak of1 unless you plant more than enough4 ,i got twelve bushels of beans1 and eighteen bushels of potatoes1 beside some peas and sweet corn4 ,the yellow corn and turnips were too late to come to any thing4 ,my whole income from the farm was #bc4dd ,deducting the outgoes144444444444 #ad4gb -------- ,there are left144444444444444444 #h4ga1 beside produce consumed and on hand at the time this estimate was made of the value of #d4ej1--the amount on hand much more than balancing a little grass which ,i did not raise4 ,all things considered1 that is1 considering the importance of a man's soul and of to-day1 notwithstanding the short time occupied by my experiment1 nay1 partly even because of its transient character1 ,i believe that that was doing better than any farmer in ,concord did that year4 ,the next year ,i did better still1 for ,i spaded up all the land which ,i required1 about a third of an acre1 and ,i learned from the experience of both years1 not being in the least awed by many celebrated works on husbandry1 ,arthur ,young among the rest1 that if one would live simply and eat only the crop which he raised1 and raise no more than he ate1 and not exchange it for an insufficient quantity of more luxurious and expensive things1 he would need to cultivate only a few rods of ground1 and that it would be cheaper to spade up that than to use oxen to plough it1 and to select a fresh spot from time to time than to manure the old1 and he could do all his necessary farm work as it were with his left hand at odd hours in the summer2 and thus he would not be tied to an ox1 or horse1 or cow1 or pig1 as at present4 ,i desire to speak impartially on this point1 and as one not interested in the success or failure of the present economical and social arrangements4 ,i was more independent than any farmer in ,concord1 for ,i was not anchored to a house or farm1 but could follow the bent of my genius1 which is a very crooked one1 every moment4 ,beside being better off than they already1 if my house had been burned or my crops had failed1 ,i should have been nearly as well off as before4 ,i am wont to think that men are not so much the keepers of herds as herds are the keepers of men1 the former are so much the freer4 ,men and oxen exchange work2 but if we consider necessary work only1 the oxen will be seen to have greatly the advantage1 their farm is so much the larger4 ,man does some of his part of the exchange work in his six weeks of haying1 and it is no boy's play4 ,certainly no nation that lived simply in all respects1 that is1 no nation of philosophers1 would commit so great a blunder as to use the labor of animals4 ,true1 there never was and is not likely soon to be a nation of philosophers1 nor am ,i certain it is desirable that there should be4 ,however1 ,i should never have broken a horse or bull and taken him to board for any work he might do for me1 for fear ,i should become a horse-man or a herds-man merely2 and if society seems to be the gainer by so doing1 are we certain that what is one man's gain is not another's loss1 and that the stable-boy has equal cause with his master to be satisfied8 ,granted that some public works would not have been constructed without this aid1 and let man share the glory of such with the ox and horse2 does it follow that he could not have accomplished works yet more worthy of himself in that case8 ,when men begin to do1 not merely unnecessary or artistic1 but luxurious and idle work1 with their assistance1 it is inevitable that a few do all the exchange work with the oxen1 or1 in other words1 become the slaves of the strongest4 ,man thus not only works for the animal within him1 but1 for a symbol of this1 he works for the animal without him4 ,though we have many substantial houses of brick or stone1 the prosperity of the farmer is still measured by the degree to which the barn overshadows the house4 ,this town is said to have the largest houses for oxen1 cows1 and horses hereabouts1 and it is not behindhand in its public buildings2 but there are very few halls for free worship or free speech in this county4 ,it should not be by their architecture1 but why not even by their power of abstract thought1 that nations should seek to commemorate themselves8 ,how much more admirable the ,bhagvat-,geeta than all the ruins of the ,east6 ,towers and temples are the luxury of princes4 ,a simple and independent mind does not toil at the bidding of any prince4 ,genius is not a retainer to any emperor1 nor is its material silver1 or gold1 or marble1 except to a trifling extent4 ,to what end1 pray1 is so much stone hammered8 ,in ,arcadia1 when ,i was there1 ,i did not see any hammering stone4 ,nations are possessed with an insane ambition to perpetuate the memory of themselves by the amount of hammered stone they leave4 ,what if equal pains were taken to smooth and polish their manners8 ,one piece of good sense would be more memorable than a monument as high as the moon4 ,i love better to see stones in place4 ,the grandeur of ,thebes was a vulgar grandeur4 ,more sensible is a rod of stone wall that bounds an honest man's field than a hundred-gated ,thebes that has wandered farther from the true end of life4 ,the religion and civilization which are barbaric and heathenish build splendid temples2 but what you might call ,christianity does not4 ,most of the stone a nation hammers goes toward its tomb only4 ,it buries itself alive4 ,as for the ,pyramids1 there is nothing to wonder at in them so much as the fact that so many men could be found degraded enough to spend their lives constructing a tomb for some ambitious booby1 whom it would have been wiser and manlier to have drowned in the ,nile1 and then given his body to the dogs4 ,i might possibly invent some excuse for them and him1 but ,i have no time for it4 ,as for the religion and love of art of the builders1 it is much the same all the world over1 whether the building be an ,egyptian temple or the ,united ,states ,bank4 ,it costs more than it comes to4 ,the mainspring is vanity1 assisted by the love of garlic and bread and butter4 ,mr4 ,balcom1 a promising young architect1 designs it on the back of his ,vitruvius1 with hard pencil and ruler1 and the job is let out to ,dobson ,sons1 stonecutters4 ,when the thirty centuries begin to look down on it1 mankind begin to look up at it4 ,as for your high towers and monuments1 there was a crazy fellow once in this town who undertook to dig through to ,china1 and he got so far that1 as he said1 he heard the ,chinese pots and kettles rattle2 but ,i think that ,i shall not go out of my way to admire the hole which he made4 ,many are concerned about the monuments of the ,west and the ,east1--to know who built them4 ,for my part1 ,i should like to know who in those days did not build them1--who were above such trifling4 ,but to proceed with my statistics4 ,by surveying1 carpentry1 and day-labor of various other kinds in the village in the mean while1 for ,i have as many trades as fingers1 ,i had earned #ac4cd4 ,the expense of food for eight months1 namely1 from ,july #dth to ,march #ast1 the time when these estimates were made1 though ,i lived there more than two years1--not counting potatoes1 a little green corn1 and some peas1 which ,i had raised1 nor considering the value of what was on hand at the last date1 was ,rice14444444444444444444 #a4gc ,molasses14444444444444444 #a4gc ,cheapest form of the saccharine4 ,rye meal14444444444444444 #a4jd ,indian meal14444444444444 #j4ii ,cheaper than rye4 ,pork144444444444444444444 #j4bb ,all experiments which failed3 ,flour14444444444444444444 #j4hh ,costs more than ,indian meal1 both money and trouble4 ,sugar14444444444444444444 #j4hj ,lard144444444444444444444 #j4fe ,apples1444444444444444444 #j4be ,dried apple14444444444444 #j4bb ,sweet potatoes14444444444 #j4aj ,one pumpkin14444444444444 #j4jf ,one watermelon14444444444 #j4jb ,salt144444444444444444444 #j4jc ,yes1 ,i did eat #h4gd1 all told2 but ,i should not thus unblushingly publish my guilt1 if ,i did not know that most of my readers were equally guilty with myself1 and that their deeds would look no better in print4 ,the next year ,i sometimes caught a mess of fish for my dinner1 and once ,i went so far as to slaughter a woodchuck which ravaged my bean-field1--effect his transmigration1 as a ,tartar would say1--and devour him1 partly for experiment's sake2 but though it afforded me a momentary enjoyment1 notwithstanding a musky flavor1 ,i saw that the longest use would not make that a good practice1 however it might seem to have your woodchucks ready dressed by the village butcher4 ,clothing and some incidental expenses within the same dates1 though little can be inferred from this item1 amounted to #h4dj ,oil and some household utensils14444444 #b4jj ,so that all the pecuniary outgoes1 excepting for washing and mending1 which for the most part were done out of the house1 and their bills have not yet been received1--and these are all and more than all the ways by which money necessarily goes out in this part of the world1--were ,house144444444444444444444444444444444 #bh4ab ,farm one year144444444444444444444444444 #ad4gb ,food eight months14444444444444444444444 #h4gd ,clothing1 etc41 eight months144444444444 #h4dj ,oil1 c41 eight months144444444444444444 #b4jj ------------ ,in all1444444444444444444444444444 #fa4ii ,i address myself now to those of my readers who have a living to get4 ,and to meet this ,i have for farm produce sold #bc4dd ,earned by day-labor14444444444444444444 #ac4cd ------------ ,in all14444444444444444444444444444 #cf4gh1 which subtracted from the sum of the outgoes leaves a balance of #be4ba on the one side1--this being very nearly the means with which ,i started1 and the measure of expenses to be incurred1--and on the other1 beside the leisure and independence and health thus secured1 a comfortable house for me as long as ,i choose to occupy it4 ,these statistics1 however accidental and therefore uninstructive they may appear1 as they have a certain completeness1 have a certain value also4 ,nothing was given me of which ,i have not rendered some account4 ,it appears from the above estimate1 that my food alone cost me in money about twenty-seven cents a week4 ,it was1 for nearly two years after this1 rye and ,indian meal without yeast1 potatoes1 rice1 a very little salt pork1 molasses1 and salt1 and my drink water4 ,it was fit that ,i should live on rice1 mainly1 who loved so well the philosophy of ,india4 ,to meet the objections of some inveterate cavillers1 ,i may as well state1 that if ,i dined out occasionally1 as ,i always had done1 and ,i trust shall have opportunities to do again1 it was frequently to the detriment of my domestic arrangements4 ,but the dining out1 being1 as ,i have stated1 a constant element1 does not in the least affect a comparative statement like this4 ,i learned from my two years' experience that it would cost incredibly little trouble to obtain one's necessary food1 even in this latitude2 that a man may use as simple a diet as the animals1 and yet retain health and strength4 ,i have made a satisfactory dinner1 satisfactory on several accounts1 simply off a dish of purslane 7,portulaca oleracea7 which ,i gathered in my cornfield1 boiled and salted4 ,i give the ,latin on account of the savoriness of the trivial name4 ,and pray what more can a reasonable man desire1 in peaceful times1 in ordinary noons1 than a sufficient number of ears of green sweet-corn boiled1 with the addition of salt8 ,even the little variety which ,i used was a yielding to the demands of appetite1 and not of health4 ,yet men have come to such a pass that they frequently starve1 not for want of necessaries1 but for want of luxuries2 and ,i know a good woman who thinks that her son lost his life because he took to drinking water only4 ,the reader will perceive that ,i am treating the subject rather from an economic than a dietetic point of view1 and he will not venture to put my abstemiousness to the test unless he has a well-stocked larder4 ,bread ,i at first made of pure ,indian meal and salt1 genuine hoe-cakes1 which ,i baked before my fire out of doors on a shingle or the end of a stick of timber sawed off in building my house2 but it was wont to get smoked and to have a piny flavor4 ,i tried flour also2 but have at last found a mixture of rye and ,indian meal most convenient and agreeable4 ,in cold weather it was no little amusement to bake several small loaves of this in succession1 tending and turning them as carefully as an ,egyptian his hatching eggs4 ,they were a real cereal fruit which ,i ripened1 and they had to my senses a fragrance like that of other noble fruits1 which ,i kept in as long as possible by wrapping them in cloths4 ,i made a study of the ancient and indispensable art of bread-making1 consulting such authorities as offered1 going back to the primitive days and first invention of the unleavened kind1 when from the wildness of nuts and meats men first reached the mildness and refinement of this diet1 and travelling gradually down in my studies through that accidental souring of the dough which1 it is supposed1 taught the leavening process1 and through the various fermentations thereafter1 till ,i came to 8good1 sweet1 wholesome bread10 the staff of life4 ,leaven1 which some deem the soul of bread1 the spiritus which fills its cellular tissue1 which is religiously preserved like the vestal fire1--some precious bottle-full1 ,i suppose1 first brought over in the ,mayflower1 did the business for ,america1 and its influence is still rising1 swelling1 spreading1 in cerealian billows over the land1--this seed ,i regularly and faithfully procured from the village1 till at length one morning ,i forgot the rules1 and scalded my yeast2 by which accident ,i discovered that even this was not indispensable1--for my discoveries were not by the synthetic but analytic process1--and ,i have gladly omitted it since1 though most housewives earnestly assured me that safe and wholesome bread without yeast might not be1 and elderly people prophesied a speedy decay of the vital forces4 ,yet ,i find it not to be an essential ingredient1 and after going without it for a year am still in the land of the living2 and ,i am glad to escape the trivialness of carrying a bottle-full in my pocket1 which would sometimes pop and discharge its contents to my discomfiture4 ,it is simpler and more respectable to omit it4 ,man is an animal who more than any other can adapt himself to all climates and circumstances4 ,neither did ,i put any sal soda1 or other acid or alkali1 into my bread4 ,it would seem that ,i made it according to the recipe which ,marcus ,porcius ,cato gave about two centuries before ,christ4 8,panem depsticium sic facito4 ,manus mortariumque bene lavato4 ,farinam in mortarium indito1 aqu paulatim addito1 subigitoque pulchre4 ,ubi bene subegeris1 defingito1 coquitoque sub testu40 ,which ,i take to mean--8,make kneaded bread thus4 ,wash your hands and trough well4 ,put the meal into the trough1 add water gradually1 and knead it thoroughly4 ,when you have kneaded it well1 mould it1 and bake it under a cover10 that is1 in a baking-kettle4 ,not a word about leaven4 ,but ,i did not always use this staff of life4 ,at one time1 owing to the emptiness of my purse1 ,i saw none of it for more than a month4 ,every ,new ,englander might easily raise all his own breadstuffs in this land of rye and ,indian corn1 and not depend on distant and fluctuating markets for them4 ,yet so far are we from simplicity and independence that1 in ,concord1 fresh and sweet meal is rarely sold in the shops1 and hominy and corn in a still coarser form are hardly used by any4 ,for the most part the farmer gives to his cattle and hogs the grain of his own producing1 and buys flour1 which is at least no more wholesome1 at a greater cost1 at the store4 ,i saw that ,i could easily raise my bushel or two of rye and ,indian corn1 for the former will grow on the poorest land1 and the latter does not require the best1 and grind them in a hand-mill1 and so do without rice and pork2 and if ,i must have some concentrated sweet1 ,i found by experiment that ,i could make a very good molasses either of pumpkins or beets1 and ,i knew that ,i needed only to set out a few maples to obtain it more easily still1 and while these were growing ,i could use various substitutes beside those which ,i have named4 8,for10 as the ,forefathers sang1-- 8we can make liquor to sweeten our lips ,of pumpkins and parsnips and walnut-tree chips40 ,finally1 as for salt1 that grossest of groceries1 to obtain this might be a fit occasion for a visit to the seashore1 or1 if ,i did without it altogether1 ,i should probably drink the less water4 ,i do not learn that the ,indians ever troubled themselves to go after it4 ,thus ,i could avoid all trade and barter1 so far as my food was concerned1 and having a shelter already1 it would only remain to get clothing and fuel4 ,the pantaloons which ,i now wear were woven in a farmer's family1--thank ,heaven there is so much virtue still in man2 for ,i think the fall from the farmer to the operative as great and memorable as that from the man to the farmer2--and in a new country1 fuel is an encumbrance4 ,as for a habitat1 if ,i were not permitted still to squat1 ,i might purchase one acre at the same price for which the land ,i cultivated was sold--namely1 eight dollars and eight cents4 ,but as it was1 ,i considered that ,i enhanced the value of the land by squatting on it4 ,there is a certain class of unbelievers who sometimes ask me such questions as1 if ,i think that ,i can live on vegetable food alone2 and to strike at the root of the matter at once1--for the root is faith1--,i am accustomed to answer such1 that ,i can live on board nails4 ,if they cannot understand that1 they cannot understand much that ,i have to say4 ,for my part1 ,i am glad to hear of experiments of this kind being tried2 as that a young man tried for a fortnight to live on hard1 raw corn on the ear1 using his teeth for all mortar4 ,the squirrel tribe tried the same and succeeded4 ,the human race is interested in these experiments1 though a few old women who are incapacitated for them1 or who own their thirds in mills1 may be alarmed4 ,my furniture1 part of which ,i made myself1 and the rest cost me nothing of which ,i have not rendered an account1 consisted of a bed1 a table1 a desk1 three chairs1 a looking-glass three inches in diameter1 a pair of tongs and andirons1 a kettle1 a skillet1 and a frying-pan1 a dipper1 a wash-bowl1 two knives and forks1 three plates1 one cup1 one spoon1 a jug for oil1 a jug for molasses1 and a japanned lamp4 ,none is so poor that he need sit on a pumpkin4 ,that is shiftlessness4 ,there is a plenty of such chairs as ,i like best in the village garrets to be had for taking them away4 ,furniture6 ,thank ,god1 ,i can sit and ,i can stand without the aid of a furniture warehouse4 ,what man but a philosopher would not be ashamed to see his furniture packed in a cart and going up country exposed to the light of heaven and the eyes of men1 a beggarly account of empty boxes8 ,that is ,spaulding's furniture4 ,i could never tell from inspecting such a load whether it belonged to a so called rich man or a poor one2 the owner always seemed poverty-stricken4 ,indeed1 the more you have of such things the poorer you are4 ,each load looks as if it contained the contents of a dozen shanties2 and if one shanty is poor1 this is a dozen times as poor4 ,pray1 for what do we move ever but to get rid of our furniture1 our exuvi2 at last to go from this world to another newly furnished1 and leave this to be burned8 ,it is the same as if all these traps were buckled to a man's belt1 and he could not move over the rough country where our lines are cast without dragging them1--dragging his trap4 ,he was a lucky fox that left his tail in the trap4 ,the muskrat will gnaw his third leg off to be free4 ,no wonder man has lost his elasticity4 ,how often he is at a dead set6 8,sir1 if ,i may be so bold1 what do you mean by a dead set80 ,if you are a seer1 whenever you meet a man you will see all that he owns1 ay1 and much that he pretends to disown1 behind him1 even to his kitchen furniture and all the trumpery which he saves and will not burn1 and he will appear to be harnessed to it and making what headway he can4 ,i think that the man is at a dead set who has got through a knot hole or gateway where his sledge load of furniture cannot follow him4 ,i cannot but feel compassion when ,i hear some trig1 compact-looking man1 seemingly free1 all girded and ready1 speak of his 8furniture10 as whether it is insured or not4 8,but what shall ,i do with my furniture80 ,my gay butterfly is entangled in a spider's web then4 ,even those who seem for a long while not to have any1 if you inquire more narrowly you will find have some stored in somebody's barn4 ,i look upon ,england to-day as an old gentleman who is travelling with a great deal of baggage1 trumpery which has accumulated from long housekeeping1 which he has not the courage to burn2 great trunk1 little trunk1 bandbox and bundle4 ,throw away the first three at least4 ,it would surpass the powers of a well man nowadays to take up his bed and walk1 and ,i should certainly advise a sick one to lay down his bed and run4 ,when ,i have met an immigrant tottering under a bundle which contained his all--looking like an enormous wen which had grown out of the nape of his neck--,i have pitied him1 not because that was his all1 but because he had all that to carry4 ,if ,i have got to drag my trap1 ,i will take care that it be a light one and do not nip me in a vital part4 ,but perchance it would be wisest never to put one's paw into it4 ,i would observe1 by the way1 that it costs me nothing for curtains1 for ,i have no gazers to shut out but the sun and moon1 and ,i am willing that they should look in4 ,the moon will not sour milk nor taint meat of mine1 nor will the sun injure my furniture or fade my carpet1 and if he is sometimes too warm a friend1 ,i find it still better economy to retreat behind some curtain which nature has provided1 than to add a single item to the details of housekeeping4 ,a lady once offered me a mat1 but as ,i had no room to spare within the house1 nor time to spare within or without to shake it1 ,i declined it1 preferring to wipe my feet on the sod before my door4 ,it is best to avoid the beginnings of evil4 ,not long since ,i was present at the auction of a deacon's effects1 for his life had not been ineffectual3-- 8,the evil that men do lives after them40 ,as usual1 a great proportion was trumpery which had begun to accumulate in his father's day4 ,among the rest was a dried tapeworm4 ,and now1 after lying half a century in his garret and other dust holes1 these things were not burned2 instead of a bonfire1 or purifying destruction of them1 there was an auction1 or increasing of them4 ,the neighbors eagerly collected to view them1 bought them all1 and carefully transported them to their garrets and dust holes1 to lie there till their estates are settled1 when they will start again4 ,when a man dies he kicks the dust4 ,the customs of some savage nations might1 perchance1 be profitably imitated by us1 for they at least go through the semblance of casting their slough annually2 they have the idea of the thing1 whether they have the reality or not4 ,would it not be well if we were to celebrate such a 8busk10 or 8feast of first fruits10 as ,bartram describes to have been the custom of the ,mucclasse ,indians8 8,when a town celebrates the busk10 says he1 8having previously provided themselves with new clothes1 new pots1 pans1 and other household utensils and furniture1 they collect all their worn out clothes and other despicable things1 sweep and cleanse their houses1 squares1 and the whole town of their filth1 which with all the remaining grain and other old provisions they cast together into one common heap1 and consume it with fire4 ,after having taken medicine1 and fasted for three days1 all the fire in the town is extinguished4 ,during this fast they abstain from the gratification of every appetite and passion whatever4 ,a general amnesty is proclaimed2 all malefactors may return to their town4--0 8,on the fourth morning1 the high priest1 by rubbing dry wood together1 produces new fire in the public square1 from whence every habitation in the town is supplied with the new and pure flame40 ,they then feast on the new corn and fruits1 and dance and sing for three days1 8and the four following days they receive visits and rejoice with their friends from neighboring towns who have in like manner purified and prepared themselves40 ,the ,mexicans also practised a similar purification at the end of every fifty-two years1 in the belief that it was time for the world to come to an end4 ,i have scarcely heard of a truer sacrament1 that is1 as the dictionary defines it1 8outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace10 than this1 and ,i have no doubt that they were originally inspired directly from ,heaven to do thus1 though they have no biblical record of the revelation4 ,for more than five years ,i maintained myself thus solely by the labor of my hands1 and ,i found1 that by working about six weeks in a year1 ,i could meet all the expenses of living4 ,the whole of my winters1 as well as most of my summers1 ,i had free and clear for study4 ,i have thoroughly tried school-keeping1 and found that my expenses were in proportion1 or rather out of proportion1 to my income1 for ,i was obliged to dress and train1 not to say think and believe1 accordingly1 and ,i lost my time into the bargain4 ,as ,i did not teach for the good of my fellow-men1 but simply for a livelihood1 this was a failure4 ,i have tried trade2 but ,i found that it would take ten years to get under way in that1 and that then ,i should probably be on my way to the devil4 ,i was actually afraid that ,i might by that time be doing what is called a good business4 ,when formerly ,i was looking about to see what ,i could do for a living1 some sad experience in conforming to the wishes of friends being fresh in my mind to tax my ingenuity1 ,i thought often and seriously of picking huckleberries2 that surely ,i could do1 and its small profits might suffice1--for my greatest skill has been to want but little1--so little capital it required1 so little distraction from my wonted moods1 ,i foolishly thought4 ,while my acquaintances went unhesitatingly into trade or the professions1 ,i contemplated this occupation as most like theirs2 ranging the hills all summer to pick the berries which came in my way1 and thereafter carelessly dispose of them2 so1 to keep the flocks of ,admetus4 ,i also dreamed that ,i might gather the wild herbs1 or carry evergreens to such villagers as loved to be reminded of the woods1 even to the city1 by hay-cart loads4 ,but ,i have since learned that trade curses everything it handles2 and though you trade in messages from heaven1 the whole curse of trade attaches to the business4 ,as ,i preferred some things to others1 and especially valued my freedom1 as ,i could fare hard and yet succeed well1 ,i did not wish to spend my time in earning rich carpets or other fine furniture1 or delicate cookery1 or a house in the ,grecian or the ,gothic style just yet4 ,if there are any to whom it is no interruption to acquire these things1 and who know how to use them when acquired1 ,i relinquish to them the pursuit4 ,some are 8industrious10 and appear to love labor for its own sake1 or perhaps because it keeps them out of worse mischief2 to such ,i have at present nothing to say4 ,those who would not know what to do with more leisure than they now enjoy1 ,i might advise to work twice as hard as they do1--work till they pay for themselves1 and get their free papers4 ,for myself ,i found that the occupation of a day-laborer was the most independent of any1 especially as it required only thirty or forty days in a year to support one4 ,the laborer's day ends with the going down of the sun1 and he is then free to devote himself to his chosen pursuit1 independent of his labor2 but his employer1 who speculates from month to month1 has no respite from one end of the year to the other4 ,in short1 ,i am convinced1 both by faith and experience1 that to maintain one's self on this earth is not a hardship but a pastime1 if we will live simply and wisely2 as the pursuits of the simpler nations are still the sports of the more artificial4 ,it is not necessary that a man should earn his living by the sweat of his brow1 unless he sweats easier than ,i do4 ,one young man of my acquaintance1 who has inherited some acres1 told me that he thought he should live as ,i did1 if he had the means4 ,i would not have any one adopt my mode of living on any account2 for1 beside that before he has fairly learned it ,i may have found out another for myself1 ,i desire that there may be as many different persons in the world as possible2 but ,i would have each one be very careful to find out and pursue his own way1 and not his father's or his mother's or his neighbor's instead4 ,the youth may build or plant or sail1 only let him not be hindered from doing that which he tells me he would like to do4 ,it is by a mathematical point only that we are wise1 as the sailor or the fugitive slave keeps the polestar in his eye2 but that is sufficient guidance for all our life4 ,we may not arrive at our port within a calculable period1 but we would preserve the true course4 ,undoubtedly1 in this case1 what is true for one is truer still for a thousand1 as a large house is not proportionally more expensive than a small one1 since one roof may cover1 one cellar underlie1 and one wall separate several apartments4 ,but for my part1 ,i preferred the solitary dwelling4 ,moreover1 it will commonly be cheaper to build the whole yourself than to convince another of the advantage of the common wall2 and when you have done this1 the common partition1 to be much cheaper1 must be a thin one1 and that other may prove a bad neighbor1 and also not keep his side in repair4 ,the only coperation which is commonly possible is exceedingly partial and superficial2 and what little true coperation there is1 is as if it were not1 being a harmony inaudible to men4 ,if a man has faith1 he will coperate with equal faith everywhere2 if he has not faith1 he will continue to live like the rest of the world1 whatever company he is joined to4 ,to coperate1 in the highest as well as the lowest sense1 means to get our living together4 ,i heard it proposed lately that two young men should travel together over the world1 the one without money1 earning his means as he went1 before the mast and behind the plow1 the other carrying a bill of exchange in his pocket4 ,it was easy to see that they could not long be companions or coperate1 since one would not operate at all4 ,they would part at the first interesting crisis in their adventures4 ,above all1 as ,i have implied1 the man who goes alone can start to-day2 but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready1 and it may be a long time before they get off4 ,but all this is very selfish1 ,i have heard some of my townsmen say4 ,i confess that ,i have hitherto indulged very little in philanthropic enterprises4 ,i have made some sacrifices to a sense of duty1 and among others have sacrificed this pleasure also4 ,there are those who have used all their arts to persuade me to undertake the support of some poor family in the town2 and if ,i had nothing to do1--for the devil finds employment for the idle1--,i might try my hand at some such pastime as that4 ,however1 when ,i have thought to indulge myself in this respect1 and lay their ,heaven under an obligation by maintaining certain poor persons in all respects as comfortably as ,i maintain myself1 and have even ventured so far as to make them the offer1 they have one and all unhesitatingly preferred to remain poor4 ,while my townsmen and women are devoted in so many ways to the good of their fellows1 ,i trust that one at least may be spared to other and less humane pursuits4 ,you must have a genius for charity as well as for any thing else4 ,as for ,doing-good1 that is one of the professions which are full4 ,moreover1 ,i have tried it fairly1 and1 strange as it may seem1 am satisfied that it does not agree with my constitution4 ,probably ,i should not consciously and deliberately forsake my particular calling to do the good which society demands of me1 to save the universe from annihilation2 and ,i believe that a like but infinitely greater steadfastness elsewhere is all that now preserves it4 ,but ,i would not stand between any man and his genius2 and to him who does this work1 which ,i decline1 with his whole heart and soul and life1 ,i would say1 ,persevere1 even if the world call it doing evil1 as it is most likely they will4 ,i am far from supposing that my case is a peculiar one2 no doubt many of my readers would make a similar defence4 ,at doing something1--,i will not engage that my neighbors shall pronounce it good1--,i do not hesitate to say that ,i should be a capital fellow to hire2 but what that is1 it is for my employer to find out4 ,what good ,i do1 in the common sense of that word1 must be aside from my main path1 and for the most part wholly unintended4 ,men say1 practically1 ,begin where you are and such as you are1 without aiming mainly to become of more worth1 and with kindness aforethought go about doing good4 ,if ,i were to preach at all in this strain1 ,i should say rather1 ,set about being good4 ,as if the sun should stop when he had kindled his fires up to the splendor of a moon or a star of the sixth magnitude1 and go about like a ,robin ,goodfellow1 peeping in at every cottage window1 inspiring lunatics1 and tainting meats1 and making darkness visible1 instead of steadily increasing his genial heat and beneficence till he is of such brightness that no mortal can look him in the face1 and then1 and in the mean while too1 going about the world in his own orbit1 doing it good1 or rather1 as a truer philosophy has discovered1 the world going about him getting good4 ,when ,phaeton1 wishing to prove his heavenly birth by his beneficence1 had the sun's chariot but one day1 and drove out of the beaten track1 he burned several blocks of houses in the lower streets of heaven1 and scorched the surface of the earth1 and dried up every spring1 and made the great desert of ,sahara1 till at length ,jupiter hurled him headlong to the earth with a thunderbolt1 and the sun1 through grief at his death1 did not shine for a year4 ,there is no odor so bad as that which arises from goodness tainted4 ,it is human1 it is divine1 carrion4 ,if ,i knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good1 ,i should run for my life1 as from that dry and parching wind of the ,african deserts called the simoom1 which fills the mouth and nose and ears and eyes with dust till you are suffocated1 for fear that ,i should get some of his good done to me1--some of its virus mingled with my blood4 ,no1--in this case ,i would rather suffer evil the natural way4 ,a man is not a good man to me because he will feed me if ,i should be starving1 or warm me if ,i should be freezing1 or pull me out of a ditch if ,i should ever fall into one4 ,i can find you a ,newfoundland dog that will do as much4 ,philanthropy is not love for one's fellow-man in the broadest sense4 ,howard was no doubt an exceedingly kind and worthy man in his way1 and has his reward2 but1 comparatively speaking1 what are a hundred ,howards to us1 if their philanthropy do not help us in our best estate1 when we are most worthy to be helped8 ,i never heard of a philanthropic meeting in which it was sincerely proposed to do any good to me1 or the like of me4 ,the ,jesuits were quite balked by those ,indians who1 being burned at the stake1 suggested new modes of torture to their tormentors4 ,being superior to physical suffering1 it sometimes chanced that they were superior to any consolation which the missionaries could offer2 and the law to do as you would be done by fell with less persuasiveness on the ears of those who1 for their part1 did not care how they were done by1 who loved their enemies after a new fashion1 and came very near freely forgiving them all they did4 ,be sure that you give the poor the aid they most need1 though it be your example which leaves them far behind4 ,if you give money1 spend yourself with it1 and do not merely abandon it to them4 ,we make curious mistakes sometimes4 ,often the poor man is not so cold and hungry as he is dirty and ragged and gross4 ,it is partly his taste1 and not merely his misfortune4 ,if you give him money1 he will perhaps buy more rags with it4 ,i was wont to pity the clumsy ,irish laborers who cut ice on the pond1 in such mean and ragged clothes1 while ,i shivered in my more tidy and somewhat more fashionable garments1 till1 one bitter cold day1 one who had slipped into the water came to my house to warm him1 and ,i saw him strip off three pairs of pants and two pairs of stockings ere he got down to the skin1 though they were dirty and ragged enough1 it is true1 and that he could afford to refuse the extra garments which ,i offered him1 he had so many intra ones4 ,this ducking was the very thing he needed4 ,then ,i began to pity myself1 and ,i saw that it would be a greater charity to bestow on me a flannel shirt than a whole slop-shop on him4 ,there are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root1 and it may be that he who bestows the largest amount of time and money on the needy is doing the most by his mode of life to produce that misery which he strives in vain to relieve4 ,it is the pious slave-breeder devoting the proceeds of every tenth slave to buy a ,sunday's liberty for the rest4 ,some show their kindness to the poor by employing them in their kitchens4 ,would they not be kinder if they employed themselves there8 ,you boast of spending a tenth part of your income in charity2 maybe you should spend the nine tenths so1 and done with it4 ,society recovers only a tenth part of the property then4 ,is this owing to the generosity of him in whose possession it is found1 or to the remissness of the officers of justice8 ,philanthropy is almost the only virtue which is sufficiently appreciated by mankind4 ,nay1 it is greatly overrated2 and it is our selfishness which overrates it4 ,a robust poor man1 one sunny day here in ,concord1 praised a fellow-townsman to me1 because1 as he said1 he was kind to the poor2 meaning himself4 ,the kind uncles and aunts of the race are more esteemed than its true spiritual fathers and mothers4 ,i once heard a reverend lecturer on ,england1 a man of learning and intelligence1 after enumerating her scientific1 literary1 and political worthies1 ,shakespeare1 ,bacon1 ,cromwell1 ,milton1 ,newton1 and others1 speak next of her ,christian heroes1 whom1 as if his profession required it of him1 he elevated to a place far above all the rest1 as the greatest of the great4 ,they were ,penn1 ,howard1 and ,mrs4 ,fry4 ,every one must feel the falsehood and cant of this4 ,the last were not ,england's best men and women2 only1 perhaps1 her best philanthropists4 ,i would not subtract any thing from the praise that is due to philanthropy1 but merely demand justice for all who by their lives and works are a blessing to mankind4 ,i do not value chiefly a man's uprightness and benevolence1 which are1 as it were1 his stem and leaves4 ,those plants of whose greenness withered we make herb tea for the sick1 serve but a humble use1 and are most employed by quacks4 ,i want the flower and fruit of a man2 that some fragrance be wafted over from him to me1 and some ripeness flavor our intercourse4 ,his goodness must not be a partial and transitory act1 but a constant superfluity1 which costs him nothing and of which he is unconscious4 ,this is a charity that hides a multitude of sins4 ,the philanthropist too often surrounds mankind with the remembrance of his own cast-off griefs as an atmosphere1 and calls it sympathy4 ,we should impart our courage1 and not our despair1 our health and ease1 and not our disease1 and take care that this does not spread by contagion4 ,from what southern plains comes up the voice of wailing8 ,under what latitudes reside the heathen to whom we would send light8 ,who is that intemperate and brutal man whom we would redeem8 ,if any thing ail a man1 so that he does not perform his functions1 if he have a pain in his bowels even1--for that is the seat of sympathy1--he forthwith sets about reforming--the world4 ,being a microcosm himself1 he discovers1 and it is a true discovery1 and he is the man to make it1--that the world has been eating green apples2 to his eyes1 in fact1 the globe itself is a great green apple1 which there is danger awful to think of that the children of men will nibble before it is ripe2 and straightway his drastic philanthropy seeks out the ,esquimaux and the ,patagonian1 and embraces the populous ,indian and ,chinese villages2 and thus1 by a few years of philanthropic activity1 the powers in the mean while using him for their own ends1 no doubt1 he cures himself of his dyspepsia1 the globe acquires a faint blush on one or both of its cheeks1 as if it were beginning to be ripe1 and life loses its crudity and is once more sweet and wholesome to live4 ,i never dreamed of any enormity greater than ,i have committed4 ,i never knew1 and never shall know1 a worse man than myself4 ,i believe that what so saddens the reformer is not his sympathy with his fellows in distress1 but1 though he be the holiest son of ,god1 is his private ail4 ,let this be righted1 let the spring come to him1 the morning rise over his couch1 and he will forsake his generous companions without apology4 ,my excuse for not lecturing against the use of tobacco is1 that ,i never chewed it2 that is a penalty which reformed tobacco-chewers have to pay2 though there are things enough ,i have chewed1 which ,i could lecture against4 ,if you should ever be betrayed into any of these philanthropies1 do not let your left hand know what your right hand does1 for it is not worth knowing4 ,rescue the drowning and tie your shoe-strings4 ,take your time1 and set about some free labor4 ,our manners have been corrupted by communication with the saints4 ,our hymn-books resound with a melodious cursing of ,god and enduring him forever4 ,one would say that even the prophets and redeemers had rather consoled the fears than confirmed the hopes of man4 ,there is nowhere recorded a simple and irrepressible satisfaction with the gift of life1 any memorable praise of ,god4 ,all health and success does me good1 however far off and withdrawn it may appear2 all disease and failure helps to make me sad and does me evil1 however much sympathy it may have with me or ,i with it4 ,if1 then1 we would indeed restore mankind by truly ,indian1 botanic1 magnetic1 or natural means1 let us first be as simple and well as ,nature ourselves1 dispel the clouds which hang over our own brows1 and take up a little life into our pores4 ,do not stay to be an overseer of the poor1 but endeavor to become one of the worthies of the world4 ,i read in the ,gulistan1 or ,flower ,garden1 of ,sheik ,sadi of ,shiraz1 that 8,they asked a wise man1 saying2 ,of the many celebrated trees which the ,most ,high ,god has created lofty and umbrageous1 they call none azad1 or free1 excepting the cypress1 which bears no fruit2 what mystery is there in this8 ,he replied2 ,each has its appropriate produce1 and appointed season1 during the continuance of which it is fresh and blooming1 and during their absence dry and withered2 to neither of which states is the cypress exposed1 being always flourishing2 and of this nature are the azads1 or religious independents4--,fix not thy heart on that which is transitory2 for the ,dijlah1 or ,tigris1 will continue to flow through ,bagdad after the race of caliphs is extinct3 if thy hand has plenty1 be liberal as the date tree2 but if it affords nothing to give away1 be an azad1 or free man1 like the cypress40 ,,complemental ,,verses ,the ,pretensions of ,poverty 8,thou dost presume too much1 poor needy wretch1 ,to claim a station in the firmament ,because thy humble cottage1 or thy tub1 ,nurses some lazy or pedantic virtue ,in the cheap sunshine or by shady springs1 ,with roots and pot-herbs2 where thy right hand1 ,tearing those humane passions from the mind1 ,upon whose stocks fair blooming virtues flourish1 ,degradeth nature1 and benumbeth sense1 ,and1 ,gorgon-like1 turns active men to stone4 ,we not require the dull society ,of your necessitated temperance1 ,or that unnatural stupidity ,that knows nor joy nor sorrow2 nor your forc'd ,falsely exalted passive fortitude ,above the active4 ,this low abject brood1 ,that fix their seats in mediocrity1 ,become your servile minds2 but we advance ,such virtues only as admit excess1 ,brave1 bounteous acts1 regal magnificence1 ,all-seeing prudence1 magnanimity ,that knows no bound1 and that heroic virtue ,for which antiquity hath left no name1 ,but patterns only1 such as ,hercules1 ,achilles1 ,theseus4 ,back to thy loath'd cell2 ,and when thou seest the new enlightened sphere1 ,study to know but what those worthies were40 ,t4 ,,carew ,where ,i ,lived1 and ,what ,i ,lived ,for ,at a certain season of our life we are accustomed to consider every spot as the possible site of a house4 ,i have thus surveyed the country on every side within a dozen miles of where ,i live4 ,in imagination ,i have bought all the farms in succession1 for all were to be bought1 and ,i knew their price4 ,i walked over each farmer's premises1 tasted his wild apples1 discoursed on husbandry with him1 took his farm at his price1 at any price1 mortgaging it to him in my mind2 even put a higher price on it1--took everything but a deed of it1--took his word for his deed1 for ,i dearly love to talk1--cultivated it1 and him too to some extent1 ,i trust1 and withdrew when ,i had enjoyed it long enough1 leaving him to carry it on4 ,this experience entitled me to be regarded as a sort of real-estate broker by my friends4 ,wherever ,i sat1 there ,i might live1 and the landscape radiated from me accordingly4 ,what is a house but a sedes1 a seat8--better if a country seat4 ,i discovered many a site for a house not likely to be soon improved1 which some might have thought too far from the village1 but to my eyes the village was too far from it4 ,well1 there ,i might live1 ,i said2 and there ,i did live1 for an hour1 a summer and a winter life2 saw how ,i could let the years run off1 buffet the winter through1 and see the spring come in4 ,the future inhabitants of this region1 wherever they may place their houses1 may be sure that they have been anticipated4 ,an afternoon sufficed to lay out the land into orchard1 woodlot1 and pasture1 and to decide what fine oaks or pines should be left to stand before the door1 and whence each blasted tree could be seen to the best advantage2 and then ,i let it lie1 fallow perchance1 for a man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone4 ,my imagination carried me so far that ,i even had the refusal of several farms1--the refusal was all ,i wanted1--but ,i never got my fingers burned by actual possession4 ,the nearest that ,i came to actual possession was when ,i bought the ,hollowell place1 and had begun to sort my seeds1 and collected materials with which to make a wheelbarrow to carry it on or off with2 but before the owner gave me a deed of it1 his wife--every man has such a wife--changed her mind and wished to keep it1 and he offered me ten dollars to release him4 ,now1 to speak the truth1 ,i had but ten cents in the world1 and it surpassed my arithmetic to tell1 if ,i was that man who had ten cents1 or who had a farm1 or ten dollars1 or all together4 ,however1 ,i let him keep the ten dollars and the farm too1 for ,i had carried it far enough2 or rather1 to be generous1 ,i sold him the farm for just what ,i gave for it1 and1 as he was not a rich man1 made him a present of ten dollars1 and still had my ten cents1 and seeds1 and materials for a wheelbarrow left4 ,i found thus that ,i had been a rich man without any damage to my poverty4 ,but ,i retained the landscape1 and ,i have since annually carried off what it yielded without a wheelbarrow4 ,with respect to landscapes1-- 8,i am monarch of all ,i survey1 ,my right there is none to dispute40 ,i have frequently seen a poet withdraw1 having enjoyed the most valuable part of a farm1 while the crusty farmer supposed that he had got a few wild apples only4 ,why1 the owner does not know it for many years when a poet has put his farm in rhyme1 the most admirable kind of invisible fence1 has fairly impounded it1 milked it1 skimmed it1 and got all the cream1 and left the farmer only the skimmed milk4 ,the real attractions of the ,hollowell farm1 to me1 were2 its complete retirement1 being1 about two miles from the village1 half a mile from the nearest neighbor1 and separated from the highway by a broad field2 its bounding on the river1 which the owner said protected it by its fogs from frosts in the spring1 though that was nothing to me2 the gray color and ruinous state of the house and barn1 and the dilapidated fences1 which put such an interval between me and the last occupant2 the hollow and lichen-covered apple trees1 gnawed by rabbits1 showing what kind of neighbors ,i should have2 but above all1 the recollection ,i had of it from my earliest voyages up the river1 when the house was concealed behind a dense grove of red maples1 through which ,i heard the house-dog bark4 ,i was in haste to buy it1 before the proprietor finished getting out some rocks1 cutting down the hollow apple trees1 and grubbing up some young birches which had sprung up in the pasture1 or1 in short1 had made any more of his improvements4 ,to enjoy these advantages ,i was ready to carry it on2 like ,atlas1 to take the world on my shoulders1--,i never heard what compensation he received for that1--and do all those things which had no other motive or excuse but that ,i might pay for it and be unmolested in my possession of it2 for ,i knew all the while that it would yield the most abundant crop of the kind ,i wanted if ,i could only afford to let it alone4 ,but it turned out as ,i have said4 ,all that ,i could say1 then1 with respect to farming on a large scale1 7,i have always cultivated a garden17 was1 that ,i had had my seeds ready4 ,many think that seeds improve with age4 ,i have no doubt that time discriminates between the good and the bad2 and when at last ,i shall plant1 ,i shall be less likely to be disappointed4 ,but ,i would say to my fellows1 once for all1 ,as long as possible live free and uncommitted4 ,it makes but little difference whether you are committed to a farm or the county jail4 ,old ,cato1 whose 8,de ,re ,rustic0 is my 8,cultivator10 says1 and the only translation ,i have seen makes sheer nonsense of the passage1 8,when you think of getting a farm1 turn it thus in your mind1 not to buy greedily2 nor spare your pains to look at it1 and do not think it enough to go round it once4 ,the oftener you go there the more it will please you1 if it is good40 ,i think ,i shall not buy greedily1 but go round and round it as long as ,i live1 and be buried in it first1 that it may please me the more at last4 ,the present was my next experiment of this kind1 which ,i purpose to describe more at length2 for convenience1 putting the experience of two years into one4 ,as ,i have said1 ,i do not propose to write an ode to dejection1 but to brag as lustily as chanticleer in the morning1 standing on his roost1 if only to wake my neighbors up4 ,when first ,i took up my abode in the woods1 that is1 began to spend my nights as well as days there1 which1 by accident1 was on ,independence ,day1 or the ,fourth of ,july1 #ahde1 my house was not finished for winter1 but was merely a defence against the rain1 without plastering or chimney1 the walls being of rough1 weather-stained boards1 with wide chinks1 which made it cool at night4 ,the upright white hewn studs and freshly planed door and window casings gave it a clean and airy look1 especially in the morning1 when its timbers were saturated with dew1 so that ,i fancied that by noon some sweet gum would exude from them4 ,to my imagination it retained throughout the day more or less of this auroral character1 reminding me of a certain house on a mountain which ,i had visited the year before4 ,this was an airy and unplastered cabin1 fit to entertain a travelling god1 and where a goddess might trail her garments4 ,the winds which passed over my dwelling were such as sweep over the ridges of mountains1 bearing the broken strains1 or celestial parts only1 of terrestrial music4 ,the morning wind forever blows1 the poem of creation is uninterrupted2 but few are the ears that hear it4 ,olympus is but the outside of the earth every where4 ,the only house ,i had been the owner of before1 if ,i except a boat1 was a tent1 which ,i used occasionally when making excursions in the summer1 and this is still rolled up in my garret2 but the boat1 after passing from hand to hand1 has gone down the stream of time4 ,with this more substantial shelter about me1 ,i had made some progress toward settling in the world4 ,this frame1 so slightly clad1 was a sort of crystallization around me1 and reacted on the builder4 ,it was suggestive somewhat as a picture in outlines4 ,i did not need to go outdoors to take the air1 for the atmosphere within had lost none of its freshness4 ,it was not so much within doors as behind a door where ,i sat1 even in the rainiest weather4 ,the ,harivansa says1 8,an abode without birds is like a meat without seasoning40 ,such was not my abode1 for ,i found myself suddenly neighbor to the birds2 not by having imprisoned one1 but having caged myself near them4 ,i was not only nearer to some of those which commonly frequent the garden and the orchard1 but to those wilder and more thrilling songsters of the forest which never1 or rarely1 serenade a villager1--the wood-thrush1 the veery1 the scarlet tanager1 the field-sparrow1 the whippoorwill1 and many others4 ,i was seated by the shore of a small pond1 about a mile and a half south of the village of ,concord and somewhat higher than it1 in the midst of an extensive wood between that town and ,lincoln1 and about two miles south of that our only field known to fame1 ,concord ,battle ,ground2 but ,i was so low in the woods that the opposite shore1 half a mile off1 like the rest1 covered with wood1 was my most distant horizon4 ,for the first week1 whenever ,i looked out on the pond it impressed me like a tarn high up on the side of a mountain1 its bottom far above the surface of other lakes1 and1 as the sun arose1 ,i saw it throwing off its nightly clothing of mist1 and here and there1 by degrees1 its soft ripples or its smooth reflecting surface was revealed1 while the mists1 like ghosts1 were stealthily withdrawing in every direction into the woods1 as at the breaking up of some nocturnal conventicle4 ,the very dew seemed to hang upon the trees later into the day than usual1 as on the sides of mountains4 ,this small lake was of most value as a neighbor in the intervals of a gentle rain storm in ,august1 when1 both air and water being perfectly still1 but the sky overcast1 mid-afternoon had all the serenity of evening1 and the wood-thrush sang around1 and was heard from shore to shore4 ,a lake like this is never smoother than at such a time2 and the clear portion of the air above it being shallow and darkened by clouds1 the water1 full of light and reflections1 becomes a lower heaven itself so much the more important4 ,from a hill top near by1 where the wood had been recently cut off1 there was a pleasing vista southward across the pond1 through a wide indentation in the hills which form the shore there1 where their opposite sides sloping toward each other suggested a stream flowing out in that direction through a wooded valley1 but stream there was none4 ,that way ,i looked between and over the near green hills to some distant and higher ones in the horizon1 tinged with blue4 ,indeed1 by standing on tiptoe ,i could catch a glimpse of some of the peaks of the still bluer and more distant mountain ranges in the north-west1 those true-blue coins from heaven's own mint1 and also of some portion of the village4 ,but in other directions1 even from this point1 ,i could not see over or beyond the woods which surrounded me4 ,it is well to have some water in your neighborhood1 to give buoyancy to and float the earth4 ,one value even of the smallest well is1 that when you look into it you see that earth is not continent but insular4 ,this is as important as that it keeps butter cool4 ,when ,i looked across the pond from this peak toward the ,sudbury meadows1 which in time of flood ,i distinguished elevated perhaps by a mirage in their seething valley1 like a coin in a basin1 all the earth beyond the pond appeared like a thin crust insulated and floated even by this small sheet of interverting water1 and ,i was reminded that this on which ,i dwelt was but dry land4 ,though the view from my door was still more contracted1 ,i did not feel crowded or confined in the least4 ,there was pasture enough for my imagination4 ,the low shrub-oak plateau to which the opposite shore arose1 stretched away toward the prairies of the ,west and the steppes of ,tartary1 affording ample room for all the roving families of men4 8,there are none happy in the world but beings who enjoy freely a vast horizon10--said ,damodara1 when his herds required new and larger pastures4 ,both place and time were changed1 and ,i dwelt nearer to those parts of the universe and to those eras in history which had most attracted me4 ,where ,i lived was as far off as many a region viewed nightly by astronomers4 ,we are wont to imagine rare and delectable places in some remote and more celestial corner of the system1 behind the constellation of ,cassiopeia's ,chair1 far from noise and disturbance4 ,i discovered that my house actually had its site in such a withdrawn1 but forever new and unprofaned1 part of the universe4 ,if it were worth the while to settle in those parts near to the ,pleiades or the ,hyades1 to ,aldebaran or ,altair1 then ,i was really there1 or at an equal remoteness from the life which ,i had left behind1 dwindled and twinkling with as fine a ray to my nearest neighbor1 and to be seen only in moonless nights by him4 ,such was that part of creation where ,i had squatted2-- 8,there was a shepherd that did live1 ,and held his thoughts as high ,as were the mounts whereon his flocks ,did hourly feed him by40 ,what should we think of the shepherd's life if his flocks always wandered to higher pastures than his thoughts8 ,every morning was a cheerful invitation to make my life of equal simplicity1 and ,i may say innocence1 with ,nature herself4 ,i have been as sincere a worshipper of ,aurora as the ,greeks4 ,i got up early and bathed in the pond2 that was a religious exercise1 and one of the best things which ,i did4 ,they say that characters were engraven on the bathing tub of king ,tching-thang to this effect3 8,renew thyself completely each day2 do it again1 and again1 and forever again40 ,i can understand that4 ,morning brings back the heroic ages4 ,i was as much affected by the faint hum of a mosquito making its invisible and unimaginable tour through my apartment at earliest dawn1 when ,i was sitting with door and windows open1 as ,i could be by any trumpet that ever sang of fame4 ,it was ,homer's requiem2 itself an ,iliad and ,odyssey in the air1 singing its own wrath and wanderings4 ,there was something cosmical about it2 a standing advertisement1 till forbidden1 of the everlasting vigor and fertility of the world4 ,the morning1 which is the most memorable season of the day1 is the awakening hour4 ,then there is least somnolence in us2 and for an hour1 at least1 some part of us awakes which slumbers all the rest of the day and night4 ,little is to be expected of that day1 if it can be called a day1 to which we are not awakened by our ,genius1 but by the mechanical nudgings of some servitor1 are not awakened by our own newly-acquired force and aspirations from within1 accompanied by the undulations of celestial music1 instead of factory bells1 and a fragrance filling the air--to a higher life than we fell asleep from2 and thus the darkness bear its fruit1 and prove itself to be good1 no less than the light4 ,that man who does not believe that each day contains an earlier1 more sacred1 and auroral hour than he has yet profaned1 has despaired of life1 and is pursuing a descending and darkening way4 ,after a partial cessation of his sensuous life1 the soul of man1 or its organs rather1 are reinvigorated each day1 and his ,genius tries again what noble life it can make4 ,all memorable events1 ,i should say1 transpire in morning time and in a morning atmosphere4 ,the ,vedas say1 8,all intelligences awake with the morning40 ,poetry and art1 and the fairest and most memorable of the actions of men1 date from such an hour4 ,all poets and heroes1 like ,memnon1 are the children of ,aurora1 and emit their music at sunrise4 ,to him whose elastic and vigorous thought keeps pace with the sun1 the day is a perpetual morning4 ,it matters not what the clocks say or the attitudes and labors of men4 ,morning is when ,i am awake and there is a dawn in me4 ,moral reform is the effort to throw off sleep4 ,why is it that men give so poor an account of their day if they have not been slumbering8 ,they are not such poor calculators4 ,if they had not been overcome with drowsiness1 they would have performed something4 ,the millions are awake enough for physical labor2 but only one in a million is awake enough for effective intellectual exertion1 only one in a hundred millions to a poetic or divine life4 ,to be awake is to be alive4 ,i have never yet met a man who was quite awake4 ,how could ,i have looked him in the face8 ,we must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake1 not by mechanical aids1 but by an infinite expectation of the dawn1 which does not forsake us in our soundest sleep4 ,i know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor4 ,it is something to be able to paint a particular picture1 or to carve a statue1 and so to make a few objects beautiful2 but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look1 which morally we can do4 ,to affect the quality of the day1 that is the highest of arts4 ,every man is tasked to make his life1 even in its details1 worthy of the contemplation of his most elevated and critical hour4 ,if we refused1 or rather used up1 such paltry information as we get1 the oracles would distinctly inform us how this might be done4 ,i went to the woods because ,i wished to live deliberately1 to front only the essential facts of life1 and see if ,i could not learn what it had to teach1 and not1 when ,i came to die1 discover that ,i had not lived4 ,i did not wish to live what was not life1 living is so dear2 nor did ,i wish to practise resignation1 unless it was quite necessary4 ,i wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life1 to live so sturdily and ,spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life1 to cut a broad swath and shave close1 to drive life into a corner1 and reduce it to its lowest terms1 and1 if it proved to be mean1 why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it1 and publish its meanness to the world2 or if it were sublime1 to know it by experience1 and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion4 ,for most men1 it appears to me1 are in a strange uncertainty about it1 whether it is of the devil or of ,god1 and have somewhat hastily concluded that it is the chief end of man here to 8glorify ,god and enjoy him forever40 ,still we live meanly1 like ants2 though the fable tells us that we were long ago changed into men2 like pygmies we fight with cranes2 it is error upon error1 and clout upon clout1 and our best virtue has for its occasion a superfluous and evitable wretchedness4 ,our life is frittered away by detail4 ,an honest man has hardly need to count more than his ten fingers1 or in extreme cases he may add his ten toes1 and lump the rest4 ,simplicity1 simplicity1 simplicity6 ,i say1 let your affairs be as two or three1 and not a hundred or a thousand2 instead of a million count half a dozen1 and keep your accounts on your thumb nail4 ,in the midst of this chopping sea of civilized life1 such are the clouds and storms and quicksands and thousand-and-one items to be allowed for1 that a man has to live1 if he would not founder and go to the bottom and not make his port at all1 by dead reckoning1 and he must be a great calculator indeed who succeeds4 ,simplify1 simplify4 ,instead of three meals a day1 if it be necessary eat but one2 instead of a hundred dishes1 five2 and reduce other things in proportion4 ,our life is like a ,german ,confederacy1 made up of petty states1 with its boundary forever fluctuating1 so that even a ,german cannot tell you how it is bounded at any moment4 ,the nation itself1 with all its so called internal improvements1 which1 by the way1 are all external and superficial1 is just such an unwieldy and overgrown establishment1 cluttered with furniture and tripped up by its own traps1 ruined by luxury and heedless expense1 by want of calculation and a worthy aim1 as the million households in the land2 and the only cure for it as for them is in a rigid economy1 a stern and more than ,spartan simplicity of life and elevation of purpose4 ,it lives too fast4 ,men think that it is essential that the ,nation have commerce1 and export ice1 and talk through a telegraph1 and ride thirty miles an hour1 without a doubt1 whether they do or not2 but whether we should live like baboons or like men1 is a little uncertain4 ,if we do not get out sleepers1 and forge rails1 and devote days and nights to the work1 but go to tinkering upon our lives to improve them1 who will build railroads8 ,and if railroads are not built1 how shall we get to heaven in season8 ,but if we stay at home and mind our business1 who will want railroads8 ,we do not ride on the railroad2 it rides upon us4 ,did you ever think what those sleepers are that underlie the railroad8 ,each one is a man1 an ,irish-man1 or a ,yankee man4 ,the rails are laid on them1 and they are covered with sand1 and the cars run smoothly over them4 ,they are sound sleepers1 ,i assure you4 ,and every few years a new lot is laid down and run over2 so that1 if some have the pleasure of riding on a rail1 others have the misfortune to be ridden upon4 ,and when they run over a man that is walking in his sleep1 a supernumerary sleeper in the wrong position1 and wake him up1 they suddenly stop the cars1 and make a hue and cry about it1 as if this were an exception4 ,i am glad to know that it takes a gang of men for every five miles to keep the sleepers down and level in their beds as it is1 for this is a sign that they may sometime get up again4 ,why should we live with such hurry and waste of life8 ,we are determined to be starved before we are hungry4 ,men say that a stitch in time saves nine1 and so they take a thousand stitches to-day to save nine to-morrow4 ,as for work1 we haven't any of any consequence4 ,we have the ,saint ,vitus' dance1 and cannot possibly keep our heads still4 ,if ,i should only give a few pulls at the parish bell-rope1 as for a fire1 that is1 without setting the bell1 there is hardly a man on his farm in the outskirts of ,concord1 notwithstanding that press of engagements which was his excuse so many times this morning1 nor a boy1 nor a woman1 ,i might almost say1 but would forsake all and follow that sound1 not mainly to save property from the flames1 but1 if we will confess the truth1 much more to see it burn1 since burn it must1 and we1 be it known1 did not set it on fire1--or to see it put out1 and have a hand in it1 if that is done as handsomely2 yes1 even if it were the parish church itself4 ,hardly a man takes a half hour's nap after dinner1 but when he wakes he holds up his head and asks1 8,what's the news80 as if the rest of mankind had stood his sentinels4 ,some give directions to be waked every half hour1 doubtless for no other purpose2 and then1 to pay for it1 they tell what they have dreamed4 ,after a night's sleep the news is as indispensable as the breakfast4 8,pray tell me any thing new that has happened to a man any where on this globe10--and he reads it over his coffee and rolls1 that a man has had his eyes gouged out this morning on the ,wachito ,river2 never dreaming the while that he lives in the dark unfathomed mammoth cave of this world1 and has but the rudiment of an eye himself4 ,for my part1 ,i could easily do without the post-office4 ,i think that there are very few important communications made through it4 ,to speak critically1 ,i never received more than one or two letters in my life--,i wrote this some years ago--that were worth the postage4 ,the penny-post is1 commonly1 an institution through which you seriously offer a man that penny for his thoughts which is so often safely offered in jest4 ,and ,i am sure that ,i never read any memorable news in a newspaper4 ,if we read of one man robbed1 or murdered1 or killed by accident1 or one house burned1 or one vessel wrecked1 or one steamboat blown up1 or one cow run over on the ,western ,railroad1 or one mad dog killed1 or one lot of grasshoppers in the winter1--we never need read of another4 ,one is enough4 ,if you are acquainted with the principle1 what do you care for a myriad instances and applications8 ,to a philosopher all news1 as it is called1 is gossip1 and they who edit and read it are old women over their tea4 ,yet not a few are greedy after this gossip4 ,there was such a rush1 as ,i hear1 the other day at one of the offices to learn the foreign news by the last arrival1 that several large squares of plate glass belonging to the establishment were broken by the pressure1--news which ,i seriously think a ready wit might write a twelve-month1 or twelve years1 beforehand with sufficient accuracy4 ,as for ,spain1 for instance1 if you know how to throw in ,don ,carlos and the ,infanta1 and ,don ,pedro and ,seville and ,granada1 from time to time in the right proportions1--they may have changed the names a little since ,i saw the papers1--and serve up a bull-fight when other entertainments fail1 it will be true to the letter1 and give us as good an idea of the exact state or ruin of things in ,spain as the most succinct and lucid reports under this head in the newspapers3 and as for ,england1 almost the last significant scrap of news from that quarter was the revolution of #afdi2 and if you have learned the history of her crops for an average year1 you never need attend to that thing again1 unless your speculations are of a merely pecuniary character4 ,if one may judge who rarely looks into the newspapers1 nothing new does ever happen in foreign parts1 a ,french revolution not excepted4 ,what news6 how much more important to know what that is which was never old6 8,kieou-he-yu 7great dignitary of the state of ,wei7 sent a man to ,khoung-tseu to know his news4 ,khoung-tseu caused the messenger to be seated near him1 and questioned him in these terms3 ,what is your master doing8 ,the messenger answered with respect3 ,my master desires to diminish the number of his faults1 but he cannot come to the end of them4 ,the messenger being gone1 the philosopher remarked3 ,what a worthy messenger6 ,what a worthy messenger60 ,the preacher1 instead of vexing the ears of drowsy farmers on their day of rest at the end of the week1--for ,sunday is the fit conclusion of an ill-spent week1 and not the fresh and brave beginning of a new one1--with this one other draggle-tail of a sermon1 should shout with thundering voice1 8,pause6 ,avast6 ,why so seeming fast1 but deadly slow80 ,shams and delusions are esteemed for soundest truths1 while reality is fabulous4 ,if men would steadily observe realities only1 and not allow themselves to be deluded1 life1 to compare it with such things as we know1 would be like a fairy tale and the ,arabian ,nights' ,entertainments4 ,if we respected only what is inevitable and has a right to be1 music and poetry would resound along the streets4 ,when we are unhurried and wise1 we perceive that only great and worthy things have any permanent and absolute existence1--that petty fears and petty pleasures are but the shadow of the reality4 ,this is always exhilarating and sublime4 ,by closing the eyes and slumbering1 and consenting to be deceived by shows1 men establish and confirm their daily life of routine and habit everywhere1 which still is built on purely illusory foundations4 ,children1 who play life1 discern its true law and relations more clearly than men1 who fail to live it worthily1 but who think that they are wiser by experience1 that is1 by failure4 ,i have read in a ,hindoo book1 that 8there was a king's son1 who1 being expelled in infancy from his native city1 was brought up by a forester1 and1 growing up to maturity in that state1 imagined himself to belong to the barbarous race with which he lived4 ,one of his father's ministers having discovered him1 revealed to him what he was1 and the misconception of his character was removed1 and he knew himself to be a prince4 ,so soul10 continues the ,hindoo philosopher1 8from the circumstances in which it is placed1 mistakes its own character1 until the truth is revealed to it by some holy teacher1 and then it knows itself to be ,brahme40 ,i perceive that we inhabitants of ,new ,england live this mean life that we do because our vision does not penetrate the surface of things4 ,we think that that is which appears to be4 ,if a man should walk through this town and see only the reality1 where1 think you1 would the 8,mill-dam0 go to8 ,if he should give us an account of the realities he beheld there1 we should not recognize the place in his description4 ,look at a meeting-house1 or a court-house1 or a jail1 or a shop1 or a dwelling-house1 and say what that thing really is before a true gaze1 and they would all go to pieces in your account of them4 ,men esteem truth remote1 in the outskirts of the system1 behind the farthest star1 before ,adam and after the last man4 ,in eternity there is indeed something true and sublime4 ,but all these times and places and occasions are now and here4 ,god himself culminates in the present moment1 and will never be more divine in the lapse of all the ages4 ,and we are enabled to apprehend at all what is sublime and noble only by the perpetual instilling and drenching of the reality that surrounds us4 ,the universe constantly and obediently answers to our conceptions2 whether we travel fast or slow1 the track is laid for us4 ,let us spend our lives in conceiving then4 ,the poet or the artist never yet had so fair and noble a design but some of his posterity at least could accomplish it4 ,let us spend one day as deliberately as ,nature1 and not be thrown off the track by every nutshell and mosquito's wing that falls on the rails4 ,let us rise early and fast1 or break fast1 gently and without perturbation2 let company come and let company go1 let the bells ring and the children cry1--determined to make a day of it4 ,why should we knock under and go with the stream8 ,let us not be upset and overwhelmed in that terrible rapid and whirlpool called a dinner1 situated in the meridian shallows4 ,weather this danger and you are safe1 for the rest of the way is down hill4 ,with unrelaxed nerves1 with morning vigor1 sail by it1 looking another way1 tied to the mast like ,ulysses4 ,if the engine whistles1 let it whistle till it is hoarse for its pains4 ,if the bell rings1 why should we run8 ,we will consider what kind of music they are like4 ,let us settle ourselves1 and work and wedge our feet downward through the mud and slush of opinion1 and prejudice1 and tradition1 and delusion1 and appearance1 that alluvion which covers the globe1 through ,paris and ,london1 through ,new ,york and ,boston and ,concord1 through church and state1 through poetry and philosophy and religion1 till we come to a hard bottom and rocks in place1 which we can call reality1 and say1 ,this is1 and no mistake2 and then begin1 having a point d'appui1 below freshet and frost and fire1 a place where you might found a wall or a state1 or set a lamp-post safely1 or perhaps a gauge1 not a ,nilometer1 but a ,realometer1 that future ages might know how deep a freshet of shams and appearances had gathered from time to time4 ,if you stand right fronting and face to face to a fact1 you will see the sun glimmer on both its surfaces1 as if it were a cimeter1 and feel its sweet edge dividing you through the heart and marrow1 and so you will happily conclude your mortal career4 ,be it life or death1 we crave only reality4 ,if we are really dying1 let us hear the rattle in our throats and feel cold in the extremities2 if we are alive1 let us go about our business4 ,time is but the stream ,i go a-fishing in4 ,i drink at it2 but while ,i drink ,i see the sandy bottom and detect how shallow it is4 ,its thin current slides away1 but eternity remains4 ,i would drink deeper2 fish in the sky1 whose bottom is pebbly with stars4 ,i cannot count one4 ,i know not the first letter of the alphabet4 ,i have always been regretting that ,i was not as wise as the day ,i was born4 ,the intellect is a cleaver2 it discerns and rifts its way into the secret of things4 ,i do not wish to be any more busy with my hands than is necessary4 ,my head is hands and feet4 ,i feel all my best faculties concentrated in it4 ,my instinct tells me that my head is an organ for burrowing1 as some creatures use their snout and fore-paws1 and with it ,i would mine and burrow my way through these hills4 ,i think that the richest vein is somewhere hereabouts2 so by the divining-rod and thin rising vapors ,i judge2 and here ,i will begin to mine4 ,reading ,with a little more deliberation in the choice of their pursuits1 all men would perhaps become essentially students and observers1 for certainly their nature and destiny are interesting to all alike4 ,in accumulating property for ourselves or our posterity1 in founding a family or a state1 or acquiring fame even1 we are mortal2 but in dealing with truth we are immortal1 and need fear no change nor accident4 ,the oldest ,egyptian or ,hindoo philosopher raised a corner of the veil from the statue of the divinity2 and still the trembling robe remains raised1 and ,i gaze upon as fresh a glory as he did1 since it was ,i in him that was then so bold1 and it is he in me that now reviews the vision4 ,no dust has settled on that robe2 no time has elapsed since that divinity was revealed4 ,that time which we really improve1 or which is improvable1 is neither past1 present1 nor future4 ,my residence was more favorable1 not only to thought1 but to serious reading1 than a university2 and though ,i was beyond the range of the ordinary circulating library1 ,i had more than ever come within the influence of those books which circulate round the world1 whose sentences were first written on bark1 and are now merely copied from time to time on to linen paper4 ,says the poet ,mr ,camar ,uddn ,mast1 8,being seated to run through the region of the spiritual world2 ,i have had this advantage in books4 ,to be intoxicated by a single glass of wine2 ,i have experienced this pleasure when ,i have drunk the liquor of the esoteric doctrines40 ,i kept ,homer's ,iliad on my table through the summer1 though ,i looked at his page only now and then4 ,incessant labor with my hands1 at first1 for ,i had my house to finish and my beans to hoe at the same time1 made more study impossible4 ,yet ,i sustained myself by the prospect of such reading in future4 ,i read one or two shallow books of travel in the intervals of my work1 till that employment made me ashamed of myself1 and ,i asked where it was then that ,i lived4 ,the student may read ,homer or schylus in the ,greek without danger of dissipation or luxuriousness1 for it implies that he in some measure emulate their heroes1 and consecrate morning hours to their pages4 ,the heroic books1 even if printed in the character of our mother tongue1 will always be in a language dead to degenerate times2 and we must laboriously seek the meaning of each word and line1 conjecturing a larger sense than common use permits out of what wisdom and valor and generosity we have4 ,the modern cheap and fertile press1 with all its translations1 has done little to bring us nearer to the heroic writers of antiquity4 ,they seem as solitary1 and the letter in which they are printed as rare and curious1 as ever4 ,it is worth the expense of youthful days and costly hours1 if you learn only some words of an ancient language1 which are raised out of the trivialness of the street1 to be perpetual suggestions and provocations4 ,it is not in vain that the farmer remembers and repeats the few ,latin words which he has heard4 ,men sometimes speak as if the study of the classics would at length make way for more modern and practical studies2 but the adventurous student will always study classics1 in whatever language they may be written and however ancient they may be4 ,for what are the classics but the noblest recorded thoughts of man8 ,they are the only oracles which are not decayed1 and there are such answers to the most modern inquiry in them as ,delphi and ,dodona never gave4 ,we might as well omit to study ,nature because she is old4 ,to read well1 that is1 to read true books in a true spirit1 is a noble exercise1 and one that will task the reader more than any exercise which the customs of the day esteem4 ,it requires a training such as the athletes underwent1 the steady intention almost of the whole life to this object4 ,books must be read as deliberately and reservedly as they were written4 ,it is not enough even to be able to speak the language of that nation by which they are written1 for there is a memorable interval between the spoken and the written language1 the language heard and the language read4 ,the one is commonly transitory1 a sound1 a tongue1 a dialect merely1 almost brutish1 and we learn it unconsciously1 like the brutes1 of our mothers4 ,the other is the maturity and experience of that2 if that is our mother tongue1 this is our father tongue1 a reserved and select expression1 too significant to be heard by the ear1 which we must be born again in order to speak4 ,the crowds of men who merely spoke the ,greek and ,latin tongues in the middle ages were not entitled by the accident of birth to read the works of genius written in those languages2 for these were not written in that ,greek or ,latin which they knew1 but in the select language of literature4 ,they had not learned the nobler dialects of ,greece and ,rome1 but the very materials on which they were written were waste paper to them1 and they prized instead a cheap contemporary literature4 ,but when the several nations of ,europe had acquired distinct though rude written languages of their own1 sufficient for the purposes of their rising literatures1 then first learning revived1 and scholars were enabled to discern from that remoteness the treasures of antiquity4 ,what the ,roman and ,grecian multitude could not hear1 after the lapse of ages a few scholars read1 and a few scholars only are still reading it4 ,however much we may admire the orator's occasional bursts of eloquence1 the noblest written words are commonly as far behind or above the fleeting spoken language as the firmament with its stars is behind the clouds4 ,there are the stars1 and they who can may read them4 ,the astronomers forever comment on and observe them4 ,they are not exhalations like our daily colloquies and vaporous breath4 ,what is called eloquence in the forum is commonly found to be rhetoric in the study4 ,the orator yields to the inspiration of a transient occasion1 and speaks to the mob before him1 to those who can hear him2 but the writer1 whose more equable life is his occasion1 and who would be distracted by the event and the crowd which inspire the orator1 speaks to the intellect and health of mankind1 to all in any age who can understand him4 ,no wonder that ,alexander carried the ,iliad with him on his expeditions in a precious casket4 ,a written word is the choicest of relics4 ,it is something at once more intimate with us and more universal than any other work of art4 ,it is the work of art nearest to life itself4 ,it may be translated into every language1 and not only be read but actually breathed from all human lips2--not be represented on canvas or in marble only1 but be carved out of the breath of life itself4 ,the symbol of an ancient man's thought becomes a modern man's speech4 ,two thousand summers have imparted to the monuments of ,grecian literature1 as to her marbles1 only a maturer golden and autumnal tint1 for they have carried their own serene and celestial atmosphere into all lands to protect them against the corrosion of time4 ,books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations4 ,books1 the oldest and the best1 stand naturally and rightfully on the shelves of every cottage4 ,they have no cause of their own to plead1 but while they enlighten and sustain the reader his common sense will not refuse them4 ,their authors are a natural and irresistible aristocracy in every society1 and1 more than kings or emperors1 exert an influence on mankind4 ,when the illiterate and perhaps scornful trader has earned by enterprise and industry his coveted leisure and independence1 and is admitted to the circles of wealth and fashion1 he turns inevitably at last to those still higher but yet inaccessible circles of intellect and genius1 and is sensible only of the imperfection of his culture and the vanity and insufficiency of all his riches1 and further proves his good sense by the pains which he takes to secure for his children that intellectual culture whose want he so keenly feels2 and thus it is that he becomes the founder of a family4 ,those who have not learned to read the ancient classics in the language in which they were written must have a very imperfect knowledge of the history of the human race2 for it is remarkable that no transcript of them has ever been made into any modern tongue1 unless our civilization itself may be regarded as such a transcript4 ,homer has never yet been printed in ,english1 nor schylus1 nor ,virgil even--works as refined1 as solidly done1 and as beautiful almost as the morning itself2 for later writers1 say what we will of their genius1 have rarely1 if ever1 equalled the elaborate beauty and finish and the lifelong and heroic literary labors of the ancients4 ,they only talk of forgetting them who never knew them4 ,it will be soon enough to forget them when we have the learning and the genius which will enable us to attend to and appreciate them4 ,that age will be rich indeed when those relics which we call ,classics1 and the still older and more than classic but even less known ,scriptures of the nations1 shall have still further accumulated1 when the ,vaticans shall be filled with ,vedas and ,zendavestas and ,bibles1 with ,homers and ,dantes and ,shakespeares1 and all the centuries to come shall have successively deposited their trophies in the forum of the world4 ,by such a pile we may hope to scale heaven at last4 ,the works of the great poets have never yet been read by mankind1 for only great poets can read them4 ,they have only been read as the multitude read the stars1 at most astrologically1 not astronomically4 ,most men have learned to read to serve a paltry convenience1 as they have learned to cipher in order to keep accounts and not be cheated in trade2 but of reading as a noble intellectual exercise they know little or nothing2 yet this only is reading1 in a high sense1 not that which lulls us as a luxury and suffers the nobler faculties to sleep the while1 but what we have to stand on tip-toe to read and devote our most alert and wakeful hours to4 ,i think that having learned our letters we should read the best that is in literature1 and not be forever repeating our a b abs1 and words of one syllable1 in the fourth or fifth classes1 sitting on the lowest and foremost form all our lives4 ,most men are satisfied if they read or hear read1 and perchance have been convicted by the wisdom of one good book1 the ,bible1 and for the rest of their lives vegetate and dissipate their faculties in what is called easy reading4 ,there is a work in several volumes in our ,circulating ,library entitled ,little ,reading1 which ,i thought referred to a town of that name which ,i had not been to4 ,there are those who1 like cormorants and ostriches1 can digest all sorts of this1 even after the fullest dinner of meats and vegetables1 for they suffer nothing to be wasted4 ,if others are the machines to provide this provender1 they are the machines to read it4 ,they read the nine thousandth tale about ,zebulon and ,sephronia1 and how they loved as none had ever loved before1 and neither did the course of their true love run smooth1--at any rate1 how it did run and stumble1 and get up again and go on6 how some poor unfortunate got up on to a steeple1 who had better never have gone up as far as the belfry2 and then1 having needlessly got him up there1 the happy novelist rings the bell for all the world to come together and hear1 ,o dear6 how he did get down again6 ,for my part1 ,i think that they had better metamorphose all such aspiring heroes of universal noveldom into man weathercocks1 as they used to put heroes among the constellations1 and let them swing round there till they are rusty1 and not come down at all to bother honest men with their pranks4 ,the next time the novelist rings the bell ,i will not stir though the meeting-house burn down4 8,the ,skip of the ,tip-,toe-,hop1 a ,romance of the ,middle ,ages1 by the celebrated author of #8,tittle-,tol-,tan1' to appear in monthly parts2 a great rush2 don't all come together40 ,all this they read with saucer eyes1 and erect and primitive curiosity1 and with unwearied gizzard1 whose corrugations even yet need no sharpening1 just as some little four-year-old bencher his two-cent gilt-covered edition of ,cinderella1--without any improvement1 that ,i can see1 in the pronunciation1 or accent1 or emphasis1 or any more skill in extracting or inserting the moral4 ,the result is dulness of sight1 a stagnation of the vital circulations1 and a general deliquium and sloughing off of all the intellectual faculties4 ,this sort of gingerbread is baked daily and more sedulously than pure wheat or rye-and-,indian in almost every oven1 and finds a surer market4 ,the best books are not read even by those who are called good readers4 ,what does our ,concord culture amount to8 ,there is in this town1 with a very few exceptions1 no taste for the best or for very good books even in ,english literature1 whose words all can read and spell4 ,even the college-bred and so called liberally educated men here and elsewhere have really little or no acquaintance with the ,english classics2 and as for the recorded wisdom of mankind1 the ancient classics and ,bibles1 which are accessible to all who will know of them1 there are the feeblest efforts any where made to become acquainted with them4 ,i know a woodchopper1 of middle age1 who takes a ,french paper1 not for news as he says1 for he is above that1 but to 8keep himself in practice10 he being a ,canadian by birth2 and when ,i ask him what he considers the best thing he can do in this world1 he says1 beside this1 to keep up and add to his ,english4 ,this is about as much as the college bred generally do or aspire to do1 and they take an ,english paper for the purpose4 ,one who has just come from reading perhaps one of the best ,english books will find how many with whom he can converse about it8 ,or suppose he comes from reading a ,greek or ,latin classic in the original1 whose praises are familiar even to the so called illiterate2 he will find nobody at all to speak to1 but must keep silence about it4 ,indeed1 there is hardly the professor in our colleges1 who1 if he has mastered the difficulties of the language1 has proportionally mastered the difficulties of the wit and poetry of a ,greek poet1 and has any sympathy to impart to the alert and heroic reader2 and as for the sacred ,scriptures1 or ,bibles of mankind1 who in this town can tell me even their titles8 ,most men do not know that any nation but the ,hebrews have had a scripture4 ,a man1 any man1 will go considerably out of his way to pick up a silver dollar2 but here are golden words1 which the wisest men of antiquity have uttered1 and whose worth the wise of every succeeding age have assured us of2--and yet we learn to read only as far as ,easy ,reading1 the primers and class-books1 and when we leave school1 the 8,little ,reading10 and story books1 which are for boys and beginners2 and our reading1 our conversation and thinking1 are all on a very low level1 worthy only of pygmies and manikins4 ,i aspire to be acquainted with wiser men than this our ,concord soil has produced1 whose names are hardly known here4 ,or shall ,i hear the name of ,plato and never read his book8 ,as if ,plato were my townsman and ,i never saw him1--my next neighbor and ,i never heard him speak or attended to the wisdom of his words4 ,but how actually is it8 ,his ,dialogues1 which contain what was immortal in him1 lie on the next shelf1 and yet ,i never read them4 ,we are underbred and low-lived and illiterate2 and in this respect ,i confess ,i do not make any very broad distinction between the illiterateness of my townsman who cannot read at all1 and the illiterateness of him who has learned to read only what is for children and feeble intellects4 ,we should be as good as the worthies of antiquity1 but partly by first knowing how good they were4 ,we are a race of tit-men1 and soar but little higher in our intellectual flights than the columns of the daily paper4 ,it is not all books that are as dull as their readers4 ,there are probably words addressed to our condition exactly1 which1 if we could really hear and understand1 would be more salutary than the morning or the spring to our lives1 and possibly put a new aspect on the face of things for us4 ,how many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book4 ,the book exists for us perchance which will explain our miracles and reveal new ones4 ,the at present unutterable things we may find somewhere uttered4 ,these same questions that disturb and puzzle and confound us have in their turn occurred to all the wise men2 not one has been omitted2 and each has answered them1 according to his ability1 by his words and his life4 ,moreover1 with wisdom we shall learn liberality4 ,the solitary hired man on a farm in the outskirts of ,concord1 who has had his second birth and peculiar religious experience1 and is driven as he believes into the silent gravity and exclusiveness by his faith1 may think it is not true2 but ,zoroaster1 thousands of years ago1 travelled the same road and had the same experience2 but he1 being wise1 knew it to be universal1 and treated his neighbors accordingly1 and is even said to have invented and established worship among men4 ,let him humbly commune with ,zoroaster then1 and through the liberalizing influence of all the worthies1 with ,jesus ,christ himself1 and let 8our church0 go by the board4 ,we boast that we belong to the nineteenth century and are making the most rapid strides of any nation4 ,but consider how little this village does for its own culture4 ,i do not wish to flatter my townsmen1 nor to be flattered by them1 for that will not advance either of us4 ,we need to be provoked1--goaded like oxen1 as we are1 into a trot4 ,we have a comparatively decent system of common schools1 schools for infants only2 but excepting the half-starved ,lyceum in the winter1 and latterly the puny beginning of a library suggested by the state1 no school for ourselves4 ,we spend more on almost any article of bodily aliment or ailment than on our mental aliment4 ,it is time that we had uncommon schools1 that we did not leave off our education when we begin to be men and women4 ,it is time that villages were universities1 and their elder inhabitants the fellows of universities1 with leisure--if they are indeed so well off--to pursue liberal studies the rest of their lives4 ,shall the world be confined to one ,paris or one ,oxford forever8 ,cannot students be boarded here and get a liberal education under the skies of ,concord8 ,can we not hire some ,abelard to lecture to us8 ,alas6 what with foddering the cattle and tending the store1 we are kept from school too long1 and our education is sadly neglected4 ,in this country1 the village should in some respects take the place of the nobleman of ,europe4 ,it should be the patron of the fine arts4 ,it is rich enough4 ,it wants only the magnanimity and refinement4 ,it can spend money enough on such things as farmers and traders value1 but it is thought ,utopian to propose spending money for things which more intelligent men know to be of far more worth4 ,this town has spent seventeen thousand dollars on a town-house1 thank fortune or politics1 but probably it will not spend so much on living wit1 the true meat to put into that shell1 in a hundred years4 ,the one hundred and twenty-five dollars annually subscribed for a ,lyceum in the winter is better spent than any other equal sum raised in the town4 ,if we live in the nineteenth century1 why should we not enjoy the advantages which the nineteenth century offers8 ,why should our life be in any respect provincial8 ,if we will read newspapers1 why not skip the gossip of ,boston and take the best newspaper in the world at once8--not be sucking the pap of 8neutral family0 papers1 or browsing 8,olive-,branches0 here in ,new ,england4 ,let the reports of all the learned societies come to us1 and we will see if they know any thing4 ,why should we leave it to ,harper ,brothers and ,redding ,co4 to select our reading8 ,as the nobleman of cultivated taste surrounds himself with whatever conduces to his culture1--genius--learning--wit--books-- paintings--statuary--music-- philosophical instruments1 and the like2 so let the village do1--not stop short at a pedagogue1 a parson1 a sexton1 a parish library1 and three selectmen1 because our pilgrim forefathers got through a cold winter once on a bleak rock with these4 ,to act collectively is according to the spirit of our institutions2 and ,i am confident that1 as our circumstances are more flourishing1 our means are greater than the nobleman's4 ,new ,england can hire all the wise men in the world to come and teach her1 and board them round the while1 and not be provincial at all4 ,that is the uncommon school we want4 ,instead of noblemen1 let us have noble villages of men4 ,if it is necessary1 omit one bridge over the river1 go round a little there1 and throw one arch at least over the darker gulf of ignorance which surrounds us4 ,sounds ,but while we are confined to books1 though the most select and classic1 and read only particular written languages1 which are themselves but dialects and provincial1 we are in danger of forgetting the language which all things and events speak without metaphor1 which alone is copious and standard4 ,much is published1 but little printed4 ,the rays which stream through the shutter will be no longer remembered when the shutter is wholly removed4 ,no method nor discipline can supersede the necessity of being forever on the alert4 ,what is a course of history1 or philosophy1 or poetry1 no matter how well selected1 or the best society1 or the most admirable routine of life1 compared with the discipline of looking always at what is to be seen8 ,will you be a reader1 a student merely1 or a seer8 ,read your fate1 see what is before you1 and walk on into futurity4 ,i did not read books the first summer2 ,i hoed beans4 ,nay1 ,i often did better than this4 ,there were times when ,i could not afford to sacrifice the bloom of the present moment to any work1 whether of the head or hands4 ,i love a broad margin to my life4 ,sometimes1 in a summer morning1 having taken my accustomed bath1 ,i sat in my sunny doorway from sunrise till noon1 rapt in a revery1 amidst the pines and hickories and sumachs1 in undisturbed solitude and stillness1 while the birds sing around or flitted noiseless through the house1 until by the sun falling in at my west window1 or the noise of some traveller's wagon on the distant highway1 ,i was reminded of the lapse of time4 ,i grew in those seasons like corn in the night1 and they were far better than any work of the hands would have been4 ,they were not time subtracted from my life1 but so much over and above my usual allowance4 ,i realized what the ,orientals mean by contemplation and the forsaking of works4 ,for the most part1 ,i minded not how the hours went4 ,the day advanced as if to light some work of mine2 it was morning1 and lo1 now it is evening1 and nothing memorable is accomplished4 ,instead of singing like the birds1 ,i silently smiled at my incessant good fortune4 ,as the sparrow had its trill1 sitting on the hickory before my door1 so had ,i my chuckle or suppressed warble which he might hear out of my nest4 ,my days were not days of the week1 bearing the stamp of any heathen deity1 nor were they minced into hours and fretted by the ticking of a clock2 for ,i lived like the ,puri ,indians1 of whom it is said that 8for yesterday1 to-day1 and to-morrow they have only one word1 and they express the variety of meaning by pointing backward for yesterday1 forward for to-morrow1 and overhead for the passing day40 ,this was sheer idleness to my fellow-townsmen1 no doubt2 but if the birds and flowers had tried me by their standard1 ,i should not have been found wanting4 ,a man must find his occasions in himself1 it is true4 ,the natural day is very calm1 and will hardly reprove his indolence4 ,i had this advantage1 at least1 in my mode of life1 over those who were obliged to look abroad for amusement1 to society and the theatre1 that my life itself was become my amusement and never ceased to be novel4 ,it was a drama of many scenes and without an end4 ,if we were always indeed getting our living1 and regulating our lives according to the last and best mode we had learned1 we should never be troubled with ennui4 ,follow your genius closely enough1 and it will not fail to show you a fresh prospect every hour4 ,housework was a pleasant pastime4 ,when my floor was dirty1 ,i rose early1 and1 setting all my furniture out of doors on the grass1 bed and bedstead making but one budget1 dashed water on the floor1 and sprinkled white sand from the pond on it1 and then with a broom scrubbed it clean and white2 and by the time the villagers had broken their fast the morning sun had dried my house sufficiently to allow me to move in again1 and my meditations were almost uninterupted4 ,it was pleasant to see my whole household effects out on the grass1 making a little pile like a gypsy's pack1 and my three-legged table1 from which ,i did not remove the books and pen and ink1 standing amid the pines and hickories4 ,they seemed glad to get out themselves1 and as if unwilling to be brought in4 ,i was sometimes tempted to stretch an awning over them and take my seat there4 ,it was worth the while to see the sun shine on these things1 and hear the free wind blow on them2 so much more interesting most familiar objects look out of doors than in the house4 ,a bird sits on the next bough1 life-everlasting grows under the table1 and blackberry vines run round its legs2 pine cones1 chestnut burs1 and strawberry leaves are strewn about4 ,it looked as if this was the way these forms came to be transferred to our furniture1 to tables1 chairs1 and bedsteads1--because they once stood in their midst4 ,my house was on the side of a hill1 immediately on the edge of the larger wood1 in the midst of a young forest of pitch pines and hickories1 and half a dozen rods from the pond1 to which a narrow footpath led down the hill4 ,in my front yard grew the strawberry1 blackberry1 and life-everlasting1 johnswort and goldenrod1 shrub-oaks and sand-cherry1 blueberry and groundnut4 ,near the end of ,may1 the sand-cherry 7,cerasus pumila17 adorned the sides of the path with its delicate flowers arranged in umbels cylindrically about its short stems1 which last1 in the fall1 weighed down with good sized and handsome cherries1 fell over in wreaths like rays on every side4 ,i tasted them out of compliment to ,nature1 though they were scarcely palatable4 ,the sumach 7,rhus glabra17 grew luxuriantly about the house1 pushing up through the embankment which ,i had made1 and growing five or six feet the first season4 ,its broad pinnate tropical leaf was pleasant though strange to look on4 ,the large buds1 suddenly pushing out late in the spring from dry sticks which had seemed to be dead1 developed themselves as by magic into graceful green and tender boughs1 an inch in diameter2 and sometimes1 as ,i sat at my window1 so heedlessly did they grow and tax their weak joints1 ,i heard a fresh and tender bough suddenly fall like a fan to the ground1 when there was not a breath of air stirring1 broken off by its own weight4 ,in ,august1 the large masses of berries1 which1 when in flower1 had attracted many wild bees1 gradually assumed their bright velvety crimson hue1 and by their weight again bent down and broke the tender limbs4 ,as ,i sit at my window this summer afternoon1 hawks are circling about my clearing2 the tantivy of wild pigeons1 flying by twos and threes athwart my view1 or perching restless on the white-pine boughs behind my house1 gives a voice to the air2 a fishhawk dimples the glassy surface of the pond and brings up a fish2 a mink steals out of the marsh before my door and seizes a frog by the shore2 the sedge is bending under the weight of the reed-birds flitting hither and thither2 and for the last half hour ,i have heard the rattle of railroad cars1 now dying away and then reviving like the beat of a partridge1 conveying travellers from ,boston to the country4 ,for ,i did not live so out of the world as that boy who1 as ,i hear1 was put out to a farmer in the east part of the town1 but ere long ran away and came home again1 quite down at the heel and homesick4 ,he had never seen such a dull and out-of-the-way place2 the folks were all gone off2 why1 you couldn't even hear the whistle6 ,i doubt if there is such a place in ,massachusetts now3-- 8,in truth1 our village has become a butt ,for one of those fleet railroad shafts1 and o'er ,our peaceful plain its soothing sound is--,concord40 ,the ,fitchburg ,railroad touches the pond about a hundred rods south of where ,i dwell4 ,i usually go to the village along its causeway1 and am1 as it were1 related to society by this link4 ,the men on the freight trains1 who go over the whole length of the road1 bow to me as to an old acquaintance1 they pass me so often1 and apparently they take me for an employee2 and so ,i am4 ,i too would fain be a track-repairer somewhere in the orbit of the earth4 ,the whistle of the locomotive penetrates my woods summer and winter1 sounding like the scream of a hawk sailing over some farmer's yard1 informing me that many restless city merchants are arriving within the circle of the town1 or adventurous country traders from the other side4 ,as they come under one horizon1 they shout their warning to get off the track to the other1 heard sometimes through the circles of two towns4 ,here come your groceries1 country2 your rations1 countrymen6 ,nor is there any man so independent on his farm that he can say them nay4 ,and here's your pay for them6 screams the countryman's whistle2 timber like long battering rams going twenty miles an hour against the city's walls1 and chairs enough to seat all the weary and heavy laden that dwell within them4 ,with such huge and lumbering civility the country hands a chair to the city4 ,all the ,indian huckleberry hills are stripped1 all the cranberry meadows are raked into the city4 ,up comes the cotton1 down goes the woven cloth2 up comes the silk1 down goes the woollen2 up come the books1 but down goes the wit that writes them4 ,when ,i meet the engine with its train of cars moving off with planetary motion1--or1 rather1 like a comet1 for the beholder knows not if with that velocity and with that direction it will ever revisit this system1 since its orbit does not look like a returning curve1--with its steam cloud like a banner streaming behind in golden and silver wreaths1 like many a downy cloud which ,i have seen1 high in the heavens1 unfolding its masses to the light1--as if this travelling demigod1 this cloud-compeller1 would ere long take the sunset sky for the livery of his train2 when ,i hear the iron horse make the hills echo with his snort like thunder1 shaking the earth with his feet1 and breathing fire and smoke from his nostrils1 7what kind of winged horse or fiery dragon they will put into the new ,mythology ,i don't know71 it seems as if the earth had got a race now worthy to inhabit it4 ,if all were as it seems1 and men made the elements their servants for noble ends6 ,if the cloud that hangs over the engine were the perspiration of heroic deeds1 or as beneficent as that which floats over the farmer's fields1 then the elements and ,nature herself would cheerfully accompany men on their errands and be their escort4 ,i watch the passage of the morning cars with the same feeling that ,i do the rising of the sun1 which is hardly more regular4 ,their train of clouds stretching far behind and rising higher and higher1 going to heaven while the cars are going to ,boston1 conceals the sun for a minute and casts my distant field into the shade1 a celestial train beside which the petty train of cars which hugs the earth is but the barb of the spear4 ,the stabler of the iron horse was up early this winter morning by the light of the stars amid the mountains1 to fodder and harness his steed4 ,fire1 too1 was awakened thus early to put the vital heat in him and get him off4 ,if the enterprise were as innocent as it is early6 ,if the snow lies deep1 they strap on his snow-shoes1 and with the giant plow1 plow a furrow from the mountains to the seaboard1 in which the cars1 like a following drill-barrow1 sprinkle all the restless men and floating merchandise in the country for seed4 ,all day the fire-steed flies over the country1 stopping only that his master may rest1 and ,i am awakened by his tramp and defiant snort at midnight1 when in some remote glen in the woods he fronts the elements incased in ice and snow2 and he will reach his stall only with the morning star1 to start once more on his travels without rest or slumber4 ,or perchance1 at evening1 ,i hear him in his stable blowing off the superfluous energy of the day1 that he may calm his nerves and cool his liver and brain for a few hours of iron slumber4 ,if the enterprise were as heroic and commanding as it is protracted and unwearied6 ,far through unfrequented woods on the confines of towns1 where once only the hunter penetrated by day1 in the darkest night dart these bright saloons without the knowledge of their inhabitants2 this moment stopping at some brilliant station-house in town or city1 where a social crowd is gathered1 the next in the ,dismal ,swamp1 scaring the owl and fox4 ,the startings and arrivals of the cars are now the epochs in the village day4 ,they go and come with such regularity and precision1 and their whistle can be heard so far1 that the farmers set their clocks by them1 and thus one well conducted institution regulates a whole country4 ,have not men improved somewhat in punctuality since the railroad was invented8 ,do they not talk and think faster in the depot than they did in the stage-office8 ,there is something electrifying in the atmosphere of the former place4 ,i have been astonished at the miracles it has wrought2 that some of my neighbors1 who1 ,i should have prophesied1 once for all1 would never get to ,boston by so prompt a conveyance1 are on hand when the bell rings4 ,to do things 8railroad fashion0 is now the by-word2 and it is worth the while to be warned so often and so sincerely by any power to get off its track4 ,there is no stopping to read the riot act1 no firing over the heads of the mob1 in this case4 ,we have constructed a fate1 an ,atropos1 that never turns aside4 7,let that be the name of your engine47 ,men are advertised that at a certain hour and minute these bolts will be shot toward particular points of the compass2 yet it interferes with no man's business1 and the children go to school on the other track4 ,we live the steadier for it4 ,we are all educated thus to be sons of ,tell4 ,the air is full of invisible bolts4 ,every path but your own is the path of fate4 ,keep on your own track1 then4 ,what recommends commerce to me is its enterprise and bravery4 ,it does not clasp its hands and pray to ,jupiter4 ,i see these men every day go about their business with more or less courage and content1 doing more even than they suspect1 and perchance better employed than they could have consciously devised4 ,i am less affected by their heroism who stood up for half an hour in the front line at ,buena ,vista1 than by the steady and cheerful valor of the men who inhabit the snow-plough for their winter quarters2 who have not merely the three-o'-clock in the morning courage1 which ,bonaparte thought was the rarest1 but whose courage does not go to rest so early1 who go to sleep only when the storm sleeps or the sinews of their iron steed are frozen4 ,on this morning of the ,great ,snow1 perchance1 which is still raging and chilling men's blood1 ,i hear the muffled tone of their engine bell from out the fog bank of their chilled breath1 which announces that the cars are coming1 without long delay1 notwithstanding the veto of a ,new ,england north-east snow storm1 and ,i behold the ploughmen covered with snow and rime1 their heads peering1 above the mould-board which is turning down other than daisies and the nests of field-mice1 like bowlders of the ,sierra ,nevada1 that occupy an outside place in the universe4 ,commerce is unexpectedly confident and serene1 alert1 adventurous1 and unwearied4 ,it is very natural in its methods withal1 far more so than many fantastic enterprises and sentimental experiments1 and hence its singular success4 ,i am refreshed and expanded when the freight train rattles past me1 and ,i smell the stores which go dispensing their odors all the way from ,long ,wharf to ,lake ,champlain1 reminding me of foreign parts1 of coral reefs1 and ,indian oceans1 and tropical climes1 and the extent of the globe4 ,i feel more like a citizen of the world at the sight of the palm-leaf which will cover so many flaxen ,new ,england heads the next summer1 the ,manilla hemp and cocoa-nut husks1 the old junk1 gunny bags1 scrap iron1 and rusty nails4 ,this car-load of torn sails is more legible and interesting now than if they should be wrought into paper and printed books4 ,who can write so graphically the history of the storms they have weathered as these rents have done8 ,they are proof-sheets which need no correction4 ,here goes lumber from the ,maine woods1 which did not go out to sea in the last freshet1 risen four dollars on the thousand because of what did go out or was split up2 pine1 spruce1 cedar1--first1 second1 third1 and fourth qualities1 so lately all of one quality1 to wave over the bear1 and moose1 and caribou4 ,next rolls ,thomaston lime1 a prime lot1 which will get far among the hills before it gets slacked4 ,these rags in bales1 of all hues and qualities1 the lowest condition to which cotton and linen descend1 the final result of dress1--of patterns which are now no longer cried up1 unless it be in ,milwaukie1 as those splendid articles1 ,english1 ,french1 or ,american prints1 ginghams1 muslins1 c41 gathered from all quarters both of fashion and poverty1 going to become paper of one color or a few shades only1 on which forsooth will be written tales of real life1 high and low1 and founded on fact6 ,this closed car smells of salt fish1 the strong ,new ,england and commercial scent1 reminding me of the ,grand ,banks and the fisheries4 ,who has not seen a salt fish1 thoroughly cured for this world1 so that nothing can spoil it1 and putting the perseverance of the saints to the blush8 with which you may sweep or pave the streets1 and split your kindlings1 and the teamster shelter himself and his lading against sun wind and rain behind it1--and the trader1 as a ,concord trader once did1 hang it up by his door for a sign when he commences business1 until at last his oldest customer cannot tell surely whether it be animal1 vegetable1 or mineral1 and yet it shall be as pure as a snowflake1 and if it be put into a pot and boiled1 will come out an excellent dun fish for a ,saturday's dinner4 ,next ,spanish hides1 with the tails still preserving their twist and the angle of elevation they had when the oxen that wore them were careering over the pampas of the ,spanish main1--a type of all obstinacy1 and evincing how almost hopeless and incurable are all constitutional vices4 ,i confess1 that practically speaking1 when ,i have learned a man's real disposition1 ,i have no hopes of changing it for the better or worse in this state of existence4 ,as the ,orientals say1 8,a cur's tail may be warmed1 and pressed1 and bound round with ligatures1 and after a twelve years' labor bestowed upon it1 still it will retain its natural form40 ,the only effectual cure for such inveteracies as these tails exhibit is to make glue of them1 which ,i believe is what is usually done with them1 and then they will stay put and stick4 ,here is a hogshead of molasses or of brandy directed to ,john ,smith1 ,cuttingsville1 ,vermont1 some trader among the ,green ,mountains1 who imports for the farmers near his clearing1 and now perchance stands over his bulk-head and thinks of the last arrivals on the coast1 how they may affect the price for him1 telling his customers this moment1 as he has told them twenty times before this morning1 that he expects some by the next train of prime quality4 ,it is advertised in the ,cuttingsville ,times4 ,while these things go up other things come down4 ,warned by the whizzing sound1 ,i look up from my book and see some tall pine1 hewn on far northern hills1 which has winged its way over the ,green ,mountains and the ,connecticut1 shot like an arrow through the township within ten minutes1 and scarce another eye beholds it2 going 8to be the mast ,of some great ammiral40 ,and hark6 here comes the cattle-train bearing the cattle of a thousand hills1 sheepcots1 stables1 and cow-yards in the air1 drovers with their sticks1 and shepherd boys in the midst of their flocks1 all but the mountain pastures1 whirled along like leaves blown from the mountains by the ,september gales4 ,the air is filled with the bleating of calves and sheep1 and the hustling of oxen1 as if a pastoral valley were going by4 ,when the old bell-wether at the head rattles his bell1 the mountains do indeed skip like rams and the little hills like lambs4 ,a car-load of drovers1 too1 in the midst1 on a level with their droves now1 their vocation gone1 but still clinging to their useless sticks as their badge of office4 ,but their dogs1 where are they8 ,it is a stampede to them2 they are quite thrown out2 they have lost the scent4 ,methinks ,i hear them barking behind the ,peterboro' ,hills1 or panting up the western slope of the ,green ,mountains4 ,they will not be in at the death4 ,their vocation1 too1 is gone4 ,their fidelity and sagacity are below par now4 ,they will slink back to their kennels in disgrace1 or perchance run wild and strike a league with the wolf and the fox4 ,so is your pastoral life whirled past and away4 ,but the bell rings1 and ,i must get off the track and let the cars go by2-- ,what's the railroad to me8 ,i never go to see ,where it ends4 ,it fills a few hollows1 ,and makes banks for the swallows1 ,it sets the sand a-blowing1 ,and the blackberries a-growing1 but ,i cross it like a cart-path in the woods4 ,i will not have my eyes put out and my ears spoiled by its smoke and steam and hissing4 ,now that the cars are gone by and all the restless world with them1 and the fishes in the pond no longer feel their rumbling1 ,i am more alone than ever4 ,for the rest of the long afternoon1 perhaps1 my meditations are interrupted only by the faint rattle of a carriage or team along the distant highway4 ,sometimes1 on ,sundays1 ,i heard the bells1 the ,lincoln1 ,acton1 ,bedford1 or ,concord bell1 when the wind was favorable1 a faint1 sweet1 and1 as it were1 natural melody1 worth importing into the wilderness4 ,at a sufficient distance over the woods this sound acquires a certain vibratory hum1 as if the pine needles in the horizon were the strings of a harp which it swept4 ,all sound heard at the greatest possible distance produces one and the same effect1 a vibration of the universal lyre1 just as the intervening atmosphere makes a distant ridge of earth interesting to our eyes by the azure tint it imparts to it4 ,there came to me in this case a melody which the air had strained1 and which had conversed with every leaf and needle of the wood1 that portion of the sound which the elements had taken up and modulated and echoed from vale to vale4 ,the echo is1 to some extent1 an original sound1 and therein is the magic and charm of it4 ,it is not merely a repetition of what was worth repeating in the bell1 but partly the voice of the wood2 the same trivial words and notes sung by a wood-nymph4 ,at evening1 the distant lowing of some cow in the horizon beyond the woods sounded sweet and melodious1 and at first ,i would mistake it for the voices of certain minstrels by whom ,i was sometimes serenaded1 who might be straying over hill and dale2 but soon ,i was not unpleasantly disappointed when it was prolonged into the cheap and natural music of the cow4 ,i do not mean to be satirical1 but to express my appreciation of those youths' singing1 when ,i state that ,i perceived clearly that it was akin to the music of the cow1 and they were at length one articulation of ,nature4 ,regularly at half past seven1 in one part of the summer1 after the evening train had gone by1 the whippoorwills chanted their vespers for half an hour1 sitting on a stump by my door1 or upon the ridge pole of the house4 ,they would begin to sing almost with as much precision as a clock1 within five minutes of a particular time1 referred to the setting of the sun1 every evening4 ,i had a rare opportunity to become acquainted with their habits4 ,sometimes ,i heard four or five at once in different parts of the wood1 by accident one a bar behind another1 and so near me that ,i distinguished not only the cluck after each note1 but often that singular buzzing sound like a fly in a spider's web1 only proportionally louder4 ,sometimes one would circle round and round me in the woods a few feet distant as if tethered by a string1 when probably ,i was near its eggs4 ,they sang at intervals throughout the night1 and were again as musical as ever just before and about dawn4 ,when other birds are still the screech owls take up the strain1 like mourning women their ancient u-lu-lu4 ,their dismal scream is truly ,ben ,jonsonian4 ,wise midnight hags6 ,it is no honest and blunt tu-whit tu-who of the poets1 but1 without jesting1 a most solemn graveyard ditty1 the mutual consolations of suicide lovers remembering the pangs and the delights of supernal love in the infernal groves4 ,yet ,i love to hear their wailing1 their doleful responses1 trilled along the wood-side2 reminding me sometimes of music and singing birds2 as if it were the dark and tearful side of music1 the regrets and sighs that would fain be sung4 ,they are the spirits1 the low spirits and melancholy forebodings1 of fallen souls that once in human shape night-walked the earth and did the deeds of darkness1 now expiating their sins with their wailing hymns or threnodies in the scenery of their transgressions4 ,they give me a new sense of the variety and capacity of that nature which is our common dwelling4 ,oh-o-o-o-o that ,i never had been bor-r-r-r-n6 sighs one on this side of the pond1 and circles with the restlessness of despair to some new perch on the gray oaks4 ,then--that ,i never had been bor-r-r-r-n6 echoes another on the farther side with tremulous sincerity1 and--bor-r-r-r-n6 comes faintly from far in the ,lincoln woods4 ,i was also serenaded by a hooting owl4 ,near at hand you could fancy it the most melancholy sound in ,nature1 as if she meant by this to stereotype and make permanent in her choir the dying moans of a human being1--some poor weak relic of mortality who has left hope behind1 and howls like an animal1 yet with human sobs1 on entering the dark valley1 made more awful by a certain gurgling melodiousness1--,i find myself beginning with the letters gl when ,i try to imitate it1--expressive of a mind which has reached the gelatinous mildewy stage in the mortification of all healthy and courageous thought4 ,it reminded me of ghouls and idiots and insane howlings4 ,but now one answers from far woods in a strain made really melodious by distance1--,hoo hoo hoo1 hoorer hoo2 and indeed for the most part it suggested only pleasing associations1 whether heard by day or night1 summer or winter4 ,i rejoice that there are owls4 ,let them do the idiotic and maniacal hooting for men4 ,it is a sound admirably suited to swamps and twilight woods which no day illustrates1 suggesting a vast and undeveloped nature which men have not recognized4 ,they represent the stark twilight and unsatisfied thoughts which all have4 ,all day the sun has shone on the surface of some savage swamp1 where the single spruce stands hung with usnea lichens1 and small hawks circulate above1 and the chickadee lisps amid the evergreens1 and the partridge and rabbit skulk beneath2 but now a more dismal and fitting day dawns1 and a different race of creatures awakes to express the meaning of ,nature there4 ,late in the evening ,i heard the distant rumbling of wagons over bridges1--a sound heard farther than almost any other at night1--the baying of dogs1 and sometimes again the lowing of some disconsolate cow in a distant barn-yard4 ,in the mean while all the shore rang with the trump of bullfrogs1 the sturdy spirits of ancient wine-bibbers and wassailers1 still unrepentant1 trying to sing a catch in their ,stygian lake1--if the ,walden nymphs will pardon the comparison1 for though there are almost no weeds1 there are frogs there1--who would fain keep up the hilarious rules of their old festal tables1 though their voices have waxed hoarse and solemnly grave1 mocking at mirth1 and the wine has lost its flavor1 and become only liquor to distend their paunches1 and sweet intoxication never comes to drown the memory of the past1 but mere saturation and waterloggedness and distention4 ,the most aldermanic1 with his chin upon a heart-leaf1 which serves for a napkin to his drooling chaps1 under this northern shore quaffs a deep draught of the once scorned water1 and passes round the cup with the ejaculation tr-r-r-oonk1 tr-r-r-oonk1 tr-r-r-oonk6 and straightway comes over the water from some distant cove the same password repeated1 where the next in seniority and girth has gulped down to his mark2 and when this observance has made the circuit of the shores1 then ejaculates the master of ceremonies1 with satisfaction1 tr-r-r-oonk6 and each in his turn repeats the same down to the least distended1 leakiest1 and flabbiest paunched1 that there be no mistake2 and then the bowl goes round again and again1 until the sun disperses the morning mist1 and only the patriarch is not under the pond1 but vainly bellowing troonk from time to time1 and pausing for a reply4 ,i am not sure that ,i ever heard the sound of cock-crowing from my clearing1 and ,i thought that it might be worth the while to keep a cockerel for his music merely1 as a singing bird4 ,the note of this once wild ,indian pheasant is certainly the most remarkable of any bird's1 and if they could be naturalized without being domesticated1 it would soon become the most famous sound in our woods1 surpassing the clangor of the goose and the hooting of the owl2 and then imagine the cackling of the hens to fill the pauses when their lords' clarions rested6 ,no wonder that man added this bird to his tame stock1--to say nothing of the eggs and drumsticks4 ,to walk in a winter morning in a wood where these birds abounded1 their native woods1 and hear the wild cockerels crow on the trees1 clear and shrill for miles over the resounding earth1 drowning the feebler notes of other birds1--think of it6 ,it would put nations on the alert4 ,who would not be early to rise1 and rise earlier and earlier every successive day of his life1 till he became unspeakably healthy1 wealthy1 and wise8 ,this foreign bird's note is celebrated by the poets of all countries along with the notes of their native songsters4 ,all climates agree with brave ,chanticleer4 ,he is more indigenous even than the natives4 ,his health is ever good1 his lungs are sound1 his spirits never flag4 ,even the sailor on the ,atlantic and ,pacific is awakened by his voice2 but its shrill sound never roused me from my slumbers4 ,i kept neither dog1 cat1 cow1 pig1 nor hens1 so that you would have said there was a deficiency of domestic sounds2 neither the churn1 nor the spinning wheel1 nor even the singing of the kettle1 nor the hissing of the urn1 nor children crying1 to comfort one4 ,an old-fashioned man would have lost his senses or died of ennui before this4 ,not even rats in the wall1 for they were starved out1 or rather were never baited in1--only squirrels on the roof and under the floor1 a whippoorwill on the ridge pole1 a blue-jay screaming beneath the window1 a hare or woodchuck under the house1 a screech-owl or a cat-owl behind it1 a flock of wild geese or a laughing loon on the pond1 and a fox to bark in the night4 ,not even a lark or an oriole1 those mild plantation birds1 ever visited my clearing4 ,no cockerels to crow nor hens to cackle in the yard4 ,no yard6 but unfenced ,nature reaching up to your very sills4 ,a young forest growing up under your meadows1 and wild sumachs and blackberry vines breaking through into your cellar2 sturdy pitch pines rubbing and creaking against the shingles for want of room1 their roots reaching quite under the house4 ,instead of a scuttle or a blind blown off in the gale1--a pine tree snapped off or torn up by the roots behind your house for fuel4 ,instead of no path to the front-yard gate in the ,great ,snow1--no gate1--no front-yard1--and no path to the civilized world6 ,solitude ,this is a delicious evening1 when the whole body is one sense1 and imbibes delight through every pore4 ,i go and come with a strange liberty in ,nature1 a part of herself4 ,as ,i walk along the stony shore of the pond in my shirt sleeves1 though it is cool as well as cloudy and windy1 and ,i see nothing special to attract me1 all the elements are unusually congenial to me4 ,the bullfrogs trump to usher in the night1 and the note of the whippoorwill is borne on the rippling wind from over the water4 ,sympathy with the fluttering alder and poplar leaves almost takes away my breath2 yet1 like the lake1 my serenity is rippled but not ruffled4 ,these small waves raised by the evening wind are as remote from storm as the smooth reflecting surface4 ,though it is now dark1 the wind still blows and roars in the wood1 the waves still dash1 and some creatures lull the rest with their notes4 ,the repose is never complete4 ,the wildest animals do not repose1 but seek their prey now2 the fox1 and skunk1 and rabbit1 now roam the fields and woods without fear4 ,they are ,nature's watchmen1--links which connect the days of animated life4 ,when ,i return to my house ,i find that visitors have been there and left their cards1 either a bunch of flowers1 or a wreath of evergreen1 or a name in pencil on a yellow walnut leaf or a chip4 ,they who come rarely to the woods take some little piece of the forest into their hands to play with by the way1 which they leave1 either intentionally or accidentally4 ,one has peeled a willow wand1 woven it into a ring1 and dropped it on my table4 ,i could always tell if visitors had called in my absence1 either by the bended twigs or grass1 or the print of their shoes1 and generally of what sex or age or quality they were by some slight trace left1 as a flower dropped1 or a bunch of grass plucked and thrown away1 even as far off as the railroad1 half a mile distant1 or by the lingering odor of a cigar or pipe4 ,nay1 ,i was frequently notified of the passage of a traveller along the highway sixty rods off by the scent of his pipe4 ,there is commonly sufficient space about us4 ,our horizon is never quite at our elbows4 ,the thick wood is not just at our door1 nor the pond1 but somewhat is always clearing1 familiar and worn by us1 appropriated and fenced in some way1 and reclaimed from ,nature4 ,for what reason have ,i this vast range and circuit1 some square miles of unfrequented forest1 for my privacy1 abandoned to me by men8 ,my nearest neighbor is a mile distant1 and no house is visible from any place but the hill-tops within half a mile of my own4 ,i have my horizon bounded by woods all to myself2 a distant view of the railroad where it touches the pond on the one hand1 and of the fence which skirts the woodland road on the other4 ,but for the most part it is as solitary where ,i live as on the prairies4 ,it is as much ,asia or ,africa as ,new ,england4 ,i have1 as it were1 my own sun and moon and stars1 and a little world all to myself4 ,at night there was never a traveller passed my house1 or knocked at my door1 more than if ,i were the first or last man2 unless it were in the spring1 when at long intervals some came from the village to fish for pouts1--they plainly fished much more in the ,walden ,pond of their own natures1 and baited their hooks with darkness1--but they soon retreated1 usually with light baskets1 and left 8the world to darkness and to me10 and the black kernel of the night was never profaned by any human neighborhood4 ,i believe that men are generally still a little afraid of the dark1 though the witches are all hung1 and ,christianity and candles have been introduced4 ,yet ,i experienced sometimes that the most sweet and tender1 the most innocent and encouraging society may be found in any natural object1 even for the poor misanthrope and most melancholy man4 ,there can be no very black melancholy to him who lives in the midst of ,nature and has his senses still4 ,there was never yet such a storm but it was olian music to a healthy and innocent ear4 ,nothing can rightly compel a simple and brave man to a vulgar sadness4 ,while ,i enjoy the friendship of the seasons ,i trust that nothing can make life a burden to me4 ,the gentle rain which waters my beans and keeps me in the house to-day is not drear and melancholy1 but good for me too4 ,though it prevents my hoeing them1 it is of far more worth than my hoeing4 ,if it should continue so long as to cause the seeds to rot in the ground and destroy the potatoes in the low lands1 it would still be good for the grass on the uplands1 and1 being good for the grass1 it would be good for me4 ,sometimes1 when ,i compare myself with other men1 it seems as if ,i were more favored by the gods than they1 beyond any deserts that ,i am conscious of2 as if ,i had a warrant and surety at their hands which my fellows have not1 and were especially guided and guarded4 ,i do not flatter myself1 but if it be possible they flatter me4 ,i have never felt lonesome1 or in the least oppressed by a sense of solitude1 but once1 and that was a few weeks after ,i came to the woods1 when1 for an hour1 ,i doubted if the near neighborhood of man was not essential to a serene and healthy life4 ,to be alone was something unpleasant4 ,but ,i was at the same time conscious of a slight insanity in my mood1 and seemed to foresee my recovery4 ,in the midst of a gentle rain while these thoughts prevailed1 ,i was suddenly sensible of such sweet and beneficent society in ,nature1 in the very pattering of the drops1 and in every sound and sight around my house1 an infinite and unaccountable friendliness all at once like an atmosphere sustaining me1 as made the fancied advantages of human neighborhood insignificant1 and ,i have never thought of them since4 ,every little pine needle expanded and swelled with sympathy and befriended me4 ,i was so distinctly made aware of the presence of something kindred to me1 even in scenes which we are accustomed to call wild and dreary1 and also that the nearest of blood to me and humanest was not a person nor a villager1 that ,i thought no place could ever be strange to me again4-- 8,mourning untimely consumes the sad2 ,few are their days in the land of the living1 ,beautiful daughter of ,toscar40 ,some of my pleasantest hours were during the long rain storms in the spring or fall1 which confined me to the house for the afternoon as well as the forenoon1 soothed by their ceaseless roar and pelting2 when an early twilight ushered in a long evening in which many thoughts had time to take root and unfold themselves4 ,in those driving north-east rains which tried the village houses so1 when the maids stood ready with mop and pail in front entries to keep the deluge out1 ,i sat behind my door in my little house1 which was all entry1 and thoroughly enjoyed its protection4 ,in one heavy thunder shower the lightning struck a large pitch-pine across the pond1 making a very conspicuous and perfectly regular spiral groove from top to bottom1 an inch or more deep1 and four or five inches wide1 as you would groove a walking-stick4 ,i passed it again the other day1 and was struck with awe on looking up and beholding that mark1 now more distinct than ever1 where a terrific and resistless bolt came down out of the harmless sky eight years ago4 ,men frequently say to me1 8,i should think you would feel lonesome down there1 and want to be nearer to folks1 rainy and snowy days and nights especially40 ,i am tempted to reply to such1--,this whole earth which we inhabit is but a point in space4 ,how far apart1 think you1 dwell the two most distant inhabitants of yonder star1 the breadth of whose disk cannot be appreciated by our instruments8 ,why should ,i feel lonely8 is not our planet in the ,milky ,way8 ,this which you put seems to me not to be the most important question4 ,what sort of space is that which separates a man from his fellows and makes him solitary8 ,i have found that no exertion of the legs can bring two minds much nearer to one another4 ,what do we want most to dwell near to8 ,not to many men surely1 the depot1 the post-office1 the bar-room1 the meeting-house1 the school-house1 the grocery1 ,beacon ,hill1 or the ,five ,points1 where men most congregate1 but to the perennial source of our life1 whence in all our experience we have found that to issue1 as the willow stands near the water and sends out its roots in that direction4 ,this will vary with different natures1 but this is the place where a wise man will dig his cellar4444 ,i one evening overtook one of my townsmen1 who has accumulated what is called 8a handsome property10--though ,i never got a fair view of it1--on the ,walden road1 driving a pair of cattle to market1 who inquired of me how ,i could bring my mind to give up so many of the comforts of life4 ,i answered that ,i was very sure ,i liked it passably well2 ,i was not joking4 ,and so ,i went home to my bed1 and left him to pick his way through the darkness and the mud to ,brighton1--or ,bright-town1--which place he would reach some time in the morning4 ,any prospect of awakening or coming to life to a dead man makes indifferent all times and places4 ,the place where that may occur is always the same1 and indescribably pleasant to all our senses4 ,for the most part we allow only outlying and transient circumstances to make our occasions4 ,they are1 in fact1 the cause of our distraction4 ,nearest to all things is that power which fashions their being4 ,next to us the grandest laws are continually being executed4 ,next to us is not the workman whom we have hired1 with whom we love so well to talk1 but the workman whose work we are4 8,how vast and profound is the influence of the subtile powers of ,heaven and of ,earth60 8,we seek to perceive them1 and we do not see them2 we seek to hear them1 and we do not hear them2 identified with the substance of things1 they cannot be separated from them40 8,they cause that in all the universe men purify and sanctify their hearts1 and clothe themselves in their holiday garments to offer sacrifices and oblations to their ancestors4 ,it is an ocean of subtile intelligences4 ,they are every where1 above us1 on our left1 on our right2 they environ us on all sides40 ,we are the subjects of an experiment which is not a little interesting to me4 ,can we not do without the society of our gossips a little while under these circumstances1--have our own thoughts to cheer us8 ,confucius says truly1 8,virtue does not remain as an abandoned orphan2 it must of necessity have neighbors40 ,with thinking we may be beside ourselves in a sane sense4 ,by a conscious effort of the mind we can stand aloof from actions and their consequences2 and all things1 good and bad1 go by us like a torrent4 ,we are not wholly involved in ,nature4 ,i may be either the drift-wood in the stream1 or ,indra in the sky looking down on it4 ,i may be affected by a theatrical exhibition2 on the other hand1 ,i may not be affected by an actual event which appears to concern me much more4 ,i only know myself as a human entity2 the scene1 so to speak1 of thoughts and affections2 and am sensible of a certain doubleness by which ,i can stand as remote from myself as from another4 ,however intense my experience1 ,i am conscious of the presence and criticism of a part of me1 which1 as it were1 is not a part of me1 but spectator1 sharing no experience1 but taking note of it2 and that is no more ,i than it is you4 ,when the play1 it may be the tragedy1 of life is over1 the spectator goes his way4 ,it was a kind of fiction1 a work of the imagination only1 so far as he was concerned4 ,this doubleness may easily make us poor neighbors and friends sometimes4 ,i find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time4 ,to be in company1 even with the best1 is soon wearisome and dissipating4 ,i love to be alone4 ,i never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude4 ,we are for the most part more lonely when we go abroad among men than when we stay in our chambers4 ,a man thinking or working is always alone1 let him be where he will4 ,solitude is not measured by the miles of space that intervene between a man and his fellows4 ,the really diligent student in one of the crowded hives of ,cambridge ,college is as solitary as a dervish in the desert4 ,the farmer can work alone in the field or the woods all day1 hoeing or chopping1 and not feel lonesome1 because he is employed2 but when he comes home at night he cannot sit down in a room alone1 at the mercy of his thoughts1 but must be where he can 8see the folks10 and recreate1 and as he thinks remunerate himself for his day's solitude2 and hence he wonders how the student can sit alone in the house all night and most of the day without ennui and 8the blues20 but he does not realize that the student1 though in the house1 is still at work in his field1 and chopping in his woods1 as the farmer in his1 and in turn seeks the same recreation and society that the latter does1 though it may be a more condensed form of it4 ,society is commonly too cheap4 ,we meet at very short intervals1 not having had time to acquire any new value for each other4 ,we meet at meals three times a day1 and give each other a new taste of that old musty cheese that we are4 ,we have had to agree on a certain set of rules1 called etiquette and politeness1 to make this frequent meeting tolerable and that we need not come to open war4 ,we meet at the post-office1 and at the sociable1 and about the fireside every night2 we live thick and are in each other's way1 and stumble over one another1 and ,i think that we thus lose some respect for one another4 ,certainly less frequency would suffice for all important and hearty communications4 ,consider the girls in a factory1--never alone1 hardly in their dreams4 ,it would be better if there were but one inhabitant to a square mile1 as where ,i live4 ,the value of a man is not in his skin1 that we should touch him4 ,i have heard of a man lost in the woods and dying of famine and exhaustion at the foot of a tree1 whose loneliness was relieved by the grotesque visions with which1 owing to bodily weakness1 his diseased imagination surrounded him1 and which he believed to be real4 ,so also1 owing to bodily and mental health and strength1 we may be continually cheered by a like but more normal and natural society1 and come to know that we are never alone4 ,i have a great deal of company in my house2 especially in the morning1 when nobody calls4 ,let me suggest a few comparisons1 that some one may convey an idea of my situation4 ,i am no more lonely than the loon in the pond that laughs so loud1 or than ,walden ,pond itself4 ,what company has that lonely lake1 ,i pray8 ,and yet it has not the blue devils1 but the blue angels in it1 in the azure tint of its waters4 ,the sun is alone1 except in thick weather1 when there sometimes appear to be two1 but one is a mock sun4 ,god is alone1--but the devil1 he is far from being alone2 he sees a great deal of company2 he is legion4 ,i am no more lonely than a single mullein or dandelion in a pasture1 or a bean leaf1 or sorrel1 or a horse-fly1 or a bumble-bee4 ,i am no more lonely than the ,mill ,brook1 or a weathercock1 or the north star1 or the south wind1 or an ,april shower1 or a ,january thaw1 or the first spider in a new house4 ,i have occasional visits in the long winter evenings1 when the snow falls fast and the wind howls in the wood1 from an old settler and original proprietor1 who is reported to have dug ,walden ,pond1 and stoned it1 and fringed it with pine woods2 who tells me stories of old time and of new eternity2 and between us we manage to pass a cheerful evening with social mirth and pleasant views of things1 even without apples or cider1--a most wise and humorous friend1 whom ,i love much1 who keeps himself more secret than ever did ,goffe or ,whalley2 and though he is thought to be dead1 none can show where he is buried4 ,an elderly dame1 too1 dwells in my neighborhood1 invisible to most persons1 in whose odorous herb garden ,i love to stroll sometimes1 gathering simples and listening to her fables2 for she has a genius of unequalled fertility1 and her memory runs back farther than mythology1 and she can tell me the original of every fable1 and on what fact every one is founded1 for the incidents occurred when she was young4 ,a ruddy and lusty old dame1 who delights in all weathers and seasons1 and is likely to outlive all her children yet4 ,the indescribable innocence and beneficence of ,nature1--of sun and wind and rain1 of summer and winter1--such health1 such cheer1 they afford forever6 and such sympathy have they ever with our race1 that all ,nature would be affected1 and the sun's brightness fade1 and the winds would sigh humanely1 and the clouds rain tears1 and the woods shed their leaves and put on mourning in midsummer1 if any man should ever for a just cause grieve4 ,shall ,i not have intelligence with the earth8 ,am ,i not partly leaves and vegetable mould myself8 ,what is the pill which will keep us well1 serene1 contented8 ,not my or thy great-grandfather's1 but our great-grandmother ,nature's universal1 vegetable1 botanic medicines1 by which she has kept herself young always1 outlived so many old ,parrs in her day1 and fed her health with their decaying fatness4 ,for my panacea1 instead of one of those quack vials of a mixture dipped from ,acheron and the ,dead ,sea1 which come out of those long shallow black-schooner looking wagons which we sometimes see made to carry bottles1 let me have a draught of undiluted morning air4 ,morning air6 ,if men will not drink of this at the fountain-head of the day1 why1 then1 we must even bottle up some and sell it in the shops1 for the benefit of those who have lost their subscription ticket to morning time in this world4 ,but remember1 it will not keep quite till noon-day even in the coolest cellar1 but drive out the stopples long ere that and follow westward the steps of ,aurora4 ,i am no worshipper of ,hygeia1 who was the daughter of that old herb-doctor sculapius1 and who is represented on monuments holding a serpent in one hand1 and in the other a cup out of which the serpent sometimes drinks2 but rather of ,hebe1 cupbearer to ,jupiter1 who was the daughter of ,juno and wild lettuce1 and who had the power of restoring gods and men to the vigor of youth4 ,she was probably the only thoroughly sound-conditioned1 healthy1 and robust young lady that ever walked the globe1 and wherever she came it was spring4 ,visitors ,i think that ,i love society as much as most1 and am ready enough to fasten myself like a bloodsucker for the time to any full-blooded man that comes in my way4 ,i am naturally no hermit1 but might possibly sit out the sturdiest frequenter of the bar-room1 if my business called me thither4 ,i had three chairs in my house2 one for solitude1 two for friendship1 three for society4 ,when visitors came in larger and unexpected numbers there was but the third chair for them all1 but they generally economized the room by standing up4 ,it is surprising how many great men and women a small house will contain4 ,i have had twenty-five or thirty souls1 with their bodies1 at once under my roof1 and yet we often parted without being aware that we had come very near to one another4 ,many of our houses1 both public and private1 with their almost innumerable apartments1 their huge halls and their cellars for the storage of wines and other munitions of peace1 appear to me extravagantly large for their inhabitants4 ,they are so vast and magnificent that the latter seem to be only vermin which infest them4 ,i am surprised when the herald blows his summons before some ,tremont or ,astor or ,middlesex ,house1 to see come creeping out over the piazza for all inhabitants a ridiculous mouse1 which soon again slinks into some hole in the pavement4 ,one inconvenience ,i sometimes experienced in so small a house1 the difficulty of getting to a sufficient distance from my guest when we began to utter the big thoughts in big words4 ,you want room for your thoughts to get into sailing trim and run a course or two before they make their port4 ,the bullet of your thought must have overcome its lateral and ricochet motion and fallen into its last and steady course before it reaches the ear of the hearer1 else it may plough out again through the side of his head4 ,also1 our sentences wanted room to unfold and form their columns in the interval4 ,individuals1 like nations1 must have suitable broad and natural boundaries1 even a considerable neutral ground1 between them4 ,i have found it a singular luxury to talk across the pond to a companion on the opposite side4 ,in my house we were so near that we could not begin to hear1--we could not speak low enough to be heard2 as when you throw two stones into calm water so near that they break each other's undulations4 ,if we are merely loquacious and loud talkers1 then we can afford to stand very near together1 cheek by jowl1 and feel each other's breath2 but if we speak reservedly and thoughtfully1 we want to be farther apart1 that all animal heat and moisture may have a chance to evaporate4 ,if we would enjoy the most intimate society with that in each of us which is without1 or above1 being spoken to1 we must not only be silent1 but commonly so far apart bodily that we cannot possibly hear each other's voice in any case4 ,referred to this standard1 speech is for the convenience of those who are hard of hearing2 but there are many fine things which we cannot say if we have to shout4 ,as the conversation began to assume a loftier and grander tone1 we gradually shoved our chairs farther apart till they touched the wall in opposite corners1 and then commonly there was not room enough4 ,my 8best0 room1 however1 my withdrawing room1 always ready for company1 on whose carpet the sun rarely fell1 was the pine wood behind my house4 ,thither in summer days1 when distinguished guests came1 ,i took them1 and a priceless domestic swept the floor and dusted the furniture and kept the things in order4 ,if one guest came he sometimes partook of my frugal meal1 and it was no interruption to conversation to be stirring a hasty-pudding1 or watching the rising and maturing of a loaf of bread in the ashes1 in the mean while4 ,but if twenty came and sat in my house there was nothing said about dinner1 though there might be bread enough for two1 more than if eating were a forsaken habit2 but we naturally practised abstinence2 and this was never felt to be an offence against hospitality1 but the most proper and considerate course4 ,the waste and decay of physical life1 which so often needs repair1 seemed miraculously retarded in such a case1 and the vital vigor stood its ground4 ,i could entertain thus a thousand as well as twenty2 and if any ever went away disappointed or hungry from my house when they found me at home1 they may depend upon it that ,i sympathized with them at least4 ,so easy is it1 though many housekeepers doubt it1 to establish new and better customs in the place of the old4 ,you need not rest your reputation on the dinners you give4 ,for my own part1 ,i was never so effectually deterred from frequenting a man's house1 by any kind of ,cerberus whatever1 as by the parade one made about dining me1 which ,i took to be a very polite and roundabout hint never to trouble him so again4 ,i think ,i shall never revisit those scenes4 ,i should be proud to have for the motto of my cabin those lines of ,spenser which one of my visitors inscribed on a yellow walnut leaf for a card3-- 8,arrivd there1 the little house they fill1 ,ne looke for entertainment where none was2 ,rest is their feast1 and all things at their will3 ,the noblest mind the best contentment has40 ,when ,winslow1 afterward governor of the ,plymouth ,colony1 went with a companion on a visit of ceremony to ,massasoit on foot through the woods1 and arrived tired and hungry at his lodge1 they were well received by the king1 but nothing was said about eating that day4 ,when the night arrived1 to quote their own words1--8,he laid us on the bed with himself and his wife1 they at the one end and we at the other1 it being only planks laid a foot from the ground1 and a thin mat upon them4 ,two more of his chief men1 for want of room1 pressed by and upon us2 so that we were worse weary of our lodging than of our journey40 ,at one o'clock the next day ,massasoit 8brought two fishes that he had shot10 about thrice as big as a bream2 8these being boiled1 there were at least forty looked for a share in them4 ,the most ate of them4 ,this meal only we had in two nights and a day2 and had not one of us bought a partridge1 we had taken our journey fasting40 ,fearing that they would be light-headed for want of food and also sleep1 owing to 8the savages' barbarous singing1 7for they used to sing themselves asleep170 and that they might get home while they had strength to travel1 they departed4 ,as for lodging1 it is true they were but poorly entertained1 though what they found an inconvenience was no doubt intended for an honor2 but as far as eating was concerned1 ,i do not see how the ,indians could have done better4 ,they had nothing to eat themselves1 and they were wiser than to think that apologies could supply the place of food to their guests2 so they drew their belts tighter and said nothing about it4 ,another time when ,winslow visited them1 it being a season of plenty with them1 there was no deficiency in this respect4 ,as for men1 they will hardly fail one any where4 ,i had more visitors while ,i lived in the woods than at any other period in my life2 ,i mean that ,i had some4 ,i met several there under more favorable circumstances than ,i could any where else4 ,but fewer came to see me on trivial business4 ,in this respect1 my company was winnowed by my mere distance from town4 ,i had withdrawn so far within the great ocean of solitude1 into which the rivers of society empty1 that for the most part1 so far as my needs were concerned1 only the finest sediment was deposited around me4 ,beside1 there were wafted to me evidences of unexplored and uncultivated continents on the other side4 ,who should come to my lodge this morning but a true ,homeric or ,paphlagonian man1--he had so suitable and poetic a name that ,i am sorry ,i cannot print it here1--a ,canadian1 a woodchopper and post-maker1 who can hole fifty posts in a day1 who made his last supper on a woodchuck which his dog caught4 ,he1 too1 has heard of ,homer1 and1 8if it were not for books10 would 8not know what to do rainy days10 though perhaps he has not read one wholly through for many rainy seasons4 ,some priest who could pronounce the ,greek itself taught him to read his verse in the testament in his native parish far away2 and now ,i must translate to him1 while he holds the book1 ,achilles' reproof to ,patroclus for his sad countenance4--8,why are you in tears1 ,patroclus1 like a young girl80-- 8,or have you alone heard some news from ,phthia8 ,they say that ,mentius lives yet1 son of ,actor1 ,and ,peleus lives1 son of acus1 among the ,myrmidons1 ,either of whom having died1 we should greatly grieve40 ,he says1 8,that's good40 ,he has a great bundle of white-oak bark under his arm for a sick man1 gathered this ,sunday morning4 8,i suppose there's no harm in going after such a thing to-day10 says he4 ,to him ,homer was a great writer1 though what his writing was about he did not know4 ,a more simple and natural man it would be hard to find4 ,vice and disease1 which cast such a sombre moral hue over the world1 seemed to have hardly any existence for him4 ,he was about twenty-eight years old1 and had left ,canada and his father's house a dozen years before to work in the ,states1 and earn money to buy a farm with at last1 perhaps in his native country4 ,he was cast in the coarsest mould2 a stout but sluggish body1 yet gracefully carried1 with a thick sunburnt neck1 dark bushy hair1 and dull sleepy blue eyes1 which were occasionally lit up with expression4 ,he wore a flat gray cloth cap1 a dingy wool-colored greatcoat1 and cowhide boots4 ,he was a great consumer of meat1 usually carrying his dinner to his work a couple of miles past my house1--for he chopped all summer1--in a tin pail2 cold meats1 often cold woodchucks1 and coffee in a stone bottle which dangled by a string from his belt2 and sometimes he offered me a drink4 ,he came along early1 crossing my bean-field1 though without anxiety or haste to get to his work1 such as ,yankees exhibit4 ,he wasn't a-going to hurt himself4 ,he didn't care if he only earned his board4 ,frequently he would leave his dinner in the bushes1 when his dog had caught a woodchuck by the way1 and go back a mile and a half to dress it and leave it in the cellar of the house where he boarded1 after deliberating first for half an hour whether he could not sink it in the pond safely till nightfall1--loving to dwell long upon these themes4 ,he would say1 as he went by in the morning1 8,how thick the pigeons are6 ,if working every day were not my trade1 ,i could get all the meat ,i should want by hunting1--pigeons1 woodchucks1 rabbits1 partridges1--by gosh6 ,i could get all ,i should want for a week in one day40 ,he was a skilful chopper1 and indulged in some flourishes and ornaments in his art4 ,he cut his trees level and close to the ground1 that the sprouts which came up afterward might be more vigorous and a sled might slide over the stumps2 and instead of leaving a whole tree to support his corded wood1 he would pare it away to a slender stake or splinter which you could break off with your hand at last4 ,he interested me because he was so quiet and solitary and so happy withal2 a well of good humor and contentment which overflowed at his eyes4 ,his mirth was without alloy4 ,sometimes ,i saw him at his work in the woods1 felling trees1 and he would greet me with a laugh of inexpressible satisfaction1 and a salutation in ,canadian ,french1 though he spoke ,english as well4 ,when ,i approached him he would suspend his work1 and with half-suppressed mirth lie along the trunk of a pine which he had felled1 and1 peeling off the inner bark1 roll it up into a ball and chew it while he laughed and talked4 ,such an exuberance of animal spirits had he that he sometimes tumbled down and rolled on the ground with laughter at any thing which made him think and tickled him4 ,looking round upon the trees he would exclaim1--8,by ,george6 ,i can enjoy myself well enough here chopping2 ,i want no better sport40 ,sometimes1 when at leisure1 he amused himself all day in the woods with a pocket pistol1 firing salutes to himself at regular intervals as he walked4 ,in the winter he had a fire by which at noon he warmed his coffee in a kettle2 and as he sat on a log to eat his dinner the chickadees would sometimes come round and alight on his arm and peck at the potato in his fingers2 and he said that he 8liked to have the little fellers about him40 ,in him the animal man chiefly was developed4 ,in physical endurance and contentment he was cousin to the pine and the rock4 ,i asked him once if he was not sometimes tired at night1 after working all day2 and he answered1 with a sincere and serious look1 8,gorrappit1 ,i never was tired in my life40 ,but the intellectual and what is called spiritual man in him were slumbering as in an infant4 ,he had been instructed only in that innocent and ineffectual way in which the ,catholic priests teach the aborigines1 by which the pupil is never educated to the degree of consciousness1 but only to the degree of trust and reverence1 and a child is not made a man1 but kept a child4 ,when ,nature made him1 she gave him a strong body and contentment for his portion1 and propped him on every side with reverence and reliance1 that he might live out his threescore years and ten a child4 ,he was so genuine and unsophisticated that no introduction would serve to introduce him1 more than if you introduced a woodchuck to your neighbor4 ,he had got to find him out as you did4 ,he would not play any part4 ,men paid him wages for work1 and so helped to feed and clothe him2 but he never exchanged opinions with them4 ,he was so simply and naturally humble--if he can be called humble who never aspires--that humility was no distinct quality in him1 nor could he conceive of it4 ,wiser men were demigods to him4 ,if you told him that such a one was coming1 he did as if he thought that any thing so grand would expect nothing of himself1 but take all the responsibility on itself1 and let him be forgotten still4 ,he never heard the sound of praise4 ,he particularly reverenced the writer and the preacher4 ,their performances were miracles4 ,when ,i told him that ,i wrote considerably1 he thought for a long time that it was merely the handwriting which ,i meant1 for he could write a remarkably good hand himself4 ,i sometimes found the name of his native parish handsomely written in the snow by the highway1 with the proper ,french accent1 and knew that he had passed4 ,i asked him if he ever wished to write his thoughts4 ,he said that he had read and written letters for those who could not1 but he never tried to write thoughts1--no1 he could not1 he could not tell what to put first1 it would kill him1 and then there was spelling to be attended to at the same time6 ,i heard that a distinguished wise man and reformer asked him if he did not want the world to be changed2 but he answered with a chuckle of surprise in his ,canadian accent1 not knowing that the question had ever been entertained before1 8,no1 ,i like it well enough40 ,it would have suggested many things to a philosopher to have dealings with him4 ,to a stranger he appeared to know nothing of things in general2 yet ,i sometimes saw in him a man whom ,i had not seen before1 and ,i did not know whether he was as wise as ,shakespeare or as simply ignorant as a child1 whether to suspect him of a fine poetic consciousness or of stupidity4 ,a townsman told me that when he met him sauntering through the village in his small close-fitting cap1 and whistling to himself1 he reminded him of a prince in disguise4 ,his only books were an almanac and an arithmetic1 in which last he was considerably expert4 ,the former was a sort of cyclopdia to him1 which he supposed to contain an abstract of human knowledge1 as indeed it does to a considerable extent4 ,i loved to sound him on the various reforms of the day1 and he never failed to look at them in the most simple and practical light4 ,he had never heard of such things before4 ,could he do without factories8 ,i asked4 ,he had worn the home-made ,vermont gray1 he said1 and that was good4 ,could he dispense with tea and coffee8 ,did this country afford any beverage beside water8 ,he had soaked hemlock leaves in water and drank it1 and thought that was better than water in warm weather4 ,when ,i asked him if he could do without money1 he showed the convenience of money in such a way as to suggest and coincide with the most philosophical accounts of the origin of this institution1 and the very derivation of the word pecunia4 ,if an ox were his property1 and he wished to get needles and thread at the store1 he thought it would be inconvenient and impossible soon to go on mortgaging some portion of the creature each time to that amount4 ,he could defend many institutions better than any philosopher1 because1 in describing them as they concerned him1 he gave the true reason for their prevalence1 and speculation had not suggested to him any other4 ,at another time1 hearing ,plato's definition of a man1--a biped without feathers1--and that one exhibited a cock plucked and called it ,plato's man1 he thought it an important difference that the knees bent the wrong way4 ,he would sometimes exclaim1 8,how ,i love to talk6 ,by ,george1 ,i could talk all day60 ,i asked him once1 when ,i had not seen him for many months1 if he had got a new idea this summer4 8,good ,lord10 said he1 8a man that has to work as ,i do1 if he does not forget the ideas he has had1 he will do well4 ,may be the man you hoe with is inclined to race2 then1 by gorry1 your mind must be there2 you think of weeds40 ,he would sometimes ask me first on such occasions1 if ,i had made any improvement4 ,one winter day ,i asked him if he was always satisfied with himself1 wishing to suggest a substitute within him for the priest without1 and some higher motive for living4 8,satisfied60 said he2 8some men are satisfied with one thing1 and some with another4 ,one man1 perhaps1 if he has got enough1 will be satisfied to sit all day with his back to the fire and his belly to the table1 by ,george60 ,yet ,i never1 by any manuvring1 could get him to take the spiritual view of things2 the highest that he appeared to conceive of was a simple expediency1 such as you might expect an animal to appreciate2 and this1 practically1 is true of most men4 ,if ,i suggested any improvement in his mode of life1 he merely answered1 without expressing any regret1 that it was too late4 ,yet he thoroughly believed in honesty and the like virtues4 ,there was a certain positive originality1 however slight1 to be detected in him1 and ,i occasionally observed that he was thinking for himself and expressing his own opinion1 a phenomenon so rare that ,i would any day walk ten miles to observe it1 and it amounted to the re-origination of many of the institutions of society4 ,though he hesitated1 and perhaps failed to express himself distinctly1 he always had a presentable thought behind4 ,yet his thinking was so primitive and immersed in his animal life1 that1 though more promising than a merely learned man's1 it rarely ripened to any thing which can be reported4 ,he suggested that there might be men of genius in the lowest grades of life1 however permanently humble and illiterate1 who take their own view always1 or do not pretend to see at all2 who are as bottomless even as ,walden ,pond was thought to be1 though they may be dark and muddy4 ,many a traveller came out of his way to see me and the inside of my house1 and1 as an excuse for calling1 asked for a glass of water4 ,i told them that ,i drank at the pond1 and pointed thither1 offering to lend them a dipper4 ,far off as ,i lived1 ,i was not exempted from the annual visitation which occurs1 methinks1 about the first of ,april1 when every body is on the move2 and ,i had my share of good luck1 though there were some curious specimens among my visitors4 ,half-witted men from the almshouse and elsewhere came to see me2 but ,i endeavored to make them exercise all the wit they had1 and make their confessions to me2 in such cases making wit the theme of our conversation2 and so was compensated4 ,indeed1 ,i found some of them to be wiser than the so called overseers of the poor and selectmen of the town1 and thought it was time that the tables were turned4 ,with respect to wit1 ,i learned that there was not much difference between the half and the whole4 ,one day1 in particular1 an inoffensive1 simple-minded pauper1 whom with others ,i had often seen used as fencing stuff1 standing or sitting on a bushel in the fields to keep cattle and himself from straying1 visited me1 and expressed a wish to live as ,i did4 ,he told me1 with the utmost simplicity and truth1 quite superior1 or rather inferior1 to any thing that is called humility1 that he was 8deficient in intellect40 ,these were his words4 ,the ,lord had made him so1 yet he supposed the ,lord cared as much for him as for another4 8,i have always been so10 said he1 8from my childhood2 ,i never had much mind2 ,i was not like other children2 ,i am weak in the head4 ,it was the ,lord's will1 ,i suppose40 ,and there he was to prove the truth of his words4 ,he was a metaphysical puzzle to me4 ,i have rarely met a fellow-man on such promising ground1--it was so simple and sincere and so true all that he said4 ,and1 true enough1 in proportion as he appeared to humble himself was he exalted4 ,i did not know at first but it was the result of a wise policy4 ,it seemed that from such a basis of truth and frankness as the poor weak-headed pauper had laid1 our intercourse might go forward to something better than the intercourse of sages4 ,i had some guests from those not reckoned commonly among the town's poor1 but who should be2 who are among the world's poor1 at any rate2 guests who appeal1 not to your hospitality1 but to your hospitalality2 who earnestly wish to be helped1 and preface their appeal with the information that they are resolved1 for one thing1 never to help themselves4 ,i require of a visitor that he be not actually starving1 though he may have the very best appetite in the world1 however he got it4 ,objects of charity are not guests4 ,men who did not know when their visit had terminated1 though ,i went about my business again1 answering them from greater and greater remoteness4 ,men of almost every degree of wit called on me in the migrating season4 ,some who had more wits than they knew what to do with2 runaway slaves with plantation manners1 who listened from time to time1 like the fox in the fable1 as if they heard the hounds a-baying on their track1 and looked at me beseechingly1 as much as to say1-- 8,o ,christian1 will you send me back80 ,one real runaway slave1 among the rest1 whom ,i helped to forward toward the northstar4 ,men of one idea1 like a hen with one chicken1 and that a duckling2 men of a thousand ideas1 and unkempt heads1 like those hens which are made to take charge of a hundred chickens1 all in pursuit of one bug1 a score of them lost in every morning's dew1--and become frizzled and mangy in consequence2 men of ideas instead of legs1 a sort of intellectual centipede that made you crawl all over4 ,one man proposed a book in which visitors should write their names1 as at the ,white ,mountains2 but1 alas6 ,i have too good a memory to make that necessary4 ,i could not but notice some of the peculiarities of my visitors4 ,girls and boys and young women generally seemed glad to be in the woods4 ,they looked in the pond and at the flowers1 and improved their time4 ,men of business1 even farmers1 thought only of solitude and employment1 and of the great distance at which ,i dwelt from something or other2 and though they said that they loved a ramble in the woods occasionally1 it was obvious that they did not4 ,restless committed men1 whose time was all taken up in getting a living or keeping it2 ministers who spoke of ,god as if they enjoyed a monopoly of the subject1 who could not bear all kinds of opinions2 doctors1 lawyers1 uneasy housekeepers who pried into my cupboard and bed when ,i was out1--how came ,mrs4 ---- to know that my sheets were not as clean as hers8--young men who had ceased to be young1 and had concluded that it was safest to follow the beaten track of the professions1--all these generally said that it was not possible to do so much good in my position4 ,ay6 there was the rub4 ,the old and infirm and the timid1 of whatever age or sex1 thought most of sickness1 and sudden accident and death2 to them life seemed full of danger1--what danger is there if you don't think of any8--and they thought that a prudent man would carefully select the safest position1 where ,dr4 ,b4 might be on hand at a moment's warning4 ,to them the village was literally a com-munity1 a league for mutual defence1 and you would suppose that they would not go a-huckleberrying without a medicine chest4 ,the amount of it is1 if a man is alive1 there is always danger that he may die1 though the danger must be allowed to be less in proportion as he is dead-and-alive to begin with4 ,a man sits as many risks as he runs4 ,finally1 there were the self-styled reformers1 the greatest bores of all1 who thought that ,i was forever singing1-- ,this is the house that ,i built2 ,this is the man that lives in the house that ,i built2 but they did not know that the third line was1-- ,these are the folks that worry the man ,that lives in the house that ,i built4 ,i did not fear the hen-harriers1 for ,i kept no chickens2 but ,i feared the men-harriers rather4 ,i had more cheering visitors than the last4 ,children come a-berrying1 railroad men taking a ,sunday morning walk in clean shirts1 fishermen and hunters1 poets and philosophers2 in short1 all honest pilgrims1 who came out to the woods for freedom's sake1 and really left the village behind1 ,i was ready to greet with1--8,welcome1 ,englishmen6 welcome1 ,englishmen60 for ,i had had communication with that race4 ,the ,bean-,field ,meanwhile my beans1 the length of whose rows1 added together1 was seven miles already planted1 were impatient to be hoed1 for the earliest had grown considerably before the latest were in the ground2 indeed they were not easily to be put off4 ,what was the meaning of this so steady and self-respecting1 this small ,herculean labor1 ,i knew not4 ,i came to love my rows1 my beans1 though so many more than ,i wanted4 ,they attached me to the earth1 and so ,i got strength like ,antus4 ,but why should ,i raise them8 ,only ,heaven knows4 ,this was my curious labor all summer1--to make this portion of the earth's surface1 which had yielded only cinquefoil1 blackberries1 johnswort1 and the like1 before1 sweet wild fruits and pleasant flowers1 produce instead this pulse4 ,what shall ,i learn of beans or beans of me8 ,i cherish them1 ,i hoe them1 early and late ,i have an eye to them2 and this is my day's work4 ,it is a fine broad leaf to look on4 ,my auxiliaries are the dews and rains which water this dry soil1 and what fertility is in the soil itself1 which for the most part is lean and effete4 ,my enemies are worms1 cool days1 and most of all woodchucks4 ,the last have nibbled for me a quarter of an acre clean4 ,but what right had ,i to oust johnswort and the rest1 and break up their ancient herb garden8 ,soon1 however1 the remaining beans will be too tough for them1 and go forward to meet new foes4 ,when ,i was four years old1 as ,i well remember1 ,i was brought from ,boston to this my native town1 through these very woods and this field1 to the pond4 ,it is one of the oldest scenes stamped on my memory4 ,and now to-night my flute has waked the echoes over that very water4 ,the pines still stand here older than ,i2 or1 if some have fallen1 ,i have cooked my supper with their stumps1 and a new growth is rising all around1 preparing another aspect for new infant eyes4 ,almost the same johnswort springs from the same perennial root in this pasture1 and even ,i have at length helped to clothe that fabulous landscape of my infant dreams1 and one of the results of my presence and influence is seen in these bean leaves1 corn blades1 and potato vines4 ,i planted about two acres and a half of upland2 and as it was only about fifteen years since the land was cleared1 and ,i myself had got out two or three cords of stumps1 ,i did not give it any manure2 but in the course of the summer it appeared by the arrowheads which ,i turned up in hoeing1 that an extinct nation had anciently dwelt here and planted corn and beans ere white men came to clear the land1 and so1 to some extent1 had exhausted the soil for this very crop4 ,before yet any woodchuck or squirrel had run across the road1 or the sun had got above the shrub oaks1 while all the dew was on1 though the farmers warned me against it1--,i would advise you to do all your work if possible while the dew is on1--,i began to level the ranks of haughty weeds in my bean-field and throw dust upon their heads4 ,early in the morning ,i worked barefooted1 dabbling like a plastic artist in the dewy and crumbling sand1 but later in the day the sun blistered my feet4 ,there the sun lighted me to hoe beans1 pacing slowly backward and forward over that yellow gravelly upland1 between the long green rows1 fifteen rods1 the one end terminating in a shrub oak copse where ,i could rest in the shade1 the other in a blackberry field where the green berries deepened their tints by the time ,i had made another bout4 ,removing the weeds1 putting fresh soil about the bean stems1 and encouraging this weed which ,i had sown1 making the yellow soil express its summer thought in bean leaves and blossoms rather than in wormwood and piper and millet grass1 making the earth say beans instead of grass1--this was my daily work4 ,as ,i had little aid from horses or cattle1 or hired men or boys1 or improved implements of husbandry1 ,i was much slower1 and became much more intimate with my beans than usual4 ,but labor of the hands1 even when pursued to the verge of drudgery1 is perhaps never the worst form of idleness4 ,it has a constant and imperishable moral1 and to the scholar it yields a classic result4 ,a very agricola laboriosus was ,i to travellers bound westward through ,lincoln and ,wayland to nobody knows where2 they sitting at their ease in gigs1 with elbows on knees1 and reins loosely hanging in festoons2 ,i the home-staying1 laborious native of the soil4 ,but soon my homestead was out of their sight and thought4 ,it was the only open and cultivated field for a great distance on either side of the road2 so they made the most of it2 and sometimes the man in the field heard more of travellers' gossip and comment than was meant for his ear3 8,beans so late6 peas so late60--for ,i continued to plant when others had begun to hoe1--the ministerial husbandman had not suspected it4 8,corn1 my boy1 for fodder2 corn for fodder40 8,does he live there80 asks the black bonnet of the gray coat2 and the hard-featured farmer reins up his grateful dobbin to inquire what you are doing where he sees no manure in the furrow1 and recommends a little chip dirt1 or any little waste stuff1 or it may be ashes or plaster4 ,but here were two acres and a half of furrows1 and only a hoe for cart and two hands to draw it1--there being an aversion to other carts and horses1--and chip dirt far away4 ,fellow-travellers as they rattled by compared it aloud with the fields which they had passed1 so that ,i came to know how ,i stood in the agricultural world4 ,this was one field not in ,mr4 ,coleman's report4 ,and1 by the way1 who estimates the value of the crop which nature yields in the still wilder fields unimproved by man8 ,the crop of ,english hay is carefully weighed1 the moisture calculated1 the silicates and the potash2 but in all dells and pond holes in the woods and pastures and swamps grows a rich and various crop only unreaped by man4 ,mine was1 as it were1 the connecting link between wild and cultivated fields2 as some states are civilized1 and others half-civilized1 and others savage or barbarous1 so my field was1 though not in a bad sense1 a half-cultivated field4 ,they were beans cheerfully returning to their wild and primitive state that ,i cultivated1 and my hoe played the ,ranz des ,vaches for them4 ,near at hand1 upon the topmost spray of a birch1 sings the brown-thrasher--or red mavis1 as some love to call him--all the morning1 glad of your society1 that would find out another farmer's field if yours were not here4 ,while you are planting the seed1 he cries1--8,drop it1 drop it1--cover it up1 cover it up1--pull it up1 pull it up1 pull it up40 ,but this was not corn1 and so it was safe from such enemies as he4 ,you may wonder what his rigmarole1 his amateur ,paganini performances on one string or on twenty1 have to do with your planting1 and yet prefer it to leached ashes or plaster4 ,it was a cheap sort of top dressing in which ,i had entire faith4 ,as ,i drew a still fresher soil about the rows with my hoe1 ,i disturbed the ashes of unchronicled nations who in primeval years lived under these heavens1 and their small implements of war and hunting were brought to the light of this modern day4 ,they lay mingled with other natural stones1 some of which bore the marks of having been burned by ,indian fires1 and some by the sun1 and also bits of pottery and glass brought hither by the recent cultivators of the soil4 ,when my hoe tinkled against the stones1 that music echoed to the woods and the sky1 and was an accompaniment to my labor which yielded an instant and immeasurable crop4 ,it was no longer beans that ,i hoed1 nor ,i that hoed beans2 and ,i remembered with as much pity as pride1 if ,i remembered at all1 my acquaintances who had gone to the city to attend the oratorios4 ,the night-hawk circled overhead in the sunny afternoons--for ,i sometimes made a day of it--like a mote in the eye1 or in heaven's eye1 falling from time to time with a swoop and a sound as if the heavens were rent1 torn at last to very rags and tatters1 and yet a seamless cope remained2 small imps that fill the air and lay their eggs on the ground on bare sand or rocks on the tops of hills1 where few have found them2 graceful and slender like ripples caught up from the pond1 as leaves are raised by the wind to float in the heavens2 such kindredship is in ,nature4 ,the hawk is aerial brother of the wave which he sails over and surveys1 those his perfect air-inflated wings answering to the elemental unfledged pinions of the sea4 ,or sometimes ,i watched a pair of hen-hawks circling high in the sky1 alternately soaring and descending1 approaching1 and leaving one another1 as if they were the embodiment of my own thoughts4 ,or ,i was attracted by the passage of wild pigeons from this wood to that1 with a slight quivering winnowing sound and carrier haste2 or from under a rotten stump my hoe turned up a sluggish portentous and outlandish spotted salamander1 a trace of ,egypt and the ,nile1 yet our contemporary4 ,when ,i paused to lean on my hoe1 these sounds and sights ,i heard and saw anywhere in the row1 a part of the inexhaustible entertainment which the country offers4 ,on gala days the town fires its great guns1 which echo like popguns to these woods1 and some waifs of martial music occasionally penetrate thus far4 ,to me1 away there in my bean-field at the other end of the town1 the big guns sounded as if a puffball had burst2 and when there was a military turnout of which ,i was ignorant1 ,i have sometimes had a vague sense all the day of some sort of itching and disease in the horizon1 as if some eruption would break out there soon1 either scarlatina or canker-rash1 until at length some more favorable puff of wind1 making haste over the fields and up the ,wayland road1 brought me information of the 8trainers40 ,it seemed by the distant hum as if somebody's bees had swarmed1 and that the neighbors1 according to ,virgil's advice1 by a faint tintinnabulum upon the most sonorous of their domestic utensils1 were endeavoring to call them down into the hive again4 ,and when the sound died quite away1 and the hum had ceased1 and the most favorable breezes told no tale1 ,i knew that they had got the last drone of them all safely into the ,middlesex hive1 and that now their minds were bent on the honey with which it was smeared4 ,i felt proud to know that the liberties of ,massachusetts and of our fatherland were in such safe keeping2 and as ,i turned to my hoeing again ,i was filled with an inexpressible confidence1 and pursued my labor cheerfully with a calm trust in the future4 ,when there were several bands of musicians1 it sounded as if all the village was a vast bellows1 and all the buildings expanded and collapsed alternately with a din4 ,but sometimes it was a really noble and inspiring strain that reached these woods1 and the trumpet that sings of fame1 and ,i felt as if ,i could spit a ,mexican with a good relish1--for why should we always stand for trifles8--and looked round for a woodchuck or a skunk to exercise my chivalry upon4 ,these martial strains seemed as far away as ,palestine1 and reminded me of a march of crusaders in the horizon1 with a slight tantivy and tremulous motion of the elm-tree tops which overhang the village4 ,this was one of the great days2 though the sky had from my clearing only the same everlastingly great look that it wears daily1 and ,i saw no difference in it4 ,it was a singular experience that long acquaintance which ,i cultivated with beans1 what with planting1 and hoeing1 and harvesting1 and threshing1 and picking over and selling them1--the last was the hardest of all1--,i might add eating1 for ,i did taste4 ,i was determined to know beans4 ,when they were growing1 ,i used to hoe from five o'clock in the morning till noon1 and commonly spent the rest of the day about other affairs4 ,consider the intimate and curious acquaintance one makes with various kinds of weeds1--it will bear some iteration in the account1 for there was no little iteration in the labor1--disturbing their delicate organizations so ruthlessly1 and making such invidious distinctions with his hoe1 levelling whole ranks of one species1 and sedulously cultivating another4 ,that's ,roman wormwood1--that's pigweed1--that's sorrel1--that's piper-grass1--have at him1 chop him up1 turn his roots upward to the sun1 don't let him have a fibre in the shade1 if you do he'll turn himself t'other side up and be as green as a leek in two days4 ,a long war1 not with cranes1 but with weeds1 those ,trojans who had sun and rain and dews on their side4 ,daily the beans saw me come to their rescue armed with a hoe1 and thin the ranks of their enemies1 filling up the trenches with weedy dead4 ,many a lusty crest-waving ,hector1 that towered a whole foot above his crowding comrades1 fell before my weapon and rolled in the dust4 ,those summer days which some of my contemporaries devoted to the fine arts in ,boston or ,rome1 and others to contemplation in ,india1 and others to trade in ,london or ,new ,york1 ,i thus1 with the other farmers of ,new ,england1 devoted to husbandry4 ,not that ,i wanted beans to eat1 for ,i am by nature a ,pythagorean1 so far as beans are concerned1 whether they mean porridge or voting1 and exchanged them for rice2 but1 perchance1 as some must work in fields if only for the sake of tropes and expression1 to serve a parable-maker one day4 ,it was on the whole a rare amusement1 which1 continued too long1 might have become a dissipation4 ,though ,i gave them no manure1 and did not hoe them all once1 ,i hoed them unusually well as far as ,i went1 and was paid for it in the end1 8there being in truth10 as ,evelyn says1 8no compost or ltation whatsoever comparable to this continual motion1 repastination1 and turning of the mould with the spade40 8,the earth10 he adds elsewhere1 8especially if fresh1 has a certain magnetism in it1 by which it attracts the salt1 power1 or virtue 7call it either7 which gives it life1 and is the logic of all the labor and stir we keep about it1 to sustain us2 all dungings and other sordid temperings being but the vicars succedaneous to this improvement40 ,moreover1 this being one of those 8worn-out and exhausted lay fields which enjoy their sabbath10 had perchance1 as ,sir ,kenelm ,digby thinks likely1 attracted 8vital spirits0 from the air4 ,i harvested twelve bushels of beans4 ,but to be more particular1 for it is complained that ,mr4 ,coleman has reported chiefly the expensive experiments of gentlemen farmers1 my outgoes were1-- ,for a hoe14444444444444444444444444444444444 #j4ed ,ploughing1 harrowing1 and furrowing1444444444 #g4ej ,too much4 ,beans for seed1444444444444444444444444444444 #c4ab ,potatoes for seed1444444444444444444444444444 #a4cc ,peas for seed14444444444444444444444444444444 #j4dj ,turnip seed1444444444444444444444444444444444 #j4jf ,white line for crow fence14444444444444444444 #j4jb ,horse cultivator and boy three hours144444444 #a4jj ,horse and cart to get crop1444444444444444444 #j4ge -------- ,in all1444444444444444444444444444444444 #ad4gb ,my income was 7patrem familias vendacem1 non emacem esse oportet71 from ,nine bushels and twelve quarts of beans sold14 #af4id ,five large potatoes144444444444444444444 #b4ej ,nine small144444444444444444444444444444 #b4be ,grass1444444444444444444444444444444444 444444444 #a4jj ,stalks144444444444444444444444444444444 444444444 #j4ge -------- ,in all144444444444444444444444444444444444 #bc4dd ,leaving a pecuniary profit1 as ,i have elsewhere said1 of44444444444444 #h4ga4 ,this is the result of my experience in raising beans4 ,plant the common small white bush bean about the first of ,june1 in rows three feet by eighteen inches apart1 being careful to select fresh round and unmixed seed4 ,first look out for worms1 and supply vacancies by planting anew4 ,then look out for woodchucks1 if it is an exposed place1 for they will nibble off the earliest tender leaves almost clean as they go2 and again1 when the young tendrils make their appearance1 they have notice of it1 and will shear them off with both buds and young pods1 sitting erect like a squirrel4 ,but above all harvest as early as possible1 if you would escape frosts and have a fair and salable crop2 you may save much loss by this means4 ,this further experience also ,i gained4 ,i said to myself1 ,i will not plant beans and corn with so much industry another summer1 but such seeds1 if the seed is not lost1 as sincerity1 truth1 simplicity1 faith1 innocence1 and the like1 and see if they will not grow in this soil1 even with less toil and manurance1 and sustain me1 for surely it has not been exhausted for these crops4 ,alas6 ,i said this to myself2 but now another summer is gone1 and another1 and another1 and ,i am obliged to say to you1 ,reader1 that the seeds which ,i planted1 if indeed they were the seeds of those virtues1 were wormeaten or had lost their vitality1 and so did not come up4 ,commonly men will only be brave as their fathers were brave1 or timid4 ,this generation is very sure to plant corn and beans each new year precisely as the ,indians did centuries ago and taught the first settlers to do1 as if there were a fate in it4 ,i saw an old man the other day1 to my astonishment1 making the holes with a hoe for the seventieth time at least1 and not for himself to lie down in6 ,but why should not the ,new ,englander try new adventures1 and not lay so much stress on his grain1 his potato and grass crop1 and his orchards1--raise other crops than these8 ,why concern ourselves so much about our beans for seed1 and not be concerned at all about a new generation of men8 ,we should really be fed and cheered if when we met a man we were sure to see that some of the qualities which ,i have named1 which we all prize more than those other productions1 but which are for the most part broadcast and floating in the air1 had taken root and grown in him4 ,here comes such a subtile and ineffable quality1 for instance1 as truth or justice1 though the slightest amount or new variety of it1 along the road4 ,our ambassadors should be instructed to send home such seeds as these1 and ,congress help to distribute them over all the land4 ,we should never stand upon ceremony with sincerity4 ,we should never cheat and insult and banish one another by our meanness1 if there were present the kernel of worth and friendliness4 ,we should not meet thus in haste4 ,most men ,i do not meet at all1 for they seem not to have time2 they are busy about their beans4 ,we would not deal with a man thus plodding ever1 leaning on a hoe or a spade as a staff between his work1 not as a mushroom1 but partially risen out of the earth1 something more than erect1 like swallows alighted and walking on the ground3-- 8,and as he spake1 his wings would now and then ,spread1 as he meant to fly1 then close again10 so that we should suspect that we might be conversing with an angel4 ,bread may not always nourish us2 but it always does us good1 it even takes stiffness out of our joints1 and makes us supple and buoyant1 when we knew not what ailed us1 to recognize any generosity in man or ,nature1 to share any unmixed and heroic joy4 ,ancient poetry and mythology suggest1 at least1 that husbandry was once a sacred art2 but it is pursued with irreverent haste and heedlessness by us1 our object being to have large farms and large crops merely4 ,we have no festival1 nor procession1 nor ceremony1 not excepting our ,cattle-shows and so called ,thanksgivings1 by which the farmer expresses a sense of the sacredness of his calling1 or is reminded of its sacred origin4 ,it is the premium and the feast which tempt him4 ,he sacrifices not to ,ceres and the ,terrestrial ,jove1 but to the infernal ,plutus rather4 ,by avarice and selfishness1 and a grovelling habit1 from which none of us is free1 of regarding the soil as property1 or the means of acquiring property chiefly1 the landscape is deformed1 husbandry is degraded with us1 and the farmer leads the meanest of lives4 ,he knows ,nature but as a robber4 ,cato says that the profits of agriculture are particularly pious or just1 7maximeque pius qustus71 and according to ,varro the old ,romans 8called the same earth ,mother and ,ceres1 and thought that they who cultivated it led a pious and useful life1 and that they alone were left of the race of ,king ,saturn40 ,we are wont to forget that the sun looks on our cultivated fields and on the prairies and forests without distinction4 ,they all reflect and absorb his rays alike1 and the former make but a small part of the glorious picture which he beholds in his daily course4 ,in his view the earth is all equally cultivated like a garden4 ,therefore we should receive the benefit of his light and heat with a corresponding trust and magnanimity4 ,what though ,i value the seed of these beans1 and harvest that in the fall of the year8 ,this broad field which ,i have looked at so long looks not to me as the principal cultivator1 but away from me to influences more genial to it1 which water and make it green4 ,these beans have results which are not harvested by me4 ,do they not grow for woodchucks partly8 ,the ear of wheat 7in ,latin spica1 obsoletely speca1 from spe1 hope7 should not be the only hope of the husbandman2 its kernel or grain 7granum from gerendo1 bearing7 is not all that it bears4 ,how1 then1 can our harvest fail8 ,shall ,i not rejoice also at the abundance of the weeds whose seeds are the granary of the birds8 ,it matters little comparatively whether the fields fill the farmer's barns4 ,the true husbandman will cease from anxiety1 as the squirrels manifest no concern whether the woods will bear chestnuts this year or not1 and finish his labor with every day1 relinquishing all claim to the produce of his fields1 and sacrificing in his mind not only his first but his last fruits also4 ,the ,village ,after hoeing1 or perhaps reading and writing1 in the forenoon1 ,i usually bathed again in the pond1 swimming across one of its coves for a stint1 and washed the dust of labor from my person1 or smoothed out the last wrinkle which study had made1 and for the afternoon was absolutely free4 ,every day or two ,i strolled to the village to hear some of the gossip which is incessantly going on there1 circulating either from mouth to mouth1 or from newspaper to newspaper1 and which1 taken in homopathic doses1 was really as refreshing in its way as the rustle of leaves and the peeping of frogs4 ,as ,i walked in the woods to see the birds and squirrels1 so ,i walked in the village to see the men and boys2 instead of the wind among the pines ,i heard the carts rattle4 ,in one direction from my house there was a colony of muskrats in the river meadows2 under the grove of elms and buttonwoods in the other horizon was a village of busy men1 as curious to me as if they had been prairie dogs1 each sitting at the mouth of its burrow1 or running over to a neighbor's to gossip4 ,i went there frequently to observe their habits4 ,the village appeared to me a great news room2 and on one side1 to support it1 as once at ,redding ,company's on ,state ,street1 they kept nuts and raisins1 or salt and meal and other groceries4 ,some have such a vast appetite for the former commodity1 that is1 the news1 and such sound digestive organs1 that they can sit forever in public avenues without stirring1 and let it simmer and whisper through them like the ,etesian winds1 or as if inhaling ether1 it only producing numbness and insensibility to pain1--otherwise it would often be painful to hear1--without affecting the consciousness4 ,i hardly ever failed1 when ,i rambled through the village1 to see a row of such worthies1 either sitting on a ladder sunning themselves1 with their bodies inclined forward and their eyes glancing along the line this way and that1 from time to time1 with a voluptuous expression1 or else leaning against a barn with their hands in their pockets1 like caryatides1 as if to prop it up4 ,they1 being commonly out of doors1 heard whatever was in the wind4 ,these are the coarsest mills1 in which all gossip is first rudely digested or cracked up before it is emptied into finer and more delicate hoppers within doors4 ,i observed that the vitals of the village were the grocery1 the bar-room1 the post-office1 and the bank2 and1 as a necessary part of the machinery1 they kept a bell1 a big gun1 and a fire-engine1 at convenient places2 and the houses were so arranged as to make the most of mankind1 in lanes and fronting one another1 so that every traveller had to run the gantlet1 and every man1 woman1 and child might get a lick at him4 ,of course1 those who were stationed nearest to the head of the line1 where they could most see and be seen1 and have the first blow at him1 paid the highest prices for their places2 and the few straggling inhabitants in the outskirts1 where long gaps in the line began to occur1 and the traveller could get over walls or turn aside into cow paths1 and so escape1 paid a very slight ground or window tax4 ,signs were hung out on all sides to allure him2 some to catch him by the appetite1 as the tavern and victualling cellar2 some by the fancy1 as the dry goods store and the jeweller's2 and others by the hair or the feet or the skirts1 as the barber1 the shoemaker1 or the tailor4 ,besides1 there was a still more terrible standing invitation to call at every one of these houses1 and company expected about these times4 ,for the most part ,i escaped wonderfully from these dangers1 either by proceeding at once boldly and without deliberation to the goal1 as is recommended to those who run the gantlet1 or by keeping my thoughts on high things1 like ,orpheus1 who1 8loudly singing the praises of the gods to his lyre1 drowned the voices of the ,sirens1 and kept out of danger40 ,sometimes ,i bolted suddenly1 and nobody could tell my whereabouts1 for ,i did not stand much about gracefulness1 and never hesitated at a gap in a fence4 ,i was even accustomed to make an irruption into some houses1 where ,i was well entertained1 and after learning the kernels and very last sieve-ful of news1 what had subsided1 the prospects of war and peace1 and whether the world was likely to hold together much longer1 ,i was let out through the rear avenues1 and so escaped to the woods again4 ,it was very pleasant1 when ,i stayed late in town1 to launch myself into the night1 especially if it was dark and tempestuous1 and set sail from some bright village parlor or lecture room1 with a bag of rye or ,indian meal upon my shoulder1 for my snug harbor in the woods1 having made all tight without and withdrawn under hatches with a merry crew of thoughts1 leaving only my outer man at the helm1 or even tying up the helm when it was plain sailing4 ,i had many a genial thought by the cabin fire 8as ,i sailed40 ,i was never cast away nor distressed in any weather1 though ,i encountered some severe storms4 ,it is darker in the woods1 even in common nights1 than most suppose4 ,i frequently had to look up at the opening between the trees above the path in order to learn my route1 and1 where there was no cart-path1 to feel with my feet the faint track which ,i had worn1 or steer by the known relation of particular trees which ,i felt with my hands1 passing between two pines for instance1 not more than eighteen inches apart1 in the midst of the woods1 invariably1 in the darkest night4 ,sometimes1 after coming home thus late in a dark and muggy night1 when my feet felt the path which my eyes could not see1 dreaming and absent-minded all the way1 until ,i was aroused by having to raise my hand to lift the latch1 ,i have not been able to recall a single step of my walk1 and ,i have thought that perhaps my body would find its way home if its master should forsake it1 as the hand finds its way to the mouth without assistance4 ,several times1 when a visitor chanced to stay into evening1 and it proved a dark night1 ,i was obliged to conduct him to the cart-path in the rear of the house1 and then point out to him the direction he was to pursue1 and in keeping which he was to be guided rather by his feet than his eyes4 ,one very dark night ,i directed thus on their way two young men who had been fishing in the pond4 ,they lived about a mile off through the woods1 and were quite used to the route4 ,a day or two after one of them told me that they wandered about the greater part of the night1 close by their own premises1 and did not get home till toward morning1 by which time1 as there had been several heavy showers in the mean while1 and the leaves were very wet1 they were drenched to their skins4 ,i have heard of many going astray even in the village streets1 when the darkness was so thick that you could cut it with a knife1 as the saying is4 ,some who live in the outskirts1 having come to town a-shopping in their wagons1 have been obliged to put up for the night2 and gentlemen and ladies making a call have gone half a mile out of their way1 feeling the sidewalk only with their feet1 and not knowing when they turned4 ,it is a surprising and memorable1 as well as valuable experience1 to be lost in the woods any time4 ,often in a snow storm1 even by day1 one will come out upon a well-known road and yet find it impossible to tell which way leads to the village4 ,though he knows that he has travelled it a thousand times1 he cannot recognize a feature in it1 but it is as strange to him as if it were a road in ,siberia4 ,by night1 of course1 the perplexity is infinitely greater4 ,in our most trivial walks1 we are constantly1 though unconsciously1 steering like pilots by certain well-known beacons and headlands1 and if we go beyond our usual course we still carry in our minds the bearing of some neighboring cape2 and not till we are completely lost1 or turned round1--for a man needs only to be turned round once with his eyes shut in this world to be lost1--do we appreciate the vastness and strangeness of ,nature4 ,every man has to learn the points of compass again as often as he awakes1 whether from sleep or any abstraction4 ,not till we are lost1 in other words not till we have lost the world1 do we begin to find ourselves1 and realize where we are and the infinite extent of our relations4 ,one afternoon1 near the end of the first summer1 when ,i went to the village to get a shoe from the cobbler's1 ,i was seized and put into jail1 because1 as ,i have elsewhere related1 ,i did not pay a tax to1 or recognize the authority of1 the state which buys and sells men1 women1 and children1 like cattle at the door of its senate-house4 ,i had gone down to the woods for other purposes4 ,but1 wherever a man goes1 men will pursue and paw him with their dirty institutions1 and1 if they can1 constrain him to belong to their desperate odd-fellow society4 ,it is true1 ,i might have resisted forcibly with more or less effect1 might have run 8amok0 against society2 but ,i preferred that society should run 8amok0 against me1 it being the desperate party4 ,however1 ,i was released the next day1 obtained my mended shoe1 and returned to the woods in season to get my dinner of huckleberries on ,fair-,haven ,hill4 ,i was never molested by any person but those who represented the state4 ,i had no lock nor bolt but for the desk which held my papers1 not even a nail to put over my latch or windows4 ,i never fastened my door night or day1 though ,i was to be absent several days2 not even when the next fall ,i spent a fortnight in the woods of ,maine4 ,and yet my house was more respected than if it had been surrounded by a file of soldiers4 ,the tired rambler could rest and warm himself by my fire1 the literary amuse himself with the few books on my table1 or the curious1 by opening my closet door1 see what was left of my dinner1 and what prospect ,i had of a supper4 ,yet1 though many people of every class came this way to the pond1 ,i suffered no serious inconvenience from these sources1 and ,i never missed anything but one small book1 a volume of ,homer1 which perhaps was improperly gilded1 and this ,i trust a soldier of our camp has found by this time4 ,i am convinced1 that if all men were to live as simply as ,i then did1 thieving and robbery would be unknown4 ,these take place only in communities where some have got more than is sufficient while others have not enough4 ,the ,pope's ,homers would soon get properly distributed4-- 8,nec bella fuerunt1 ,faginus astabat dum scyphus ante dapes40 8,nor wars did men molest1 ,when only beechen bowls were in request40 8,you who govern public affairs1 what need have you to employ punishments8 ,love virtue1 and the people will be virtuous4 ,the virtues of a superior man are like the wind2 the virtues of a common man are like the grass2 the grass1 when the wind passes over it1 bends40 ,the ,ponds ,sometimes1 having had a surfeit of human society and gossip1 and worn out all my village friends1 ,i rambled still farther westward than ,i habitually dwell1 into yet more unfrequented parts of the town1 8to fresh woods and pastures new10 or1 while the sun was setting1 made my supper of huckleberries and blueberries on ,fair ,haven ,hill1 and laid up a store for several days4 ,the fruits do not yield their true flavor to the purchaser of them1 nor to him who raises them for the market4 ,there is but one way to obtain it1 yet few take that way4 ,if you would know the flavor of huckleberries1 ask the cow-boy or the partridge4 ,it is a vulgar error to suppose that you have tasted huckleberries who never plucked them4 ,a huckleberry never reaches ,boston2 they have not been known there since they grew on her three hills4 ,the ambrosial and essential part of the fruit is lost with the bloom which is rubbed off in the market cart1 and they become mere provender4 ,as long as ,eternal ,justice reigns1 not one innocent huckleberry can be transported thither from the country's hills4 ,occasionally1 after my hoeing was done for the day1 ,i joined some impatient companion who had been fishing on the pond since morning1 as silent and motionless as a duck or a floating leaf1 and1 after practising various kinds of philosophy1 had concluded commonly1 by the time ,i arrived1 that he belonged to the ancient sect of ,cnobites4 ,there was one older man1 an excellent fisher and skilled in all kinds of woodcraft1 who was pleased to look upon my house as a building erected for the convenience of fishermen2 and ,i was equally pleased when he sat in my doorway to arrange his lines4 ,once in a while we sat together on the pond1 he at one end of the boat1 and ,i at the other2 but not many words passed between us1 for he had grown deaf in his later years1 but he occasionally hummed a psalm1 which harmonized well enough with my philosophy4 ,our intercourse was thus altogether one of unbroken harmony1 far more pleasing to remember than if it had been carried on by speech4 ,when1 as was commonly the case1 ,i had none to commune with1 ,i used to raise the echoes by striking with a paddle on the side of my boat1 filling the surrounding woods with circling and dilating sound1 stirring them up as the keeper of a menagerie his wild beasts1 until ,i elicited a growl from every wooded vale and hill-side4 ,in warm evenings ,i frequently sat in the boat playing the flute1 and saw the perch1 which ,i seemed to have charmed1 hovering around me1 and the moon travelling over the ribbed bottom1 which was strewed with the wrecks of the forest4 ,formerly ,i had come to this pond adventurously1 from time to time1 in dark summer nights1 with a companion1 and making a fire close to the water's edge1 which we thought attracted the fishes1 we caught pouts with a bunch of worms strung on a thread2 and when we had done1 far in the night1 threw the burning brands high into the air like skyrockets1 which1 coming down into the pond1 were quenched with a loud hissing1 and we were suddenly groping in total darkness4 ,through this1 whistling a tune1 we took our way to the haunts of men again4 ,but now ,i had made my home by the shore4 ,sometimes1 after staying in a village parlor till the family had all retired1 ,i have returned to the woods1 and1 partly with a view to the next day's dinner1 spent the hours of midnight fishing from a boat by moonlight1 serenaded by owls and foxes1 and hearing1 from time to time1 the creaking note of some unknown bird close at hand4 ,these experiences were very memorable and valuable to me1--anchored in forty feet of water1 and twenty or thirty rods from the shore1 surrounded sometimes by thousands of small perch and shiners1 dimpling the surface with their tails in the moonlight1 and communicating by a long flaxen line with mysterious nocturnal fishes which had their dwelling forty feet below1 or sometimes dragging sixty feet of line about the pond as ,i drifted in the gentle night breeze1 now and then feeling a slight vibration along it1 indicative of some life prowling about its extremity1 of dull uncertain blundering purpose there1 and slow to make up its mind4 ,at length you slowly raise1 pulling hand over hand1 some horned pout squeaking and squirming to the upper air4 ,it was very queer1 especially in dark nights1 when your thoughts had wandered to vast and cosmogonal themes in other spheres1 to feel this faint jerk1 which came to interrupt your dreams and link you to ,nature again4 ,it seemed as if ,i might next cast my line upward into the air1 as well as downward into this element1 which was scarcely more dense4 ,thus ,i caught two fishes as it were with one hook4 ,the scenery of ,walden is on a humble scale1 and1 though very beautiful1 does not approach to grandeur1 nor can it much concern one who has not long frequented it or lived by its shore2 yet this pond is so remarkable for its depth and purity as to merit a particular description4 ,it is a clear and deep green well1 half a mile long and a mile and three quarters in circumference1 and contains about sixty-one and a half acres2 a perennial spring in the midst of pine and oak woods1 without any visible inlet or outlet except by the clouds and evaporation4 ,the surrounding hills rise abruptly from the water to the height of forty to eighty feet1 though on the south-east and east they attain to about one hundred and one hundred and fifty feet respectively1 within a quarter and a third of a mile4 ,they are exclusively woodland4 ,all our ,concord waters have two colors at least2 one when viewed at a distance1 and another1 more proper1 close at hand4 ,the first depends more on the light1 and follows the sky4 ,in clear weather1 in summer1 they appear blue at a little distance1 especially if agitated1 and at a great distance all appear alike4 ,in stormy weather they are sometimes of a dark slate color4 ,the sea1 however1 is said to be blue one day and green another without any perceptible change in the atmosphere4 ,i have seen our river1 when1 the landscape being covered with snow1 both water and ice were almost as green as grass4 ,some consider blue 8to be the color of pure water1 whether liquid or solid40 ,but1 looking directly down into our waters from a boat1 they are seen to be of very different colors4 ,walden is blue at one time and green at another1 even from the same point of view4 ,lying between the earth and the heavens1 it partakes of the color of both4 ,viewed from a hill-top it reflects the color of the sky2 but near at hand it is of a yellowish tint next the shore where you can see the sand1 then a light green1 which gradually deepens to a uniform dark green in the body of the pond4 ,in some lights1 viewed even from a hill-top1 it is of a vivid green next the shore4 ,some have referred this to the reflection of the verdure2 but it is equally green there against the railroad sand-bank1 and in the spring1 before the leaves are expanded1 and it may be simply the result of the prevailing blue mixed with the yellow of the sand4 ,such is the color of its iris4 ,this is that portion1 also1 where in the spring1 the ice being warmed by the heat of the sun reflected from the bottom1 and also transmitted through the earth1 melts first and forms a narrow canal about the still frozen middle4 ,like the rest of our waters1 when much agitated1 in clear weather1 so that the surface of the waves may reflect the sky at the right angle1 or because there is more light mixed with it1 it appears at a little distance of a darker blue than the sky itself2 and at such a time1 being on its surface1 and looking with divided vision1 so as to see the reflection1 ,i have discerned a matchless and indescribable light blue1 such as watered or changeable silks and sword blades suggest1 more cerulean than the sky itself1 alternating with the original dark green on the opposite sides of the waves1 which last appeared but muddy in comparison4 ,it is a vitreous greenish blue1 as ,i remember it1 like those patches of the winter sky seen through cloud vistas in the west before sundown4 ,yet a single glass of its water held up to the light is as colorless as an equal quantity of air4 ,it is well known that a large plate of glass will have a green tint1 owing1 as the makers say1 to its 8body10 but a small piece of the same will be colorless4 ,how large a body of ,walden water would be required to reflect a green tint ,i have never proved4 ,the water of our river is black or a very dark brown to one looking directly down on it1 and1 like that of most ponds1 imparts to the body of one bathing in it a yellowish tinge2 but this water is of such crystalline purity that the body of the bather appears of an alabaster whiteness1 still more unnatural1 which1 as the limbs are magnified and distorted withal1 produces a monstrous effect1 making fit studies for a ,michael ,angelo4 ,the water is so transparent that the bottom can easily be discerned at the depth of twenty-five or thirty feet4 ,paddling over it1 you may see1 many feet beneath the surface the schools of perch and shiners1 perhaps only an inch long1 yet the former easily distinguished by their transverse bars1 and you think that they must be ascetic fish that find a subsistence there4 ,once1 in the winter1 many years ago1 when ,i had been cutting holes through the ice in order to catch pickerel1 as ,i stepped ashore ,i tossed my axe back on to the ice1 but1 as if some evil genius had directed it1 it slid four or five rods directly into one of the holes1 where the water was twenty-five feet deep4 ,out of curiosity1 ,i lay down on the ice and looked through the hole1 until ,i saw the axe a little on one side1 standing on its head1 with its helve erect and gently swaying to and fro with the pulse of the pond2 and there it might have stood erect and swaying till in the course of time the handle rotted off1 if ,i had not disturbed it4 ,making another hole directly over it with an ice chisel which ,i had1 and cutting down the longest birch which ,i could find in the neighborhood with my knife1 ,i made a slip-noose1 which ,i attached to its end1 and1 letting it down carefully1 passed it over the knob of the handle1 and drew it by a line along the birch1 and so pulled the axe out again4 ,the shore is composed of a belt of smooth rounded white stones like paving stones1 excepting one or two short sand beaches1 and is so steep that in many places a single leap will carry you into water over your head2 and were it not for its remarkable transparency1 that would be the last to be seen of its bottom till it rose on the opposite side4 ,some think it is bottomless4 ,it is nowhere muddy1 and a casual observer would say that there were no weeds at all in it2 and of noticeable plants1 except in the little meadows recently overflowed1 which do not properly belong to it1 a closer scrutiny does not detect a flag nor a bulrush1 nor even a lily1 yellow or white1 but only a few small heart-leaves and potamogetons1 and perhaps a water-target or two2 all which however a bather might not perceive2 and these plants are clean and bright like the element they grow in4 ,the stones extend a rod or two into the water1 and then the bottom is pure sand1 except in the deepest parts1 where there is usually a little sediment1 probably from the decay of the leaves which have been wafted on to it so many successive falls1 and a bright green weed is brought up on anchors even in midwinter4 ,we have one other pond just like this1 ,white ,pond1 in ,nine ,acre ,corner1 about two and a half miles westerly2 but1 though ,i am acquainted with most of the ponds within a dozen miles of this centre ,i do not know a third of this pure and well-like character4 ,successive nations perchance have drank at1 admired1 and fathomed it1 and passed away1 and still its water is green and pellucid as ever4 ,not an intermitting spring6 ,perhaps on that spring morning when ,adam and ,eve were driven out of ,eden ,walden ,pond was already in existence1 and even then breaking up in a gentle spring rain accompanied with mist and a southerly wind1 and covered with myriads of ducks and geese1 which had not heard of the fall1 when still such pure lakes sufficed them4 ,even then it had commenced to rise and fall1 and had clarified its waters and colored them of the hue they now wear1 and obtained a patent of heaven to be the only ,walden ,pond in the world and distiller of celestial dews4 ,who knows in how many unremembered nations' literatures this has been the ,castalian ,fountain8 or what nymphs presided over it in the ,golden ,age8 ,it is a gem of the first water which ,concord wears in her coronet4 ,yet perchance the first who came to this well have left some trace of their footsteps4 ,i have been surprised to detect encircling the pond1 even where a thick wood has just been cut down on the shore1 a narrow shelf-like path in the steep hill-side1 alternately rising and falling1 approaching and receding from the water's edge1 as old probably as the race of man here1 worn by the feet of aboriginal hunters1 and still from time to time unwittingly trodden by the present occupants of the land4 ,this is particularly distinct to one standing on the middle of the pond in winter1 just after a light snow has fallen1 appearing as a clear undulating white line1 unobscured by weeds and twigs1 and very obvious a quarter of a mile off in many places where in summer it is hardly distinguishable close at hand4 ,the snow reprints it1 as it were1 in clear white type alto-relievo4 ,the ornamented grounds of villas which will one day be built here may still preserve some trace of this4 ,the pond rises and falls1 but whether regularly or not1 and within what period1 nobody knows1 though1 as usual1 many pretend to know4 ,it is commonly higher in the winter and lower in the summer1 though not corresponding to the general wet and dryness4 ,i can remember when it was a foot or two lower1 and also when it was at least five feet higher1 than when ,i lived by it4 ,there is a narrow sand-bar running into it1 with very deep water on one side1 on which ,i helped boil a kettle of chowder1 some six rods from the main shore1 about the year #ahbd1 which it has not been possible to do for twenty-five years2 and on the other hand1 my friends used to listen with incredulity when ,i told them1 that a few years later ,i was accustomed to fish from a boat in a secluded cove in the woods1 fifteen rods from the only shore they knew1 which place was long since converted into a meadow4 ,but the pond has risen steadily for two years1 and now1 in the summer of '#eb1 is just five feet higher than when ,i lived there1 or as high as it was thirty years ago1 and fishing goes on again in the meadow4 ,this makes a difference of level1 at the outside1 of six or seven feet2 and yet the water shed by the surrounding hills is insignificant in amount1 and this overflow must be referred to causes which affect the deep springs4 ,this same summer the pond has begun to fall again4 ,it is remarkable that this fluctuation1 whether periodical or not1 appears thus to require many years for its accomplishment4 ,i have observed one rise and a part of two falls1 and ,i expect that a dozen or fifteen years hence the water will again be as low as ,i have ever known it4 ,flint's ,pond1 a mile eastward1 allowing for the disturbance occasioned by its inlets and outlets1 and the smaller intermediate ponds also1 sympathize with ,walden1 and recently attained their greatest height at the same time with the latter4 ,the same is true1 as far as my observation goes1 of ,white ,pond4 ,this rise and fall of ,walden at long intervals serves this use at least2 the water standing at this great height for a year or more1 though it makes it difficult to walk round it1 kills the shrubs and trees which have sprung up about its edge since the last rise1 pitch-pines1 birches1 alders1 aspens1 and others1 and1 falling again1 leaves an unobstructed shore2 for1 unlike many ponds and all waters which are subject to a daily tide1 its shore is cleanest when the water is lowest4 ,on the side of the pond next my house1 a row of pitch pines fifteen feet high has been killed and tipped over as if by a lever1 and thus a stop put to their encroachments2 and their size indicates how many years have elapsed since the last rise to this height4 ,by this fluctuation the pond asserts its title to a shore1 and thus the shore is shorn1 and the trees cannot hold it by right of possession4 ,these are the lips of the lake on which no beard grows4 ,it licks its chaps from time to time4 ,when the water is at its height1 the alders1 willows1 and maples send forth a mass of fibrous red roots several feet long from all sides of their stems in the water1 and to the height of three or four feet from the ground1 in the effort to maintain themselves2 and ,i have known the high-blueberry bushes about the shore1 which commonly produce no fruit1 bear an abundant crop under these circumstances4 ,some have been puzzled to tell how the shore became so regularly paved4 ,my townsmen have all heard the tradition1 the oldest people tell me that they heard it in their youth1 that anciently the ,indians were holding a pow-wow upon a hill here1 which rose as high into the heavens as the pond now sinks deep into the earth1 and they used much profanity1 as the story goes1 though this vice is one of which the ,indians were never guilty1 and while they were thus engaged the hill shook and suddenly sank1 and only one old squaw1 named ,walden1 escaped1 and from her the pond was named4 ,it has been conjectured that when the hill shook these stones rolled down its side and became the present shore4 ,it is very certain1 at any rate1 that once there was no pond here1 and now there is one2 and this ,indian fable does not in any respect conflict with the account of that ancient settler whom ,i have mentioned1 who remembers so well when he first came here with his divining rod1 saw a thin vapor rising from the sward1 and the hazel pointed steadily downward1 and he concluded to dig a well here4 ,as for the stones1 many still think that they are hardly to be accounted for by the action of the waves on these hills2 but ,i observe that the surrounding hills are remarkably full of the same kind of stones1 so that they have been obliged to pile them up in walls on both sides of the railroad cut nearest the pond2 and1 moreover1 there are most stones where the shore is most abrupt2 so that1 unfortunately1 it is no longer a mystery to me4 ,i detect the paver4 ,if the name was not derived from that of some ,english locality1--,saffron ,walden1 for instance1--one might suppose that it was called originally ,walled-in ,pond4 ,the pond was my well ready dug4 ,for four months in the year its water is as cold as it is pure at all times2 and ,i think that it is then as good as any1 if not the best1 in the town4 ,in the winter1 all water which is exposed to the air is colder than springs and wells which are protected from it4 ,the temperature of the pond water which had stood in the room where ,i sat from five o'clock in the afternoon till noon the next day1 the sixth of ,march1 #ahdf1 the thermometer having been up to #fe or #gj some of the time1 owing partly to the sun on the roof1 was #db1 or one degree colder than the water of one of the coldest wells in the village just drawn4 ,the temperature of the ,boiling ,spring the same day was #de1 or the warmest of any water tried1 though it is the coldest that ,i know of in summer1 when1 beside1 shallow and stagnant surface water is not mingled with it4 ,moreover1 in summer1 ,walden never becomes so warm as most water which is exposed to the sun1 on account of its depth4 ,in the warmest weather ,i usually placed a pailful in my cellar1 where it became cool in the night1 and remained so during the day2 though ,i also resorted to a spring in the neighborhood4 ,it was as good when a week old as the day it was dipped1 and had no taste of the pump4 ,whoever camps for a week in summer by the shore of a pond1 needs only bury a pail of water a few feet deep in the shade of his camp to be independent of the luxury of ice4 ,there have been caught in ,walden pickerel1 one weighing seven pounds1 to say nothing of another which carried off a reel with great velocity1 which the fisherman safely set down at eight pounds because he did not see him1 perch and pouts1 some of each weighing over two pounds1 shiners1 chivins or roach 7,leuciscus pulchellus71 a very few breams1 and a couple of eels1 one weighing four pounds1--,i am thus particular because the weight of a fish is commonly its only title to fame1 and these are the only eels ,i have heard of here2--also1 ,i have a faint recollection of a little fish some five inches long1 with silvery sides and a greenish back1 somewhat dace-like in its character1 which ,i mention here chiefly to link my facts to fable4 ,nevertheless1 this pond is not very fertile in fish4 ,its pickerel1 though not abundant1 are its chief boast4 ,i have seen at one time lying on the ice pickerel of at least three different kinds2 a long and shallow one1 steel-colored1 most like those caught in the river2 a bright golden kind1 with greenish reflections and remarkably deep1 which is the most common here2 and another1 golden-colored1 and shaped like the last1 but peppered on the sides with small dark brown or black spots1 intermixed with a few faint blood-red ones1 very much like a trout4 ,the specific name reticulatus would not apply to this2 it should be guttatus rather4 ,these are all very firm fish1 and weigh more than their size promises4 ,the shiners1 pouts1 and perch also1 and indeed all the fishes which inhabit this pond1 are much cleaner1 handsomer1 and firmer fleshed than those in the river and most other ponds1 as the water is purer1 and they can easily be distinguished from them4 ,probably many ichthyologists would make new varieties of some of them4 ,there are also a clean race of frogs and tortoises1 and a few muscels in it2 muskrats and minks leave their traces about it1 and occasionally a travelling mud-turtle visits it4 ,sometimes1 when ,i pushed off my boat in the morning1 ,i disturbed a great mud-turtle which had secreted himself under the boat in the night4 ,ducks and geese frequent it in the spring and fall1 the white-bellied swallows 7,hirundo bicolor7 skim over it1 and the peetweets 7,totanus macularius7 8teter0 along its stony shores all summer4 ,i have sometimes disturbed a fishhawk sitting on a white-pine over the water2 but ,i doubt if it is ever profaned by the wing of a gull1 like ,fair ,haven4 ,at most1 it tolerates one annual loon4 ,these are all the animals of consequence which frequent it now4 ,you may see from a boat1 in calm weather1 near the sandy eastern shore1 where the water is eight or ten feet deep1 and also in some other parts of the pond1 some circular heaps half a dozen feet in diameter by a foot in height1 consisting of small stones less than a hen's egg in size1 where all around is bare sand4 ,at first you wonder if the ,indians could have formed them on the ice for any purpose1 and so1 when the ice melted1 they sank to the bottom2 but they are too regular and some of them plainly too fresh for that4 ,they are similar to those found in rivers2 but as there are no suckers nor lampreys here1 ,i know not by what fish they could be made4 ,perhaps they are the nests of the chivin4 ,these lend a pleasing mystery to the bottom4 ,the shore is irregular enough not to be monotonous4 ,i have in my mind's eye the western indented with deep bays1 the bolder northern1 and the beautifully scalloped southern shore1 where successive capes overlap each other and suggest unexplored coves between4 ,the forest has never so good a setting1 nor is so distinctly beautiful1 as when seen from the middle of a small lake amid hills which rise from the water's edge2 for the water in which it is reflected not only makes the best foreground in such a case1 but1 with its winding shore1 the most natural and agreeable boundary to it4 ,there is no rawness nor imperfection in its edge there1 as where the axe has cleared a part1 or a cultivated field abuts on it4 ,the trees have ample room to expand on the water side1 and each sends forth its most vigorous branch in that direction4 ,there ,nature has woven a natural selvage1 and the eye rises by just gradations from the low shrubs of the shore to the highest trees4 ,there are few traces of man's hand to be seen4 ,the water laves the shore as it did a thousand years ago4 ,a lake is the landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature4 ,it is earth's eye2 looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature4 ,the fluviatile trees next the shore are the slender eyelashes which fringe it1 and the wooded hills and cliffs around are its overhanging brows4 ,standing on the smooth sandy beach at the east end of the pond1 in a calm ,september afternoon1 when a slight haze makes the opposite shore line indistinct1 ,i have seen whence came the expression1 8the glassy surface of a lake40 ,when you invert your head1 it looks like a thread of finest gossamer stretched across the valley1 and gleaming against the distant pine woods1 separating one stratum of the atmosphere from another4 ,you would think that you could walk dry under it to the opposite hills1 and that the swallows which skim over might perch on it4 ,indeed1 they sometimes dive below this line1 as it were by mistake1 and are undeceived4 ,as you look over the pond westward you are obliged to employ both your hands to defend your eyes against the reflected as well as the true sun1 for they are equally bright2 and if1 between the two1 you survey its surface critically1 it is literally as smooth as glass1 except where the skater insects1 at equal intervals scattered over its whole extent1 by their motions in the sun produce the finest imaginable sparkle on it1 or1 perchance1 a duck plumes itself1 or1 as ,i have said1 a swallow skims so low as to touch it4 ,it may be that in the distance a fish describes an arc of three or four feet in the air1 and there is one bright flash where it emerges1 and another where it strikes the water2 sometimes the whole silvery arc is revealed2 or here and there1 perhaps1 is a thistle-down floating on its surface1 which the fishes dart at and so dimple it again4 ,it is like molten glass cooled but not congealed1 and the few motes in it are pure and beautiful like the imperfections in glass4 ,you may often detect a yet smoother and darker water1 separated from the rest as if by an invisible cobweb1 boom of the water nymphs1 resting on it4 ,from a hill-top you can see a fish leap in almost any part2 for not a pickerel or shiner picks an insect from this smooth surface but it manifestly disturbs the equilibrium of the whole lake4 ,it is wonderful with what elaborateness this simple fact is advertised1--this piscine murder will out1--and from my distant perch ,i distinguish the circling undulations when they are half a dozen rods in diameter4 ,you can even detect a water-bug 7,gyrinus7 ceaselessly progressing over the smooth surface a quarter of a mile off2 for they furrow the water slightly1 making a conspicuous ripple bounded by two diverging lines1 but the skaters glide over it without rippling it perceptibly4 ,when the surface is considerably agitated there are no skaters nor water-bugs on it1 but apparently1 in calm days1 they leave their havens and adventurously glide forth from the shore by short impulses till they completely cover it4 ,it is a soothing employment1 on one of those fine days in the fall when all the warmth of the sun is fully appreciated1 to sit on a stump on such a height as this1 overlooking the pond1 and study the dimpling circles which are incessantly inscribed on its otherwise invisible surface amid the reflected skies and trees4 ,over this great expanse there is no disturbance but it is thus at once gently smoothed away and assuaged1 as1 when a vase of water is jarred1 the trembling circles seek the shore and all is smooth again4 ,not a fish can leap or an insect fall on the pond but it is thus reported in circling dimples1 in lines of beauty1 as it were the constant welling up of its fountain1 the gentle pulsing of its life1 the heaving of its breast4 ,the thrills of joy and thrills of pain are undistinguishable4 ,how peaceful the phenomena of the lake6 ,again the works of man shine as in the spring4 ,ay1 every leaf and twig and stone and cobweb sparkles now at mid-afternoon as when covered with dew in a spring morning4 ,every motion of an oar or an insect produces a flash of light2 and if an oar falls1 how sweet the echo6 ,in such a day1 in ,september or ,october1 ,walden is a perfect forest mirror1 set round with stones as precious to my eye as if fewer or rarer4 ,nothing so fair1 so pure1 and at the same time so large1 as a lake1 perchance1 lies on the surface of the earth4 ,sky water4 ,it needs no fence4 ,nations come and go without defiling it4 ,it is a mirror which no stone can crack1 whose quicksilver will never wear off1 whose gilding ,nature continually repairs2 no storms1 no dust1 can dim its surface ever fresh2--a mirror in which all impurity presented to it sinks1 swept and dusted by the sun's hazy brush1--this the light dust-cloth1--which retains no breath that is breathed on it1 but sends its own to float as clouds high above its surface1 and be reflected in its bosom still4 ,a field of water betrays the spirit that is in the air4 ,it is continually receiving new life and motion from above4 ,it is intermediate in its nature between land and sky4 ,on land only the grass and trees wave1 but the water itself is rippled by the wind4 ,i see where the breeze dashes across it by the streaks or flakes of light4 ,it is remarkable that we can look down on its surface4 ,we shall1 perhaps1 look down thus on the surface of air at length1 and mark where a still subtler spirit sweeps over it4 ,the skaters and water-bugs finally disappear in the latter part of ,october1 when the severe frosts have come2 and then and in ,november1 usually1 in a calm day1 there is absolutely nothing to ripple the surface4 ,one ,november afternoon1 in the calm at the end of a rain storm of several days' duration1 when the sky was still completely overcast and the air was full of mist1 ,i observed that the pond was remarkably smooth1 so that it was difficult to distinguish its surface2 though it no longer reflected the bright tints of ,october1 but the sombre ,november colors of the surrounding hills4 ,though ,i passed over it as gently as possible1 the slight undulations produced by my boat extended almost as far as ,i could see1 and gave a ribbed appearance to the reflections4 ,but1 as ,i was looking over the surface1 ,i saw here and there at a distance a faint glimmer1 as if some skater insects which had escaped the frosts might be collected there1 or1 perchance1 the surface1 being so smooth1 betrayed where a spring welled up from the bottom4 ,paddling gently to one of these places1 ,i was surprised to find myself surrounded by myriads of small perch1 about five inches long1 of a rich bronze color in the green water1 sporting there1 and constantly rising to the surface and dimpling it1 sometimes leaving bubbles on it4 ,in such transparent and seemingly bottomless water1 reflecting the clouds1 ,i seemed to be floating through the air as in a balloon1 and their swimming impressed me as a kind of flight or hovering1 as if they were a compact flock of birds passing just beneath my level on the right or left1 their fins1 like sails1 set all around them4 ,there were many such schools in the pond1 apparently improving the short season before winter would draw an icy shutter over their broad skylight1 sometimes giving to the surface an appearance as if a slight breeze struck it1 or a few rain-drops fell there4 ,when ,i approached carelessly and alarmed them1 they made a sudden splash and rippling with their tails1 as if one had struck the water with a brushy bough1 and instantly took refuge in the depths4 ,at length the wind rose1 the mist increased1 and the waves began to run1 and the perch leaped much higher than before1 half out of water1 a hundred black points1 three inches long1 at once above the surface4 ,even as late as the fifth of ,december1 one year1 ,i saw some dimples on the surface1 and thinking it was going to rain hard immediately1 the air being full of mist1 ,i made haste to take my place at the oars and row homeward2 already the rain seemed rapidly increasing1 though ,i felt none on my cheek1 and ,i anticipated a thorough soaking4 ,but suddenly the dimples ceased1 for they were produced by the perch1 which the noise of my oars had seared into the depths1 and ,i saw their schools dimly disappearing2 so ,i spent a dry afternoon after all4 ,an old man who used to frequent this pond nearly sixty years ago1 when it was dark with surrounding forests1 tells me that in those days he sometimes saw it all alive with ducks and other water fowl1 and that there were many eagles about it4 ,he came here a-fishing1 and used an old log canoe which he found on the shore4 ,it was made of two white-pine logs dug out and pinned together1 and was cut off square at the ends4 ,it was very clumsy1 but lasted a great many years before it became water-logged and perhaps sank to the bottom4 ,he did not know whose it was2 it belonged to the pond4 ,he used to make a cable for his anchor of strips of hickory bark tied together4 ,an old man1 a potter1 who lived by the pond before the ,revolution1 told him once that there was an iron chest at the bottom1 and that he had seen it4 ,sometimes it would come floating up to the shore2 but when you went toward it1 it would go back into deep water and disappear4 ,i was pleased to hear of the old log canoe1 which took the place of an ,indian one of the same material but more graceful construction1 which perchance had first been a tree on the bank1 and then1 as it were1 fell into the water1 to float there for a generation1 the most proper vessel for the lake4 ,i remember that when ,i first looked into these depths there were many large trunks to be seen indistinctly lying on the bottom1 which had either been blown over formerly1 or left on the ice at the last cutting1 when wood was cheaper2 but now they have mostly disappeared4 ,when ,i first paddled a boat on ,walden1 it was completely surrounded by thick and lofty pine and oak woods1 and in some of its coves grape vines had run over the trees next the water and formed bowers under which a boat could pass4 ,the hills which form its shores are so steep1 and the woods on them were then so high1 that1 as you looked down from the west end1 it had the appearance of an amphitheatre for some kind of sylvan spectacle4 ,i have spent many an hour1 when ,i was younger1 floating over its surface as the zephyr willed1 having paddled my boat to the middle1 and lying on my back across the seats1 in a summer forenoon1 dreaming awake1 until ,i was aroused by the boat touching the sand1 and ,i arose to see what shore my fates had impelled me to2 days when idleness was the most attractive and productive industry4 ,many a forenoon have ,i stolen away1 preferring to spend thus the most valued part of the day2 for ,i was rich1 if not in money1 in sunny hours and summer days1 and spent them lavishly2 nor do ,i regret that ,i did not waste more of them in the workshop or the teacher's desk4 ,but since ,i left those shores the woodchoppers have still further laid them waste1 and now for many a year there will be no more rambling through the aisles of the wood1 with occasional vistas through which you see the water4 ,my ,muse may be excused if she is silent henceforth4 ,how can you expect the birds to sing when their groves are cut down8 ,now the trunks of trees on the bottom1 and the old log canoe1 and the dark surrounding woods1 are gone1 and the villagers1 who scarcely know where it lies1 instead of going to the pond to bathe or drink1 are thinking to bring its water1 which should be as sacred as the ,ganges at least1 to the village in a pipe1 to wash their dishes with6--to earn their ,walden by the turning of a cock or drawing of a plug6 ,that devilish ,iron ,horse1 whose ear-rending neigh is heard throughout the town1 has muddied the ,boiling ,spring with his foot1 and he it is that has browsed off all the woods on ,walden shore1 that ,trojan horse1 with a thousand men in his belly1 introduced by mercenary ,greeks6 ,where is the country's champion1 the ,moore of ,moore ,hill1 to meet him at the ,deep ,cut and thrust an avenging lance between the ribs of the bloated pest8 ,nevertheless1 of all the characters ,i have known1 perhaps ,walden wears best1 and best preserves its purity4 ,many men have been likened to it1 but few deserve that honor4 ,though the woodchoppers have laid bare first this shore and then that1 and the ,irish have built their sties by it1 and the railroad has infringed on its border1 and the ice-men have skimmed it once1 it is itself unchanged1 the same water which my youthful eyes fell on2 all the change is in me4 ,it has not acquired one permanent wrinkle after all its ripples4 ,it is perennially young1 and ,i may stand and see a swallow dip apparently to pick an insect from its surface as of yore4 ,it struck me again tonight1 as if ,i had not seen it almost daily for more than twenty years1--,why1 here is ,walden1 the same woodland lake that ,i discovered so many years ago2 where a forest was cut down last winter another is springing up by its shore as lustily as ever2 the same thought is welling up to its surface that was then2 it is the same liquid joy and happiness to itself and its ,maker1 ay1 and it may be to me4 ,it is the work of a brave man surely1 in whom there was no guile6 ,he rounded this water with his hand1 deepened and clarified it in his thought1 and in his will bequeathed it to ,concord4 ,i see by its face that it is visited by the same reflection2 and ,i can almost say1 ,walden1 is it you8 ,it is no dream of mine1 ,to ornament a line2 ,i cannot come nearer to ,god and ,heaven ,than ,i live to ,walden even4 ,i am its stony shore1 ,and the breeze that passes o'er2 ,in the hollow of my hand ,are its water and its sand1 ,and its deepest resort ,lies high in my thought4 ,the cars never pause to look at it2 yet ,i fancy that the engineers and firemen and brakemen1 and those passengers who have a season ticket and see it often1 are better men for the sight4 ,the engineer does not forget at night1 or his nature does not1 that he has beheld this vision of serenity and purity once at least during the day4 ,though seen but once1 it helps to wash out ,state-street and the engine's soot4 ,one proposes that it be called 8,god's ,drop40 ,i have said that ,walden has no visible inlet nor outlet1 but it is on the one hand distantly and indirectly related to ,flint's ,pond1 which is more elevated1 by a chain of small ponds coming from that quarter1 and on the other directly and manifestly to ,concord ,river1 which is lower1 by a similar chain of ponds through which in some other geological period it may have flowed1 and by a little digging1 which ,god forbid1 it can be made to flow thither again4 ,if by living thus reserved and austere1 like a hermit in the woods1 so long1 it has acquired such wonderful purity1 who would not regret that the comparatively impure waters of ,flint's ,pond should be mingled with it1 or itself should ever go to waste its sweetness in the ocean wave8 ,flint's1 or ,sandy ,pond1 in ,lincoln1 our greatest lake and inland sea1 lies about a mile east of ,walden4 ,it is much larger1 being said to contain one hundred and ninety-seven acres1 and is more fertile in fish2 but it is comparatively shallow1 and not remarkably pure4 ,a walk through the woods thither was often my recreation4 ,it was worth the while1 if only to feel the wind blow on your cheek freely1 and see the waves run1 and remember the life of mariners4 ,i went a-chestnutting there in the fall1 on windy days1 when the nuts were dropping into the water and were washed to my feet2 and one day1 as ,i crept along its sedgy shore1 the fresh spray blowing in my face1 ,i came upon the mouldering wreck of a boat1 the sides gone1 and hardly more than the impression of its flat bottom left amid the rushes2 yet its model was sharply defined1 as if it were a large decayed pad1 with its veins4 ,it was as impressive a wreck as one could imagine on the sea-shore1 and had as good a moral4 ,it is by this time mere vegetable mould and undistinguishable pond shore1 through which rushes and flags have pushed up4 ,i used to admire the ripple marks on the sandy bottom1 at the north end of this pond1 made firm and hard to the feet of the wader by the pressure of the water1 and the rushes which grew in ,indian file1 in waving lines1 corresponding to these marks1 rank behind rank1 as if the waves had planted them4 ,there also ,i have found1 in considerable quantities1 curious balls1 composed apparently of fine grass or roots1 of pipewort perhaps1 from half an inch to four inches in diameter1 and perfectly spherical4 ,these wash back and forth in shallow water on a sandy bottom1 and are sometimes cast on the shore4 ,they are either solid grass1 or have a little sand in the middle4 ,at first you would say that they were formed by the action of the waves1 like a pebble2 yet the smallest are made of equally coarse materials1 half an inch long1 and they are produced only at one season of the year4 ,moreover1 the waves1 ,i suspect1 do not so much construct as wear down a material which has already acquired consistency4 ,they preserve their form when dry for an indefinite period4 ,flint's ,pond6 ,such is the poverty of our nomenclature4 ,what right had the unclean and stupid farmer1 whose farm abutted on this sky water1 whose shores he has ruthlessly laid bare1 to give his name to it8 ,some skin-flint1 who loved better the reflecting surface of a dollar1 or a bright cent1 in which he could see his own brazen face2 who regarded even the wild ducks which settled in it as trespassers2 his fingers grown into crooked and horny talons from the long habit of grasping harpy-like2--so it is not named for me4 ,i go not there to see him nor to hear of him2 who never saw it1 who never bathed in it1 who never loved it1 who never protected it1 who never spoke a good word for it1 nor thanked ,god that he had made it4 ,rather let it be named from the fishes that swim in it1 the wild fowl or quadrupeds which frequent it1 the wild flowers which grow by its shores1 or some wild man or child the thread of whose history is interwoven with its own2 not from him who could show no title to it but the deed which a like-minded neighbor or legislature gave him1--him who thought only of its money value2 whose presence perchance cursed all the shore2 who exhausted the land around it1 and would fain have exhausted the waters within it2 who regretted only that it was not ,english hay or cranberry meadow1--there was nothing to redeem it1 forsooth1 in his eyes1--and would have drained and sold it for the mud at its bottom4 ,it did not turn his mill1 and it was no privilege to him to behold it4 ,i respect not his labors1 his farm where every thing has its price2 who would carry the landscape1 who would carry his ,god1 to market1 if he could get any thing for him2 who goes to market for his god as it is2 on whose farm nothing grows free1 whose fields bear no crops1 whose meadows no flowers1 whose trees no fruits1 but dollars2 who loves not the beauty of his fruits1 whose fruits are not ripe for him till they are turned to dollars4 ,give me the poverty that enjoys true wealth4 ,farmers are respectable and interesting to me in proportion as they are poor1--poor farmers4 ,a model farm6 where the house stands like a fungus in a muck-heap1 chambers for men1 horses1 oxen1 and swine1 cleansed and uncleansed1 all contiguous to one another6 ,stocked with men6 ,a great grease-spot1 redolent of manures and buttermilk6 ,under a high state of cultivation1 being manured with the hearts and brains of men6 ,as if you were to raise your potatoes in the church-yard6 ,such is a model farm4 ,no1 no2 if the fairest features of the landscape are to be named after men1 let them be the noblest and worthiest men alone4 ,let our lakes receive as true names at least as the ,icarian ,sea1 where 8still the shore0 a 8brave attempt resounds40 ,goose ,pond1 of small extent1 is on my way to ,flint's2 ,fair-,haven1 an expansion of ,concord ,river1 said to contain some seventy acres1 is a mile south-west2 and ,white ,pond1 of about forty acres1 is a mile and a half beyond ,fair-,haven4 ,this is my lake country4 ,these1 with ,concord ,river1 are my water privileges2 and night and day1 year in year out1 they grind such grist as ,i carry to them4 ,since the woodcutters1 and the railroad1 and ,i myself have profaned ,walden1 perhaps the most attractive1 if not the most beautiful1 of all our lakes1 the gem of the woods1 is ,white ,pond2--a poor name from its commonness1 whether derived from the remarkable purity of its waters or the color of its sands4 ,in these as in other respects1 however1 it is a lesser twin of ,walden4 ,they are so much alike that you would say they must be connected under ground4 ,it has the same stony shore1 and its waters are of the same hue4 ,as at ,walden1 in sultry dog-day weather1 looking down through the woods on some of its bays which are not so deep but that the reflection from the bottom tinges them1 its waters are of a misty bluish-green or glaucous color4 ,many years since ,i used to go there to collect the sand by cart-loads1 to make sand-paper with1 and ,i have continued to visit it ever since4 ,one who frequents it proposes to call it ,virid ,lake4 ,perhaps it might be called ,yellow-,pine ,lake1 from the following circumstance4 ,about fifteen years ago you could see the top of a pitch-pine1 of the kind called yellow-pine hereabouts1 though it is not a distinct species1 projecting above the surface in deep water1 many rods from the shore4 ,it was even supposed by some that the pond had sunk1 and this was one of the primitive forest that formerly stood there4 ,i find that even so long ago as #agib1 in a 8,topographical ,description of the ,town of ,concord10 by one of its citizens1 in the ,collections of the ,massachusetts ,historical ,society1 the author1 after speaking of ,walden and ,white ,ponds1 adds3 8,in the middle of the latter may be seen1 when the water is very low1 a tree which appears as if it grew in the place where it now stands1 although the roots are fifty feet below the surface of the water2 the top of this tree is broken off1 and at that place measures fourteen inches in diameter40 ,in the spring of '#di ,i talked with the man who lives nearest the pond in ,sudbury1 who told me that it was he who got out this tree ten or fifteen years before4 ,as near as he could remember1 it stood twelve or fifteen rods from the shore1 where the water was thirty or forty feet deep4 ,it was in the winter1 and he had been getting out ice in the forenoon1 and had resolved that in the afternoon1 with the aid of his neighbors1 he would take out the old yellow-pine4 ,he sawed a channel in the ice toward the shore1 and hauled it over and along and out on to the ice with oxen2 but1 before he had gone far in his work1 he was surprised to find that it was wrong end upward1 with the stumps of the branches pointing down1 and the small end firmly fastened in the sandy bottom4 ,it was about a foot in diameter at the big end1 and he had expected to get a good saw-log1 but it was so rotten as to be fit only for fuel1 if for that4 ,he had some of it in his shed then4 ,there were marks of an axe and of woodpeckers on the butt4 ,he thought that it might have been a dead tree on the shore1 but was finally blown over into the pond1 and after the top had become waterlogged1 while the butt-end was still dry and light1 had drifted out and sunk wrong end up4 ,his father1 eighty years old1 could not remember when it was not there4 ,several pretty large logs may still be seen lying on the bottom1 where1 owing to the undulation of the surface1 they look like huge water snakes in motion4 ,this pond has rarely been profaned by a boat1 for there is little in it to tempt a fisherman4 ,instead of the white lily1 which requires mud1 or the common sweet flag1 the blue flag 7,iris versicolor7 grows thinly in the pure water1 rising from the stony bottom all around the shore1 where it is visited by humming birds in ,june2 and the color both of its bluish blades and its flowers1 and especially their reflections1 are in singular harmony with the glaucous water4 ,white ,pond and ,walden are great crystals on the surface of the earth1 ,lakes of ,light4 ,if they were permanently congealed1 and small enough to be clutched1 they would1 perchance1 be carried off by slaves1 like precious stones1 to adorn the heads of emperors2 but being liquid1 and ample1 and secured to us and our successors forever1 we disregard them1 and run after the diamond of ,kohinoor4 ,they are too pure to have a market value2 they contain no muck4 ,how much more beautiful than our lives1 how much more transparent than our characters1 are they6 ,we never learned meanness of them4 ,how much fairer than the pool before the farmer's door1 in which his ducks swim6 ,hither the clean wild ducks come4 ,nature has no human inhabitant who appreciates her4 ,the birds with their plumage and their notes are in harmony with the flowers1 but what youth or maiden conspires with the wild luxuriant beauty of ,nature8 ,she flourishes most alone1 far from the towns where they reside4 ,talk of heaven6 ye disgrace earth4 ,baker ,farm ,sometimes ,i rambled to pine groves1 standing like temples1 or like fleets at sea1 full-rigged1 with wavy boughs1 and rippling with light1 so soft and green and shady that the ,druids would have forsaken their oaks to worship in them2 or to the cedar wood beyond ,flint's ,pond1 where the trees1 covered with hoary blue berries1 spiring higher and higher1 are fit to stand before ,valhalla1 and the creeping juniper covers the ground with wreaths full of fruit2 or to swamps where the usnea lichen hangs in festoons from the white-spruce trees1 and toad-stools1 round tables of the swamp gods1 cover the ground1 and more beautiful fungi adorn the stumps1 like butterflies or shells1 vegetable winkles2 where the swamp-pink and dogwood grow1 the red alder-berry glows like eyes of imps1 the waxwork grooves and crushes the hardest woods in its folds1 and the wild-holly berries make the beholder forget his home with their beauty1 and he is dazzled and tempted by nameless other wild forbidden fruits1 too fair for mortal taste4 ,instead of calling on some scholar1 ,i paid many a visit to particular trees1 of kinds which are rare in this neighborhood1 standing far away in the middle of some pasture1 or in the depths of a wood or swamp1 or on a hill-top2 such as the black-birch1 of which we have some handsome specimens two feet in diameter2 its cousin1 the yellow birch1 with its loose golden vest1 perfumed like the first2 the beech1 which has so neat a bole and beautifully lichen-painted1 perfect in all its details1 of which1 excepting scattered specimens1 ,i know but one small grove of sizable trees left in the township1 supposed by some to have been planted by the pigeons that were once baited with beech nuts near by2 it is worth the while to see the silver grain sparkle when you split this wood2 the bass2 the hornbeam2 the ,celtis occidentalis1 or false elm1 of which we have but one well-grown2 some taller mast of a pine1 a shingle tree1 or a more perfect hemlock than usual1 standing like a pagoda in the midst of the woods2 and many others ,i could mention4 ,these were the shrines ,i visited both summer and winter4 ,once it chanced that ,i stood in the very abutment of a rainbow's arch1 which filled the lower stratum of the atmosphere1 tinging the grass and leaves around1 and dazzling me as if ,i looked through colored crystal4 ,it was a lake of rainbow light1 in which1 for a short while1 ,i lived like a dolphin4 ,if it had lasted longer it might have tinged my employments and life4 ,as ,i walked on the railroad causeway1 ,i used to wonder at the halo of light around my shadow1 and would fain fancy myself one of the elect4 ,one who visited me declared that the shadows of some ,irishmen before him had no halo about them1 that it was only natives that were so distinguished4 ,benvenuto ,cellini tells us in his memoirs1 that1 after a certain terrible dream or vision which he had during his confinement in the castle of ,st4 ,angelo1 a resplendent light appeared over the shadow of his head at morning and evening1 whether he was in ,italy or ,france1 and it was particularly conspicuous when the grass was moist with dew4 ,this was probably the same phenomenon to which ,i have referred1 which is especially observed in the morning1 but also at other times1 and even by moonlight4 ,though a constant one1 it is not commonly noticed1 and1 in the case of an excitable imagination like ,cellini's1 it would be basis enough for superstition4 ,beside1 he tells us that he showed it to very few4 ,but are they not indeed distinguished who are conscious that they are regarded at all8 ,i set out one afternoon to go a-fishing to ,fair-,haven1 through the woods1 to eke out my scanty fare of vegetables4 ,my way led through ,pleasant ,meadow1 an adjunct of the ,baker ,farm1 that retreat of which a poet has since sung1 beginning1-- 8,thy entry is a pleasant field1 ,which some mossy fruit trees yield ,partly to a ruddy brook1 ,by gliding musquash undertook1 ,and mercurial trout1 ,darting about40 ,i thought of living there before ,i went to ,walden4 ,i 8hooked0 the apples1 leaped the brook1 and scared the musquash and the trout4 ,it was one of those afternoons which seem indefinitely long before one1 in which many events may happen1 a large portion of our natural life1 though it was already half spent when ,i started4 ,by the way there came up a shower1 which compelled me to stand half an hour under a pine1 piling boughs over my head1 and wearing my handkerchief for a shed2 and when at length ,i had made one cast over the pickerel-weed1 standing up to my middle in water1 ,i found myself suddenly in the shadow of a cloud1 and the thunder began to rumble with such emphasis that ,i could do no more than listen to it4 ,the gods must be proud1 thought ,i1 with such forked flashes to rout a poor unarmed fisherman4 ,so ,i made haste for shelter to the nearest hut1 which stood half a mile from any road1 but so much the nearer to the pond1 and had long been uninhabited3-- 8,and here a poet builded1 ,in the completed years1 ,for behold a trivial cabin ,that to destruction steers40 ,so the ,muse fables4 ,but therein1 as ,i found1 dwelt now ,john ,field1 an ,irishman1 and his wife1 and several children1 from the broad-faced boy who assisted his father at his work1 and now came running by his side from the bog to escape the rain1 to the wrinkled1 sibyl-like1 cone-headed infant that sat upon its father's knee as in the palaces of nobles1 and looked out from its home in the midst of wet and hunger inquisitively upon the stranger1 with the privilege of infancy1 not knowing but it was the last of a noble line1 and the hope and cynosure of the world1 instead of ,john ,field's poor starveling brat4 ,there we sat together under that part of the roof which leaked the least1 while it showered and thundered without4 ,i had sat there many times of old before the ship was built that floated his family to ,america4 ,an honest1 hard-working1 but shiftless man plainly was ,john ,field2 and his wife1 she too was brave to cook so many successive dinners in the recesses of that lofty stove2 with round greasy face and bare breast1 still thinking to improve her condition one day2 with the never absent mop in one hand1 and yet no effects of it visible anywhere4 ,the chickens1 which had also taken shelter here from the rain1 stalked about the room like members of the family1 too humanized methought to roast well4 ,they stood and looked in my eye or pecked at my shoe significantly4 ,meanwhile my host told me his story1 how hard he worked 8bogging0 for a neighboring farmer1 turning up a meadow with a spade or bog hoe at the rate of ten dollars an acre and the use of the land with manure for one year1 and his little broad-faced son worked cheerfully at his father's side the while1 not knowing how poor a bargain the latter had made4 ,i tried to help him with my experience1 telling him that he was one of my nearest neighbors1 and that ,i too1 who came a-fishing here1 and looked like a loafer1 was getting my living like himself2 that ,i lived in a tight1 light1 and clean house1 which hardly cost more than the annual rent of such a ruin as his commonly amounts to2 and how1 if he chose1 he might in a month or two build himself a palace of his own2 that ,i did not use tea1 nor coffee1 nor butter1 nor milk1 nor fresh meat1 and so did not have to work to get them2 again1 as ,i did not work hard1 ,i did not have to eat hard1 and it cost me but a trifle for my food2 but as he began with tea1 and coffee1 and butter1 and milk1 and beef1 he had to work hard to pay for them1 and when he had worked hard he had to eat hard again to repair the waste of his system1--and so it was as broad as it was long1 indeed it was broader than it was long1 for he was discontented and wasted his life into the bargain2 and yet he had rated it as a gain in coming to ,america1 that here you could get tea1 and coffee1 and meat every day4 ,but the only true ,america is that country where you are at liberty to pursue such a mode of life as may enable you to do without these1 and where the state does not endeavor to compel you to sustain the slavery and war and other superfluous expenses which directly or indirectly result from the use of such things4 ,for ,i purposely talked to him as if he were a philosopher1 or desired to be one4 ,i should be glad if all the meadows on the earth were left in a wild state1 if that were the consequence of men's beginning to redeem themselves4 ,a man will not need to study history to find out what is best for his own culture4 ,but alas6 the culture of an ,irishman is an enterprise to be undertaken with a sort of moral bog hoe4 ,i told him1 that as he worked so hard at bogging1 he required thick boots and stout clothing1 which yet were soon soiled and worn out1 but ,i wore light shoes and thin clothing1 which cost not half so much1 though he might think that ,i was dressed like a gentleman1 7which1 however1 was not the case17 and in an hour or two1 without labor1 but as a recreation1 ,i could1 if ,i wished1 catch as many fish as ,i should want for two days1 or earn enough money to support me a week4 ,if he and his family would live simply1 they might all go a-huckleberrying in the summer for their amusement4 ,john heaved a sigh at this1 and his wife stared with arms a-kimbo1 and both appeared to be wondering if they had capital enough to begin such a course with1 or arithmetic enough to carry it through4 ,it was sailing by dead reckoning to them1 and they saw not clearly how to make their port so2 therefore ,i suppose they still take life bravely1 after their fashion1 face to face1 giving it tooth and nail1 not having skill to split its massive columns with any fine entering wedge1 and rout it in detail2--thinking to deal with it roughly1 as one should handle a thistle4 ,but they fight at an overwhelming disadvantage1--living1 ,john ,field1 alas6 without arithmetic1 and failing so4 8,do you ever fish80 ,i asked4 8,oh yes1 ,i catch a mess now and then when ,i am lying by2 good perch ,i catch40 8,what's your bait80 8,i catch shiners with fish-worms1 and bait the perch with them40 8,you'd better go now1 ,john10 said his wife1 with glistening and hopeful face2 but ,john demurred4 ,the shower was now over1 and a rainbow above the eastern woods promised a fair evening2 so ,i took my departure4 ,when ,i had got without ,i asked for a drink1 hoping to get a sight of the well bottom1 to complete my survey of the premises2 but there1 alas6 are shallows and quicksands1 and rope broken withal1 and bucket irrecoverable4 ,meanwhile the right culinary vessel was selected1 water was seemingly distilled1 and after consultation and long delay passed out to the thirsty one1--not yet suffered to cool1 not yet to settle4 ,such gruel sustains life here1 ,i thought2 so1 shutting my eyes1 and excluding the motes by a skilfully directed under-current1 ,i drank to genuine hospitality the heartiest draught ,i could4 ,i am not squeamish in such cases when manners are concerned4 ,as ,i was leaving the ,irishman's roof after the rain1 bending my steps again to the pond1 my haste to catch pickerel1 wading in retired meadows1 in sloughs and bog-holes1 in forlorn and savage places1 appeared for an instant trivial to me who had been sent to school and college2 but as ,i ran down the hill toward the reddening west1 with the rainbow over my shoulder1 and some faint tinkling sounds borne to my ear through the cleansed air1 from ,i know not what quarter1 my ,good ,genius seemed to say1--,go fish and hunt far and wide day by day1--farther and wider1--and rest thee by many brooks and hearth-sides without misgiving4 ,remember thy ,creator in the days of thy youth4 ,rise free from care before the dawn1 and seek adventures4 ,let the noon find thee by other lakes1 and the night overtake thee everywhere at home4 ,there are no larger fields than these1 no worthier games than may here be played4 ,grow wild according to thy nature1 like these sedges and brakes1 which will never become ,english hay4 ,let the thunder rumble2 what if it threaten ruin to farmers' crops8 that is not its errand to thee4 ,take shelter under the cloud1 while they flee to carts and sheds4 ,let not to get a living be thy trade1 but thy sport4 ,enjoy the land1 but own it not4 ,through want of enterprise and faith men are where they are1 buying and selling1 and spending their lives like serfs4 ,o ,baker ,farm6 8,landscape where the richest element ,is a little sunshine innocent40 99 99 8,no one runs to revel ,on thy rail-fenced lea40 99 99 8,debate with no man hast thou1 ,with questions art never perplexed1 ,as tame at the first sight as now1 ,in thy plain russet gabardine dressed40 99 99 8,come ye who love1 ,and ye who hate1 ,children of the ,holy ,dove1 ,and ,guy ,faux of the state1 ,and hang conspiracies ,from the tough rafters of the trees60 ,men come tamely home at night only from the next field or street1 where their household echoes haunt1 and their life pines because it breathes its own breath over again2 their shadows morning and evening reach farther than their daily steps4 ,we should come home from far1 from adventures1 and perils1 and discoveries every day1 with new experience and character4 ,before ,i had reached the pond some fresh impulse had brought out ,john ,field1 with altered mind1 letting go 8bogging0 ere this sunset4 ,but he1 poor man1 disturbed only a couple of fins while ,i was catching a fair string1 and he said it was his luck2 but when we changed seats in the boat luck changed seats too4 ,poor ,john ,field6--,i trust he does not read this1 unless he will improve by it1--thinking to live by some derivative old country mode in this primitive new country1--to catch perch with shiners4 ,it is good bait sometimes1 ,i allow4 ,with his horizon all his own1 yet he a poor man1 born to be poor1 with his inherited ,irish poverty or poor life1 his ,adam's grandmother and boggy ways1 not to rise in this world1 he nor his posterity1 till their wading webbed bog-trotting feet get talaria to their heels4 ,higher ,laws ,as ,i came home through the woods with my string of fish1 trailing my pole1 it being now quite dark1 ,i caught a glimpse of a woodchuck stealing across my path1 and felt a strange thrill of savage delight1 and was strongly tempted to seize and devour him raw2 not that ,i was hungry then1 except for that wildness which he represented4 ,once or twice1 however1 while ,i lived at the pond1 ,i found myself ranging the woods1 like a half-starved hound1 with a strange abandonment1 seeking some kind of venison which ,i might devour1 and no morsel could have been too savage for me4 ,the wildest scenes had become unaccountably familiar4 ,i found in myself1 and still find1 an instinct toward a higher1 or1 as it is named1 spiritual life1 as do most men1 and another toward a primitive rank and savage one1 and ,i reverence them both4 ,i love the wild not less than the good4 ,the wildness and adventure that are in fishing still recommended it to me4 ,i like sometimes to take rank hold on life and spend my day more as the animals do4 ,perhaps ,i have owed to this employment and to hunting1 when quite young1 my closest acquaintance with ,nature4 ,they early introduce us to and detain us in scenery with which otherwise1 at that age1 we should have little acquaintance4 ,fishermen1 hunters1 woodchoppers1 and others1 spending their lives in the fields and woods1 in a peculiar sense a part of ,nature themselves1 are often in a more favorable mood for observing her1 in the intervals of their pursuits1 than philosophers or poets even1 who approach her with expectation4 ,she is not afraid to exhibit herself to them4 ,the traveller on the prairie is naturally a hunter1 on the head waters of the ,missouri and ,columbia a trapper1 and at the ,falls of ,st4 ,mary a fisherman4 ,he who is only a traveller learns things at second-hand and by the halves1 and is poor authority4 ,we are most interested when science reports what those men already know practically or instinctively1 for that alone is a true humanity1 or account of human experience4 ,they mistake who assert that the ,yankee has few amusements1 because he has not so many public holidays1 and men and boys do not play so many games as they do in ,england1 for here the more primitive but solitary amusements of hunting fishing and the like have not yet given place to the former4 ,almost every ,new ,england boy among my contemporaries shouldered a fowling piece between the ages of ten and fourteen2 and his hunting and fishing grounds were not limited1 like the preserves of an ,english nobleman1 but were more boundless even than those of a savage4 ,no wonder1 then1 that he did not oftener stay to play on the common4 ,but already a change is taking place1 owing1 not to an increased humanity1 but to an increased scarcity of game1 for perhaps the hunter is the greatest friend of the animals hunted1 not excepting the ,humane ,society4 ,moreover1 when at the pond1 ,i wished sometimes to add fish to my fare for variety4 ,i have actually fished from the same kind of necessity that the first fishers did4 ,whatever humanity ,i might conjure up against it was all factitious1 and concerned my philosophy more than my feelings4 ,i speak of fishing only now1 for ,i had long felt differently about fowling1 and sold my gun before ,i went to the woods4 ,not that ,i am less humane than others1 but ,i did not perceive that my feelings were much affected4 ,i did not pity the fishes nor the worms4 ,this was habit4 ,as for fowling1 during the last years that ,i carried a gun my excuse was that ,i was studying ornithology1 and sought only new or rare birds4 ,but ,i confess that ,i am now inclined to think that there is a finer way of studying ornithology than this4 ,it requires so much closer attention to the habits of the birds1 that1 if for that reason only1 ,i have been willing to omit the gun4 ,yet notwithstanding the objection on the score of humanity1 ,i am compelled to doubt if equally valuable sports are ever substituted for these2 and when some of my friends have asked me anxiously about their boys1 whether they should let them hunt1 ,i have answered1 yes1--remembering that it was one of the best parts of my education1--make them hunters1 though sportsmen only at first1 if possible1 mighty hunters at last1 so that they shall not find game large enough for them in this or any vegetable wilderness1--hunters as well as fishers of men4 ,thus far ,i am of the opinion of ,chaucer's nun1 who 8yave not of the text a pulled hen ,that saith that hunters ben not holy men40 ,there is a period in the history of the individual1 as of the race1 when the hunters are the 8best men10 as the ,algonquins called them4 ,we cannot but pity the boy who has never fired a gun2 he is no more humane1 while his education has been sadly neglected4 ,this was my answer with respect to those youths who were bent on this pursuit1 trusting that they would soon outgrow it4 ,no humane being1 past the thoughtless age of boyhood1 will wantonly murder any creature which holds its life by the same tenure that he does4 ,the hare in its extremity cries like a child4 ,i warn you1 mothers1 that my sympathies do not always make the usual phil-anthropic distinctions4 ,such is oftenest the young man's introduction to the forest1 and the most original part of himself4 ,he goes thither at first as a hunter and fisher1 until at last1 if he has the seeds of a better life in him1 he distinguishes his proper objects1 as a poet or naturalist it may be1 and leaves the gun and fish-pole behind4 ,the mass of men are still and always young in this respect4 ,in some countries a hunting parson is no uncommon sight4 ,such a one might make a good shepherd's dog1 but is far from being the ,good ,shepherd4 ,i have been surprised to consider that the only obvious employment1 except wood-chopping1 ice-cutting1 or the like business1 which ever to my knowledge detained at ,walden ,pond for a whole half day any of my fellow-citizens1 whether fathers or children of the town1 with just one exception1 was fishing4 ,commonly they did not think that they were lucky1 or well paid for their time1 unless they got a long string of fish1 though they had the opportunity of seeing the pond all the while4 ,they might go there a thousand times before the sediment of fishing would sink to the bottom and leave their purpose pure2 but no doubt such a clarifying process would be going on all the while4 ,the governor and his council faintly remember the pond1 for they went a-fishing there when they were boys2 but now they are too old and dignified to go a-fishing1 and so they know it no more forever4 ,yet even they expect to go to heaven at last4 ,if the legislature regards it1 it is chiefly to regulate the number of hooks to be used there2 but they know nothing about the hook of hooks with which to angle for the pond itself1 impaling the legislature for a bait4 ,thus1 even in civilized communities1 the embryo man passes through the hunter stage of development4 ,i have found repeatedly1 of late years1 that ,i cannot fish without falling a little in self-respect4 ,i have tried it again and again4 ,i have skill at it1 and1 like many of my fellows1 a certain instinct for it1 which revives from time to time1 but always when ,i have done ,i feel that it would have been better if ,i had not fished4 ,i think that ,i do not mistake4 ,it is a faint intimation1 yet so are the first streaks of morning4 ,there is unquestionably this instinct in me which belongs to the lower orders of creation2 yet with every year ,i am less a fisherman1 though without more humanity or even wisdom2 at present ,i am no fisherman at all4 ,but ,i see that if ,i were to live in a wilderness ,i should again be tempted to become a fisher and hunter in earnest4 ,beside1 there is something essentially unclean about this diet and all flesh1 and ,i began to see where housework commences1 and whence the endeavor1 which costs so much1 to wear a tidy and respectable appearance each day1 to keep the house sweet and free from all ill odors and sights4 ,having been my own butcher and scullion and cook1 as well as the gentleman for whom the dishes were served up1 ,i can speak from an unusually complete experience4 ,the practical objection to animal food in my case was its uncleanness2 and1 besides1 when ,i had caught and cleaned and cooked and eaten my fish1 they seemed not to have fed me essentially4 ,it was insignificant and unnecessary1 and cost more than it came to4 ,a little bread or a few potatoes would have done as well1 with less trouble and filth4 ,like many of my contemporaries1 ,i had rarely for many years used animal food1 or tea1 or coffee1 c42 not so much because of any ill effects which ,i had traced to them1 as because they were not agreeable to my imagination4 ,the repugnance to animal food is not the effect of experience1 but is an instinct4 ,it appeared more beautiful to live low and fare hard in many respects2 and though ,i never did so1 ,i went far enough to please my imagination4 ,i believe that every man who has ever been earnest to preserve his higher or poetic faculties in the best condition has been particularly inclined to abstain from animal food1 and from much food of any kind4 ,it is a significant fact1 stated by entomologists1 ,i find it in ,kirby and ,spence1 that 8some insects in their perfect state1 though furnished with organs of feeding1 make no use of them20 and they lay it down as 8a general rule1 that almost all insects in this state eat much less than in that of larv4 ,the voracious caterpillar when transformed into a butterfly10 4 4 8and the gluttonous maggot when become a fly10 content themselves with a drop or two of honey or some other sweet liquid4 ,the abdomen under the wings of the butterfly still represents the larva4 ,this is the tid-bit which tempts his insectivorous fate4 ,the gross feeder is a man in the larva state2 and there are whole nations in that condition1 nations without fancy or imagination1 whose vast abdomens betray them4 ,it is hard to provide and cook so simple and clean a diet as will not offend the imagination2 but this1 ,i think1 is to be fed when we feed the body2 they should both sit down at the same table4 ,yet perhaps this may be done4 ,the fruits eaten temperately need not make us ashamed of our appetites1 nor interrupt the worthiest pursuits4 ,but put an extra condiment into your dish1 and it will poison you4 ,it is not worth the while to live by rich cookery4 ,most men would feel shame if caught preparing with their own hands precisely such a dinner1 whether of animal or vegetable food1 as is every day prepared for them by others4 ,yet till this is otherwise we are not civilized1 and1 if gentlemen and ladies1 are not true men and women4 ,this certainly suggests what change is to be made4 ,it may be vain to ask why the imagination will not be reconciled to flesh and fat4 ,i am satisfied that it is not4 ,is it not a reproach that man is a carnivorous animal8 ,true1 he can and does live1 in a great measure1 by preying on other animals2 but this is a miserable way1--as any one who will go to snaring rabbits1 or slaughtering lambs1 may learn1--and he will be regarded as a benefactor of his race who shall teach man to confine himself to a more innocent and wholesome diet4 ,whatever my own practice may be1 ,i have no doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race1 in its gradual improvement1 to leave off eating animals1 as surely as the savage tribes have left off eating each other when they came in contact with the more civilized4 ,if one listens to the faintest but constant suggestions of his genius1 which are certainly true1 he sees not to what extremes1 or even insanity1 it may lead him2 and yet that way1 as he grows more resolute and faithful1 his road lies4 ,the faintest assured objection which one healthy man feels will at length prevail over the arguments and customs of mankind4 ,no man ever followed his genius till it misled him4 ,though the result were bodily weakness1 yet perhaps no one can say that the consequences were to be regretted1 for these were a life in conformity to higher principles4 ,if the day and the night are such that you greet them with joy1 and life emits a fragrance like flowers and sweet-scented herbs1 is more elastic1 more starry1 more immortal1--that is your success4 ,all nature is your congratulation1 and you have cause momentarily to bless yourself4 ,the greatest gains and values are farthest from being appreciated4 ,we easily come to doubt if they exist4 ,we soon forget them4 ,they are the highest reality4 ,perhaps the facts most astounding and most real are never communicated by man to man4 ,the true harvest of my daily life is somewhat as intangible and indescribable as the tints of morning or evening4 ,it is a little star-dust caught1 a segment of the rainbow which ,i have clutched4 ,yet1 for my part1 ,i was never unusually squeamish2 ,i could sometimes eat a fried rat with a good relish1 if it were necessary4 ,i am glad to have drunk water so long1 for the same reason that ,i prefer the natural sky to an opium-eater's heaven4 ,i would fain keep sober always2 and there are infinite degrees of drunkenness4 ,i believe that water is the only drink for a wise man2 wine is not so noble a liquor2 and think of dashing the hopes of a morning with a cup of warm coffee1 or of an evening with a dish of tea6 ,ah1 how low ,i fall when ,i am tempted by them6 ,even music may be intoxicating4 ,such apparently slight causes destroyed ,greece and ,rome1 and will destroy ,england and ,america4 ,of all ebriosity1 who does not prefer to be intoxicated by the air he breathes8 ,i have found it to be the most serious objection to coarse labors long continued1 that they compelled me to eat and drink coarsely also4 ,but to tell the truth1 ,i find myself at present somewhat less particular in these respects4 ,i carry less religion to the table1 ask no blessing2 not because ,i am wiser than ,i was1 but1 ,i am obliged to confess1 because1 however much it is to be regretted1 with years ,i have grown more coarse and indifferent4 ,perhaps these questions are entertained only in youth1 as most believe of poetry4 ,my practice is 8nowhere10 my opinion is here4 ,nevertheless ,i am far from regarding myself as one of those privileged ones to whom the ,ved refers when it says1 that 8he who has true faith in the ,omnipresent ,supreme ,being may eat all that exists10 that is1 is not bound to inquire what is his food1 or who prepares it2 and even in their case it is to be observed1 as a ,hindoo commentator has remarked1 that the ,vedant limits this privilege to 8the time of distress40 ,who has not sometimes derived an inexpressible satisfaction from his food in which appetite had no share8 ,i have been thrilled to think that ,i owed a mental perception to the commonly gross sense of taste1 that ,i have been inspired through the palate1 that some berries which ,i had eaten on a hill-side had fed my genius4 8,the soul not being mistress of herself10 says ,thseng-tseu1 8one looks1 and one does not see2 one listens1 and one does not hear2 one eats1 and one does not know the savor of food40 ,he who distinguishes the true savor of his food can never be a glutton2 he who does not cannot be otherwise4 ,a puritan may go to his brown-bread crust with as gross an appetite as ever an alderman to his turtle4 ,not that food which entereth into the mouth defileth a man1 but the appetite with which it is eaten4 ,it is neither the quality nor the quantity1 but the devotion to sensual savors2 when that which is eaten is not a viand to sustain our animal1 or inspire our spiritual life1 but food for the worms that possess us4 ,if the hunter has a taste for mud-turtles1 muskrats1 and other such savage tid-bits1 the fine lady indulges a taste for jelly made of a calf's foot1 or for sardines from over the sea1 and they are even4 ,he goes to the mill-pond1 she to her preserve-pot4 ,the wonder is how they1 how you and ,i1 can live this slimy1 beastly life1 eating and drinking4 ,our whole life is startlingly moral4 ,there is never an instant's truce between virtue and vice4 ,goodness is the only investment that never fails4 ,in the music of the harp which trembles round the world it is the insisting on this which thrills us4 ,the harp is the travelling patterer for the ,universe's ,insurance ,company1 recommending its laws1 and our little goodness is all the assessment that we pay4 ,though the youth at last grows indifferent1 the laws of the universe are not indifferent1 but are forever on the side of the most sensitive4 ,listen to every zephyr for some reproof1 for it is surely there1 and he is unfortunate who does not hear it4 ,we cannot touch a string or move a stop but the charming moral transfixes us4 ,many an irksome noise1 go a long way off1 is heard as music1 a proud sweet satire on the meanness of our lives4 ,we are conscious of an animal in us1 which awakens in proportion as our higher nature slumbers4 ,it is reptile and sensual1 and perhaps cannot be wholly expelled2 like the worms which1 even in life and health1 occupy our bodies4 ,possibly we may withdraw from it1 but never change its nature4 ,i fear that it may enjoy a certain health of its own2 that we may be well1 yet not pure4 ,the other day ,i picked up the lower jaw of a hog1 with white and sound teeth and tusks1 which suggested that there was an animal health and vigor distinct from the spiritual4 ,this creature succeeded by other means than temperance and purity4 8,that in which men differ from brute beasts10 says ,mencius1 8is a thing very inconsiderable2 the common herd lose it very soon2 superior men preserve it carefully40 ,who knows what sort of life would result if we had attained to purity8 ,if ,i knew so wise a man as could teach me purity ,i would go to seek him forthwith4 8,a command over our passions1 and over the external senses of the body1 and good acts1 are declared by the ,ved to be indispensable in the mind's approximation to ,god40 ,yet the spirit can for the time pervade and control every member and function of the body1 and transmute what in form is the grossest sensuality into purity and devotion4 ,the generative energy1 which1 when we are loose1 dissipates and makes us unclean1 when we are continent invigorates and inspires us4 ,chastity is the flowering of man2 and what are called ,genius1 ,heroism1 ,holiness1 and the like1 are but various fruits which succeed it4 ,man flows at once to ,god when the channel of purity is open4 ,by turns our purity inspires and our impurity casts us down4 ,he is blessed who is assured that the animal is dying out in him day by day1 and the divine being established4 ,perhaps there is none but has cause for shame on account of the inferior and brutish nature to which he is allied4 ,i fear that we are such gods or demigods only as fauns and satyrs1 the divine allied to beasts1 the creatures of appetite1 and that1 to some extent1 our very life is our disgrace4-- 8,how happy's he who hath due place assigned ,to his beasts and disafforested his mind6 99 99 99 99 99 ,can use this horse1 goat1 wolf1 and ev'ry beast1 ,and is not ass himself to all the rest6 ,else man not only is the herd of swine1 ,but he's those devils too which did incline ,them to a headlong rage1 and made them worse40 ,all sensuality is one1 though it takes many forms2 all purity is one4 ,it is the same whether a man eat1 or drink1 or cohabit1 or sleep sensually4 ,they are but one appetite1 and we only need to see a person do any one of these things to know how great a sensualist he is4 ,the impure can neither stand nor sit with purity4 ,when the reptile is attacked at one mouth of his burrow1 he shows himself at another4 ,if you would be chaste1 you must be temperate4 ,what is chastity8 ,how shall a man know if he is chaste8 ,he shall not know it4 ,we have heard of this virtue1 but we know not what it is4 ,we speak conformably to the rumor which we have heard4 ,from exertion come wisdom and purity2 from sloth ignorance and sensuality4 ,in the student sensuality is a sluggish habit of mind4 ,an unclean person is universally a slothful one1 one who sits by a stove1 whom the sun shines on prostrate1 who reposes without being fatigued4 ,if you would avoid uncleanness1 and all the sins1 work earnestly1 though it be at cleaning a stable4 ,nature is hard to be overcome1 but she must be overcome4 ,what avails it that you are ,christian1 if you are not purer than the heathen1 if you deny yourself no more1 if you are not more religious8 ,i know of many systems of religion esteemed heathenish whose precepts fill the reader with shame1 and provoke him to new endeavors1 though it be to the performance of rites merely4 ,i hesitate to say these things1 but it is not because of the subject1--,i care not how obscene my words are1--but because ,i cannot speak of them without betraying my impurity4 ,we discourse freely without shame of one form of sensuality1 and are silent about another4 ,we are so degraded that we cannot speak simply of the necessary functions of human nature4 ,in earlier ages1 in some countries1 every function was reverently spoken of and regulated by law4 ,nothing was too trivial for the ,hindoo lawgiver1 however offensive it may be to modern taste4 ,he teaches how to eat1 drink1 cohabit1 void excrement and urine1 and the like1 elevating what is mean1 and does not falsely excuse himself by calling these things trifles4 ,every man is the builder of a temple1 called his body1 to the god he worships1 after a style purely his own1 nor can he get off by hammering marble instead4 ,we are all sculptors and painters1 and our material is our own flesh and blood and bones4 ,any nobleness begins at once to refine a man's features1 any meanness or sensuality to imbrute them4 ,john ,farmer sat at his door one ,september evening1 after a hard day's work1 his mind still running on his labor more or less4 ,having bathed1 he sat down to re-create his intellectual man4 ,it was a rather cool evening1 and some of his neighbors were apprehending a frost4 ,he had not attended to the train of his thoughts long when he heard some one playing on a flute1 and that sound harmonized with his mood4 ,still he thought of his work2 but the burden of his thought was1 that though this kept running in his head1 and he found himself planning and contriving it against his will1 yet it concerned him very little4 ,it was no more than the scurf of his skin1 which was constantly shuffled off4 ,but the notes of the flute came home to his ears out of a different sphere from that he worked in1 and suggested work for certain faculties which slumbered in him4 ,they gently did away with the street1 and the village1 and the state in which he lived4 ,a voice said to him1--,why do you stay here and live this mean moiling life1 when a glorious existence is possible for you8 ,those same stars twinkle over other fields than these4--,but how to come out of this condition and actually migrate thither8 ,all that he could think of was to practise some new austerity1 to let his mind descend into his body and redeem it1 and treat himself with ever increasing respect4 ,brute ,neighbors ,sometimes ,i had a companion in my fishing1 who came through the village to my house from the other side of the town1 and the catching of the dinner was as much a social exercise as the eating of it4 ,hermit4 ,i wonder what the world is doing now4 ,i have not heard so much as a locust over the sweet-fern these three hours4 ,the pigeons are all asleep upon their roosts1--no flutter from them4 ,was that a farmer's noon horn which sounded from beyond the woods just now8 ,the hands are coming in to boiled salt beef and cider and ,indian bread4 ,why will men worry themselves so8 ,he that does not eat need not work4 ,i wonder how much they have reaped4 ,who would live there where a body can never think for the barking of ,bose8 ,and ,o1 the housekeeping6 to keep bright the devil's door-knobs1 and scour his tubs this bright day6 ,better not keep a house4 ,say1 some hollow tree2 and then for morning calls and dinner-parties6 ,only a woodpecker tapping4 ,o1 they swarm2 the sun is too warm there2 they are born too far into life for me4 ,i have water from the spring1 and a loaf of brown bread on the shelf4--,hark6 ,i hear a rustling of the leaves4 ,is it some ill-fed village hound yielding to the instinct of the chase8 or the lost pig which is said to be in these woods1 whose tracks ,i saw after the rain8 ,it comes on apace2 my sumachs and sweet-briers tremble4--,eh1 ,mr4 ,poet1 is it you8 ,how do you like the world to-day8 ,poet4 ,see those clouds2 how they hang6 ,that's the greatest thing ,i have seen to-day4 ,there's nothing like it in old paintings1 nothing like it in foreign lands1--unless when we were off the coast of ,spain4 ,that's a true ,mediterranean sky4 ,i thought1 as ,i have my living to get1 and have not eaten to-day1 that ,i might go a-fishing4 ,that's the true industry for poets4 ,it is the only trade ,i have learned4 ,come1 let's along4 ,hermit4 ,i cannot resist4 ,my brown bread will soon be gone4 ,i will go with you gladly soon1 but ,i am just concluding a serious meditation4 ,i think that ,i am near the end of it4 ,leave me alone1 then1 for a while4 ,but that we may not be delayed1 you shall be digging the bait meanwhile4 ,angle-worms are rarely to be met with in these parts1 where the soil was never fattened with manure2 the race is nearly extinct4 ,the sport of digging the bait is nearly equal to that of catching the fish1 when one's appetite is not too keen2 and this you may have all to yourself to-day4 ,i would advise you to set in the spade down yonder among the ground-nuts1 where you see the johnswort waving4 ,i think that ,i may warrant you one worm to every three sods you turn up1 if you look well in among the roots of the grass1 as if you were weeding4 ,or1 if you choose to go farther1 it will not be unwise1 for ,i have found the increase of fair bait to be very nearly as the squares of the distances4 ,hermit alone4 ,let me see2 where was ,i8 ,methinks ,i was nearly in this frame of mind2 the world lay about at this angle4 ,shall ,i go to heaven or a-fishing8 ,if ,i should soon bring this meditation to an end1 would another so sweet occasion be likely to offer8 ,i was as near being resolved into the essence of things as ever ,i was in my life4 ,i fear my thoughts will not come back to me4 ,if it would do any good1 ,i would whistle for them4 ,when they make us an offer1 is it wise to say1 ,we will think of it8 ,my thoughts have left no track1 and ,i cannot find the path again4 ,what was it that ,i was thinking of8 ,it was a very hazy day4 ,i will just try these three sentences of ,con-fut-see2 they may fetch that state about again4 ,i know not whether it was the dumps or a budding ecstasy4 ,mem4 ,there never is but one opportunity of a kind4 ,poet4 ,how now1 ,hermit1 is it too soon8 ,i have got just thirteen whole ones1 beside several which are imperfect or undersized2 but they will do for the smaller fry2 they do not cover up the hook so much4 ,those village worms are quite too large2 a shiner may make a meal off one without finding the skewer4 ,hermit4 ,well1 then1 let's be off4 ,shall we to the ,concord8 ,there's good sport there if the water be not too high4 ,why do precisely these objects which we behold make a world8 ,why has man just these species of animals for his neighbors2 as if nothing but a mouse could have filled this crevice8 ,i suspect that ,pilpay ,co4 have put animals to their best use1 for they are all beasts of burden1 in a sense1 made to carry some portion of our thoughts4 ,the mice which haunted my house were not the common ones1 which are said to have been introduced into the country1 but a wild native kind not found in the village4 ,i sent one to a distinguished naturalist1 and it interested him much4 ,when ,i was building1 one of these had its nest underneath the house1 and before ,i had laid the second floor1 and swept out the shavings1 would come out regularly at lunch time and pick up the crumbs at my feet4 ,it probably had never seen a man before2 and it soon became quite familiar1 and would run over my shoes and up my clothes4 ,it could readily ascend the sides of the room by short impulses1 like a squirrel1 which it resembled in its motions4 ,at length1 as ,i leaned with my elbow on the bench one day1 it ran up my clothes1 and along my sleeve1 and round and round the paper which held my dinner1 while ,i kept the latter close1 and dodged and played at bopeep with it2 and when at last ,i held still a piece of cheese between my thumb and finger1 it came and nibbled it1 sitting in my hand1 and afterward cleaned its face and paws1 like a fly1 and walked away4 ,a phbe soon built in my shed1 and a robin for protection in a pine which grew against the house4 ,in ,june the partridge 7,tetrao umbellus17 which is so shy a bird1 led her brood past my windows1 from the woods in the rear to the front of my house1 clucking and calling to them like a hen1 and in all her behavior proving herself the hen of the woods4 ,the young suddenly disperse on your approach1 at a signal from the mother1 as if a whirlwind had swept them away1 and they so exactly resemble the dried leaves and twigs that many a traveler has placed his foot in the midst of a brood1 and heard the whir of the old bird as she flew off1 and her anxious calls and mewing1 or seen her trail her wings to attract his attention1 without suspecting their neighborhood4 ,the parent will sometimes roll and spin round before you in such a dishabille1 that you cannot1 for a few moments1 detect what kind of creature it is4 ,the young squat still and flat1 often running their heads under a leaf1 and mind only their mother's directions given from a distance1 nor will your approach make them run again and betray themselves4 ,you may even tread on them1 or have your eyes on them for a minute1 without discovering them4 ,i have held them in my open hand at such a time1 and still their only care1 obedient to their mother and their instinct1 was to squat there without fear or trembling4 ,so perfect is this instinct1 that once1 when ,i had laid them on the leaves again1 and one accidentally fell on its side1 it was found with the rest in exactly the same position ten minutes afterward4 ,they are not callow like the young of most birds1 but more perfectly developed and precocious even than chickens4 ,the remarkably adult yet innocent expression of their open and serene eyes is very memorable4 ,all intelligence seems reflected in them4 ,they suggest not merely the purity of infancy1 but a wisdom clarified by experience4 ,such an eye was not born when the bird was1 but is coeval with the sky it reflects4 ,the woods do not yield another such a gem4 ,the traveller does not often look into such a limpid well4 ,the ignorant or reckless sportsman often shoots the parent at such a time1 and leaves these innocents to fall a prey to some prowling beast or bird1 or gradually mingle with the decaying leaves which they so much resemble4 ,it is said that when hatched by a hen they will directly disperse on some alarm1 and so are lost1 for they never hear the mother's call which gathers them again4 ,these were my hens and chickens4 ,it is remarkable how many creatures live wild and free though secret in the woods1 and still sustain themselves in the neighborhood of towns1 suspected by hunters only4 ,how retired the otter manages to live here6 ,he grows to be four feet long1 as big as a small boy1 perhaps without any human being getting a glimpse of him4 ,i formerly saw the raccoon in the woods behind where my house is built1 and probably still heard their whinnering at night4 ,commonly ,i rested an hour or two in the shade at noon1 after planting1 and ate my lunch1 and read a little by a spring which was the source of a swamp and of a brook1 oozing from under ,brister's ,hill1 half a mile from my field4 ,the approach to this was through a succession of descending grassy hollows1 full of young pitch-pines1 into a larger wood about the swamp4 ,there1 in a very secluded and shaded spot1 under a spreading white-pine1 there was yet a clean1 firm sward to sit on4 ,i had dug out the spring and made a well of clear gray water1 where ,i could dip up a pailful without roiling it1 and thither ,i went for this purpose almost every day in midsummer1 when the pond was warmest4 ,thither1 too1 the wood-cock led her brood1 to probe the mud for worms1 flying but a foot above them down the bank1 while they ran in a troop beneath2 but at last1 spying me1 she would leave her young and circle round and round me1 nearer and nearer till within four or five feet1 pretending broken wings and legs1 to attract my attention1 and get off her young1 who would already have taken up their march1 with faint wiry peep1 single file through the swamp1 as she directed4 ,or ,i heard the peep of the young when ,i could not see the parent bird4 ,there too the turtle-doves sat over the spring1 or fluttered from bough to bough of the soft white-pines over my head2 or the red squirrel1 coursing down the nearest bough1 was particularly familiar and inquisitive4 ,you only need sit still long enough in some attractive spot in the woods that all its inhabitants may exhibit themselves to you by turns4 ,i was witness to events of a less peaceful character4 ,one day when ,i went out to my wood-pile1 or rather my pile of stumps1 ,i observed two large ants1 the one red1 the other much larger1 nearly half an inch long1 and black1 fiercely contending with one another4 ,having once got hold they never let go1 but struggled and wrestled and rolled on the chips incessantly4 ,looking farther1 ,i was surprised to find that the chips were covered with such combatants1 that it was not a duellum1 but a bellum1 a war between two races of ants1 the red always pitted against the black1 and frequently two red ones to one black4 ,the legions of these ,myrmidons covered all the hills and vales in my wood-yard1 and the ground was already strewn with the dead and dying1 both red and black4 ,it was the only battle which ,i have ever witnessed1 the only battle-field ,i ever trod while the battle was raging2 internecine war2 the red republicans on the one hand1 and the black imperialists on the other4 ,on every side they were engaged in deadly combat1 yet without any noise that ,i could hear1 and human soldiers never fought so resolutely4 ,i watched a couple that were fast locked in each other's embraces1 in a little sunny valley amid the chips1 now at noon-day prepared to fight till the sun went down1 or life went out4 ,the smaller red champion had fastened himself like a vice to his adversary's front1 and through all the tumblings on that field never for an instant ceased to gnaw at one of his feelers near the root1 having already caused the other to go by the board2 while the stronger black one dashed him from side to side1 and1 as ,i saw on looking nearer1 had already divested him of several of his members4 ,they fought with more pertinacity than bull-dogs4 ,neither manifested the least disposition to retreat4 ,it was evident that their battle-cry was ,conquer or die4 ,in the mean while there came along a single red ant on the hill-side of this valley1 evidently full of excitement1 who either had despatched his foe1 or had not yet taken part in the battle2 probably the latter1 for he had lost none of his limbs2 whose mother had charged him to return with his shield or upon it4 ,or perchance he was some ,achilles1 who had nourished his wrath apart1 and had now come to avenge or rescue his ,patroclus4 ,he saw this unequal combat from afar1--for the blacks were nearly twice the size of the red1--he drew near with rapid pace till he stood on his guard within half an inch of the combatants2 then1 watching his opportunity1 he sprang upon the black warrior1 and commenced his operations near the root of his right fore-leg1 leaving the foe to select among his own members2 and so there were three united for life1 as if a new kind of attraction had been invented which put all other locks and cements to shame4 ,i should not have wondered by this time to find that they had their respective musical bands stationed on some eminent chip1 and playing their national airs the while1 to excite the slow and cheer the dying combatants4 ,i was myself excited somewhat even as if they had been men4 ,the more you think of it1 the less the difference4 ,and certainly there is not the fight recorded in ,concord history1 at least1 if in the history of ,america1 that will bear a moment's comparison with this1 whether for the numbers engaged in it1 or for the patriotism and heroism displayed4 ,for numbers and for carnage it was an ,austerlitz or ,dresden4 ,concord ,fight6 ,two killed on the patriots' side1 and ,luther ,blanchard wounded6 ,why here every ant was a ,buttrick1--8,fire6 for ,god's sake fire60--and thousands shared the fate of ,davis and ,hosmer4 ,there was not one hireling there4 ,i have no doubt that it was a principle they fought for1 as much as our ancestors1 and not to avoid a three-penny tax on their tea2 and the results of this battle will be as important and memorable to those whom it concerns as those of the battle of ,bunker ,hill1 at least4 ,i took up the chip on which the three ,i have particularly described were struggling1 carried it into my house1 and placed it under a tumbler on my window-sill1 in order to see the issue4 ,holding a microscope to the first-mentioned red ant1 ,i saw that1 though he was assiduously gnawing at the near fore-leg of his enemy1 having severed his remaining feeler1 his own breast was all torn away1 exposing what vitals he had there to the jaws of the black warrior1 whose breastplate was apparently too thick for him to pierce2 and the dark carbuncles of the sufferer's eyes shone with ferocity such as war only could excite4 ,they struggled half an hour longer under the tumbler1 and when ,i looked again the black soldier had severed the heads of his foes from their bodies1 and the still living heads were hanging on either side of him like ghastly trophies at his saddle-bow1 still apparently as firmly fastened as ever1 and he was endeavoring with feeble struggles1 being without feelers and with only the remnant of a leg1 and ,i know not how many other wounds1 to divest himself of them2 which at length1 after half an hour more1 he accomplished4 ,i raised the glass1 and he went off over the window-sill in that crippled state4 ,whether he finally survived that combat1 and spent the remainder of his days in some ,hotel des ,invalides1 ,i do not know2 but ,i thought that his industry would not be worth much thereafter4 ,i never learned which party was victorious1 nor the cause of the war2 but ,i felt for the rest of that day as if ,i had had my feelings excited and harrowed by witnessing the struggle1 the ferocity and carnage1 of a human battle before my door4 ,kirby and ,spence tell us that the battles of ants have long been celebrated and the date of them recorded1 though they say that ,huber is the only modern author who appears to have witnessed them4 8neas ,sylvius10 say they1 8after giving a very circumstantial account of one contested with great obstinacy by a great and small species on the trunk of a pear tree10 adds that 8#8,this action was fought in the pontificate of ,eugenius the ,fourth1 in the presence of ,nicholas ,pistoriensis1 an eminent lawyer1 who related the whole history of the battle with the greatest fidelity4' ,a similar engagement between great and small ants is recorded by ,olaus ,magnus1 in which the small ones1 being victorious1 are said to have buried the bodies of their own soldiers1 but left those of their giant enemies a prey to the birds4 ,this event happened previous to the expulsion of the tyrant ,christiern the ,second from ,sweden40 ,the battle which ,i witnessed took place in the ,presidency of ,polk1 five years before the passage of ,webster's ,fugitive-,slave ,bill4 ,many a village ,bose1 fit only to course a mud-turtle in a victualling cellar1 sported his heavy quarters in the woods1 without the knowledge of his master1 and ineffectually smelled at old fox burrows and woodchucks' holes2 led perchance by some slight cur which nimbly threaded the wood1 and might still inspire a natural terror in its denizens2--now far behind his guide1 barking like a canine bull toward some small squirrel which had treed itself for scrutiny1 then1 cantering off1 bending the bushes with his weight1 imagining that he is on the track of some stray member of the jerbilla family4 ,once ,i was surprised to see a cat walking along the stony shore of the pond1 for they rarely wander so far from home4 ,the surprise was mutual4 ,nevertheless the most domestic cat1 which has lain on a rug all her days1 appears quite at home in the woods1 and1 by her sly and stealthy behavior1 proves herself more native there than the regular inhabitants4 ,once1 when berrying1 ,i met with a cat with young kittens in the woods1 quite wild1 and they all1 like their mother1 had their backs up and were fiercely spitting at me4 ,a few years before ,i lived in the woods there was what was called a 8winged cat0 in one of the farm-houses in ,lincoln nearest the pond1 ,mr4 ,gilian ,baker's4 ,when ,i called to see her in ,june1 #ahdb1 she was gone a-hunting in the woods1 as was her wont1 7,i am not sure whether it was a male or female1 and so use the more common pronoun17 but her mistress told me that she came into the neighborhood a little more than a year before1 in ,april1 and was finally taken into their house2 that she was of a dark brownish-gray color1 with a white spot on her throat1 and white feet1 and had a large bushy tail like a fox2 that in the winter the fur grew thick and flatted out along her sides1 forming stripes ten or twelve inches long by two and a half wide1 and under her chin like a muff1 the upper side loose1 the under matted like felt1 and in the spring these appendages dropped off4 ,they gave me a pair of her 8wings10 which ,i keep still4 ,there is no appearance of a membrane about them4 ,some thought it was part flying-squirrel or some other wild animal1 which is not impossible1 for1 according to naturalists1 prolific hybrids have been produced by the union of the marten and domestic cat4 ,this would have been the right kind of cat for me to keep1 if ,i had kept any2 for why should not a poet's cat be winged as well as his horse8 ,in the fall the loon 7,colymbus glacialis7 came1 as usual1 to moult and bathe in the pond1 making the woods ring with his wild laughter before ,i had risen4 ,at rumor of his arrival all the ,mill-dam sportsmen are on the alert1 in gigs and on foot1 two by two and three by three1 with patent rifles and conical balls and spy-glasses4 ,they come rustling through the woods like autumn leaves1 at least ten men to one loon4 ,some station themselves on this side of the pond1 some on that1 for the poor bird cannot be omnipresent2 if he dive here he must come up there4 ,but now the kind ,october wind rises1 rustling the leaves and rippling the surface of the water1 so that no loon can be heard or seen1 though his foes sweep the pond with spy-glasses1 and make the woods resound with their discharges4 ,the waves generously rise and dash angrily1 taking sides with all water-fowl1 and our sportsmen must beat a retreat to town and shop and unfinished jobs4 ,but they were too often successful4 ,when ,i went to get a pail of water early in the morning ,i frequently saw this stately bird sailing out of my cove within a few rods4 ,if ,i endeavored to overtake him in a boat1 in order to see how he would manuvre1 he would dive and be completely lost1 so that ,i did not discover him again1 sometimes1 till the latter part of the day4 ,but ,i was more than a match for him on the surface4 ,he commonly went off in a rain4 ,as ,i was paddling along the north shore one very calm ,october afternoon1 for such days especially they settle on to the lakes1 like the milkweed down1 having looked in vain over the pond for a loon1 suddenly one1 sailing out from the shore toward the middle a few rods in front of me1 set up his wild laugh and betrayed himself4 ,i pursued with a paddle and he dived1 but when he came up ,i was nearer than before4 ,he dived again1 but ,i miscalculated the direction he would take1 and we were fifty rods apart when he came to the surface this time1 for ,i had helped to widen the interval2 and again he laughed long and loud1 and with more reason than before4 ,he manuvred so cunningly that ,i could not get within half a dozen rods of him4 ,each time1 when he came to the surface1 turning his head this way and that1 he cooly surveyed the water and the land1 and apparently chose his course so that he might come up where there was the widest expanse of water and at the greatest distance from the boat4 ,it was surprising how quickly he made up his mind and put his resolve into execution4 ,he led me at once to the widest part of the pond1 and could not be driven from it4 ,while he was thinking one thing in his brain1 ,i was endeavoring to divine his thought in mine4 ,it was a pretty game1 played on the smooth surface of the pond1 a man against a loon4 ,suddenly your adversary's checker disappears beneath the board1 and the problem is to place yours nearest to where his will appear again4 ,sometimes he would come up unexpectedly on the opposite side of me1 having apparently passed directly under the boat4 ,so long-winded was he and so unweariable1 that when he had swum farthest he would immediately plunge again1 nevertheless2 and then no wit could divine where in the deep pond1 beneath the smooth surface1 he might be speeding his way like a fish1 for he had time and ability to visit the bottom of the pond in its deepest part4 ,it is said that loons have been caught in the ,new ,york lakes eighty feet beneath the surface1 with hooks set for trout1--though ,walden is deeper than that4 ,how surprised must the fishes be to see this ungainly visitor from another sphere speeding his way amid their schools6 ,yet he appeared to know his course as surely under water as on the surface1 and swam much faster there4 ,once or twice ,i saw a ripple where he approached the surface1 just put his head out to reconnoitre1 and instantly dived again4 ,i found that it was as well for me to rest on my oars and wait his reappearing as to endeavor to calculate where he would rise2 for again and again1 when ,i was straining my eyes over the surface one way1 ,i would suddenly be startled by his unearthly laugh behind me4 ,but why1 after displaying so much cunning1 did he invariably betray himself the moment he came up by that loud laugh8 ,did not his white breast enough betray him8 ,he was indeed a silly loon1 ,i thought4 ,i could commonly hear the splash of the water when he came up1 and so also detected him4 ,but after an hour he seemed as fresh as ever1 dived as willingly and swam yet farther than at first4 ,it was surprising to see how serenely he sailed off with unruffled breast when he came to the surface1 doing all the work with his webbed feet beneath4 ,his usual note was this demoniac laughter1 yet somewhat like that of a water-fowl2 but occasionally1 when he had balked me most successfully and come up a long way off1 he uttered a long-drawn unearthly howl1 probably more like that of a wolf than any bird2 as when a beast puts his muzzle to the ground and deliberately howls4 ,this was his looning1--perhaps the wildest sound that is ever heard here1 making the woods ring far and wide4 ,i concluded that he laughed in derision of my efforts1 confident of his own resources4 ,though the sky was by this time overcast1 the pond was so smooth that ,i could see where he broke the surface when ,i did not hear him4 ,his white breast1 the stillness of the air1 and the smoothness of the water were all against him4 ,at length1 having come up fifty rods off1 he uttered one of those prolonged howls1 as if calling on the god of loons to aid him1 and immediately there came a wind from the east and rippled the surface1 and filled the whole air with misty rain1 and ,i was impressed as if it were the prayer of the loon answered1 and his god was angry with me2 and so ,i left him disappearing far away on the tumultuous surface4 ,for hours1 in fall days1 ,i watched the ducks cunningly tack and veer and hold the middle of the pond1 far from the sportsman2 tricks which they will have less need to practise in ,louisiana bayous4 ,when compelled to rise they would sometimes circle round and round and over the pond at a considerable height1 from which they could easily see to other ponds and the river1 like black motes in the sky2 and1 when ,i thought they had gone off thither long since1 they would settle down by a slanting flight of a quarter of a mile on to a distant part which was left free2 but what beside safety they got by sailing in the middle of ,walden ,i do not know1 unless they love its water for the same reason that ,i do4 ,house-,warming ,in ,october ,i went a-graping to the river meadows1 and loaded myself with clusters more precious for their beauty and fragrance than for food4 ,there too ,i admired1 though ,i did not gather1 the cranberries1 small waxen gems1 pendants of the meadow grass1 pearly and red1 which the farmer plucks with an ugly rake1 leaving the smooth meadow in a snarl1 heedlessly measuring them by the bushel and the dollar only1 and sells the spoils of the meads to ,boston and ,new ,york2 destined to be jammed1 to satisfy the tastes of lovers of ,nature there4 ,so butchers rake the tongues of bison out of the prairie grass1 regardless of the torn and drooping plant4 ,the barberry's brilliant fruit was likewise food for my eyes merely2 but ,i collected a small store of wild apples for coddling1 which the proprietor and travellers had overlooked4 ,when chestnuts were ripe ,i laid up half a bushel for winter4 ,it was very exciting at that season to roam the then boundless chestnut woods of ,lincoln1--they now sleep their long sleep under the railroad1--with a bag on my shoulder1 and a stick to open burrs with in my hand1 for ,i did not always wait for the frost1 amid the rustling of leaves and the loud reproofs of the red-squirrels and the jays1 whose half-consumed nuts ,i sometimes stole1 for the burrs which they had selected were sure to contain sound ones4 ,occasionally ,i climbed and shook the trees4 ,they grew also behind my house1 and one large tree1 which almost overshadowed it1 was1 when in flower1 a bouquet which scented the whole neighborhood1 but the squirrels and the jays got most of its fruit2 the last coming in flocks early in the morning and picking the nuts out of the burrs before they fell4 ,i relinquished these trees to them and visited the more distant woods composed wholly of chestnut4 ,these nuts1 as far as they went1 were a good substitute for bread4 ,many other substitutes might1 perhaps1 be found4 ,digging one day for fish-worms1 ,i discovered the ground-nut 7,apios tuberosa7 on its string1 the potato of the aborigines1 a sort of fabulous fruit1 which ,i had begun to doubt if ,i had ever dug and eaten in childhood1 as ,i had told1 and had not dreamed it4 ,i had often since seen its crimpled red velvety blossom supported by the stems of other plants without knowing it to be the same4 ,cultivation has well nigh exterminated it4 ,it has a sweetish taste1 much like that of a frostbitten potato1 and ,i found it better boiled than roasted4 ,this tuber seemed like a faint promise of ,nature to rear her own children and feed them simply here at some future period4 ,in these days of fatted cattle and waving grain-fields this humble root1 which was once the totem of an ,indian tribe1 is quite forgotten1 or known only by its flowering vine2 but let wild ,nature reign here once more1 and the tender and luxurious ,english grains will probably disappear before a myriad of foes1 and without the care of man the crow may carry back even the last seed of corn to the great cornfield of the ,indian's ,god in the south-west1 whence he is said to have brought it2 but the now almost exterminated ground-nut will perhaps revive and flourish in spite of frosts and wildness1 prove itself indigenous1 and resume its ancient importance and dignity as the diet of the hunter tribe4 ,some ,indian ,ceres or ,minerva must have been the inventor and bestower of it2 and when the reign of poetry commences here1 its leaves and string of nuts may be represented on our works of art4 ,already1 by the first of ,september1 ,i had seen two or three small maples turned scarlet across the pond1 beneath where the white stems of three aspens diverged1 at the point of a promontory1 next the water4 ,ah1 many a tale their color told6 ,and gradually from week to week the character of each tree came out1 and it admired itself reflected in the smooth mirror of the lake4 ,each morning the manager of this gallery substituted some new picture1 distinguished by more brilliant or harmonious coloring1 for the old upon the walls4 ,the wasps came by thousands to my lodge in ,october1 as to winter quarters1 and settled on my windows within and on the walls over-head1 sometimes deterring visitors from entering4 ,each morning1 when they were numbed with cold1 ,i swept some of them out1 but ,i did not trouble myself much to get rid of them2 ,i even felt complimented by their regarding my house as a desirable shelter4 ,they never molested me seriously1 though they bedded with me2 and they gradually disappeared1 into what crevices ,i do not know1 avoiding winter and unspeakable cold4 ,like the wasps1 before ,i finally went into winter quarters in ,november1 ,i used to resort to the north-east side of ,walden1 which the sun1 reflected from the pitch-pine woods and the stony shore1 made the fire-side of the pond2 it is so much pleasanter and wholesomer to be warmed by the sun while you can be1 than by an artificial fire4 ,i thus warmed myself by the still glowing embers which the summer1 like a departed hunter1 had left4 ,when ,i came to build my chimney ,i studied masonry4 ,my bricks being second-hand ones required to be cleaned with a trowel1 so that ,i learned more than usual of the qualities of bricks and trowels4 ,the mortar on them was fifty years old1 and was said to be still growing harder2 but this is one of those sayings which men love to repeat whether they are true or not4 ,such sayings themselves grow harder and adhere more firmly with age1 and it would take many blows with a trowel to clean an old wiseacre of them4 ,many of the villages of ,mesopotamia are built of second-hand bricks of a very good quality1 obtained from the ruins of ,babylon1 and the cement on them is older and probably harder still4 ,however that may be1 ,i was struck by the peculiar toughness of the steel which bore so many violent blows without being worn out4 ,as my bricks had been in a chimney before1 though ,i did not read the name of ,nebuchadnezzar on them1 ,i picked out as many fire-place bricks as ,i could find1 to save work and waste1 and ,i filled the spaces between the bricks about the fire-place with stones from the pond shore1 and also made my mortar with the white sand from the same place4 ,i lingered most about the fireplace1 as the most vital part of the house4 ,indeed1 ,i worked so deliberately1 that though ,i commenced at the ground in the morning1 a course of bricks raised a few inches above the floor served for my pillow at night2 yet ,i did not get a stiff neck for it that ,i remember2 my stiff neck is of older date4 ,i took a poet to board for a fortnight about those times1 which caused me to be put to it for room4 ,he brought his own knife1 though ,i had two1 and we used to scour them by thrusting them into the earth4 ,he shared with me the labors of cooking4 ,i was pleased to see my work rising so square and solid by degrees1 and reflected1 that1 if it proceeded slowly1 it was calculated to endure a long time4 ,the chimney is to some extent an independent structure1 standing on the ground and rising through the house to the heavens2 even after the house is burned it still stands sometimes1 and its importance and independence are apparent4 ,this was toward the end of summer4 ,it was now ,november4 ,the north wind had already begun to cool the pond1 though it took many weeks of steady blowing to accomplish it1 it is so deep4 ,when ,i began to have a fire at evening1 before ,i plastered my house1 the chimney carried smoke particularly well1 because of the numerous chinks between the boards4 ,yet ,i passed some cheerful evenings in that cool and airy apartment1 surrounded by the rough brown boards full of knots1 and rafters with the bark on high overhead4 ,my house never pleased my eye so much after it was plastered1 though ,i was obliged to confess that it was more comfortable4 ,should not every apartment in which man dwells be lofty enough to create some obscurity over-head1 where flickering shadows may play at evening about the rafters8 ,these forms are more agreeable to the fancy and imagination than fresco paintings or other the most expensive furniture4 ,i now first began to inhabit my house1 ,i may say1 when ,i began to use it for warmth as well as shelter4 ,i had got a couple of old fire-dogs to keep the wood from the hearth1 and it did me good to see the soot form on the back of the chimney which ,i had built1 and ,i poked the fire with more right and more satisfaction than usual4 ,my dwelling was small1 and ,i could hardly entertain an echo in it2 but it seemed larger for being a single apartment and remote from neighbors4 ,all the attractions of a house were concentrated in one room2 it was kitchen1 chamber1 parlor1 and keeping-room2 and whatever satisfaction parent or child1 master or servant1 derive from living in a house1 ,i enjoyed it all4 ,cato says1 the master of a family 7patremfamilias7 must have in his rustic villa 8cellam oleariam1 vinariam1 dolia multa1 uti lubeat caritatem expectare1 et rei1 et virtuti1 et glori erit10 that is1 8an oil and wine cellar1 many casks1 so that it may be pleasant to expect hard times2 it will be for his advantage1 and virtue1 and glory40 ,i had in my cellar a firkin of potatoes1 about two quarts of peas with the weevil in them1 and on my shelf a little rice1 a jug of molasses1 and of rye and ,indian meal a peck each4 ,i sometimes dream of a larger and more populous house1 standing in a golden age1 of enduring materials1 and without ginger-bread work1 which shall still consist of only one room1 a vast1 rude1 substantial1 primitive hall1 without ceiling or plastering1 with bare rafters and purlins supporting a sort of lower heaven over one's head1--useful to keep off rain and snow2 where the king and queen posts stand out to receive your homage1 when you have done reverence to the prostrate ,saturn of an older dynasty on stepping over the sill2 a cavernous house1 wherein you must reach up a torch upon a pole to see the roof2 where some may live in the fire-place1 some in the recess of a window1 and some on settles1 some at one end of the hall1 some at another1 and some aloft on rafters with the spiders1 if they choose2 a house which you have got into when you have opened the outside door1 and the ceremony is over2 where the weary traveller may wash1 and eat1 and converse1 and sleep1 without further journey2 such a shelter as you would be glad to reach in a tempestuous night1 containing all the essentials of a house1 and nothing for house-keeping2 where you can see all the treasures of the house at one view1 and every thing hangs upon its peg1 that a man should use2 at once kitchen1 pantry1 parlor1 chamber1 store-house1 and garret2 where you can see so necessary a thing as a barrel or a ladder1 so convenient a thing as a cupboard1 and hear the pot boil1 and pay your respects to the fire that cooks your dinner and the oven that bakes your bread1 and the necessary furniture and utensils are the chief ornaments2 where the washing is not put out1 nor the fire1 nor the mistress1 and perhaps you are sometimes requested to move from off the trap-door1 when the cook would descend into the cellar1 and so learn whether the ground is solid or hollow beneath you without stamping4 ,a house whose inside is as open and manifest as a bird's nest1 and you cannot go in at the front door and out at the back without seeing some of its inhabitants2 where to be a guest is to be presented with the freedom of the house1 and not to be carefully excluded from seven eighths of it1 shut up in a particular cell1 and told to make yourself at home there1--in solitary confinement4 ,nowadays the host does not admit you to his hearth1 but has got the mason to build one for yourself somewhere in his alley1 and hospitality is the art of keeping you at the greatest distance4 ,there is as much secrecy about the cooking as if he had a design to poison you4 ,i am aware that ,i have been on many a man's premises1 and might have been legally ordered off1 but ,i am not aware that ,i have been in many men's houses4 ,i might visit in my old clothes a king and queen who lived simply in such a house as ,i have described1 if ,i were going their way2 but backing out of a modern palace will be all that ,i shall desire to learn1 if ever ,i am caught in one4 ,it would seem as if the very language of our parlors would lose all its nerve and degenerate into palaver wholly1 our lives pass at such remoteness from its symbols1 and its metaphors and tropes are necessarily so far fetched1 through slides and dumb-waiters1 as it were2 in other words1 the parlor is so far from the kitchen and workshop4 ,the dinner even is only the parable of a dinner1 commonly4 ,as if only the savage dwelt near enough to ,nature and ,truth to borrow a trope from them4 ,how can the scholar1 who dwells away in the ,north ,west ,territory or the ,isle of ,man1 tell what is parliamentary in the kitchen8 ,however1 only one or two of my guests were ever bold enough to stay and eat a hasty-pudding with me2 but when they saw that crisis approaching they beat a hasty retreat rather1 as if it would shake the house to its foundations4 ,nevertheless1 it stood through a great many hasty-puddings4 ,i did not plaster till it was freezing weather4 ,i brought over some whiter and cleaner sand for this purpose from the opposite shore of the pond in a boat1 a sort of conveyance which would have tempted me to go much farther if necessary4 ,my house had in the mean while been shingled down to the ground on every side4 ,in lathing ,i was pleased to be able to send home each nail with a single blow of the hammer1 and it was my ambition to transfer the plaster from the board to the wall neatly and rapidly4 ,i remembered the story of a conceited fellow1 who1 in fine clothes1 was wont to lounge about the village once1 giving advice to workmen4 ,venturing one day to substitute deeds for words1 he turned up his cuffs1 seized a plasterer's board1 and having loaded his trowel without mishap1 with a complacent look toward the lathing overhead1 made a bold gesture thitherward2 and straightway1 to his complete discomfiture1 received the whole contents in his ruffled bosom4 ,i admired anew the economy and convenience of plastering1 which so effectually shuts out the cold and takes a handsome finish1 and ,i learned the various casualties to which the plasterer is liable4 ,i was surprised to see how thirsty the bricks were which drank up all the moisture in my plaster before ,i had smoothed it1 and how many pailfuls of water it takes to christen a new hearth4 ,i had the previous winter made a small quantity of lime by burning the shells of the ,unio fluviatilis1 which our river affords1 for the sake of the experiment2 so that ,i knew where my materials came from4 ,i might have got good limestone within a mile or two and burned it myself1 if ,i had cared to do so4 ,the pond had in the mean while skimmed over in the shadiest and shallowest coves1 some days or even weeks before the general freezing4 ,the first ice is especially interesting and perfect1 being hard1 dark1 and transparent1 and affords the best opportunity that ever offers for examining the bottom where it is shallow2 for you can lie at your length on ice only an inch thick1 like a skater insect on the surface of the water1 and study the bottom at your leisure1 only two or three inches distant1 like a picture behind a glass1 and the water is necessarily always smooth then4 ,there are many furrows in the sand where some creature has travelled about and doubled on its tracks2 and1 for wrecks1 it is strewn with the cases of cadis worms made of minute grains of white quartz4 ,perhaps these have creased it1 for you find some of their cases in the furrows1 though they are deep and broad for them to make4 ,but the ice itself is the object of most interest1 though you must improve the earliest opportunity to study it4 ,if you examine it closely the morning after it freezes1 you find that the greater part of the bubbles1 which at first appeared to be within it1 are against its under surface1 and that more are continually rising from the bottom2 while the ice is as yet comparatively solid and dark1 that is1 you see the water through it4 ,these bubbles are from an eightieth to an eighth of an inch in diameter1 very clear and beautiful1 and you see your face reflected in them through the ice4 ,there may be thirty or forty of them to a square inch4 ,there are also already within the ice narrow oblong perpendicular bubbles about half an inch long1 sharp cones with the apex upward2 or oftener1 if the ice is quite fresh1 minute spherical bubbles one directly above another1 like a string of beads4 ,but these within the ice are not so numerous nor obvious as those beneath4 ,i sometimes used to cast on stones to try the strength of the ice1 and those which broke through carried in air with them1 which formed very large and conspicuous white bubbles beneath4 ,one day when ,i came to the same place forty-eight hours afterward1 ,i found that those large bubbles were still perfect1 though an inch more of ice had formed1 as ,i could see distinctly by the seam in the edge of a cake4 ,but as the last two days had been very warm1 like an ,indian summer1 the ice was not now transparent1 showing the dark green color of the water1 and the bottom1 but opaque and whitish or gray1 and though twice as thick was hardly stronger than before1 for the air bubbles had greatly expanded under this heat and run together1 and lost their regularity2 they were no longer one directly over another1 but often like silvery coins poured from a bag1 one overlapping another1 or in thin flakes1 as if occupying slight cleavages4 ,the beauty of the ice was gone1 and it was too late to study the bottom4 ,being curious to know what position my great bubbles occupied with regard to the new ice1 ,i broke out a cake containing a middling sized one1 and turned it bottom upward4 ,the new ice had formed around and under the bubble1 so that it was included between the two ices4 ,it was wholly in the lower ice1 but close against the upper1 and was flattish1 or perhaps slightly lenticular1 with a rounded edge1 a quarter of an inch deep by four inches in diameter2 and ,i was surprised to find that directly under the bubble the ice was melted with great regularity in the form of a saucer reversed1 to the height of five eighths of an inch in the middle1 leaving a thin partition there between the water and the bubble1 hardly an eighth of an inch thick2 and in many places the small bubbles in this partition had burst out downward1 and probably there was no ice at all under the largest bubbles1 which were a foot in diameter4 ,i inferred that the infinite number of minute bubbles which ,i had first seen against the under surface of the ice were now frozen in likewise1 and that each1 in its degree1 had operated like a burning glass on the ice beneath to melt and rot it4 ,these are the little air-guns which contribute to make the ice crack and whoop4 ,at length the winter set in in good earnest1 just as ,i had finished plastering1 and the wind began to howl around the house as if it had not had permission to do so till then4 ,night after night the geese came lumbering in in the dark with a clangor and a whistling of wings1 even after the ground was covered with snow1 some to alight in ,walden1 and some flying low over the woods toward ,fair ,haven1 bound for ,mexico4 ,several times1 when returning from the village at ten or eleven o'clock at night1 ,i heard the tread of a flock of geese1 or else ducks1 on the dry leaves in the woods by a pond-hole behind my dwelling1 where they had come up to feed1 and the faint honk or quack of their leader as they hurried off4 ,in #ahde ,walden froze entirely over for the first time on the night of the #bb;d of ,december1 ,flint's and other shallower ponds and the river having been frozen ten days or more2 in '#df1 the #afth2 in '#di1 about the #cast2 and in '#ej1 about the #bgth of ,december2 in '#eb1 the #eth of ,january2 in '#ec1 the #cast of ,december4 ,the snow had already covered the ground since the #beth of ,november1 and surrounded me suddenly with the scenery of winter4 ,i withdrew yet farther into my shell1 and endeavored to keep a bright fire both within my house and within my breast4 ,my employment out of doors now was to collect the dead wood in the forest1 bringing it in my hands or on my shoulders1 or sometimes trailing a dead pine tree under each arm to my shed4 ,an old forest fence which had seen its best days was a great haul for me4 ,i sacrificed it to ,vulcan1 for it was past serving the god ,terminus4 ,how much more interesting an event is that man's supper who has just been forth in the snow to hunt1 nay1 you might say1 steal1 the fuel to cook it with6 ,his bread and meat are sweet4 ,there are enough fagots and waste wood of all kinds in the forests of most of our towns to support many fires1 but which at present warm none1 and1 some think1 hinder the growth of the young wood4 ,there was also the drift-wood of the pond4 ,in the course of the summer ,i had discovered a raft of pitch-pine logs with the bark on1 pinned together by the ,irish when the railroad was built4 ,this ,i hauled up partly on the shore4 ,after soaking two years and then lying high six months it was perfectly sound1 though waterlogged past drying4 ,i amused myself one winter day with sliding this piecemeal across the pond1 nearly half a mile1 skating behind with one end of a log fifteen feet long on my shoulder1 and the other on the ice2 or ,i tied several logs together with a birch withe1 and then1 with a longer birch or alder which had a hook at the end1 dragged them across4 ,though completely waterlogged and almost as heavy as lead1 they not only burned long1 but made a very hot fire2 nay1 ,i thought that they burned better for the soaking1 as if the pitch1 being confined by the water1 burned longer1 as in a lamp4 ,gilpin1 in his account of the forest borderers of ,england1 says that 8the encroachments of trespassers1 and the houses and fences thus raised on the borders of the forest10 were 8considered as great nuisances by the old forest law1 and were severely punished under the name of purprestures1 as tending ad terrorem ferarum--ad nocumentum forest1 c410 to the frightening of the game and the detriment of the forest4 ,but ,i was interested in the preservation of the venison and the vert more than the hunters or woodchoppers1 and as much as though ,i had been the ,lord ,warden himself2 and if any part was burned1 though ,i burned it myself by accident1 ,i grieved with a grief that lasted longer and was more inconsolable than that of the proprietors2 nay1 ,i grieved when it was cut down by the proprietors themselves4 ,i would that our farmers when they cut down a forest felt some of that awe which the old ,romans did when they came to thin1 or let in the light to1 a consecrated grove 7lucum conlucare71 that is1 would believe that it is sacred to some god4 ,the ,roman made an expiatory offering1 and prayed1 ,whatever god or goddess thou art to whom this grove is sacred1 be propitious to me1 my family1 and children1 c4 ,it is remarkable what a value is still put upon wood even in this age and in this new country1 a value more permanent and universal than that of gold4 ,after all our discoveries and inventions no man will go by a pile of wood4 ,it is as precious to us as it was to our ,saxon and ,norman ancestors4 ,if they made their bows of it1 we make our gun-stocks of it4 ,michaux1 more than thirty years ago1 says that the price of wood for fuel in ,new ,york and ,philadelphia 8nearly equals1 and sometimes exceeds1 that of the best wood in ,paris1 though this immense capital annually requires more than three hundred thousand cords1 and is surrounded to the distance of three hundred miles by cultivated plains40 ,in this town the price of wood rises almost steadily1 and the only question is1 how much higher it is to be this year than it was the last4 ,mechanics and tradesmen who come in person to the forest on no other errand1 are sure to attend the wood auction1 and even pay a high price for the privilege of gleaning after the woodchopper4 ,it is now many years that men have resorted to the forest for fuel and the materials of the arts2 the ,new ,englander and the ,new ,hollander1 the ,parisian and the ,celt1 the farmer and ,robinhood1 ,goody ,blake and ,harry ,gill1 in most parts of the world the prince and the peasant1 the scholar and the savage1 equally require still a few sticks from the forest to warm them and cook their food4 ,neither could ,i do without them4 ,every man looks at his wood-pile with a kind of affection4 ,i love to have mine before my window1 and the more chips the better to remind me of my pleasing work4 ,i had an old axe which nobody claimed1 with which by spells in winter days1 on the sunny side of the house1 ,i played about the stumps which ,i had got out of my bean-field4 ,as my driver prophesied when ,i was ploughing1 they warmed me twice1 once while ,i was splitting them1 and again when they were on the fire1 so that no fuel could give out more heat4 ,as for the axe1 ,i was advised to get the village blacksmith to 8jump0 it2 but ,i jumped him1 and1 putting a hickory helve from the woods into it1 made it do4 ,if it was dull1 it was at least hung true4 ,a few pieces of fat pine were a great treasure4 ,it is interesting to remember how much of this food for fire is still concealed in the bowels of the earth4 ,in previous years ,i had often gone 8prospecting0 over some bare hill-side1 where a pitch-pine wood had formerly stood1 and got out the fat pine roots4 ,they are almost indestructible4 ,stumps thirty or forty years old1 at least1 will still be sound at the core1 though the sapwood has all become vegetable mould1 as appears by the scales of the thick bark forming a ring level with the earth four or five inches distant from the heart4 ,with axe and shovel you explore this mine1 and follow the marrowy store1 yellow as beef tallow1 or as if you had struck on a vein of gold1 deep into the earth4 ,but commonly ,i kindled my fire with the dry leaves of the forest1 which ,i had stored up in my shed before the snow came4 ,green hickory finely split makes the woodchopper's kindlings1 when he has a camp in the woods4 ,once in a while ,i got a little of this4 ,when the villagers were lighting their fires beyond the horizon1 ,i too gave notice to the various wild inhabitants of ,walden vale1 by a smoky streamer from my chimney1 that ,i was awake4-- ,light-winged ,smoke1 ,icarian bird1 ,melting thy pinions in thy upward flight1 ,lark without song1 and messenger of dawn1 ,circling above the hamlets as thy nest2 ,or else1 departing dream1 and shadowy form ,of midnight vision1 gathering up thy skirts2 ,by night star-veiling1 and by day ,darkening the light and blotting out the sun2 ,go thou my incense upward from this hearth1 ,and ask the gods to pardon this clear flame4 ,hard green wood just cut1 though ,i used but little of that1 answered my purpose better than any other4 ,i sometimes left a good fire when ,i went to take a walk in a winter afternoon2 and when ,i returned1 three or four hours afterward1 it would be still alive and glowing4 ,my house was not empty though ,i was gone4 ,it was as if ,i had left a cheerful housekeeper behind4 ,it was ,i and ,fire that lived there2 and commonly my housekeeper proved trustworthy4 ,one day1 however1 as ,i was splitting wood1 ,i thought that ,i would just look in at the window and see if the house was not on fire2 it was the only time ,i remember to have been particularly anxious on this score2 so ,i looked and saw that a spark had caught my bed1 and ,i went in and extinguished it when it had burned a place as big as my hand4 ,but my house occupied so sunny and sheltered a position1 and its roof was so low1 that ,i could afford to let the fire go out in the middle of almost any winter day4 ,the moles nested in my cellar1 nibbling every third potato1 and making a snug bed even there of some hair left after plastering and of brown paper2 for even the wildest animals love comfort and warmth as well as man1 and they survive the winter only because they are so careful to secure them4 ,some of my friends spoke as if ,i was coming to the woods on purpose to freeze myself4 ,the animal merely makes a bed1 which he warms with his body1 in a sheltered place2 but man1 having discovered fire1 boxes up some air in a spacious apartment1 and warms that1 instead of robbing himself1 makes that his bed1 in which he can move about divested of more cumbrous clothing1 maintain a kind of summer in the midst of winter1 and by means of windows even admit the light1 and with a lamp lengthen out the day4 ,thus he goes a step or two beyond instinct1 and saves a little time for the fine arts4 ,though1 when ,i had been exposed to the rudest blasts a long time1 my whole body began to grow torpid1 when ,i reached the genial atmosphere of my house ,i soon recovered my faculties and prolonged my life4 ,but the most luxuriously housed has little to boast of in this respect1 nor need we trouble ourselves to speculate how the human race may be at last destroyed4 ,it would be easy to cut their threads any time with a little sharper blast from the north4 ,we go on dating from ,cold ,fridays and ,great ,snows2 but a little colder ,friday1 or greater snow1 would put a period to man's existence on the globe4 ,the next winter ,i used a small cooking-stove for economy1 since ,i did not own the forest2 but it did not keep fire so well as the open fire-place4 ,cooking was then1 for the most part1 no longer a poetic1 but merely a chemic process4 ,it will soon be forgotten1 in these days of stoves1 that we used to roast potatoes in the ashes1 after the ,indian fashion4 ,the stove not only took up room and scented the house1 but it concealed the fire1 and ,i felt as if ,i had lost a companion4 ,you can always see a face in the fire4 ,the laborer1 looking into it at evening1 purifies his thoughts of the dross and earthiness which they have accumulated during the day4 ,but ,i could no longer sit and look into the fire1 and the pertinent words of a poet recurred to me with new force4-- 8,never1 bright flame1 may be denied to me ,thy dear1 life imaging1 close sympathy4 ,what but my hopes shot upward e'er so bright8 ,what but my fortunes sunk so low in night8 ,why art thou banished from our hearth and hall1 ,thou who art welcomed and beloved by all8 ,was thy existence then too fanciful ,for our life's common light1 who are so dull8 ,did thy bright gleam mysterious converse hold ,with our congenial souls8 secrets too bold8 ,well1 we are safe and strong1 for now we sit ,beside a hearth where no dim shadows flit1 ,where nothing cheers nor saddens1 but a fire ,warms feet and hands--nor does to more aspire2 ,by whose compact utilitarian heap ,the present may sit down and go to sleep1 ,nor fear the ghosts who from the dim past walked1 ,and with us by the unequal light of the old wood fire talked40 ,former ,inhabitants and ,winter ,visitors ,i weathered some merry snow storms1 and spent some cheerful winter evenings by my fire-side1 while the snow whirled wildly without1 and even the hooting of the owl was hushed4 ,for many weeks ,i met no one in my walks but those who came occasionally to cut wood and sled it to the village4 ,the elements1 however1 abetted me in making a path through the deepest snow in the woods1 for when ,i had once gone through the wind blew the oak leaves into my tracks1 where they lodged1 and by absorbing the rays of the sun melted the snow1 and so not only made a dry bed for my feet1 but in the night their dark line was my guide4 ,for human society ,i was obliged to conjure up the former occupants of these woods4 ,within the memory of many of my townsmen the road near which my house stands resounded with the laugh and gossip of inhabitants1 and the woods which border it were notched and dotted here and there with their little gardens and dwellings1 though it was then much more shut in by the forest than now4 ,in some places1 within my own remembrance1 the pines would scrape both sides of a chaise at once1 and women and children who were compelled to go this way to ,lincoln alone and on foot did it with fear1 and often ran a good part of the distance4 ,though mainly but a humble route to neighboring villages1 or for the woodman's team1 it once amused the traveller more than now by its variety1 and lingered longer in his memory4 ,where now firm open fields stretch from the village to the woods1 it then ran through a maple swamp on a foundation of logs1 the remnants of which1 doubtless1 still underlie the present dusty highway1 from the ,stratton1 now the ,alms ,house1 ,farm1 to ,brister's ,hill4 ,east of my bean-field1 across the road1 lived ,cato ,ingraham1 slave of ,duncan ,ingraham1 ,esquire1 gentleman1 of ,concord village1 who built his slave a house1 and gave him permission to live in ,walden ,woods2--,cato1 not ,uticensis1 but ,concordiensis4 ,some say that he was a ,guinea ,negro4 ,there are a few who remember his little patch among the walnuts1 which he let grow up till he should be old and need them2 but a younger and whiter speculator got them at last4 ,he too1 however1 occupies an equally narrow house at present4 ,cato's half-obliterated cellar hole still remains1 though known to few1 being concealed from the traveller by a fringe of pines4 ,it is now filled with the smooth sumach 7,rhus glabra17 and one of the earliest species of golden-rod 7,solidago stricta7 grows there luxuriantly4 ,here1 by the very corner of my field1 still nearer to town1 ,zilpha1 a colored woman1 had her little house1 where she spun linen for the townsfolk1 making the ,walden ,woods ring with her shrill singing1 for she had a loud and notable voice4 ,at length1 in the war of #ahab1 her dwelling was set on fire by ,english soldiers1 prisoners on parole1 when she was away1 and her cat and dog and hens were all burned up together4 ,she led a hard life1 and somewhat inhumane4 ,one old frequenter of these woods remembers1 that as he passed her house one noon he heard her muttering to herself over her gurgling pot1--8,ye are all bones1 bones60 ,i have seen bricks amid the oak copse there4 ,down the road1 on the right hand1 on ,brister's ,hill1 lived ,brister ,freeman1 8a handy ,negro10 slave of ,squire ,cummings once1--there where grow still the apple-trees which ,brister planted and tended2 large old trees now1 but their fruit still wild and ciderish to my taste4 ,not long since ,i read his epitaph in the old ,lincoln burying-ground1 a little on one side1 near the unmarked graves of some ,british grenadiers who fell in the retreat from ,concord1--where he is styled 8,sippio ,brister10--,scipio ,africanus he had some title to be called1--8a man of color10 as if he were discolored4 ,it also told me1 with staring emphasis1 when he died2 which was but an indirect way of informing me that he ever lived4 ,with him dwelt ,fenda1 his hospitable wife1 who told fortunes1 yet pleasantly1--large1 round1 and black1 blacker than any of the children of night1 such a dusky orb as never rose on ,concord before or since4 ,farther down the hill1 on the left1 on the old road in the woods1 are marks of some homestead of the ,stratton family2 whose orchard once covered all the slope of ,brister's ,hill1 but was long since killed out by pitch pines1 excepting a few stumps1 whose old roots furnish still the wild stocks of many a thrifty village tree4 ,nearer yet to town1 you come to ,breed's location1 on the other side of the way1 just on the edge of the wood2 ground famous for the pranks of a demon not distinctly named in old mythology1 who has acted a prominent and astounding part in our ,new ,england life1 and deserves1 as much as any mythological character1 to have his biography written one day2 who first comes in the guise of a friend or hired man1 and then robs and murders the whole family1--,new-,england ,rum4 ,but history must not yet tell the tragedies enacted here2 let time intervene in some measure to assuage and lend an azure tint to them4 ,here the most indistinct and dubious tradition says that once a tavern stood2 the well the same1 which tempered the traveller's beverage and refreshed his steed4 ,here then men saluted one another1 and heard and told the news1 and went their ways again4 ,breed's hut was standing only a dozen years ago1 though it had long been unoccupied4 ,it was about the size of mine4 ,it was set on fire by mischievous boys1 one ,election night1 if ,i do not mistake4 ,i lived on the edge of the village then1 and had just lost myself over ,davenant's ,gondibert1 that winter that ,i labored with a lethargy1--which1 by the way1 ,i never knew whether to regard as a family complaint1 having an uncle who goes to sleep shaving himself1 and is obliged to sprout potatoes in a cellar ,sundays1 in order to keep awake and keep the ,sabbath1 or as the consequence of my attempt to read ,chalmers' collection of ,english poetry without skipping4 ,it fairly overcame my ,nervii4 ,i had just sunk my head on this when the bells rung fire1 and in hot haste the engines rolled that way1 led by a straggling troop of men and boys1 and ,i among the foremost1 for ,i had leaped the brook4 ,we thought it was far south over the woods1--we who had run to fires before1--barn1 shop1 or dwelling-house1 or all together4 8,it's ,baker's barn10 cried one4 8,it is the ,codman place10 affirmed another4 ,and then fresh sparks went up above the wood1 as if the roof fell in1 and we all shouted 8,concord to the rescue60 ,wagons shot past with furious speed and crushing loads1 bearing1 perchance1 among the rest1 the agent of the ,insurance ,company1 who was bound to go however far2 and ever and anon the engine bell tinkled behind1 more slow and sure2 and rearmost of all1 as it was afterward whispered1 came they who set the fire and gave the alarm4 ,thus we kept on like true idealists1 rejecting the evidence of our senses1 until at a turn in the road we heard the crackling and actually felt the heat of the fire from over the wall1 and realized1 alas6 that we were there4 ,the very nearness of the fire but cooled our ardor4 ,at first we thought to throw a frog-pond on to it2 but concluded to let it burn1 it was so far gone and so worthless4 ,so we stood round our engine1 jostled one another1 expressed our sentiments through speaking-trumpets1 or in lower tone referred to the great conflagrations which the world has witnessed1 including ,bascom's shop1 and1 between ourselves1 we thought that1 were we there in season with our 8tub10 and a full frog-pond by1 we could turn that threatened last and universal one into another flood4 ,we finally retreated without doing any mischief1--returned to sleep and ,gondibert4 ,but as for ,gondibert1 ,i would except that passage in the preface about wit being the soul's powder1--8but most of mankind are strangers to wit1 as ,indians are to powder40 ,it chanced that ,i walked that way across the fields the following night1 about the same hour1 and hearing a low moaning at this spot1 ,i drew near in the dark1 and discovered the only survivor of the family that ,i know1 the heir of both its virtues and its vices1 who alone was interested in this burning1 lying on his stomach and looking over the cellar wall at the still smouldering cinders beneath1 muttering to himself1 as is his wont4 ,he had been working far off in the river meadows all day1 and had improved the first moments that he could call his own to visit the home of his fathers and his youth4 ,he gazed into the cellar from all sides and points of view by turns1 always lying down to it1 as if there was some treasure1 which he remembered1 concealed between the stones1 where there was absolutely nothing but a heap of bricks and ashes4 ,the house being gone1 he looked at what there was left4 ,he was soothed by the sympathy which my mere presence implied1 and showed me1 as well as the darkness permitted1 where the well was covered up2 which1 thank ,heaven1 could never be burned2 and he groped long about the wall to find the well-sweep which his father had cut and mounted1 feeling for the iron hook or staple by which a burden had been fastened to the heavy end1--all that he could now cling to1--to convince me that it was no common 8rider40 ,i felt it1 and still remark it almost daily in my walks1 for by it hangs the history of a family4 ,once more1 on the left1 where are seen the well and lilac bushes by the wall1 in the now open field1 lived ,nutting and ,le ,grosse4 ,but to return toward ,lincoln4 ,farther in the woods than any of these1 where the road approaches nearest to the pond1 ,wyman the potter squatted1 and furnished his townsmen with earthen ware1 and left descendants to succeed him4 ,neither were they rich in worldly goods1 holding the land by sufferance while they lived2 and there often the sheriff came in vain to collect the taxes1 and 8attached a chip10 for form's sake1 as ,i have read in his accounts1 there being nothing else that he could lay his hands on4 ,one day in midsummer1 when ,i was hoeing1 a man who was carrying a load of pottery to market stopped his horse against my field and inquired concerning ,wyman the younger4 ,he had long ago bought a potter's wheel of him1 and wished to know what had become of him4 ,i had read of the potter's clay and wheel in ,scripture1 but it had never occurred to me that the pots we use were not such as had come down unbroken from those days1 or grown on trees like gourds somewhere1 and ,i was pleased to hear that so fictile an art was ever practiced in my neighborhood4 ,the last inhabitant of these woods before me was an ,irishman1 ,hugh ,quoil 7if ,i have spelt his name with coil enough17 who occupied ,wyman's tenement1--,col4 ,quoil1 he was called4 ,rumor said that he had been a soldier at ,waterloo4 ,if he had lived ,i should have made him fight his battles over again4 ,his trade here was that of a ditcher4 ,napoleon went to ,st4 ,helena2 ,quoil came to ,walden ,woods4 ,all ,i know of him is tragic4 ,he was a man of manners1 like one who had seen the world1 and was capable of more civil speech than you could well attend to4 ,he wore a great coat in mid-summer1 being affected with the trembling delirium1 and his face was the color of carmine4 ,he died in the road at the foot of ,brister's ,hill shortly after ,i came to the woods1 so that ,i have not remembered him as a neighbor4 ,before his house was pulled down1 when his comrades avoided it as 8an unlucky castle10 ,i visited it4 ,there lay his old clothes curled up by use1 as if they were himself1 upon his raised plank bed4 ,his pipe lay broken on the hearth1 instead of a bowl broken at the fountain4 ,the last could never have been the symbol of his death1 for he confessed to me that1 though he had heard of ,brister's ,spring1 he had never seen it2 and soiled cards1 kings of diamonds spades and hearts1 were scattered over the floor4 ,one black chicken which the administrator could not catch1 black as night and as silent1 not even croaking1 awaiting ,reynard1 still went to roost in the next apartment4 ,in the rear there was the dim outline of a garden1 which had been planted but had never received its first hoeing1 owing to those terrible shaking fits1 though it was now harvest time4 ,it was over-run with ,roman wormwood and beggar-ticks1 which last stuck to my clothes for all fruit4 ,the skin of a woodchuck was freshly stretched upon the back of the house1 a trophy of his last ,waterloo2 but no warm cap or mittens would he want more4 ,now only a dent in the earth marks the site of these dwellings1 with buried cellar stones1 and strawberries1 raspberries1 thimble-berries1 hazel-bushes1 and sumachs growing in the sunny sward there2 some pitch-pine or gnarled oak occupies what was the chimney nook1 and a sweet-scented black-birch1 perhaps1 waves where the door-stone was4 ,sometimes the well dent is visible1 where once a spring oozed2 now dry and tearless grass2 or it was covered deep1--not to be discovered till some late day1--with a flat stone under the sod1 when the last of the race departed4 ,what a sorrowful act must that be1--the covering up of wells6 coincident with the opening of wells of tears4 ,these cellar dents1 like deserted fox burrows1 old holes1 are all that is left where once were the stir and bustle of human life1 and 8fate1 free-will1 foreknowledge absolute10 in some form and dialect or other were by turns discussed4 ,but all ,i can learn of their conclusions amounts to just this1 that 8,cato and ,brister pulled wool20 which is about as edifying as the history of more famous schools of philosophy4 ,still grows the vivacious lilac a generation after the door and lintel and the sill are gone1 unfolding its sweet-scented flowers each spring1 to be plucked by the musing traveller2 planted and tended once by children's hands1 in front-yard plots1--now standing by wall-sides in retired pastures1 and giving place to new-rising forests2--the last of that stirp1 sole survivor of that family4 ,little did the dusky children think that the puny slip with its two eyes only1 which they stuck in the ground in the shadow of the house and daily watered1 would root itself so1 and outlive them1 and house itself in the rear that shaded it1 and grown man's garden and orchard1 and tell their story faintly to the lone wanderer a half century after they had grown up and died1--blossoming as fair1 and smelling as sweet1 as in that first spring4 ,i mark its still tender1 civil1 cheerful1 lilac colors4 ,but this small village1 germ of something more1 why did it fail while ,concord keeps its ground8 ,were there no natural advantages1--no water privileges1 forsooth8 ,ay1 the deep ,walden ,pond and cool ,brister's ,spring1--privilege to drink long and healthy draughts at these1 all unimproved by these men but to dilute their glass4 ,they were universally a thirsty race4 ,might not the basket1 stable-broom1 mat-making1 corn-parching1 linen-spinning1 and pottery business have thrived here1 making the wilderness to blossom like the rose1 and a numerous posterity have inherited the land of their fathers8 ,the sterile soil would at least have been proof against a low-land degeneracy4 ,alas6 how little does the memory of these human inhabitants enhance the beauty of the landscape6 ,again1 perhaps1 ,nature will try1 with me for a first settler1 and my house raised last spring to be the oldest in the hamlet4 ,i am not aware that any man has ever built on the spot which ,i occupy4 ,deliver me from a city built on the site of a more ancient city1 whose materials are ruins1 whose gardens cemeteries4 ,the soil is blanched and accursed there1 and before that becomes necessary the earth itself will be destroyed4 ,with such reminiscences ,i repeopled the woods and lulled myself asleep4 ,at this season ,i seldom had a visitor4 ,when the snow lay deepest no wanderer ventured near my house for a week or fortnight at a time1 but there ,i lived as snug as a meadow mouse1 or as cattle and poultry which are said to have survived for a long time buried in drifts1 even without food2 or like that early settler's family in the town of ,sutton1 in this state1 whose cottage was completely covered by the great snow of #agag when he was absent1 and an ,indian found it only by the hole which the chimney's breath made in the drift1 and so relieved the family4 ,but no friendly ,indian concerned himself about me2 nor needed he1 for the master of the house was at home4 ,the ,great ,snow6 ,how cheerful it is to hear of6 ,when the farmers could not get to the woods and swamps with their teams1 and were obliged to cut down the shade trees before their houses1 and when the crust was harder1 cut off the trees in the swamps1 ten feet from the ground1 as it appeared the next spring4 ,in the deepest snows1 the path which ,i used from the highway to my house1 about half a mile long1 might have been represented by a meandering dotted line1 with wide intervals between the dots4 ,for a week of even weather ,i took exactly the same number of steps1 and of the same length1 coming and going1 stepping deliberately and with the precision of a pair of dividers in my own deep tracks1--to such routine the winter reduces us1--yet often they were filled with heaven's own blue4 ,but no weather interfered fatally with my walks1 or rather my going abroad1 for ,i frequently tramped eight or ten miles through the deepest snow to keep an appointment with a beech-tree1 or a yellow-birch1 or an old acquaintance among the pines2 when the ice and snow causing their limbs to droop1 and so sharpening their tops1 had changed the pines into fir-trees2 wading to the tops of the highest hills when the snow was nearly two feet deep on a level1 and shaking down another snow-storm on my head at every step2 or sometimes creeping and floundering thither on my hands and knees1 when the hunters had gone into winter quarters4 ,one afternoon ,i amused myself by watching a barred owl 7,strix nebulosa7 sitting on one of the lower dead limbs of a white-pine1 close to the trunk1 in broad daylight1 ,i standing within a rod of him4 ,he could hear me when ,i moved and cronched the snow with my feet1 but could not plainly see me4 ,when ,i made most noise he would stretch out his neck1 and erect his neck feathers1 and open his eyes wide2 but their lids soon fell again1 and he began to nod4 ,i too felt a slumberous influence after watching him half an hour1 as he sat thus with his eyes half open1 like a cat1 winged brother of the cat4 ,there was only a narrow slit left between their lids1 by which he preserved a peninsular relation to me2 thus1 with half-shut eyes1 looking out from the land of dreams1 and endeavoring to realize me1 vague object or mote that interrupted his visions4 ,at length1 on some louder noise or my nearer approach1 he would grow uneasy and sluggishly turn about on his perch1 as if impatient at having his dreams disturbed2 and when he launched himself off and flapped through the pines1 spreading his wings to unexpected breadth1 ,i could not hear the slightest sound from them4 ,thus1 guided amid the pine boughs rather by a delicate sense of their neighborhood than by sight1 feeling his twilight way as it were with his sensitive pinions1 he found a new perch1 where he might in peace await the dawning of his day4 ,as ,i walked over the long causeway made for the railroad through the meadows1 ,i encountered many a blustering and nipping wind1 for nowhere has it freer play2 and when the frost had smitten me on one cheek1 heathen as ,i was1 ,i turned to it the other also4 ,nor was it much better by the carriage road from ,brister's ,hill4 ,for ,i came to town still1 like a friendly ,indian1 when the contents of the broad open fields were all piled up between the walls of the ,walden road1 and half an hour sufficed to obliterate the tracks of the last traveller4 ,and when ,i returned new drifts would have formed1 through which ,i floundered1 where the busy north-west wind had been depositing the powdery snow round a sharp angle in the road1 and not a rabbit's track1 nor even the fine print1 the small type1 of a meadow mouse was to be seen4 ,yet ,i rarely failed to find1 even in mid-winter1 some warm and springly swamp where the grass and the skunk-cabbage still put forth with perennial verdure1 and some hardier bird occasionally awaited the return of spring4 ,sometimes1 notwithstanding the snow1 when ,i returned from my walk at evening ,i crossed the deep tracks of a woodchopper leading from my door1 and found his pile of whittlings on the hearth1 and my house filled with the odor of his pipe4 ,or on a ,sunday afternoon1 if ,i chanced to be at home1 ,i heard the cronching of the snow made by the step of a long-headed farmer1 who from far through the woods sought my house1 to have a social 8crack20 one of the few of his vocation who are 8men on their farms20 who donned a frock instead of a professor's gown1 and is as ready to extract the moral out of church or state as to haul a load of manure from his barn-yard4 ,we talked of rude and simple times1 when men sat about large fires in cold bracing weather1 with clear heads2 and when other dessert failed1 we tried our teeth on many a nut which wise squirrels have long since abandoned1 for those which have the thickest shells are commonly empty4 ,the one who came from farthest to my lodge1 through deepest snows and most dismal tempests1 was a poet4 ,a farmer1 a hunter1 a soldier1 a reporter1 even a philosopher1 may be daunted2 but nothing can deter a poet1 for he is actuated by pure love4 ,who can predict his comings and goings8 ,his business calls him out at all hours1 even when doctors sleep4 ,we made that small house ring with boisterous mirth and resound with the murmur of much sober talk1 making amends then to ,walden vale for the long silences4 ,broadway was still and deserted in comparison4 ,at suitable intervals there were regular salutes of laughter1 which might have been referred indifferently to the last uttered or the forth-coming jest4 ,we made many a 8bran new0 theory of life over a thin dish of gruel1 which combined the advantages of conviviality with the clear-headedness which philosophy requires4 ,i should not forget that during my last winter at the pond there was another welcome visitor1 who at one time came through the village1 through snow and rain and darkness1 till he saw my lamp through the trees1 and shared with me some long winter evenings4 ,one of the last of the philosophers1--,connecticut gave him to the world1--he peddled first her wares1 afterwards1 as he declares1 his brains4 ,these he peddles still1 prompting ,god and disgracing man1 bearing for fruit his brain only1 like the nut its kernel4 ,i think that he must be the man of the most faith of any alive4 ,his words and attitude always suppose a better state of things than other men are acquainted with1 and he will be the last man to be disappointed as the ages revolve4 ,he has no venture in the present4 ,but though comparatively disregarded now1 when his day comes1 laws unsuspected by most will take effect1 and masters of families and rulers will come to him for advice4-- 8,how blind that cannot see serenity60 ,a true friend of man2 almost the only friend of human progress4 ,an ,old ,mortality1 say rather an ,immortality1 with unwearied patience and faith making plain the image engraven in men's bodies1 the ,god of whom they are but defaced and leaning monuments4 ,with his hospitable intellect he embraces children1 beggars1 insane1 and scholars1 and entertains the thought of all1 adding to it commonly some breadth and elegance4 ,i think that he should keep a caravansary on the world's highway1 where philosophers of all nations might put up1 and on his sign should be printed1 8,entertainment for man1 but not for his beast4 ,enter ye that have leisure and a quiet mind1 who earnestly seek the right road40 ,he is perhaps the sanest man and has the fewest crotchets of any ,i chance to know2 the same yesterday and tomorrow4 ,of yore we had sauntered and talked1 and effectually put the world behind us2 for he was pledged to no institution in it1 freeborn1 ingenuus4 ,whichever way we turned1 it seemed that the heavens and the earth had met together1 since he enhanced the beauty of the landscape4 ,a blue-robed man1 whose fittest roof is the overarching sky which reflects his serenity4 ,i do not see how he can ever die2 ,nature cannot spare him4 ,having each some shingles of thought well dried1 we sat and whittled them1 trying our knives1 and admiring the clear yellowish grain of the pumpkin pine4 ,we waded so gently and reverently1 or we pulled together so smoothly1 that the fishes of thought were not scared from the stream1 nor feared any angler on the bank1 but came and went grandly1 like the clouds which float through the western sky1 and the mother-o'-pearl flocks which sometimes form and dissolve there4 ,there we worked1 revising mythology1 rounding a fable here and there1 and building castles in the air for which earth offered no worthy foundation4 ,great ,looker6 ,great ,expecter6 to converse with whom was a ,new ,england ,night's ,entertainment4 ,ah6 such discourse we had1 hermit and philosopher1 and the old settler ,i have spoken of1--we three1--it expanded and racked my little house2 ,i should not dare to say how many pounds' weight there was above the atmospheric pressure on every circular inch2 it opened its seams so that they had to be calked with much dulness thereafter to stop the consequent leak2--but ,i had enough of that kind of oakum already picked4 ,there was one other with whom ,i had 8solid seasons10 long to be remembered1 at his house in the village1 and who looked in upon me from time to time2 but ,i had no more for society there4 ,there too1 as every where1 ,i sometimes expected the ,visitor who never comes4 ,the ,vishnu ,purana says1 8,the house-holder is to remain at eventide in his court-yard as long as it takes to milk a cow1 or longer if he pleases1 to await the arrival of a guest40 ,i often performed this duty of hospitality1 waited long enough to milk a whole herd of cows1 but did not see the man approaching from the town4 ,winter ,animals ,when the ponds were firmly frozen1 they afforded not only new and shorter routes to many points1 but new views from their surfaces of the familiar landscape around them4 ,when ,i crossed ,flint's ,pond1 after it was covered with snow1 though ,i had often paddled about and skated over it1 it was so unexpectedly wide and so strange that ,i could think of nothing but ,baffin's ,bay4 ,the ,lincoln hills rose up around me at the extremity of a snowy plain1 in which ,i did not remember to have stood before2 and the fishermen1 at an indeterminable distance over the ice1 moving slowly about with their wolfish dogs1 passed for sealers or ,esquimaux1 or in misty weather loomed like fabulous creatures1 and ,i did not know whether they were giants or pygmies4 ,i took this course when ,i went to lecture in ,lincoln in the evening1 travelling in no road and passing no house between my own hut and the lecture room4 ,in ,goose ,pond1 which lay in my way1 a colony of muskrats dwelt1 and raised their cabins high above the ice1 though none could be seen abroad when ,i crossed it4 ,walden1 being like the rest usually bare of snow1 or with only shallow and interrupted drifts on it1 was my yard1 where ,i could walk freely when the snow was nearly two feet deep on a level elsewhere and the villagers were confined to their streets4 ,there1 far from the village street1 and except at very long intervals1 from the jingle of sleigh-bells1 ,i slid and skated1 as in a vast moose-yard well trodden1 overhung by oak woods and solemn pines bent down with snow or bristling with icicles4 ,for sounds in winter nights1 and often in winter days1 ,i heard the forlorn but melodious note of a hooting owl indefinitely far2 such a sound as the frozen earth would yield if struck with a suitable plectrum1 the very lingua vernacula of ,walden ,wood1 and quite familiar to me at last1 though ,i never saw the bird while it was making it4 ,i seldom opened my door in a winter evening without hearing it2 ,hoo hoo hoo1 hoorer1 hoo1 sounded sonorously1 and the first three syllables accented somewhat like how der do2 or sometimes hoo hoo only4 ,one night in the beginning of winter1 before the pond froze over1 about nine o'clock1 ,i was startled by the loud honking of a goose1 and1 stepping to the door1 heard the sound of their wings like a tempest in the woods as they flew low over my house4 ,they passed over the pond toward ,fair ,haven1 seemingly deterred from settling by my light1 their commodore honking all the while with a regular beat4 ,suddenly an unmistakable cat-owl from very near me1 with the most harsh and tremendous voice ,i ever heard from any inhabitant of the woods1 responded at regular intervals to the goose1 as if determined to expose and disgrace this intruder from ,hudson's ,bay by exhibiting a greater compass and volume of voice in a native1 and boo-hoo him out of ,concord horizon4 ,what do you mean by alarming the citadel at this time of night consecrated to me8 ,do you think ,i am ever caught napping at such an hour1 and that ,i have not got lungs and a larynx as well as yourself8 ,boo-hoo1 boo-hoo1 boo-hoo6 ,it was one of the most thrilling discords ,i ever heard4 ,and yet1 if you had a discriminating ear1 there were in it the elements of a concord such as these plains never saw nor heard4 ,i also heard the whooping of the ice in the pond1 my great bed-fellow in that part of ,concord1 as if it were restless in its bed and would fain turn over1 were troubled with flatulency and had dreams2 or ,i was waked by the cracking of the ground by the frost1 as if some one had driven a team against my door1 and in the morning would find a crack in the earth a quarter of a mile long and a third of an inch wide4 ,sometimes ,i heard the foxes as they ranged over the snow crust1 in moonlight nights1 in search of a partridge or other game1 barking raggedly and demoniacally like forest dogs1 as if laboring with some anxiety1 or seeking expression1 struggling for light and to be dogs outright and run freely in the streets2 for if we take the ages into our account1 may there not be a civilization going on among brutes as well as men8 ,they seemed to me to be rudimental1 burrowing men1 still standing on their defence1 awaiting their transformation4 ,sometimes one came near to my window1 attracted by my light1 barked a vulpine curse at me1 and then retreated4 ,usually the red squirrel 7,sciurus ,hudsonius7 waked me in the dawn1 coursing over the roof and up and down the sides of the house1 as if sent out of the woods for this purpose4 ,in the course of the winter ,i threw out half a bushel of ears of sweet-corn1 which had not got ripe1 on to the snow crust by my door1 and was amused by watching the motions of the various animals which were baited by it4 ,in the twilight and the night the rabbits came regularly and made a hearty meal4 ,all day long the red squirrels came and went1 and afforded me much entertainment by their manuvres4 ,one would approach at first warily through the shrub-oaks1 running over the snow crust by fits and starts like a leaf blown by the wind1 now a few paces this way1 with wonderful speed and waste of energy1 making inconceivable haste with his 8trotters10 as if it were for a wager1 and now as many paces that way1 but never getting on more than half a rod at a time2 and then suddenly pausing with a ludicrous expression and a gratuitous somerset1 as if all the eyes in the universe were fixed on him1--for all the motions of a squirrel1 even in the most solitary recesses of the forest1 imply spectators as much as those of a dancing girl1--wasting more time in delay and circumspection than would have sufficed to walk the whole distance1--,i never saw one walk1--and then suddenly1 before you could say ,jack ,robinson1 he would be in the top of a young pitch-pine1 winding up his clock and chiding all imaginary spectators1 soliloquizing and talking to all the universe at the same time1--for no reason that ,i could ever detect1 or he himself was aware of1 ,i suspect4 ,at length he would reach the corn1 and selecting a suitable ear1 frisk about in the same uncertain trigonometrical way to the top-most stick of my wood-pile1 before my window1 where he looked me in the face1 and there sit for hours1 supplying himself with a new ear from time to time1 nibbling at first voraciously and throwing the half-naked cobs about2 till at length he grew more dainty still and played with his food1 tasting only the inside of the kernel1 and the ear1 which was held balanced over the stick by one paw1 slipped from his careless grasp and fell to the ground1 when he would look over at it with a ludicrous expression of uncertainty1 as if suspecting that it had life1 with a mind not made up whether to get it again1 or a new one1 or be off2 now thinking of corn1 then listening to hear what was in the wind4 ,so the little impudent fellow would waste many an ear in a forenoon2 till at last1 seizing some longer and plumper one1 considerably bigger than himself1 and skilfully balancing it1 he would set out with it to the woods1 like a tiger with a buffalo1 by the same zig-zag course and frequent pauses1 scratching along with it as if it were too heavy for him and falling all the while1 making its fall a diagonal between a perpendicular and horizontal1 being determined to put it through at any rate2--a singularly frivolous and whimsical fellow2--and so he would get off with it to where he lived1 perhaps carry it to the top of a pine tree forty or fifty rods distant1 and ,i would afterwards find the cobs strewn about the woods in various directions4 ,at length the jays arrive1 whose discordant screams were heard long before1 as they were warily making their approach an eighth of a mile off1 and in a stealthy and sneaking manner they flit from tree to tree1 nearer and nearer1 and pick up the kernels which the squirrels have dropped4 ,then1 sitting on a pitch-pine bough1 they attempt to swallow in their haste a kernel which is too big for their throats and chokes them2 and after great labor they disgorge it1 and spend an hour in the endeavor to crack it by repeated blows with their bills4 ,they were manifestly thieves1 and ,i had not much respect for them2 but the squirrels1 though at first shy1 went to work as if they were taking what was their own4 ,meanwhile also came the chickadees in flocks1 which1 picking up the crumbs the squirrels had dropped1 flew to the nearest twig1 and1 placing them under their claws1 hammered away at them with their little bills1 as if it were an insect in the bark1 till they were sufficiently reduced for their slender throats4 ,a little flock of these tit-mice came daily to pick a dinner out of my wood-pile1 or the crumbs at my door1 with faint flitting lisping notes1 like the tinkling of icicles in the grass1 or else with sprightly day day day1 or more rarely1 in spring-like days1 a wiry summery phe-be from the wood-side4 ,they were so familiar that at length one alighted on an armful of wood which ,i was carrying in1 and pecked at the sticks without fear4 ,i once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment while ,i was hoeing in a village garden1 and ,i felt that ,i was more distinguished by that circumstance than ,i should have been by any epaulet ,i could have worn4 ,the squirrels also grew at last to be quite familiar1 and occasionally stepped upon my shoe1 when that was the nearest way4 ,when the ground was not yet quite covered1 and again near the end of winter1 when the snow was melted on my south hill-side and about my wood-pile1 the partridges came out of the woods morning and evening to feed there4 ,whichever side you walk in the woods the partridge bursts away on whirring wings1 jarring the snow from the dry leaves and twigs on high1 which comes sifting down in the sun-beams like golden dust2 for this brave bird is not to be scared by winter4 ,it is frequently covered up by drifts1 and1 it is said1 8sometimes plunges from on wing into the soft snow1 where it remains concealed for a day or two40 ,i used to start them in the open land also1 where they had come out of the woods at sunset to 8bud0 the wild apple-trees4 ,they will come regularly every evening to particular trees1 where the cunning sportsman lies in wait for them1 and the distant orchards next the woods suffer thus not a little4 ,i am glad that the partridge gets fed1 at any rate4 ,it is ,nature's own bird which lives on buds and diet-drink4 ,in dark winter mornings1 or in short winter afternoons1 ,i sometimes heard a pack of hounds threading all the woods with hounding cry and yelp1 unable to resist the instinct of the chase1 and the note of the hunting horn at intervals1 proving that man was in the rear4 ,the woods ring again1 and yet no fox bursts forth on to the open level of the pond1 nor following pack pursuing their ,acton4 ,and perhaps at evening ,i see the hunters returning with a single brush trailing from their sleigh for a trophy1 seeking their inn4 ,they tell me that if the fox would remain in the bosom of the frozen earth he would be safe1 or if he would run in a straight line away no fox-hound could overtake him2 but1 having left his pursuers far behind1 he stops to rest and listen till they come up1 and when he runs he circles round to his old haunts1 where the hunters await him4 ,sometimes1 however1 he will run upon a wall many rods1 and then leap off far to one side1 and he appears to know that water will not retain his scent4 ,a hunter told me that he once saw a fox pursued by hounds burst out on to ,walden when the ice was covered with shallow puddles1 run part way across1 and then return to the same shore4 ,ere long the hounds arrived1 but here they lost the scent4 ,sometimes a pack hunting by themselves would pass my door1 and circle round my house1 and yelp and hound without regarding me1 as if afflicted by a species of madness1 so that nothing could divert them from the pursuit4 ,thus they circle until they fall upon the recent trail of a fox1 for a wise hound will forsake every thing else for this4 ,one day a man came to my hut from ,lexington to inquire after his hound that made a large track1 and had been hunting for a week by himself4 ,but ,i fear that he was not the wiser for all ,i told him1 for every time ,i attempted to answer his questions he interrupted me by asking1 8,what do you do here80 ,he had lost a dog1 but found a man4 ,one old hunter who has a dry tongue1 who used to come to bathe in ,walden once every year when the water was warmest1 and at such times looked in upon me1 told me that many years ago he took his gun one afternoon and went out for a cruise in ,walden ,wood2 and as he walked the ,wayland road he heard the cry of hounds approaching1 and ere long a fox leaped the wall into the road1 and as quick as thought leaped the other wall out of the road1 and his swift bullet had not touched him4 ,some way behind came an old hound and her three pups in full pursuit1 hunting on their own account1 and disappeared again in the woods4 ,late in the afternoon1 as he was resting in the thick woods south of ,walden1 he heard the voice of the hounds far over toward ,fair ,haven still pursuing the fox2 and on they came1 their hounding cry which made all the woods ring sounding nearer and nearer1 now from ,well-,meadow1 now from the ,baker ,farm4 ,for a long time he stood still and listened to their music1 so sweet to a hunter's ear1 when suddenly the fox appeared1 threading the solemn aisles with an easy coursing pace1 whose sound was concealed by a sympathetic rustle of the leaves1 swift and still1 keeping the ground1 leaving his pursuers far behind2 and1 leaping upon a rock amid the woods1 he sat erect and listening1 with his back to the hunter4 ,for a moment compassion restrained the latter's arm2 but that was a short-lived mood1 and as quick as thought can follow thought his piece was levelled1 and whang6--the fox rolling over the rock lay dead on the ground4 ,the hunter still kept his place and listened to the hounds4 ,still on they came1 and now the near woods resounded through all their aisles with their demoniac cry4 ,at length the old hound burst into view with muzzle to the ground1 and snapping the air as if possessed1 and ran directly to the rock2 but spying the dead fox she suddenly ceased her hounding as if struck dumb with amazement1 and walked round and round him in silence2 and one by one her pups arrived1 and1 like their mother1 were sobered into silence by the mystery4 ,then the hunter came forward and stood in their midst1 and the mystery was solved4 ,they waited in silence while he skinned the fox1 then followed the brush a while1 and at length turned off into the woods again4 ,that evening a ,weston ,squire came to the ,concord hunter's cottage to inquire for his hounds1 and told how for a week they had been hunting on their own account from ,weston woods4 ,the ,concord hunter told him what he knew and offered him the skin2 but the other declined it and departed4 ,he did not find his hounds that night1 but the next day learned that they had crossed the river and put up at a farm-house for the night1 whence1 having been well fed1 they took their departure early in the morning4 ,the hunter who told me this could remember one ,sam ,nutting1 who used to hunt bears on ,fair ,haven ,ledges1 and exchange their skins for rum in ,concord village2 who told him1 even1 that he had seen a moose there4 ,nutting had a famous fox-hound named ,burgoyne1--he pronounced it ,bugine1--which my informant used to borrow4 ,in the 8,wast ,book0 of an old trader of this town1 who was also a captain1 town-clerk1 and representative1 ,i find the following entry4 ,jan4 #ahth1 #agdb-c1 8,john ,melven ,cr4 by #a ,grey ,fox #j--b--c20 they are not now found here2 and in his ledger1 ,feb4 #gth1 #agdc1 ,hezekiah ,stratton has credit 8by a ,catt skin #j--a--d20 of course1 a wild-cat1 for ,stratton was a sergeant in the old ,french war1 and would not have got credit for hunting less noble game4 ,credit is given for deer skins also1 and they were daily sold4 ,one man still preserves the horns of the last deer that was killed in this vicinity1 and another has told me the particulars of the hunt in which his uncle was engaged4 ,the hunters were formerly a numerous and merry crew here4 ,i remember well one gaunt ,nimrod who would catch up a leaf by the road-side and play a strain on it wilder and more melodious1 if my memory serves me1 than any hunting-horn4 ,at midnight1 when there was a moon1 ,i sometimes met with hounds in my path prowling about the woods1 which would skulk out of my way1 as if afraid1 and stand silent amid the bushes till ,i had passed4 ,squirrels and wild mice disputed for my store of nuts4 ,there were scores of pitch-pines around my house1 from one to four inches in diameter1 which had been gnawed by mice the previous winter1--a ,norwegian winter for them1 for the snow lay long and deep1 and they were obliged to mix a large proportion of pine bark with their other diet4 ,these trees were alive and apparently flourishing at mid-summer1 and many of them had grown a foot1 though completely girdled2 but after another winter such were without exception dead4 ,it is remarkable that a single mouse should thus be allowed a whole pine tree for its dinner1 gnawing round instead of up and down it2 but perhaps it is necessary in order to thin these trees1 which are wont to grow up densely4 ,the hares 7,lepus ,americanus7 were very familiar4 ,one had her form under my house all winter1 separated from me only by the flooring1 and she startled me each morning by her hasty departure when ,i began to stir1--thump1 thump1 thump1 striking her head against the floor timbers in her hurry4 ,they used to come round my door at dusk to nibble the potato parings which ,i had thrown out1 and were so nearly the color of the ground that they could hardly be distinguished when still4 ,sometimes in the twilight ,i alternately lost and recovered sight of one sitting motionless under my window4 ,when ,i opened my door in the evening1 off they would go with a squeak and a bounce4 ,near at hand they only excited my pity4 ,one evening one sat by my door two paces from me1 at first trembling with fear1 yet unwilling to move2 a poor wee thing1 lean and bony1 with ragged ears and sharp nose1 scant tail and slender paws4 ,it looked as if ,nature no longer contained the breed of nobler bloods1 but stood on her last toes4 ,its large eyes appeared young and unhealthy1 almost dropsical4 ,i took a step1 and lo1 away it scud with an elastic spring over the snow crust1 straightening its body and its limbs into graceful length1 and soon put the forest between me and itself1--the wild free venison1 asserting its vigor and the dignity of ,nature4 ,not without reason was its slenderness4 ,such then was its nature4 7,lepus1 levipes1 light-foot1 some think47 ,what is a country without rabbits and partridges8 ,they are among the most simple and indigenous animal products2 ancient and venerable families known to antiquity as to modern times2 of the very hue and substance of ,nature1 nearest allied to leaves and to the ground1--and to one another2 it is either winged or it is legged4 ,it is hardly as if you had seen a wild creature when a rabbit or a partridge bursts away1 only a natural one1 as much to be expected as rustling leaves4 ,the partridge and the rabbit are still sure to thrive1 like true natives of the soil1 whatever revolutions occur4 ,if the forest is cut off1 the sprouts and bushes which spring up afford them concealment1 and they become more numerous than ever4 ,that must be a poor country indeed that does not support a hare4 ,our woods teem with them both1 and around every swamp may be seen the partridge or rabbit walk1 beset with twiggy fences and horse-hair snares1 which some cow-boy tends4 ,the ,pond in ,winter ,after a still winter night ,i awoke with the impression that some question had been put to me1 which ,i had been endeavoring in vain to answer in my sleep1 as what--how--when--where8 ,but there was dawning ,nature1 in whom all creatures live1 looking in at my broad windows with serene and satisfied face1 and no question on her lips4 ,i awoke to an answered question1 to ,nature and daylight4 ,the snow lying deep on the earth dotted with young pines1 and the very slope of the hill on which my house is placed1 seemed to say1 ,forward6 ,nature puts no question and answers none which we mortals ask4 ,she has long ago taken her resolution4 8,o ,prince1 our eyes contemplate with admiration and transmit to the soul the wonderful and varied spectacle of this universe4 ,the night veils without doubt a part of this glorious creation2 but day comes to reveal to us this great work1 which extends from earth even into the plains of the ether40 ,then to my morning work4 ,first ,i take an axe and pail and go in search of water1 if that be not a dream4 ,after a cold and snowy night it needed a divining rod to find it4 ,every winter the liquid and trembling surface of the pond1 which was so sensitive to every breath1 and reflected every light and shadow1 becomes solid to the depth of a foot or a foot and a half1 so that it will support the heaviest teams1 and perchance the snow covers it to an equal depth1 and it is not to be distinguished from any level field4 ,like the marmots in the surrounding hills1 it closes its eye-lids and becomes dormant for three months or more4 ,standing on the snow-covered plain1 as if in a pasture amid the hills1 ,i cut my way first through a foot of snow1 and then a foot of ice1 and open a window under my feet1 where1 kneeling to drink1 ,i look down into the quiet parlor of the fishes1 pervaded by a softened light as through a window of ground glass1 with its bright sanded floor the same as in summer2 there a perennial waveless serenity reigns as in the amber twilight sky1 corresponding to the cool and even temperament of the inhabitants4 ,heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads4 ,early in the morning1 while all things are crisp with frost1 men come with fishing reels and slender lunch1 and let down their fine lines through the snowy field to take pickerel and perch2 wild men1 who instinctively follow other fashions and trust other authorities than their townsmen1 and by their goings and comings stitch towns together in parts where else they would be ripped4 ,they sit and eat their luncheon in stout fear-naughts on the dry oak leaves on the shore1 as wise in natural lore as the citizen is in artificial4 ,they never consulted with books1 and know and can tell much less than they have done4 ,the things which they practise are said not yet to be known4 ,here is one fishing for pickerel with grown perch for bait4 ,you look into his pail with wonder as into a summer pond1 as if he kept summer locked up at home1 or knew where she had retreated4 ,how1 pray1 did he get these in mid-winter8 ,o1 he got worms out of rotten logs since the ground froze1 and so he caught them4 ,his life itself passes deeper in ,nature than the studies of the naturalist penetrate2 himself a subject for the naturalist4 ,the latter raises the moss and bark gently with his knife in search of insects2 the former lays open logs to their core with his axe1 and moss and bark fly far and wide4 ,he gets his living by barking trees4 ,such a man has some right to fish1 and ,i love to see ,nature carried out in him4 ,the perch swallows the grub-worm1 the pickerel swallows the perch1 and the fisher-man swallows the pickerel2 and so all the chinks in the scale of being are filled4 ,when ,i strolled around the pond in misty weather ,i was sometimes amused by the primitive mode which some ruder fisherman had adopted4 ,he would perhaps have placed alder branches over the narrow holes in the ice1 which were four or five rods apart and an equal distance from the shore1 and having fastened the end of the line to a stick to prevent its being pulled through1 have passed the slack line over a twig of the alder1 a foot or more above the ice1 and tied a dry oak leaf to it1 which1 being pulled down1 would show when he had a bite4 ,these alders loomed through the mist at regular intervals as you walked half way round the pond4 ,ah1 the pickerel of ,walden6 when ,i see them lying on the ice1 or in the well which the fisherman cuts in the ice1 making a little hole to admit the water1 ,i am always surprised by their rare beauty1 as if they were fabulous fishes1 they are so foreign to the streets1 even to the woods1 foreign as ,arabia to our ,concord life4 ,they possess a quite dazzling and transcendent beauty which separates them by a wide interval from the cadaverous cod and haddock whose fame is trumpeted in our streets4 ,they are not green like the pines1 nor gray like the stones1 nor blue like the sky2 but they have1 to my eyes1 if possible1 yet rarer colors1 like flowers and precious stones1 as if they were the pearls1 the animalized nuclei or crystals of the ,walden water4 ,they1 of course1 are ,walden all over and all through2 are themselves small ,waldens in the animal kingdom1 ,waldenses4 ,it is surprising that they are caught here1--that in this deep and capacious spring1 far beneath the rattling teams and chaises and tinkling sleighs that travel the ,walden road1 this great gold and emerald fish swims4 ,i never chanced to see its kind in any market2 it would be the cynosure of all eyes there4 ,easily1 with a few convulsive quirks1 they give up their watery ghosts1 like a mortal translated before his time to the thin air of heaven4 waldenpondmap ,as ,i was desirous to recover the long lost bottom of ,walden ,pond1 ,i surveyed it carefully1 before the ice broke up1 early in '#df1 with compass and chain and sounding line4 ,there have been many stories told about the bottom1 or rather no bottom1 of this pond1 which certainly had no foundation for themselves4 ,it is remarkable how long men will believe in the bottomlessness of a pond without taking the trouble to sound it4 ,i have visited two such ,bottomless ,ponds in one walk in this neighborhood4 ,many have believed that ,walden reached quite through to the other side of the globe4 ,some who have lain flat on the ice for a long time1 looking down through the illusive medium1 perchance with watery eyes into the bargain1 and driven to hasty conclusions by the fear of catching cold in their breasts1 have seen vast holes 8into which a load of hay might be driven10 if there were any body to drive it1 the undoubted source of the ,styx and entrance to the ,infernal ,regions from these parts4 ,others have gone down from the village with a 8fifty-six0 and a wagon load of inch rope1 but yet have failed to find any bottom2 for while the 8fifty-six0 was resting by the way1 they were paying out the rope in the vain attempt to fathom their truly immeasurable capacity for marvellousness4 ,but ,i can assure my readers that ,walden has a reasonably tight bottom at a not unreasonable1 though at an unusual1 depth4 ,i fathomed it easily with a cod-line and a stone weighing about a pound and a half1 and could tell accurately when the stone left the bottom1 by having to pull so much harder before the water got underneath to help me4 ,the greatest depth was exactly one hundred and two feet2 to which may be added the five feet which it has risen since1 making one hundred and seven4 ,this is a remarkable depth for so small an area2 yet not an inch of it can be spared by the imagination4 ,what if all ponds were shallow8 ,would it not react on the minds of men8 ,i am thankful that this pond was made deep and pure for a symbol4 ,while men believe in the infinite some ponds will be thought to be bottomless4 ,a factory owner1 hearing what depth ,i had found1 thought that it could not be true1 for1 judging from his acquaintance with dams1 sand would not lie at so steep an angle4 ,but the deepest ponds are not so deep in proportion to their area as most suppose1 and1 if drained1 would not leave very remarkable valleys4 ,they are not like cups between the hills2 for this one1 which is so unusually deep for its area1 appears in a vertical section through its centre not deeper than a shallow plate4 ,most ponds1 emptied1 would leave a meadow no more hollow than we frequently see4 ,william ,gilpin1 who is so admirable in all that relates to landscapes1 and usually so correct1 standing at the head of ,loch ,fyne1 in ,scotland1 which he describes as 8a bay of salt water1 sixty or seventy fathoms deep1 four miles in breadth10 and about fifty miles long1 surrounded by mountains1 observes1 8,if we could have seen it immediately after the diluvian crash1 or whatever convulsion of ,nature occasioned it1 before the waters gushed in1 what a horrid chasm must it have appeared6 ,so high as heaved the tumid hills1 so low ,down sunk a hollow bottom broad and deep1 ,capacious bed of waters--40 ,but if1 using the shortest diameter of ,loch ,fyne1 we apply these proportions to ,walden1 which1 as we have seen1 appears already in a vertical section only like a shallow plate1 it will appear four times as shallow4 ,so much for the increased horrors of the chasm of ,loch ,fyne when emptied4 ,no doubt many a smiling valley with its stretching cornfields occupies exactly such a 8horrid chasm10 from which the waters have receded1 though it requires the insight and the far sight of the geologist to convince the unsuspecting inhabitants of this fact4 ,often an inquisitive eye may detect the shores of a primitive lake in the low horizon hills1 and no subsequent elevation of the plain has been necessary to conceal their history4 ,but it is easiest1 as they who work on the highways know1 to find the hollows by the puddles after a shower4 ,the amount of it is1 the imagination give it the least license1 dives deeper and soars higher than ,nature goes4 ,so1 probably1 the depth of the ocean will be found to be very inconsiderable compared with its breadth4 ,as ,i sounded through the ice ,i could determine the shape of the bottom with greater accuracy than is possible in surveying harbors which do not freeze over1 and ,i was surprised at its general regularity4 ,in the deepest part there are several acres more level than almost any field which is exposed to the sun wind and plough4 ,in one instance1 on a line arbitrarily chosen1 the depth did not vary more than one foot in thirty rods2 and generally1 near the middle1 ,i could calculate the variation for each one hundred feet in any direction beforehand within three or four inches4 ,some are accustomed to speak of deep and dangerous holes even in quiet sandy ponds like this1 but the effect of water under these circumstances is to level all inequalities4 ,the regularity of the bottom and its conformity to the shores and the range of the neighboring hills were so perfect that a distant promontory betrayed itself in the soundings quite across the pond1 and its direction could be determined by observing the opposite shore4 ,cape becomes bar1 and plain shoal1 and valley and gorge deep water and channel4 ,when ,i had mapped the pond by the scale of ten rods to an inch1 and put down the soundings1 more than a hundred in all1 ,i observed this remarkable coincidence4 ,having noticed that the number indicating the greatest depth was apparently in the centre of the map1 ,i laid a rule on the map lengthwise1 and then breadthwise1 and found1 to my surprise1 that the line of greatest length intersected the line of greatest breadth exactly at the point of greatest depth1 notwithstanding that the middle is so nearly level1 the outline of the pond far from regular1 and the extreme length and breadth were got by measuring into the coves2 and ,i said to myself1 ,who knows but this hint would conduct to the deepest part of the ocean as well as of a pond or puddle8 ,is not this the rule also for the height of mountains1 regarded as the opposite of valleys8 ,we know that a hill is not highest at its narrowest part4 ,of five coves1 three1 or all which had been sounded1 were observed to have a bar quite across their mouths and deeper water within1 so that the bay tended to be an expansion of water within the land not only horizontally but vertically1 and to form a basin or independent pond1 the direction of the two capes showing the course of the bar4 ,every harbor on the sea-coast1 also1 has its bar at its entrance4 ,in proportion as the mouth of the cove was wider compared with its length1 the water over the bar was deeper compared with that in the basin4 ,given1 then1 the length and breadth of the cove1 and the character of the surrounding shore1 and you have almost elements enough to make out a formula for all cases4 ,in order to see how nearly ,i could guess1 with this experience1 at the deepest point in a pond1 by observing the outlines of its surface and the character of its shores alone1 ,i made a plan of ,white ,pond1 which contains about forty-one acres1 and1 like this1 has no island in it1 nor any visible inlet or outlet2 and as the line of greatest breadth fell very near the line of least breadth1 where two opposite capes approached each other and two opposite bays receded1 ,i ventured to mark a point a short distance from the latter line1 but still on the line of greatest length1 as the deepest4 ,the deepest part was found to be within one hundred feet of this1 still farther in the direction to which ,i had inclined1 and was only one foot deeper1 namely1 sixty feet4 ,of course1 a stream running through1 or an island in the pond1 would make the problem much more complicated4 ,if we knew all the laws of ,nature1 we should need only one fact1 or the description of one actual phenomenon1 to infer all the particular results at that point4 ,now we know only a few laws1 and our result is vitiated1 not1 of course1 by any confusion or irregularity in ,nature1 but by our ignorance of essential elements in the calculation4 ,our notions of law and harmony are commonly confined to those instances which we detect2 but the harmony which results from a far greater number of seemingly conflicting1 but really concurring1 laws1 which we have not detected1 is still more wonderful4 ,the particular laws are as our points of view1 as1 to the traveller1 a mountain outline varies with every step1 and it has an infinite number of profiles1 though absolutely but one form4 ,even when cleft or bored through it is not comprehended in its entireness4 ,what ,i have observed of the pond is no less true in ethics4 ,it is the law of average4 ,such a rule of the two diameters not only guides us toward the sun in the system and the heart in man1 but draw lines through the length and breadth of the aggregate of a man's particular daily behaviors and waves of life into his coves and inlets1 and where they intersect will be the height or depth of his character4 ,perhaps we need only to know how his shores trend and his adjacent country or circumstances1 to infer his depth and concealed bottom4 ,if he is surrounded by mountainous circumstances1 an ,achillean shore1 whose peaks overshadow and are reflected in his bosom1 they suggest a corresponding depth in him4 ,but a low and smooth shore proves him shallow on that side4 ,in our bodies1 a bold projecting brow falls off to and indicates a corresponding depth of thought4 ,also there is a bar across the entrance of our every cove1 or particular inclination2 each is our harbor for a season1 in which we are detained and partially land-locked4 ,these inclinations are not whimsical usually1 but their form1 size1 and direction are determined by the promontories of the shore1 the ancient axes of elevation4 ,when this bar is gradually increased by storms1 tides1 or currents1 or there is a subsidence of the waters1 so that it reaches to the surface1 that which was at first but an inclination in the shore in which a thought was harbored becomes an individual lake1 cut off from the ocean1 wherein the thought secures its own conditions1 changes1 perhaps1 from salt to fresh1 becomes a sweet sea1 dead sea1 or a marsh4 ,at the advent of each individual into this life1 may we not suppose that such a bar has risen to the surface somewhere8 ,it is true1 we are such poor navigators that our thoughts1 for the most part1 stand off and on upon a harborless coast1 are conversant only with the bights of the bays of poesy1 or steer for the public ports of entry1 and go into the dry docks of science1 where they merely refit for this world1 and no natural currents concur to individualize them4 ,as for the inlet or outlet of ,walden1 ,i have not discovered any but rain and snow and evaporation1 though perhaps1 with a thermometer and a line1 such places may be found1 for where the water flows into the pond it will probably be coldest in summer and warmest in winter4 ,when the ice-men were at work here in '#df-g1 the cakes sent to the shore were one day rejected by those who were stacking them up there1 not being thick enough to lie side by side with the rest2 and the cutters thus discovered that the ice over a small space was two or three inches thinner than elsewhere1 which made them think that there was an inlet there4 ,they also showed me in another place what they thought was a 8leach hole10 through which the pond leaked out under a hill into a neighboring meadow1 pushing me out on a cake of ice to see it4 ,it was a small cavity under ten feet of water2 but ,i think that ,i can warrant the pond not to need soldering till they find a worse leak than that4 ,one has suggested1 that if such a 8leach hole0 should be found1 its connection with the meadow1 if any existed1 might be proved by conveying some colored powder or sawdust to the mouth of the hole1 and then putting a strainer over the spring in the meadow1 which would catch some of the particles carried through by the current4 ,while ,i was surveying1 the ice1 which was sixteen inches thick1 undulated under a slight wind like water4 ,it is well known that a level cannot be used on ice4 ,at one rod from the shore its greatest fluctuation1 when observed by means of a level on land directed toward a graduated staff on the ice1 was three quarters of an inch1 though the ice appeared firmly attached to the shore4 ,it was probably greater in the middle4 ,who knows but if our instruments were delicate enough we might detect an undulation in the crust of the earth8 ,when two legs of my level were on the shore and the third on the ice1 and the sights were directed over the latter1 a rise or fall of the ice of an almost infinitesimal amount made a difference of several feet on a tree across the pond4 ,when ,i began to cut holes for sounding1 there were three or four inches of water on the ice under a deep snow which had sunk it thus far2 but the water began immediately to run into these holes1 and continued to run for two days in deep streams1 which wore away the ice on every side1 and contributed essentially1 if not mainly1 to dry the surface of the pond2 for1 as the water ran in1 it raised and floated the ice4 ,this was somewhat like cutting a hole in the bottom of a ship to let the water out4 ,when such holes freeze1 and a rain succeeds1 and finally a new freezing forms a fresh smooth ice over all1 it is beautifully mottled internally by dark figures1 shaped somewhat like a spider's web1 what you may call ice rosettes1 produced by the channels worn by the water flowing from all sides to a centre4 ,sometimes1 also1 when the ice was covered with shallow puddles1 ,i saw a double shadow of myself1 one standing on the head of the other1 one on the ice1 the other on the trees or hill-side4 ,while yet it is cold ,january1 and snow and ice are thick and solid1 the prudent landlord comes from the village to get ice to cool his summer drink2 impressively1 even pathetically wise1 to foresee the heat and thirst of ,july now in ,january1--wearing a thick coat and mittens6 when so many things are not provided for4 ,it may be that he lays up no treasures in this world which will cool his summer drink in the next4 ,he cuts and saws the solid pond1 unroofs the house of fishes1 and carts off their very element and air1 held fast by chains and stakes like corded wood1 through the favoring winter air1 to wintry cellars1 to underlie the summer there4 ,it looks like solidified azure1 as1 far off1 it is drawn through the streets4 ,these ice-cutters are a merry race1 full of jest and sport1 and when ,i went among them they were wont to invite me to saw pit-fashion with them1 ,i standing underneath4 ,in the winter of '#df-g there came a hundred men of ,hyperborean extraction swoop down on to our pond one morning1 with many car-loads of ungainly-looking farming tools1 sleds1 ploughs1 drill-barrows1 turf-knives1 spades1 saws1 rakes1 and each man was armed with a double-pointed pike-staff1 such as is not described in the ,new-,england ,farmer or the ,cultivator4 ,i did not know whether they had come to sow a crop of winter rye1 or some other kind of grain recently introduced from ,iceland4 ,as ,i saw no manure1 ,i judged that they meant to skim the land1 as ,i had done1 thinking the soil was deep and had lain fallow long enough4 ,they said that a gentleman farmer1 who was behind the scenes1 wanted to double his money1 which1 as ,i understood1 amounted to half a million already2 but in order to cover each one of his dollars with another1 he took off the only coat1 ay1 the skin itself1 of ,walden ,pond in the midst of a hard winter4 ,they went to work at once1 ploughing1 harrowing1 rolling1 furrowing1 in admirable order1 as if they were bent on making this a model farm2 but when ,i was looking sharp to see what kind of seed they dropped into the furrow1 a gang of fellows by my side suddenly began to hook up the virgin mould itself1 with a peculiar jerk1 clean down to the sand1 or rather the water1--for it was a very springy soil1--indeed all the terra firma there was1--and haul it away on sleds1 and then ,i guessed that they must be cutting peat in a bog4 ,so they came and went every day1 with a peculiar shriek from the locomotive1 from and to some point of the polar regions1 as it seemed to me1 like a flock of arctic snow-birds4 ,but sometimes ,squaw ,walden had her revenge1 and a hired man1 walking behind his team1 slipped through a crack in the ground down toward ,tartarus1 and he who was so brave before suddenly became but the ninth part of a man1 almost gave up his animal heat1 and was glad to take refuge in my house1 and acknowledged that there was some virtue in a stove2 or sometimes the frozen soil took a piece of steel out of a ploughshare1 or a plough got set in the furrow and had to be cut out4 ,to speak literally1 a hundred ,irishmen1 with ,yankee overseers1 came from ,cambridge every day to get out the ice4 ,they divided it into cakes by methods too well known to require description1 and these1 being sledded to the shore1 were rapidly hauled off on to an ice platform1 and raised by grappling irons and block and tackle1 worked by horses1 on to a stack1 as surely as so many barrels of flour1 and there placed evenly side by side1 and row upon row1 as if they formed the solid base of an obelisk designed to pierce the clouds4 ,they told me that in a good day they could get out a thousand tons1 which was the yield of about one acre4 ,deep ruts and 8cradle holes0 were worn in the ice1 as on terra firma1 by the passage of the sleds over the same track1 and the horses invariably ate their oats out of cakes of ice hollowed out like buckets4 ,they stacked up the cakes thus in the open air in a pile thirty-five feet high on one side and six or seven rods square1 putting hay between the outside layers to exclude the air2 for when the wind1 though never so cold1 finds a passage through1 it will wear large cavities1 leaving slight supports or studs only here and there1 and finally topple it down4 ,at first it looked like a vast blue fort or ,valhalla2 but when they began to tuck the coarse meadow hay into the crevices1 and this became covered with rime and icicles1 it looked like a venerable moss-grown and hoary ruin1 built of azure-tinted marble1 the abode of ,winter1 that old man we see in the almanac1--his shanty1 as if he had a design to estivate with us4 ,they calculated that not twenty-five per cent of this would reach its destination1 and that two or three per cent would be wasted in the cars4 ,however1 a still greater part of this heap had a different destiny from what was intended2 for1 either because the ice was found not to keep so well as was expected1 containing more air than usual1 or for some other reason1 it never got to market4 ,this heap1 made in the winter of '#df-g and estimated to contain ten thousand tons1 was finally covered with hay and boards2 and though it was unroofed the following ,july1 and a part of it carried off1 the rest remaining exposed to the sun1 it stood over that summer and the next winter1 and was not quite melted till ,september #ahdh4 ,thus the pond recovered the greater part4 ,like the water1 the ,walden ice1 seen near at hand1 has a green tint1 but at a distance is beautifully blue1 and you can easily tell it from the white ice of the river1 or the merely greenish ice of some ponds1 a quarter of a mile off4 ,sometimes one of those great cakes slips from the ice-man's sled into the village street1 and lies there for a week like a great emerald1 an object of interest to all passers4 ,i have noticed that a portion of ,walden which in the state of water was green will often1 when frozen1 appear from the same point of view blue4 ,so the hollows about this pond will1 sometimes1 in the winter1 be filled with a greenish water somewhat like its own1 but the next day will have frozen blue4 ,perhaps the blue color of water and ice is due to the light and air they contain1 and the most transparent is the bluest4 ,ice is an interesting subject for contemplation4 ,they told me that they had some in the ice-houses at ,fresh ,pond five years old which was as good as ever4 ,why is it that a bucket of water soon becomes putrid1 but frozen remains sweet forever8 ,it is commonly said that this is the difference between the affections and the intellect4 ,thus for sixteen days ,i saw from my window a hundred men at work like busy husbandmen1 with teams and horses and apparently all the implements of farming1 such a picture as we see on the first page of the almanac2 and as often as ,i looked out ,i was reminded of the fable of the lark and the reapers1 or the parable of the sower1 and the like2 and now they are all gone1 and in thirty days more1 probably1 ,i shall look from the same window on the pure sea-green ,walden water there1 reflecting the clouds and the trees1 and sending up its evaporations in solitude1 and no traces will appear that a man has ever stood there4 ,perhaps ,i shall hear a solitary loon laugh as he dives and plumes himself1 or shall see a lonely fisher in his boat1 like a floating leaf1 beholding his form reflected in the waves1 where lately a hundred men securely labored4 ,thus it appears that the sweltering inhabitants of ,charleston and ,new ,orleans1 of ,madras and ,bombay and ,calcutta1 drink at my well4 ,in the morning ,i bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the ,bhagvat ,geeta1 since whose composition years of the gods have elapsed1 and in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seem puny and trivial2 and ,i doubt if that philosophy is not to be referred to a previous state of existence1 so remote is its sublimity from our conceptions4 ,i lay down the book and go to my well for water1 and lo6 there ,i meet the servant of the ,bramin1 priest of ,brahma and ,vishnu and ,indra1 who still sits in his temple on the ,ganges reading the ,vedas1 or dwells at the root of a tree with his crust and water jug4 ,i meet his servant come to draw water for his master1 and our buckets as it were grate together in the same well4 ,the pure ,walden water is mingled with the sacred water of the ,ganges4 ,with favoring winds it is wafted past the site of the fabulous islands of ,atlantis and the ,hesperides1 makes the periplus of ,hanno1 and1 floating by ,ternate and ,tidore and the mouth of the ,persian ,gulf1 melts in the tropic gales of the ,indian seas1 and is landed in ports of which ,alexander only heard the names4 ,spring ,the opening of large tracts by the ice-cutters commonly causes a pond to break up earlier2 for the water1 agitated by the wind1 even in cold weather1 wears away the surrounding ice4 ,but such was not the effect on ,walden that year1 for she had soon got a thick new garment to take the place of the old4 ,this pond never breaks up so soon as the others in this neighborhood1 on account both of its greater depth and its having no stream passing through it to melt or wear away the ice4 ,i never knew it to open in the course of a winter1 not excepting that of '#eb-c1 which gave the ponds so severe a trial4 ,it commonly opens about the first of ,april1 a week or ten days later than ,flint's ,pond and ,fair-,haven1 beginning to melt on the north side and in the shallower parts where it began to freeze4 ,it indicates better than any water hereabouts the absolute progress of the season1 being least affected by transient changes of temperature4 ,a severe cold of a few days' duration in ,march may very much retard the opening of the former ponds1 while the temperature of ,walden increases almost uninterruptedly4 ,a thermometer thrust into the middle of ,walden on the #fth of ,march1 #ahdg1 stood at #cb1 or freezing point2 near the shore at #cc2 in the middle of ,flint's ,pond1 the same day1 at #cb2 at a dozen rods from the shore1 in shallow water1 under ice a foot thick1 at #cf4 ,this difference of three and a half degrees between the temperature of the deep water and the shallow in the latter pond1 and the fact that a great proportion of it is comparatively shallow1 show why it should break up so much sooner than ,walden4 ,the ice in the shallowest part was at this time several inches thinner than in the middle4 ,in mid-winter the middle had been the warmest and the ice thinnest there4 ,so1 also1 every one who has waded about the shores of the pond in summer must have perceived how much warmer the water is close to the shore1 where only three or four inches deep1 than a little distance out1 and on the surface where it is deep1 than near the bottom4 ,in spring the sun not only exerts an influence through the increased temperature of the air and earth1 but its heat passes through ice a foot or more thick1 and is reflected from the bottom in shallow water1 and so also warms the water and melts the under side of the ice1 at the same time that it is melting it more directly above1 making it uneven1 and causing the air bubbles which it contains to extend themselves upward and downward until it is completely honeycombed1 and at last disappears suddenly in a single spring rain4 ,ice has its grain as well as wood1 and when a cake begins to rot or 8comb10 that is1 assume the appearance of honey-comb1 whatever may be its position1 the air cells are at right angles with what was the water surface4 ,where there is a rock or a log rising near to the surface the ice over it is much thinner1 and is frequently quite dissolved by this reflected heat2 and ,i have been told that in the experiment at ,cambridge to freeze water in a shallow wooden pond1 though the cold air circulated underneath1 and so had access to both sides1 the reflection of the sun from the bottom more than counterbalanced this advantage4 ,when a warm rain in the middle of the winter melts off the snow-ice from ,walden1 and leaves a hard dark or transparent ice on the middle1 there will be a strip of rotten though thicker white ice1 a rod or more wide1 about the shores1 created by this reflected heat4 ,also1 as ,i have said1 the bubbles themselves within the ice operate as burning-glasses to melt the ice beneath4 ,the phenomena of the year take place every day in a pond on a small scale4 ,every morning1 generally speaking1 the shallow water is being warmed more rapidly than the deep1 though it may not be made so warm after all1 and every evening it is being cooled more rapidly until the morning4 ,the day is an epitome of the year4 ,the night is the winter1 the morning and evening are the spring and fall1 and the noon is the summer4 ,the cracking and booming of the ice indicate a change of temperature4 ,one pleasant morning after a cold night1 ,february #bdth1 #ahej1 having gone to ,flint's ,pond to spend the day1 ,i noticed with surprise1 that when ,i struck the ice with the head of my axe1 it resounded like a gong for many rods around1 or as if ,i had struck on a tight drum-head4 ,the pond began to boom about an hour after sunrise1 when it felt the influence of the sun's rays slanted upon it from over the hills2 it stretched itself and yawned like a waking man with a gradually increasing tumult1 which was kept up three or four hours4 ,it took a short siesta at noon1 and boomed once more toward night1 as the sun was withdrawing his influence4 ,in the right stage of the weather a pond fires its evening gun with great regularity4 ,but in the middle of the day1 being full of cracks1 and the air also being less elastic1 it had completely lost its resonance1 and probably fishes and muskrats could not then have been stunned by a blow on it4 ,the fishermen say that the 8thundering of the pond0 scares the fishes and prevents their biting4 ,the pond does not thunder every evening1 and ,i cannot tell surely when to expect its thundering2 but though ,i may perceive no difference in the weather1 it does4 ,who would have suspected so large and cold and thick-skinned a thing to be so sensitive8 ,yet it has its law to which it thunders obedience when it should as surely as the buds expand in the spring4 ,the earth is all alive and covered with papill4 ,the largest pond is as sensitive to atmospheric changes as the globule of mercury in its tube4 ,one attraction in coming to the woods to live was that ,i should have leisure and opportunity to see the spring come in4 ,the ice in the pond at length begins to be honey-combed1 and ,i can set my heel in it as ,i walk4 ,fogs and rains and warmer suns are gradually melting the snow2 the days have grown sensibly longer2 and ,i see how ,i shall get through the winter without adding to my wood-pile1 for large fires are no longer necessary4 ,i am on the alert for the first signs of spring1 to hear the chance note of some arriving bird1 or the striped squirrel's chirp1 for his stores must be now nearly exhausted1 or see the woodchuck venture out of his winter quarters4 ,on the #acth of ,march1 after ,i had heard the bluebird1 song-sparrow1 and red-wing1 the ice was still nearly a foot thick4 ,as the weather grew warmer it was not sensibly worn away by the water1 nor broken up and floated off as in rivers1 but1 though it was completely melted for half a rod in width about the shore1 the middle was merely honey-combed and saturated with water1 so that you could put your foot through it when six inches thick2 but by the next day evening1 perhaps1 after a warm rain followed by fog1 it would have wholly disappeared1 all gone off with the fog1 spirited away4 ,one year ,i went across the middle only five days before it disappeared entirely4 ,in #ahde ,walden was first completely open on the #ast of ,april2 in '#df1 the #beth of ,march2 in '#dg1 the #hth of ,april2 in '#ea1 the #bhth of ,march2 in '#eb1 the #ahth of ,april2 in '#ec1 the #bc;d of ,march2 in '#ed1 about the #gth of ,april4 ,every incident connected with the breaking up of the rivers and ponds and the settling of the weather is particularly interesting to us who live in a climate of so great extremes4 ,when the warmer days come1 they who dwell near the river hear the ice crack at night with a startling whoop as loud as artillery1 as if its icy fetters were rent from end to end1 and within a few days see it rapidly going out4 ,so the alligator comes out of the mud with quakings of the earth4 ,one old man1 who has been a close observer of ,nature1 and seems as thoroughly wise in regard to all her operations as if she had been put upon the stocks when he was a boy1 and he had helped to lay her keel1--who has come to his growth1 and can hardly acquire more of natural lore if he should live to the age of ,methuselah1--told me1 and ,i was surprised to hear him express wonder at any of ,nature's operations1 for ,i thought that there were no secrets between them1 that one spring day he took his gun and boat1 and thought that he would have a little sport with the ducks4 ,there was ice still on the meadows1 but it was all gone out of the river1 and he dropped down without obstruction from ,sudbury1 where he lived1 to ,fair-,haven ,pond1 which he found1 unexpectedly1 covered for the most part with a firm field of ice4 ,it was a warm day1 and he was surprised to see so great a body of ice remaining4 ,not seeing any ducks1 he hid his boat on the north or back side of an island in the pond1 and then concealed himself in the bushes on the south side1 to await them4 ,the ice was melted for three or four rods from the shore1 and there was a smooth and warm sheet of water1 with a muddy bottom1 such as the ducks love1 within1 and he thought it likely that some would be along pretty soon4 ,after he had lain still there about an hour he heard a low and seemingly very distant sound1 but singularly grand and impressive1 unlike any thing he had ever heard1 gradually swelling and increasing as if it would have a universal and memorable ending1 a sullen rush and roar1 which seemed to him all at once like the sound of a vast body of fowl coming in to settle there1 and1 seizing his gun1 he started up in haste and excited2 but he found1 to his surprise1 that the whole body of the ice had started while he lay there1 and drifted in to the shore1 and the sound he had heard was made by its edge grating on the shore1--at first gently nibbled and crumbled off1 but at length heaving up and scattering its wrecks along the island to a considerable height before it came to a stand still4 ,at length the sun's rays have attained the right angle1 and warm winds blow up mist and rain and melt the snow banks1 and the sun dispersing the mist smiles on a checkered landscape of russet and white smoking with incense1 through which the traveller picks his way from islet to islet1 cheered by the music of a thousand tinkling rills and rivulets whose veins are filled with the blood of winter which they are bearing off4 ,few phenomena gave me more delight than to observe the forms which thawing sand and clay assume in flowing down the sides of a deep cut on the railroad through which ,i passed on my way to the village1 a phenomenon not very common on so large a scale1 though the number of freshly exposed banks of the right material must have been greatly multiplied since railroads were invented4 ,the material was sand of every degree of fineness and of various rich colors1 commonly mixed with a little clay4 ,when the frost comes out in the spring1 and even in a thawing day in the winter1 the sand begins to flow down the slopes like lava1 sometimes bursting out through the snow and overflowing it where no sand was to be seen before4 ,innumerable little streams overlap and interlace one with another1 exhibiting a sort of hybrid product1 which obeys half way the law of currents1 and half way that of vegetation4 ,as it flows it takes the forms of sappy leaves or vines1 making heaps of pulpy sprays a foot or more in depth1 and resembling1 as you look down on them1 the laciniated1 lobed1 and imbricated thalluses of some lichens2 or you are reminded of coral1 of leopard's paws or birds' feet1 of brains or lungs or bowels1 and excrements of all kinds4 ,it is a truly grotesque vegetation1 whose forms and color we see imitated in bronze1 a sort of architectural foliage more ancient and typical than acanthus1 chiccory1 ivy1 vine1 or any vegetable leaves2 destined perhaps1 under some circumstances1 to become a puzzle to future geologists4 ,the whole cut impressed me as if it were a cave with its stalactites laid open to the light4 ,the various shades of the sand are singularly rich and agreeable1 embracing the different iron colors1 brown1 gray1 yellowish1 and reddish4 ,when the flowing mass reaches the drain at the foot of the bank it spreads out flatter into strands1 the separate streams losing their semi-cylindrical form and gradually becoming more flat and broad1 running together as they are more moist1 till they form an almost flat sand1 still variously and beautifully shaded1 but in which you can trace the original forms of vegetation2 till at length1 in the water itself1 they are converted into banks1 like those formed off the mouths of rivers1 and the forms of vegetation are lost in the ripple marks on the bottom4 ,the whole bank1 which is from twenty to forty feet high1 is sometimes overlaid with a mass of this kind of foliage1 or sandy rupture1 for a quarter of a mile on one or both sides1 the produce of one spring day4 ,what makes this sand foliage remarkable is its springing into existence thus suddenly4 ,when ,i see on the one side the inert bank1--for the sun acts on one side first1--and on the other this luxuriant foliage1 the creation of an hour1 ,i am affected as if in a peculiar sense ,i stood in the laboratory of the ,artist who made the world and me1--had come to where he was still at work1 sporting on this bank1 and with excess of energy strewing his fresh designs about4 ,i feel as if ,i were nearer to the vitals of the globe1 for this sandy overflow is something such a foliaceous mass as the vitals of the animal body4 ,you find thus in the very sands an anticipation of the vegetable leaf4 ,no wonder that the earth expresses itself outwardly in leaves1 it so labors with the idea inwardly4 ,the atoms have already learned this law1 and are pregnant by it4 ,the overhanging leaf sees here its prototype4 ,internally1 whether in the globe or animal body1 it is a moist thick lobe1 a word especially applicable to the liver and lungs and the leaves of fat1 78e881 labor1 lapsus1 to flow or slip downward1 a lapsing2 88881 globus1 lobe1 globe2 also lap1 flap1 and many other words17 externally a dry thin leaf1 even as the f and v are a pressed and dried b4 ,the radicals of lobe are lb1 the soft mass of the b 7single lobed1 or ,b1 double lobed17 with the liquid l behind it pressing it forward4 ,in globe1 glb1 the guttural g adds to the meaning the capacity of the throat4 ,the feathers and wings of birds are still drier and thinner leaves4 ,thus1 also1 you pass from the lumpish grub in the earth to the airy and fluttering butterfly4 ,the very globe continually transcends and translates itself1 and becomes winged in its orbit4 ,even ice begins with delicate crystal leaves1 as if it had flowed into moulds which the fronds of water plants have impressed on the watery mirror4 ,the whole tree itself is but one leaf1 and rivers are still vaster leaves whose pulp is intervening earth1 and towns and cities are the ova of insects in their axils4 ,when the sun withdraws the sand ceases to flow1 but in the morning the streams will start once more and branch and branch again into a myriad of others4 ,you here see perchance how blood vessels are formed4 ,if you look closely you observe that first there pushes forward from the thawing mass a stream of softened sand with a drop-like point1 like the ball of the finger1 feeling its way slowly and blindly downward1 until at last with more heat and moisture1 as the sun gets higher1 the most fluid portion1 in its effort to obey the law to which the most inert also yields1 separates from the latter and forms for itself a meandering channel or artery within that1 in which is seen a little silvery stream glancing like lightning from one stage of pulpy leaves or branches to another1 and ever and anon swallowed up in the sand4 ,it is wonderful how rapidly yet perfectly the sand organizes itself as it flows1 using the best material its mass affords to form the sharp edges of its channel4 ,such are the sources of rivers4 ,in the silicious matter which the water deposits is perhaps the bony system1 and in the still finer soil and organic matter the fleshy fibre or cellular tissue4 ,what is man but a mass of thawing clay8 ,the ball of the human finger is but a drop congealed4 ,the fingers and toes flow to their extent from the thawing mass of the body4 ,who knows what the human body would expand and flow out to under a more genial heaven8 ,is not the hand a spreading palm leaf with its lobes and veins8 ,the ear may be regarded1 fancifully1 as a lichen1 umbilicaria1 on the side of the head1 with its lobe or drop4 ,the lip--labium1 from labor 787--laps or lapses from the sides of the cavernous mouth4 ,the nose is a manifest congealed drop or stalactite4 ,the chin is a still larger drop1 the confluent dripping of the face4 ,the cheeks are a slide from the brows into the valley of the face1 opposed and diffused by the cheek bones4 ,each rounded lobe of the vegetable leaf1 too1 is a thick and now loitering drop1 larger or smaller2 the lobes are the fingers of the leaf2 and as many lobes as it has1 in so many directions it tends to flow1 and more heat or other genial influences would have caused it to flow yet farther4 ,thus it seemed that this one hillside illustrated the principle of all the operations of ,nature4 ,the ,maker of this earth but patented a leaf4 ,what ,champollion will decipher this hieroglyphic for us1 that we may turn over a new leaf at last8 ,this phenomenon is more exhilarating to me than the luxuriance and fertility of vineyards4 ,true1 it is somewhat excrementitious in its character1 and there is no end to the heaps of liver lights and bowels1 as if the globe were turned wrong side outward2 but this suggests at least that ,nature has some bowels1 and there again is mother of humanity4 ,this is the frost coming out of the ground2 this is ,spring4 ,it precedes the green and flowery spring1 as mythology precedes regular poetry4 ,i know of nothing more purgative of winter fumes and indigestions4 ,it convinces me that ,earth is still in her swaddling clothes1 and stretches forth baby fingers on every side4 ,fresh curls spring from the baldest brow4 ,there is nothing inorganic4 ,these foliaceous heaps lie along the bank like the slag of a furnace1 showing that ,nature is 8in full blast0 within4 ,the earth is not a mere fragment of dead history1 stratum upon stratum like the leaves of a book1 to be studied by geologists and antiquaries chiefly1 but living poetry like the leaves of a tree1 which precede flowers and fruit1--not a fossil earth1 but a living earth2 compared with whose great central life all animal and vegetable life is merely parasitic4 ,its throes will heave our exuvi from their graves4 ,you may melt your metals and cast them into the most beautiful moulds you can2 they will never excite me like the forms which this molten earth flows out into4 ,and not only it1 but the institutions upon it1 are plastic like clay in the hands of the potter4 ,ere long1 not only on these banks1 but on every hill and plain and in every hollow1 the frost comes out of the ground like a dormant quadruped from its burrow1 and seeks the sea with music1 or migrates to other climes in clouds4 ,thaw with his gentle persuasion is more powerful than ,thor with his hammer4 ,the one melts1 the other but breaks in pieces4 ,when the ground was partially bare of snow1 and a few warm days had dried its surface somewhat1 it was pleasant to compare the first tender signs of the infant year just peeping forth with the stately beauty of the withered vegetation which had withstood the winter1--life-everlasting1 golden-rods1 pinweeds1 and graceful wild grasses1 more obvious and interesting frequently than in summer even1 as if their beauty was not ripe till then2 even cotton-grass1 cat-tails1 mulleins1 johnswort1 hard-hack1 meadow-sweet1 and other strong stemmed plants1 those unexhausted granaries which entertain the earliest birds1--decent weeds1 at least1 which widowed ,nature wears4 ,i am particularly attracted by the arching and sheaf-like top of the wool-grass2 it brings back the summer to our winter memories1 and is among the forms which art loves to copy1 and which1 in the vegetable kingdom1 have the same relation to types already in the mind of man that astronomy has4 ,it is an antique style older than ,greek or ,egyptian4 ,many of the phenomena of ,winter are suggestive of an inexpressible tenderness and fragile delicacy4 ,we are accustomed to hear this king described as a rude and boisterous tyrant2 but with the gentleness of a lover he adorns the tresses of ,summer4 ,at the approach of spring the red-squirrels got under my house1 two at a time1 directly under my feet as ,i sat reading or writing1 and kept up the queerest chuckling and chirruping and vocal pirouetting and gurgling sounds that ever were heard2 and when ,i stamped they only chirruped the louder1 as if past all fear and respect in their mad pranks1 defying humanity to stop them4 ,no you don't--chickaree--chickaree4 ,they were wholly deaf to my arguments1 or failed to perceive their force1 and fell into a strain of invective that was irresistible4 ,the first sparrow of spring6 ,the year beginning with younger hope than ever6 ,the faint silvery warblings heard over the partially bare and moist fields from the blue-bird1 the song-sparrow1 and the red-wing1 as if the last flakes of winter tinkled as they fell6 ,what at such a time are histories1 chronologies1 traditions1 and all written revelations8 ,the brooks sing carols and glees to the spring4 ,the marsh-hawk sailing low over the meadow is already seeking the first slimy life that awakes4 ,the sinking sound of melting snow is heard in all dells1 and the ice dissolves apace in the ponds4 ,the grass flames up on the hillsides like a spring fire1--8et primitus oritur herba imbribus primoribus evocata10--as if the earth sent forth an inward heat to greet the returning sun2 not yellow but green is the color of its flame2--the symbol of perpetual youth1 the grass-blade1 like a long green ribbon1 streams from the sod into the summer1 checked indeed by the frost1 but anon pushing on again1 lifting its spear of last year's hay with the fresh life below4 ,it grows as steadily as the rill oozes out of the ground4 ,it is almost identical with that1 for in the growing days of ,june1 when the rills are dry1 the grass blades are their channels1 and from year to year the herds drink at this perennial green stream1 and the mower draws from it betimes their winter supply4 ,so our human life but dies down to its root1 and still puts forth its green blade to eternity4 ,walden is melting apace4 ,there is a canal two rods wide along the northerly and westerly sides1 and wider still at the east end4 ,a great field of ice has cracked off from the main body4 ,i hear a song-sparrow singing from the bushes on the shore1--olit1 olit1 olit1--chip1 chip1 chip1 che char1--che wiss1 wiss1 wiss4 ,he too is helping to crack it4 ,how handsome the great sweeping curves in the edge of the ice1 answering somewhat to those of the shore1 but more regular6 ,it is unusually hard1 owing to the recent severe but transient cold1 and all watered or waved like a palace floor4 ,but the wind slides eastward over its opaque surface in vain1 till it reaches the living surface beyond4 ,it is glorious to behold this ribbon of water sparkling in the sun1 the bare face of the pond full of glee and youth1 as if it spoke the joy of the fishes within it1 and of the sands on its shore1--a silvery sheen as from the scales of a leuciscus1 as it were all one active fish4 ,such is the contrast between winter and spring4 ,walden was dead and is alive again4 ,but this spring it broke up more steadily1 as ,i have said4 ,the change from storm and winter to serene and mild weather1 from dark and sluggish hours to bright and elastic ones1 is a memorable crisis which all things proclaim4 ,it is seemingly instantaneous at last4 ,suddenly an influx of light filled my house1 though the evening was at hand1 and the clouds of winter still overhung it1 and the eaves were dripping with sleety rain4 ,i looked out the window1 and lo6 where yesterday was cold gray ice there lay the transparent pond already calm and full of hope as in a summer evening1 reflecting a summer evening sky in its bosom1 though none was visible overhead1 as if it had intelligence with some remote horizon4 ,i heard a robin in the distance1 the first ,i had heard for many a thousand years1 methought1 whose note ,i shall not forget for many a thousand more1--the same sweet and powerful song as of yore4 ,o the evening robin1 at the end of a ,new ,england summer day6 ,if ,i could ever find the twig he sits upon6 ,i mean he2 ,i mean the twig4 ,this at least is not the ,turdus migratorius4 ,the pitch-pines and shrub-oaks about my house1 which had so long drooped1 suddenly resumed their several characters1 looked brighter1 greener1 and more erect and alive1 as if effectually cleansed and restored by the rain4 ,i knew that it would not rain any more4 ,you may tell by looking at any twig of the forest1 ay1 at your very wood-pile1 whether its winter is past or not4 ,as it grew darker1 ,i was startled by the honking of geese flying low over the woods1 like weary travellers getting in late from southern lakes1 and indulging at last in unrestrained complaint and mutual consolation4 ,standing at my door1 ,i could hear the rush of their wings2 when1 driving toward my house1 they suddenly spied my light1 and with hushed clamor wheeled and settled in the pond4 ,so ,i came in1 and shut the door1 and passed my first spring night in the woods4 ,in the morning ,i watched the geese from the door through the mist1 sailing in the middle of the pond1 fifty rods off1 so large and tumultuous that ,walden appeared like an artificial pond for their amusement4 ,but when ,i stood on the shore they at once rose up with a great flapping of wings at the signal of their commander1 and when they had got into rank circled about over my head1 twenty-nine of them1 and then steered straight to ,canada1 with a regular honk from the leader at intervals1 trusting to break their fast in muddier pools4 ,a 8plump0 of ducks rose at the same time and took the route to the north in the wake of their noisier cousins4 ,for a week ,i heard the circling1 groping clangor of some solitary goose in the foggy mornings1 seeking its companion1 and still peopling the woods with the sound of a larger life than they could sustain4 ,in ,april the pigeons were seen again flying express in small flocks1 and in due time ,i heard the martins twittering over my clearing1 though it had not seemed that the township contained so many that it could afford me any1 and ,i fancied that they were peculiarly of the ancient race that dwelt in hollow trees ere white men came4 ,in almost all climes the tortoise and the frog are among the precursors and heralds of this season1 and birds fly with song and glancing plumage1 and plants spring and bloom1 and winds blow1 to correct this slight oscillation of the poles and preserve the equilibrium of ,nature4 ,as every season seems best to us in its turn1 so the coming in of spring is like the creation of ,cosmos out of ,chaos and the realization of the ,golden ,age4-- 8,eurus ad ,auroram ,nabathaque regna recessit1 ,persidaque1 et radiis juga subdita matutinis40 8,the ,east-,wind withdrew to ,aurora and the ,nabathan kingdom1 ,and the ,persian1 and the ridges placed under the morning rays 99 99 99 99 ,man was born4 ,whether that ,artificer of things1 ,the origin of a better world1 made him from the divine seed2 ,or the earth1 being recent and lately sundered from the high ,ether1 retained some seeds of cognate heaven40 ,a single gentle rain makes the grass many shades greener4 ,so our prospects brighten on the influx of better thoughts4 ,we should be blessed if we lived in the present always1 and took advantage of every accident that befell us1 like the grass which confesses the influence of the slightest dew that falls on it2 and did not spend our time in atoning for the neglect of past opportunities1 which we call doing our duty4 ,we loiter in winter while it is already spring4 ,in a pleasant spring morning all men's sins are forgiven4 ,such a day is a truce to vice4 ,while such a sun holds out to burn1 the vilest sinner may return4 ,through our own recovered innocence we discern the innocence of our neighbors4 ,you may have known your neighbor yesterday for a thief1 a drunkard1 or a sensualist1 and merely pitied or despised him1 and despaired of the world2 but the sun shines bright and warm this first spring morning1 re-creating the world1 and you meet him at some serene work1 and see how his exhausted and debauched veins expand with still joy and bless the new day1 feel the spring influence with the innocence of infancy1 and all his faults are forgotten4 ,there is not only an atmosphere of good will about him1 but even a savor of holiness groping for expression1 blindly and ineffectually perhaps1 like a new-born instinct1 and for a short hour the south hill-side echoes to no vulgar jest4 ,you see some innocent fair shoots preparing to burst from his gnarled rind and try another year's life1 tender and fresh as the youngest plant4 ,even he has entered into the joy of his ,lord4 ,why the jailer does not leave open his prison doors1--why the judge does not dismis his case1--why the preacher does not dismiss his congregation6 ,it is because they do not obey the hint which ,god gives them1 nor accept the pardon which he freely offers to all4 8,a return to goodness produced each day in the tranquil and beneficent breath of the morning1 causes that in respect to the love of virtue and the hatred of vice1 one approaches a little the primitive nature of man1 as the sprouts of the forest which has been felled4 ,in like manner the evil which one does in the interval of a day prevents the germs of virtues which began to spring up again from developing themselves and destroys them4 8,after the germs of virtue have thus been prevented many times from developing themselves1 then the beneficent breath of evening does not suffice to preserve them4 ,as soon as the breath of evening does not suffice longer to preserve them1 then the nature of man does not differ much from that of the brute4 ,men seeing the nature of this man like that of the brute1 think that he has never possessed the innate faculty of reason4 ,are those the true and natural sentiments of man80 8,the ,golden ,age was first created1 which without any avenger ,spontaneously without law cherished fidelity and rectitude4 ,punishment and fear were not2 nor were threatening words read ,on suspended brass2 nor did the suppliant crowd fear ,the words of their judge2 but were safe without an avenger4 ,not yet the pine felled on its mountains had descended ,to the liquid waves that it might see a foreign world1 ,and mortals knew no shores but their own4 99 99 99 99 ,there was eternal spring1 and placid zephyrs with warm ,blasts soothed the flowers born without seed40 ,on the #bith of ,april1 as ,i was fishing from the bank of the river near the ,nine-,acre-,corner bridge1 standing on the quaking grass and willow roots1 where the muskrats lurk1 ,i heard a singular rattling sound1 somewhat like that of the sticks which boys play with their fingers1 when1 looking up1 ,i observed a very slight and graceful hawk1 like a night-hawk1 alternately soaring like a ripple and tumbling a rod or two over and over1 showing the underside of its wings1 which gleamed like a satin ribbon in the sun1 or like the pearly inside of a shell4 ,this sight reminded me of falconry and what nobleness and poetry are associated with that sport4 ,the ,merlin it seemed to me it might be called3 but ,i care not for its name4 ,it was the most ethereal flight ,i had ever witnessed4 ,it did not simply flutter like a butterfly1 nor soar like the larger hawks1 but it sported with proud reliance in the fields of air2 mounting again and again with its strange chuckle1 it repeated its free and beautiful fall1 turning over and over like a kite1 and then recovering from its lofty tumbling1 as if it had never set its foot on terra firma4 ,it appeared to have no companion in the universe1--sporting there alone1--and to need none but the morning and the ether with which it played4 ,it was not lonely1 but made all the earth lonely beneath it4 ,where was the parent which hatched it1 its kindred1 and its father in the heavens8 ,the tenant of the air1 it seemed related to the earth but by an egg hatched some time in the crevice of a crag2--or was its native nest made in the angle of a cloud1 woven of the rainbow's trimmings and the sunset sky1 and lined with some soft midsummer haze caught up from earth8 ,its eyry now some cliffy cloud4 ,beside this ,i got a rare mess of golden and silver and bright cupreous fishes1 which looked like a string of jewels4 ,ah6 ,i have penetrated to those meadows on the morning of many a first spring day1 jumping from hummock to hummock1 from willow root to willow root1 when the wild river valley and the woods were bathed in so pure and bright a light as would have waked the dead1 if they had been slumbering in their graves1 as some suppose4 ,there needs no stronger proof of immortality4 ,all things must live in such a light4 ,o ,death1 where was thy sting8 ,o ,grave1 where was thy victory1 then8 ,our village life would stagnate if it were not for the unexplored forests and meadows which surround it4 ,we need the tonic of wildness1--to wade sometimes in marshes where the bittern and the meadow-hen lurk1 and hear the booming of the snipe2 to smell the whispering sedge where only some wilder and more solitary fowl builds her nest1 and the mink crawls with its belly close to the ground4 ,at the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things1 we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable1 that land and sea be infinitely wild1 unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable4 ,we can never have enough of ,nature4 ,we must be refreshed by the sight of inexhaustible vigor1 vast and ,titanic features1 the sea-coast with its wrecks1 the wilderness with its living and its decaying trees1 the thunder cloud1 and the rain which lasts three weeks and produces freshets4 ,we need to witness our own limits transgressed1 and some life pasturing freely where we never wander4 ,we are cheered when we observe the vulture feeding on the carrion which disgusts and disheartens us and deriving health and strength from the repast4 ,there was a dead horse in the hollow by the path to my house1 which compelled me sometimes to go out of my way1 especially in the night when the air was heavy1 but the assurance it gave me of the strong appetite and inviolable health of ,nature was my compensation for this4 ,i love to see that ,nature is so rife with life that myriads can be afforded to be sacrificed and suffered to prey on one another2 that tender organizations can be so serenely squashed out of existence like pulp1--tadpoles which herons gobble up1 and tortoises and toads run over in the road2 and that sometimes it has rained flesh and blood6 ,with the liability to accident1 we must see how little account is to be made of it4 ,the impression made on a wise man is that of universal innocence4 ,poison is not poisonous after all1 nor are any wounds fatal4 ,compassion is a very untenable ground4 ,it must be expeditious4 ,its pleadings will not bear to be stereotyped4 ,early in ,may1 the oaks1 hickories1 maples1 and other trees1 just putting out amidst the pine woods around the pond1 imparted a brightness like sunshine to the landscape1 especially in cloudy days1 as if the sun were breaking through mists and shining faintly on the hill-sides here and there4 ,on the third or fourth of ,may ,i saw a loon in the pond1 and during the first week of the month ,i heard the whippoorwill1 the brown-thrasher1 the veery1 the wood-pewee1 the chewink1 and other birds4 ,i had heard the wood-thrush long before4 ,the phbe had already come once more and looked in at my door and window1 to see if my house was cavern-like enough for her1 sustaining herself on humming wings with clinched talons1 as if she held by the air1 while she surveyed the premises4 ,the sulphur-like pollen of the pitch-pine soon covered the pond and the stones and rotten wood along the shore1 so that you could have collected a barrel-ful4 ,this is the 8sulphur showers0 we hear of4 ,even in ,calidas' drama of ,sacontala1 we read of 8rills dyed yellow with the golden dust of the lotus40 ,and so the seasons went rolling on into summer1 as one rambles into higher and higher grass4 ,thus was my first year's life in the woods completed2 and the second year was similar to it4 ,i finally left ,walden ,september #fth1 #ahdg4 ,conclusion ,to the sick the doctors wisely recommend a change of air and scenery4 ,thank ,heaven1 here is not all the world4 ,the buck-eye does not grow in ,new ,england1 and the mocking-bird is rarely heard here4 ,the wild-goose is more of a cosmopolite than we2 he breaks his fast in ,canada1 takes a luncheon in the ,ohio1 and plumes himself for the night in a southern bayou4 ,even the bison1 to some extent1 keeps pace with the seasons1 cropping the pastures of the ,colorado only till a greener and sweeter grass awaits him by the ,yellowstone4 ,yet we think that if rail-fences are pulled down1 and stone-walls piled up on our farms1 bounds are henceforth set to our lives and our fates decided4 ,if you are chosen town-clerk1 forsooth1 you cannot go to ,tierra del ,fuego this summer3 but you may go to the land of infernal fire nevertheless4 ,the universe is wider than our views of it4 ,yet we should oftener look over the tafferel of our craft1 like curious passengers1 and not make the voyage like stupid sailors picking oakum4 ,the other side of the globe is but the home of our correspondent4 ,our voyaging is only great-circle sailing1 and the doctors prescribe for diseases of the skin merely4 ,one hastens to ,southern ,africa to chase the giraffe2 but surely that is not the game he would be after4 ,how long1 pray1 would a man hunt giraffes if he could8 ,snipes and woodcocks also may afford rare sport2 but ,i trust it would be nobler game to shoot one's self4-- 8,direct your eye right inward1 and you'll find ,a thousand regions in your mind ,yet undiscovered4 ,travel them1 and be ,expert in home-cosmography40 ,what does ,africa1--what does the ,west stand for8 ,is not our own interior white on the chart8 black though it may prove1 like the coast1 when discovered4 ,is it the source of the ,nile1 or the ,niger1 or the ,mississippi1 or a ,north-,west ,passage around this continent1 that we would find8 ,are these the problems which most concern mankind8 ,is ,franklin the only man who is lost1 that his wife should be so earnest to find him8 ,does ,mr4 ,grinnell know where he himself is8 ,be rather the ,mungo ,park1 the ,lewis and ,clarke and ,frobisher1 of your own streams and oceans2 explore your own higher latitudes1--with shiploads of preserved meats to support you1 if they be necessary2 and pile the empty cans sky-high for a sign4 ,were preserved meats invented to preserve meat merely8 ,nay1 be a ,columbus to whole new continents and worlds within you1 opening new channels1 not of trade1 but of thought4 ,every man is the lord of a realm beside which the earthly empire of the ,czar is but a petty state1 a hummock left by the ice4 ,yet some can be patriotic who have no self-respect1 and sacrifice the greater to the less4 ,they love the soil which makes their graves1 but have no sympathy with the spirit which may still animate their clay4 ,patriotism is a maggot in their heads4 ,what was the meaning of that ,south-,sea ,exploring ,expedition1 with all its parade and expense1 but an indirect recognition of the fact1 that there are continents and seas in the moral world to which every man is an isthmus or an inlet1 yet unexplored by him1 but that it is easier to sail many thousand miles through cold and storm and cannibals1 in a government ship1 with five hundred men and boys to assist one1 than it is to explore the private sea1 the ,atlantic and ,pacific ,ocean of one's being alone4-- 8,erret1 et extremos alter scrutetur ,iberos4 ,plus habet hic vit1 plus habet ille vi40 ,let them wander and scrutinize the outlandish ,australians4 ,i have more of ,god1 they more of the road4 ,it is not worth the while to go round the world to count the cats in ,zanzibar4 ,yet do this even till you can do better1 and you may perhaps find some 8,symmes' ,hole0 by which to get at the inside at last4 ,england and ,france1 ,spain and ,portugal1 ,gold ,coast and ,slave ,coast1 all front on this private sea2 but no bark from them has ventured out of sight of land1 though it is without doubt the direct way to ,india4 ,if you would learn to speak all tongues and conform to the customs of all nations1 if you would travel farther than all travellers1 be naturalized in all climes1 and cause the ,sphinx to dash her head against a stone1 even obey the precept of the old philosopher1 and ,explore thyself4 ,herein are demanded the eye and the nerve4 ,only the defeated and deserters go to the wars1 cowards that run away and enlist4 ,start now on that farthest western way1 which does not pause at the ,mississippi or the ,pacific1 nor conduct toward a worn-out ,china or ,japan1 but leads on direct a tangent to this sphere1 summer and winter1 day and night1 sun down1 moon down1 and at last earth down too4 ,it is said that ,mirabeau took to highway robbery 8to ascertain what degree of resolution was necessary in order to place one's self in formal opposition to the most sacred laws of society40 ,he declared that 8a soldier who fights in the ranks does not require half so much courage as a foot-pad10--8that honor and religion have never stood in the way of a well-considered and a firm resolve40 ,this was manly1 as the world goes2 and yet it was idle1 if not desperate4 ,a saner man would have found himself often enough 8in formal opposition0 to what are deemed 8the most sacred laws of society10 through obedience to yet more sacred laws1 and so have tested his resolution without going out of his way4 ,it is not for a man to put himself in such an attitude to society1 but to maintain himself in whatever attitude he find himself through obedience to the laws of his being1 which will never be one of opposition to a just government1 if he should chance to meet with such4 ,i left the woods for as good a reason as ,i went there4 ,perhaps it seemed to me that ,i had several more lives to live1 and could not spare any more time for that one4 ,it is remarkable how easily and insensibly we fall into a particular route1 and make a beaten track for ourselves4 ,i had not lived there a week before my feet wore a path from my door to the pond-side2 and though it is five or six years since ,i trod it1 it is still quite distinct4 ,it is true1 ,i fear that others may have fallen into it1 and so helped to keep it open4 ,the surface of the earth is soft and impressible by the feet of men2 and so with the paths which the mind travels4 ,how worn and dusty1 then1 must be the highways of the world1 how deep the ruts of tradition and conformity6 ,i did not wish to take a cabin passage1 but rather to go before the mast and on the deck of the world1 for there ,i could best see the moonlight amid the mountains4 ,i do not wish to go below now4 ,i learned this1 at least1 by my experiment2 that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams1 and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined1 he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours4 ,he will put some things behind1 will pass an invisible boundary2 new1 universal1 and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him2 or the old laws be expanded1 and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense1 and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings4 ,in proportion as he simplifies his life1 the laws of the universe will appear less complex1 and solitude will not be solitude1 nor poverty poverty1 nor weakness weakness4 ,if you have built castles in the air1 your work need not be lost2 that is where they should be4 ,now put the foundations under them4 ,it is a ridiculous demand which ,england and ,america make1 that you shall speak so that they can understand you4 ,neither men nor toad-stools grow so4 ,as if that were important1 and there were not enough to understand you without them4 ,as if ,nature could support but one order of understandings1 could not sustain birds as well as quadrupeds1 flying as well as creeping things1 and hush and who1 which ,bright can understand1 were the best ,english4 ,as if there were safety in stupidity alone4 ,i fear chiefly lest my expression may not be extra-vagant enough1 may not wander far enough beyond the narrow limits of my daily experience1 so as to be adequate to the truth of which ,i have been convinced4 ,extra vagance6 it depends on how you are yarded4 ,the migrating buffalo1 which seeks new pastures in another latitude1 is not extravagant like the cow which kicks over the pail1 leaps the cow-yard fence1 and runs after her calf1 in milking time4 ,i desire to speak somewhere without bounds2 like a man in a waking moment1 to men in their waking moments2 for ,i am convinced that ,i cannot exaggerate enough even to lay the foundation of a true expression4 ,who that has heard a strain of music feared then lest he should speak extravagantly any more forever8 ,in view of the future or possible1 we should live quite laxly and undefined in front1 our outlines dim and misty on that side2 as our shadows reveal an insensible perspiration toward the sun4 ,the volatile truth of our words should continually betray the inadequacy of the residual statement4 ,their truth is instantly translated2 its literal monument alone remains4 ,the words which express our faith and piety are not definite2 yet they are significant and fragrant like frankincense to superior natures4 ,why level downward to our dullest perception always1 and praise that as common sense8 ,the commonest sense is the sense of men asleep1 which they express by snoring4 ,sometimes we are inclined to class those who are once-and-a-half-witted with the half-witted1 because we appreciate only a third part of their wit4 ,some would find fault with the morning-red1 if they ever got up early enough4 8,they pretend10 as ,i hear1 8that the verses of ,kabir have four different senses2 illusion1 spirit1 intellect1 and the exoteric doctrine of the ,vedas20 but in this part of the world it is considered a ground for complaint if a man's writings admit of more than one interpretation4 ,while ,england endeavors to cure the potato-rot1 will not any endeavor to cure the brain-rot1 which prevails so much more widely and fatally8 ,i do not suppose that ,i have attained to obscurity1 but ,i should be proud if no more fatal fault were found with my pages on this score than was found with the ,walden ice4 ,southern customers objected to its blue color1 which is the evidence of its purity1 as if it were muddy1 and preferred the ,cambridge ice1 which is white1 but tastes of weeds4 ,the purity men love is like the mists which envelop the earth1 and not like the azure ether beyond4 ,some are dinning in our ears that we ,americans1 and moderns generally1 are intellectual dwarfs compared with the ancients1 or even the ,elizabethan men4 ,but what is that to the purpose8 ,a living dog is better than a dead lion4 ,shall a man go and hang himself because he belongs to the race of pygmies1 and not be the biggest pygmy that he can8 ,let every one mind his own business1 and endeavor to be what he was made4 ,why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed1 and in such desperate enterprises8 ,if a man does not keep pace with his companions1 perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer4 ,let him step to the music which he hears1 however measured or far away4 ,it is not important that he should mature as soon as an apple-tree or an oak4 ,shall he turn his spring into summer8 ,if the condition of things which we were made for is not yet1 what were any reality which we can substitute8 ,we will not be shipwrecked on a vain reality4 ,shall we with pains erect a heaven of blue glass over ourselves1 though when it is done we shall be sure to gaze still at the true ethereal heaven far above1 as if the former were not8 ,there was an artist in the city of ,kouroo who was disposed to strive after perfection4 ,one day it came into his mind to make a staff4 ,having considered that in an imperfect work time is an ingredient1 but into a perfect work time does not enter1 he said to himself1 ,it shall be perfect in all respects1 though ,i should do nothing else in my life4 ,he proceeded instantly to the forest for wood1 being resolved that it should not be made of unsuitable material2 and as he searched for and rejected stick after stick1 his friends gradually deserted him1 for they grew old in their works and died1 but he grew not older by a moment4 ,his singleness of purpose and resolution1 and his elevated piety1 endowed him1 without his knowledge1 with perennial youth4 ,as he made no compromise with ,time1 ,time kept out of his way1 and only sighed at a distance because he could not overcome him4 ,before he had found a stock in all respects suitable the city of ,kouroo was a hoary ruin1 and he sat on one of its mounds to peel the stick4 ,before he had given it the proper shape the dynasty of the ,candahars was at an end1 and with the point of the stick he wrote the name of the last of that race in the sand1 and then resumed his work4 ,by the time he had smoothed and polished the staff ,kalpa was no longer the pole-star2 and ere he had put on the ferrule and the head adorned with precious stones1 ,brahma had awoke and slumbered many times4 ,but why do ,i stay to mention these things8 ,when the finishing stroke was put to his work1 it suddenly expanded before the eyes of the astonished artist into the fairest of all the creations of ,brahma4 ,he had made a new system in making a staff1 a world with full and fair proportions2 in which1 though the old cities and dynasties had passed away1 fairer and more glorious ones had taken their places4 ,and now he saw by the heap of shavings still fresh at his feet1 that1 for him and his work1 the former lapse of time had been an illusion1 and that no more time had elapsed than is required for a single scintillation from the brain of ,brahma to fall on and inflame the tinder of a mortal brain4 ,the material was pure1 and his art was pure2 how could the result be other than wonderful8 ,no face which we can give to a matter will stead us so well at last as the truth4 ,this alone wears well4 ,for the most part1 we are not where we are1 but in a false position4 ,through an infirmity of our natures1 we suppose a case1 and put ourselves into it1 and hence are in two cases at the same time1 and it is doubly difficult to get out4 ,in sane moments we regard only the facts1 the case that is4 ,say what you have to say1 not what you ought4 ,any truth is better than make-believe4 ,tom ,hyde1 the tinker1 standing on the gallows1 was asked if he had anything to say4 8,tell the tailors10 said he1 8to remember to make a knot in their thread before they take the first stitch40 ,his companion's prayer is forgotten4 ,however mean your life is1 meet it and live it2 do not shun it and call it hard names4 ,it is not so bad as you are4 ,it looks poorest when you are richest4 ,the fault-finder will find faults even in paradise4 ,love your life1 poor as it is4 ,you may perhaps have some pleasant1 thrilling1 glorious hours1 even in a poor-house4 ,the setting sun is reflected from the windows of the alms-house as brightly as from the rich man's abode2 the snow melts before its door as early in the spring4 ,i do not see but a quiet mind may live as contentedly there1 and have as cheering thoughts1 as in a palace4 ,the town's poor seem to me often to live the most independent lives of any4 ,may be they are simply great enough to receive without misgiving4 ,most think that they are above being supported by the town2 but it oftener happens that they are not above supporting themselves by dishonest means1 which should be more disreputable4 ,cultivate poverty like a garden herb1 like sage4 ,do not trouble yourself much to get new things1 whether clothes or friends4 ,turn the old2 return to them4 ,things do not change2 we change4 ,sell your clothes and keep your thoughts4 ,god will see that you do not want society4 ,if ,i were confined to a corner of a garret all my days1 like a spider1 the world would be just as large to me while ,i had my thoughts about me4 ,the philosopher said3 8,from an army of three divisions one can take away its general1 and put it in disorder2 from the man the most abject and vulgar one cannot take away his thought40 ,do not seek so anxiously to be developed1 to subject yourself to many influences to be played on2 it is all dissipation4 ,humility like darkness reveals the heavenly lights4 ,the shadows of poverty and meanness gather around us1 8and lo6 creation widens to our view40 ,we are often reminded that if there were bestowed on us the wealth of ,crsus1 our aims must still be the same1 and our means essentially the same4 ,moreover1 if you are restricted in your range by poverty1 if you cannot buy books and newspapers1 for instance1 you are but confined to the most significant and vital experiences2 you are compelled to deal with the material which yields the most sugar and the most starch4 ,it is life near the bone where it is sweetest4 ,you are defended from being a trifler4 ,no man loses ever on a lower level by magnanimity on a higher4 ,superfluous wealth can buy superfluities only4 ,money is not required to buy one necessary of the soul4 ,i live in the angle of a leaden wall1 into whose composition was poured a little alloy of bell metal4 ,often1 in the repose of my mid-day1 there reaches my ears a confused tintinnabulum from without4 ,it is the noise of my contemporaries4 ,my neighbors tell me of their adventures with famous gentlemen and ladies1 what notabilities they met at the dinner-table2 but ,i am no more interested in such things than in the contents of the ,daily ,times4 ,the interest and the conversation are about costume and manners chiefly2 but a goose is a goose still1 dress it as you will4 ,they tell me of ,california and ,texas1 of ,england and the ,indies1 of the ,hon4 ,mr4 ---- of ,georgia or of ,massachusetts1 all transient and fleeting phenomena1 till ,i am ready to leap from their court-yard like the ,mameluke bey4 ,i delight to come to my bearings1--not walk in procession with pomp and parade1 in a conspicuous place1 but to walk even with the ,builder of the universe1 if ,i may1--not to live in this restless1 nervous1 bustling1 trivial ,nineteenth ,century1 but stand or sit thoughtfully while it goes by4 ,what are men celebrating8 ,they are all on a committee of arrangements1 and hourly expect a speech from somebody4 ,god is only the president of the day1 and ,webster is his orator4 ,i love to weigh1 to settle1 to gravitate toward that which most strongly and rightfully attracts me2--not hang by the beam of the scale and try to weigh less1--not suppose a case1 but take the case that is2 to travel the only path ,i can1 and that on which no power can resist me4 ,it affords me no satisfaction to commence to spring an arch before ,i have got a solid foundation4 ,let us not play at kittly-benders4 ,there is a solid bottom every where4 ,we read that the traveller asked the boy if the swamp before him had a hard bottom4 ,the boy replied that it had4 ,but presently the traveller's horse sank in up to the girths1 and he observed to the boy1 8,i thought you said that this bog had a hard bottom40 8,so it has10 answered the latter1 8but you have not got half way to it yet40 ,so it is with the bogs and quicksands of society2 but he is an old boy that knows it4 ,only what is thought1 said1 or done at a certain rare coincidence is good4 ,i would not be one of those who will foolishly drive a nail into mere lath and plastering2 such a deed would keep me awake nights4 ,give me a hammer1 and let me feel for the furring4 ,do not depend on the putty4 ,drive a nail home and clinch it so faithfully that you can wake up in the night and think of your work with satisfaction1--a work at which you would not be ashamed to invoke the ,muse4 ,so will help you ,god1 and so only4 ,every nail driven should be as another rivet in the machine of the universe1 you carrying on the work4 ,rather than love1 than money1 than fame1 give me truth4 ,i sat at a table where were rich food and wine in abundance1 and obsequious attendance1 but sincerity and truth were not2 and ,i went away hungry from the inhospitable board4 ,the hospitality was as cold as the ices4 ,i thought that there was no need of ice to freeze them4 ,they talked to me of the age of the wine and the fame of the vintage2 but ,i thought of an older1 a newer1 and purer wine1 of a more glorious vintage1 which they had not got1 and could not buy4 ,the style1 the house and grounds and 8entertainment0 pass for nothing with me4 ,i called on the king1 but he made me wait in his hall1 and conducted like a man incapacitated for hospitality4 ,there was a man in my neighborhood who lived in a hollow tree4 ,his manners were truly regal4 ,i should have done better had ,i called on him4 ,how long shall we sit in our porticoes practising idle and musty virtues1 which any work would make impertinent8 ,as if one were to begin the day with long-suffering1 and hire a man to hoe his potatoes2 and in the afternoon go forth to practise ,christian meekness and charity with goodness aforethought6 ,consider the ,china pride and stagnant self-complacency of mankind4 ,this generation inclines a little to congratulate itself on being the last of an illustrious line2 and in ,boston and ,london and ,paris and ,rome1 thinking of its long descent1 it speaks of its progress in art and science and literature with satisfaction4 ,there are the ,records of the ,philosophical ,societies1 and the public ,eulogies of ,great ,men6 ,it is the good ,adam contemplating his own virtue4 8,yes1 we have done great deeds1 and sung divine songs1 which shall never die10--that is1 as long as we can remember them4 ,the learned societies and great men of ,assyria1--where are they8 ,what youthful philosophers and experimentalists we are6 ,there is not one of my readers who has yet lived a whole human life4 ,these may be but the spring months in the life of the race4 ,if we have had the seven-years' itch1 we have not seen the seventeen-year locust yet in ,concord4 ,we are acquainted with a mere pellicle of the globe on which we live4 ,most have not delved six feet beneath the surface1 nor leaped as many above it4 ,we know not where we are4 ,beside1 we are sound asleep nearly half our time4 ,yet we esteem ourselves wise1 and have an established order on the surface4 ,truly1 we are deep thinkers1 we are ambitious spirits6 ,as ,i stand over the insect crawling amid the pine needles on the forest floor1 and endeavoring to conceal itself from my sight1 and ask myself why it will cherish those humble thoughts1 and hide its head from me who might1 perhaps1 be its benefactor1 and impart to its race some cheering information1 ,i am reminded of the greater ,benefactor and ,intelligence that stands over me the human insect4 ,there is an incessant influx of novelty into the world1 and yet we tolerate incredible dulness4 ,i need only suggest what kind of sermons are still listened to in the most enlightened countries4 ,there are such words as joy and sorrow1 but they are only the burden of a psalm1 sung with a nasal twang1 while we believe in the ordinary and mean4 ,we think that we can change our clothes only4 ,it is said that the ,british ,empire is very large and respectable1 and that the ,united ,states are a first-rate power4 ,we do not believe that a tide rises and falls behind every man which can float the ,british ,empire like a chip1 if he should ever harbor it in his mind4 ,who knows what sort of seventeen-year locust will next come out of the ground8 ,the government of the world ,i live in was not framed1 like that of ,britain1 in after-dinner conversations over the wine4 ,the life in us is like the water in the river4 ,it may rise this year higher than man has ever known it1 and flood the parched uplands2 even this may be the eventful year1 which will drown out all our muskrats4 ,it was not always dry land where we dwell4 ,i see far inland the banks which the stream anciently washed1 before science began to record its freshets4 ,every one has heard the story which has gone the rounds of ,new ,england1 of a strong and beautiful bug which came out of the dry leaf of an old table of apple-tree wood1 which had stood in a farmer's kitchen for sixty years1 first in ,connecticut1 and afterward in ,massachusetts1--from an egg deposited in the living tree many years earlier still1 as appeared by counting the annual layers beyond it2 which was heard gnawing out for several weeks1 hatched perchance by the heat of an urn4 ,who does not feel his faith in a resurrection and immortality strengthened by hearing of this8 ,who knows what beautiful and winged life1 whose egg has been buried for ages under many concentric layers of woodenness in the dead dry life of society1 deposited at first in the alburnum of the green and living tree1 which has been gradually converted into the semblance of its well-seasoned tomb1--heard perchance gnawing out now for years by the astonished family of man1 as they sat round the festive board1--may unexpectedly come forth from amidst society's most trivial and handselled furniture1 to enjoy its perfect summer life at last6 ,i do not say that ,john or ,jonathan will realize all this2 but such is the character of that morrow which mere lapse of time can never make to dawn4 ,the light which puts out our eyes is darkness to us4 ,only that day dawns to which we are awake4 ,there is more day to dawn4 ,the sun is but a morning star4 ,,the ,,end ,,on ,,the ,,duty ,,of ,,civil ,,disobedience ,i heartily accept the motto1--8,that government is best which governs least20 and ,i should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically4 ,carried out1 it finally amounts to this1 which also ,i believe--8,that government is best which governs not at all20 and when men are prepared for it1 that will be the kind of government which they will have4 ,government is at best but an expedient2 but most governments are usually1 and all governments are sometimes1 inexpedient4 ,the objections which have been brought against a standing army1 and they are many and weighty1 and deserve to prevail1 may also at last be brought against a standing government4 ,the standing army is only an arm of the standing government4 ,the government itself1 which is only the mode which the people have chosen to execute their will1 is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it4 ,witness the present ,mexican war1 the work of comparatively a few individuals using the standing government as their tool2 for1 in the outset1 the people would not have consented to this measure4 ,this ,american government1--what is it but a tradition1 though a recent one1 endeavoring to transmit itself unimpaired to posterity1 but each instant losing some of its integrity8 ,it has not the vitality and force of a single living man2 for a single man can bend it to his will4 ,it is a sort of wooden gun to the people themselves2 and1 if ever they should use it in earnest as a real one against each other1 it will surely split4 ,but it is not the less necessary for this2 for the people must have some complicated machinery or other1 and hear its din1 to satisfy that idea of government which they have4 ,governments show thus how successfully men can be imposed on1 even impose on themselves1 for their own advantage4 ,it is excellent1 we must all allow2 yet this government never of itself furthered any enterprise1 but by the alacrity with which it got out of its way4 ,it does not keep the country free4 ,it does not settle the ,west4 ,it does not educate4 ,the character inherent in the ,american people has done all that has been accomplished2 and it would have done somewhat more1 if the government had not sometimes got in its way4 ,for government is an expedient1 by which men would fain succeed in letting one another alone2 and1 as has been said1 when it is most expedient1 the governed are most let alone by it4 ,trade and commerce1 if they were not made of ,india rubber1 would never manage to bounce over obstacles which legislators are continually putting in their way2 and1 if one were to judge these men wholly by the effects of their actions1 and not partly by their intentions1 they would deserve to be classed and punished with those mischievous persons who put obstructions on the railroads4 ,but1 to speak practically and as a citizen1 unlike those who call themselves no-government men1 ,i ask for1 not at once no government1 but at once a better government4 ,let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect1 and that will be one step toward obtaining it4 ,after all1 the practical reason why1 when the power is once in the hands of the people1 a majority are permitted1 and for a long period continue1 to rule1 is not because they are most likely to be in the right1 nor because this seems fairest to the minority1 but because they are physically the strongest4 ,but a government in which the majority rule in all cases can not be based on justice1 even as far as men understand it4 ,can there not be a government in which the majorities do not virtually decide right and wrong1 but conscience8--in which majorities decide only those questions to which the rule of expediency is applicable8 ,must the citizen ever for a moment1 or in the least degree1 resign his conscience to the legislator8 ,why has every man a conscience1 then8 ,i think that we should be men first1 and subjects afterward4 ,it is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law1 so much as for the right4 ,the only obligation which ,i have a right to assume1 is to do at any time what ,i think right4 ,it is truly enough said that a corporation has no conscience2 but a corporation of conscientious men is a corporation with a conscience4 ,law never made men a whit more just2 and1 by means of their respect for it1 even the well-disposed are daily made the agents of injustice4 ,a common and natural result of an undue respect for the law is1 that you may see a file of soldiers1 colonel1 captain1 corporal1 privates1 powder-monkeys and all1 marching in admirable order over hill and dale to the wars1 against their wills1 aye1 against their common sense and consciences1 which makes it very steep marching indeed1 and produces a palpitation of the heart4 ,they have no doubt that it is a damnable business in which they are concerned2 they are all peaceably inclined4 ,now1 what are they8 ,men at all8 or small movable forts and magazines1 at the service of some unscrupulous man in power8 ,visit the ,navy ,yard1 and behold a marine1 such a man as an ,american government can make1 or such as it can make a man with its black arts1 a mere shadow and reminiscence of humanity1 a man laid out alive and standing1 and already1 as one may say1 buried under arms with funeral accompaniment1 though it may be 8,not a drum was heard1 not a funeral note1 ,as his corpse to the ramparts we hurried2 ,not a soldier discharged his farewell shot ,o'er the grave where our hero we buried40 ,the mass of men serve the ,state thus1 not as men mainly1 but as machines1 with their bodies4 ,they are the standing army1 and the militia1 jailers1 constables1 posse comitatus1 c4 ,in most cases there is no free exercise whatever of the judgment or of the moral sense2 but they put themselves on a level with wood and earth and stones2 and wooden men can perhaps be manufactured that will serve the purpose as well4 ,such command no more respect than men of straw1 or a lump of dirt4 ,they have the same sort of worth only as horses and dogs4 ,yet such as these even are commonly esteemed good citizens4 ,others1 as most legislators1 politicians1 lawyers1 ministers1 and office-holders1 serve the state chiefly with their heads2 and1 as they rarely make any moral distinctions1 they are as likely to serve the devil1 without intending it1 as ,god4 ,a very few1 as heroes1 patriots1 martyrs1 reformers in the great sense1 and men1 serve the ,state with their consciences also1 and so necessarily resist it for the most part2 and they are commonly treated by it as enemies4 ,a wise man will only be useful as a man1 and will not submit to be 8clay10 and 8stop a hole to keep the wind away10 but leave that office to his dust at least3 8,i am too high-born to be propertied1 ,to be a secondary at control1 ,or useful serving-man and instrument ,to any sovereign state throughout the world40 ,he who gives himself entirely to his fellow-men appears to them useless and selfish2 but he who gives himself partially to them is pronounced a benefactor and philanthropist4 ,how does it become a man to behave toward the ,american government today8 ,i answer that he cannot without disgrace be associated with it4 ,i cannot for an instant recognize that political organization as my government which is the slave's government also4 ,all men recognize the right of revolution2 that is1 the right to refuse allegiance to and to resist the government1 when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable4 ,but almost all say that such is not the case now4 ,but such was the case1 they think1 in the ,revolution of '#ge4 ,if one were to tell me that this was a bad government because it taxed certain foreign commodities brought to its ports1 it is most probable that ,i should not make an ado about it1 for ,i can do without them3 all machines have their friction2 and possibly this does enough good to counter-balance the evil4 ,at any rate1 it is a great evil to make a stir about it4 ,but when the friction comes to have its machine1 and oppression and robbery are organized1 ,i say1 let us not have such a machine any longer4 ,in other words1 when a sixth of the population of a nation which has undertaken to be the refuge of liberty are slaves1 and a whole country is unjustly overrun and conquered by a foreign army1 and subjected to military law1 ,i think that it is not too soon for honest men to rebel and revolutionize4 ,what makes this duty the more urgent is that fact1 that the country so overrun is not our own1 but ours is the invading army4 ,paley1 a common authority with many on moral questions1 in his chapter on the 8,duty of ,submission to ,civil ,government10 resolves all civil obligation into expediency2 and he proceeds to say1 8that so long as the interest of the whole society requires it1 that is1 so long as the established government cannot be resisted or changed without public inconveniency1 it is the will of ,god that the established government be obeyed1 and no longer40--8,this principle being admitted1 the justice of every particular case of resistance is reduced to a computation of the quantity of the danger and grievance on the one side1 and of the probability and expense of redressing it on the other40 ,of this1 he says1 every man shall judge for himself4 ,but ,paley appears never to have contemplated those cases to which the rule of expediency does not apply1 in which a people1 as well as an individual1 must do justice1 cost what it may4 ,if ,i have unjustly wrested a plank from a drowning man1 ,i must restore it to him though ,i drown myself4 ,this1 according to ,paley1 would be inconvenient4 ,but he that would save his life1 in such a case1 shall lose it4 ,this people must cease to hold slaves1 and to make war on ,mexico1 though it cost them their existence as a people4 ,in their practice1 nations agree with ,paley2 but does anyone think that ,massachusetts does exactly what is right at the present crisis8 8,a drab of state1 a cloth-o'-silver slut1 ,to have her train borne up1 and her soul trail in the dirt40 ,practically speaking1 the opponents to a reform in ,massachusetts are not a hundred thousand politicians at the ,south1 but a hundred thousand merchants and farmers here1 who are more interested in commerce and agriculture than they are in humanity1 and are not prepared to do justice to the slave and to ,mexico1 cost what it may4 ,i quarrel not with far-off foes1 but with those who1 near at home1 co-operate with1 and do the bidding of those far away1 and without whom the latter would be harmless4 ,we are accustomed to say1 that the mass of men are unprepared2 but improvement is slow1 because the few are not materially wiser or better than the many4 ,it is not so important that many should be as good as you1 as that there be some absolute goodness somewhere2 for that will leaven the whole lump4 ,there are thousands who are in opinion opposed to slavery and to the war1 who yet in effect do nothing to put an end to them2 who1 esteeming themselves children of ,washington and ,franklin1 sit down with their hands in their pockets1 and say that they know not what to do1 and do nothing2 who even postpone the question of freedom to the question of free-trade1 and quietly read the prices-current along with the latest advices from ,mexico1 after dinner1 and1 it may be1 fall asleep over them both4 ,what is the price-current of an honest man and patriot today8 ,they hesitate1 and they regret1 and sometimes they petition2 but they do nothing in earnest and with effect4 ,they will wait1 well disposed1 for others to remedy the evil1 that they may no longer have it to regret4 ,at most1 they give only a cheap vote1 and a feeble countenance and ,godspeed1 to the right1 as it goes by them4 ,there are nine hundred and ninety-nine patrons of virtue to one virtuous man2 but it is easier to deal with the real possessor of a thing than with the temporary guardian of it4 ,all voting is a sort of gaming1 like chequers or backgammon1 with a slight moral tinge to it1 a playing with right and wrong1 with moral questions2 and betting naturally accompanies it4 ,the character of the voters is not staked4 ,i cast my vote1 perchance1 as ,i think right2 but ,i am not vitally concerned that that right should prevail4 ,i am willing to leave it to the majority4 ,its obligation1 therefore1 never exceeds that of expediency4 ,even voting for the right is doing nothing for it4 ,it is only expressing to men feebly your desire that it should prevail4 ,a wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance1 nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority4 ,there is but little virtue in the action of masses of men4 ,when the majority shall at length vote for the abolition of slavery1 it will be because they are indifferent to slavery1 or because there is but little slavery left to be abolished by their vote4 ,they will then be the only slaves4 ,only his vote can hasten the abolition of slavery who asserts his own freedom by his vote4 ,i hear of a convention to be held at ,baltimore1 or elsewhere1 for the selection of a candidate for the ,presidency1 made up chiefly of editors1 and men who are politicians by profession2 but ,i think1 what is it to any independent1 intelligent1 and respectable man what decision they may come to1 shall we not have the advantage of his wisdom and honesty1 nevertheless8 ,can we not count upon some independent votes8 ,are there not many individuals in the country who do not attend conventions8 ,but no3 ,i find that the respectable man1 so called1 has immediately drifted from his position1 and despairs of his country1 when his country has more reasons to despair of him4 ,he forthwith adopts one of the candidates thus selected as the only available one1 thus proving that he is himself available for any purposes of the demagogue4 ,his vote is of no more worth than that of any unprincipled foreigner or hireling native1 who may have been bought4 ,oh for a man who is a man1 and1 as my neighbor says1 has a bone in his back which you cannot pass your hand through6 ,our statistics are at fault3 the population has been returned too large4 ,how many men are there to a square thousand miles in the country8 ,hardly one4 ,does not ,america offer any inducement for men to settle here8 ,the ,american has dwindled into an ,odd ,fellow1--one who may be known by the development of his organ of gregariousness1 and a manifest lack of intellect and cheerful self-reliance2 whose first and chief concern1 on coming into the world1 is to see that the alms-houses are in good repair2 and1 before yet he has lawfully donned the virile garb1 to collect a fund for the support of the widows and orphans that may be2 who1 in short1 ventures to live only by the aid of the ,mutual ,insurance company1 which has promised to bury him decently4 ,it is not a man's duty1 as a matter of course1 to devote himself to the eradication of any1 even the most enormous wrong2 he may still properly have other concerns to engage him2 but it is his duty1 at least1 to wash his hands of it1 and1 if he gives it no thought longer1 not to give it practically his support4 ,if ,i devote myself to other pursuits and contemplations1 ,i must first see1 at least1 that ,i do not pursue them sitting upon another man's shoulders4 ,i must get off him first1 that he may pursue his contemplations too4 ,see what gross inconsistency is tolerated4 ,i have heard some of my townsmen say1 8,i should like to have them order me out to help put down an insurrection of the slaves1 or to march to ,mexico1--see if ,i would go20 and yet these very men have each1 directly by their allegiance1 and so indirectly1 at least1 by their money1 furnished a substitute4 ,the soldier is applauded who refuses to serve in an unjust war by those who do not refuse to sustain the unjust government which makes the war2 is applauded by those whose own act and authority he disregards and sets at naught2 as if the ,state were penitent to that degree that it hired one to scourge it while it sinned1 but not to that degree that it left off sinning for a moment4 ,thus1 under the name of ,order and ,civil ,government1 we are all made at last to pay homage to and support our own meanness4 ,after the first blush of sin1 comes its indifference2 and from immoral it becomes1 as it were1 unmoral1 and not quite unnecessary to that life which we have made4 ,the broadest and most prevalent error requires the most disinterested virtue to sustain it4 ,the slight reproach to which the virtue of patriotism is commonly liable1 the noble are most likely to incur4 ,those who1 while they disapprove of the character and measures of a government1 yield to it their allegiance and support1 are undoubtedly its most conscientious supporters1 and so frequently the most serious obstacles to reform4 ,some are petitioning the ,state to dissolve the ,union1 to disregard the requisitions of the ,president4 ,why do they not dissolve it themselves1--the union between themselves and the ,state1--and refuse to pay their quota into its treasury8 ,do not they stand in same relation to the ,state1 that the ,state does to the ,union8 ,and have not the same reasons prevented the ,state from resisting the ,union1 which have prevented them from resisting the ,state8 ,how can a man be satisfied to entertain an opinion merely1 and enjoy it8 ,is there any enjoyment in it1 if his opinion is that he is aggrieved8 ,if you are cheated out of a single dollar by your neighbor1 you do not rest satisfied with knowing you are cheated1 or with saying that you are cheated1 or even with petitioning him to pay you your due2 but you take effectual steps at once to obtain the full amount1 and see that you are never cheated again4 ,action from principle1--the perception and the performance of right1--changes things and relations2 it is essentially revolutionary1 and does not consist wholly with anything which was4 ,it not only divided states and churches1 it divides families2 aye1 it divides the individual1 separating the diabolical in him from the divine4 ,unjust laws exist3 shall we be content to obey them1 or shall we endeavor to amend them1 and obey them until we have succeeded1 or shall we transgress them at once8 ,men generally1 under such a government as this1 think that they ought to wait until they have persuaded the majority to alter them4 ,they think that1 if they should resist1 the remedy would be worse than the evil4 ,but it is the fault of the government itself that the remedy is worse than the evil4 ,it makes it worse4 ,why is it not more apt to anticipate and provide for reform8 ,why does it not cherish its wise minority8 ,why does it cry and resist before it is hurt8 ,why does it not encourage its citizens to be on the alert to point out its faults1 and do better than it would have them8 ,why does it always crucify ,christ1 and excommunicate ,copernicus and ,luther1 and pronounce ,washington and ,franklin rebels8 ,one would think1 that a deliberate and practical denial of its authority was the only offence never contemplated by government2 else1 why has it not assigned its definite1 its suitable and proportionate penalty8 ,if a man who has no property refuses but once to earn nine shillings for the ,state1 he is put in prison for a period unlimited by any law that ,i know1 and determined only by the discretion of those who placed him there2 but if he should steal ninety times nine shillings from the ,state1 he is soon permitted to go at large again4 ,if the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government1 let it go1 let it go3 perchance it will wear smooth1--certainly the machine will wear out4 ,if the injustice has a spring1 or a pulley1 or a rope1 or a crank1 exclusively for itself1 then perhaps you may consider whether the remedy will not be worse than the evil2 but if it is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another1 then1 ,i say1 break the law4 ,let your life be a counter friction to stop the machine4 ,what ,i have to do is to see1 at any rate1 that ,i do not lend myself to the wrong which ,i condemn4 ,as for adopting the ways which the ,state has provided for remedying the evil1 ,i know not of such ways4 ,they take too much time1 and a man's life will be gone4 ,i have other affairs to attend to4 ,i came into this world1 not chiefly to make this a good place to live in1 but to live in it1 be it good or bad4 ,a man has not every thing to do1 but something2 and because he cannot do every thing1 it is not necessary that he should do something wrong4 ,it is not my business to be petitioning the ,governor or the ,legislature any more than it is theirs to petition me2 and1 if they should not hear my petition1 what should ,i do then8 ,but in this case the ,state has provided no way3 its very ,constitution is the evil4 ,this may seem to be harsh and stubborn and unconcilliatory2 but it is to treat with the utmost kindness and consideration the only spirit that can appreciate or deserves it4 ,so is all change for the better1 like birth and death which convulse the body4 ,i do not hesitate to say1 that those who call themselves abolitionists should at once effectually withdraw their support1 both in person and property1 from the government of ,massachusetts1 and not wait till they constitute a majority of one1 before they suffer the right to prevail through them4 ,i think that it is enough if they have ,god on their side1 without waiting for that other one4 ,moreover1 any man more right than his neighbors constitutes a majority of one already4 ,i meet this ,american government1 or its representative1 the ,state government1 directly1 and face to face1 once a year1 no more1 in the person of its tax-gatherer2 this is the only mode in which a man situated as ,i am necessarily meets it2 and it then says distinctly1 ,recognize me2 and the simplest1 the most effectual1 and1 in the present posture of affairs1 the indispensablest mode of treating with it on this head1 of expressing your little satisfaction with and love for it1 is to deny it then4 ,my civil neighbor1 the tax-gatherer1 is the very man ,i have to deal with1--for it is1 after all1 with men and not with parchment that ,i quarrel1--and he has voluntarily chosen to be an agent of the government4 ,how shall he ever know well what he is and does as an officer of the government1 or as a man1 until he is obliged to consider whether he shall treat me1 his neighbor1 for whom he has respect1 as a neighbor and well-disposed man1 or as a maniac and disturber of the peace1 and see if he can get over this obstruction to his neighborliness without a ruder and more impetuous thought or speech corresponding with his action8 ,i know this well1 that if one thousand1 if one hundred1 if ten men whom ,i could name1--if ten honest men only1--aye1 if one ,,honest man1 in this ,state of ,massachusetts1 ceasing to hold slaves1 were actually to withdraw from this copartnership1 and be locked up in the county jail therefor1 it would be the abolition of slavery in ,america4 ,for it matters not how small the beginning may seem to be3 what is once well done is done for ever4 ,but we love better to talk about it3 that we say is our mission4 ,reform keeps many scores of newspapers in its service1 but not one man4 ,if my esteemed neighbor1 the ,state's ambassador1 who will devote his days to the settlement of the question of human rights in the ,council ,chamber1 instead of being threatened with the prisons of ,carolina1 were to sit down the prisoner of ,massachusetts1 that ,state which is so anxious to foist the sin of slavery upon her sister1--though at present she can discover only an act of inhospitality to be the ground of a quarrel with her1--the ,legislature would not wholly waive the subject of the following winter4 ,under a government which imprisons any unjustly1 the true place for a just man is also a prison4 ,the proper place today1 the only place which ,massachusetts has provided for her freer and less desponding spirits1 is in her prisons1 to be put out and locked out of the ,state by her own act1 as they have already put themselves out by their principles4 ,it is there that the fugitive slave1 and the ,mexican prisoner on parole1 and the ,indian come to plead the wrongs of his race1 should find them2 on that separate1 but more free and honorable ground1 where the ,state places those who are not with her but against her1--the only house in a slave-state in which a free man can abide with honor4 ,if any think that their influence would be lost there1 and their voices no longer afflict the ear of the ,state1 that they would not be as an enemy within its walls1 they do not know by how much truth is stronger than error1 nor how much more eloquently and effectively he can combat injustice who has experienced a little in his own person4 ,cast your whole vote1 not a strip of paper merely1 but your whole influence4 ,a minority is powerless while it conforms to the majority2 it is not even a minority then2 but it is irresistible when it clogs by its whole weight4 ,if the alternative is to keep all just men in prison1 or give up war and slavery1 the ,state will not hesitate which to choose4 ,if a thousand men were not to pay their tax-bills this year1 that would not be a violent and bloody measure1 as it would be to pay them1 and enable the ,state to commit violence and shed innocent blood4 ,this is1 in fact1 the definition of a peaceable revolution1 if any such is possible4 ,if the tax-gatherer1 or any other public officer1 asks me1 as one has done1 8,but what shall ,i do80 my answer is1 8,if you really wish to do any thing1 resign your office40 ,when the subject has refused allegiance1 and the officer has resigned his office1 then the revolution is accomplished4 ,but even suppose blood should flow4 ,is there not a sort of blood shed when the conscience is wounded8 ,through this wound a man's real manhood and immortality flow out1 and he bleeds to an everlasting death4 ,i see this blood flowing now4 ,i have contemplated the imprisonment of the offender1 rather than the seizure of his goods1--though both will serve the same purpose1--because they who assert the purest right1 and consequently are most dangerous to a corrupt ,state1 commonly have not spent much time in accumulating property4 ,to such the ,state renders comparatively small service1 and a slight tax is wont to appear exorbitant1 particularly if they are obliged to earn it by special labor with their hands4 ,if there were one who lived wholly without the use of money1 the ,state itself would hesitate to demand it of him4 ,but the rich man--not to make any invidious comparison--is always sold to the institution which makes him rich4 ,absolutely speaking1 the more money1 the less virtue2 for money comes between a man and his objects1 and obtains them for him2 it was certainly no great virtue to obtain it4 ,it puts to rest many questions which he would otherwise be taxed to answer2 while the only new question which it puts is the hard but superfluous one1 how to spend it4 ,thus his moral ground is taken from under his feet4 ,the opportunities of living are diminished in proportion as what are called the 8means0 are increased4 ,the best thing a man can do for his culture when he is rich is to endeavor to carry out those schemes which he entertained when he was poor4 ,christ answered the ,herodians according to their condition4 8,show me the tribute-money10 said he2--and one took a penny out of his pocket2--if you use money which has the image of ,csar on it1 and which he has made current and valuable1 that is1 if you are men of the ,state1 and gladly enjoy the advantages of ,csar's government1 then pay him back some of his own when he demands it2 8,render therefore to ,csar that which is ,csar's and to ,god those things which are ,god's10--leaving them no wiser than before as to which was which2 for they did not wish to know4 ,when ,i converse with the freest of my neighbors1 ,i perceive that1 whatever they may say about the magnitude and seriousness of the question1 and their regard for the public tranquillity1 the long and the short of the matter is1 that they cannot spare the protection of the existing government1 and they dread the consequences of disobedience to it to their property and families4 ,for my own part1 ,i should not like to think that ,i ever rely on the protection of the ,state4 ,but1 if ,i deny the authority of the ,state when it presents its tax-bill1 it will soon take and waste all my property1 and so harass me and my children without end4 ,this is hard4 ,this makes it impossible for a man to live honestly and at the same time comfortably in outward respects4 ,it will not be worth the while to accumulate property2 that would be sure to go again4 ,you must hire or squat somewhere1 and raise but a small crop1 and eat that soon4 ,you must live within yourself1 and depend upon yourself1 always tucked up and ready for a start1 and not have many affairs4 ,a man may grow rich in ,turkey even1 if he will be in all respects a good subject of the ,turkish government4 ,confucius said1--8,if a ,state is governed by the principles of reason1 poverty and misery are subjects of shame2 if a ,state is not governed by the principles of reason1 riches and honors are the subjects of shame40 ,no3 until ,i want the protection of ,massachusetts to be extended to me in some distant southern port1 where my liberty is endangered1 or until ,i am bent solely on building up an estate at home by peaceful enterprise1 ,i can afford to refuse allegiance to ,massachusetts1 and her right to my property and life4 ,it costs me less in every sense to incur the penalty of disobedience to the ,state1 than it would to obey4 ,i should feel as if ,i were worth less in that case4 ,some years ago1 the ,state met me in behalf of the church1 and commanded me to pay a certain sum toward the support of a clergyman whose preaching my father attended1 but never ,i myself4 8,pay it10 it said1 8or be locked up in the jail40 ,i declined to pay4 ,but1 unfortunately1 another man saw fit to pay it4 ,i did not see why the schoolmaster should be taxed to support the priest1 and not the priest the schoolmaster2 for ,i was not the ,state's schoolmaster1 but ,i supported myself by voluntary subscription4 ,i did not see why the lyceum should not present its tax-bill1 and have the ,state to back its demand1 as well as the church4 ,however1 at the request of the selectmen1 ,i condescended to make some such statement as this in writing3--8,know all men by these presents1 that ,i1 ,henry ,thoreau1 do not wish to be regarded as a member of any incorporated society which ,i have not joined40 ,this ,i gave to the town-clerk2 and he has it4 ,the ,state1 having thus learned that ,i did not wish to be regarded as a member of that church1 has never made a like demand on me since2 though it said that it must adhere to its original presumption that time4 ,if ,i had known how to name them1 ,i should then have signed off in detail from all the societies which ,i never signed on to2 but ,i did not know where to find such a complete list4 ,i have paid no poll-tax for six years4 ,i was put into a jail once on this account1 for one night2 and1 as ,i stood considering the walls of solid stone1 two or three feet thick1 the door of wood and iron1 a foot thick1 and the iron grating which strained the light1 ,i could not help being struck with the foolishness of that institution which treated me as if ,i were mere flesh and blood and bones1 to be locked up4 ,i wondered that it should have concluded at length that this was the best use it could put me to1 and had never thought to avail itself of my services in some way4 ,i saw that1 if there was a wall of stone between me and my townsmen1 there was a still more difficult one to climb or break through1 before they could get to be as free as ,i was4 ,i did nor for a moment feel confined1 and the walls seemed a great waste of stone and mortar4 ,i felt as if ,i alone of all my townsmen had paid my tax4 ,they plainly did not know how to treat me1 but behaved like persons who are underbred4 ,in every threat and in every compliment there was a blunder2 for they thought that my chief desire was to stand the other side of that stone wall4 ,i could not but smile to see how industriously they locked the door on my meditations1 which followed them out again without let or hindrance1 and they were really all that was dangerous4 ,as they could not reach me1 they had resolved to punish my body2 just as boys1 if they cannot come at some person against whom they have a spite1 will abuse his dog4 ,i saw that the ,state was half-witted1 that it was timid as a lone woman with her silver spoons1 and that it did not know its friends from its foes1 and ,i lost all my remaining respect for it1 and pitied it4 ,thus the state never intentionally confronts a man's sense1 intellectual or moral1 but only his body1 his senses4 ,it is not armed with superior wit or honesty1 but with superior physical strength4 ,i was not born to be forced4 ,i will breathe after my own fashion4 ,let us see who is the strongest4 ,what force has a multitude8 ,they only can force me who obey a higher law than ,i4 ,they force me to become like themselves4 ,i do not hear of men being forced to live this way or that by masses of men4 ,what sort of life were that to live8 ,when ,i meet a government which says to me1 8,your money or your life10 why should ,i be in haste to give it my money8 ,it may be in a great strait1 and not know what to do3 ,i cannot help that4 ,it must help itself2 do as ,i do4 ,it is not worth the while to snivel about it4 ,i am not responsible for the successful working of the machinery of society4 ,i am not the son of the engineer4 ,i perceive that1 when an acorn and a chestnut fall side by side1 the one does not remain inert to make way for the other1 but both obey their own laws1 and spring and grow and flourish as best they can1 till one1 perchance1 overshadows and destroys the other4 ,if a plant cannot live according to its nature1 it dies2 and so a man4 ,the night in prison was novel and interesting enough4 ,the prisoners in their shirt-sleeves were enjoying a chat and the evening air in the door-way1 when ,i entered4 ,but the jailer said1 8,come1 boys1 it is time to lock up20 and so they dispersed1 and ,i heard the sound of their steps returning into the hollow apartments4 ,my room-mate was introduced to me by the jailer as 8a first-rate fellow and a clever man40 ,when the door was locked1 he showed me where to hang my hat1 and how he managed matters there4 ,the rooms were whitewashed once a month2 and this one1 at least1 was the whitest1 most simply furnished1 and probably the neatest apartment in town4 ,he naturally wanted to know where ,i came from1 and what brought me there2 and1 when ,i had told him1 ,i asked him in my turn how he came there1 presuming him to be an honest man1 of course2 and1 as the world goes1 ,i believe he was4 8,why10 said he1 8they accuse me of burning a barn2 but ,i never did it40 ,as near as ,i could discover1 he had probably gone to bed in a barn when drunk1 and smoked his pipe there2 and so a barn was burnt4 ,he had the reputation of being a clever man1 had been there some three months waiting for his trial to come on1 and would have to wait as much longer2 but he was quite domesticated and contented1 since he got his board for nothing1 and thought that he was well treated4 ,he occupied one window1 and ,i the other2 and ,i saw1 that1 if one stayed there long1 his principal business would be to look out the window4 ,i had soon read all the tracts that were left there1 and examined where former prisoners had broken out1 and where a grate had been sawed off1 and heard the history of the various occupants of that room2 for ,i found that even here there was a history and a gossip which never circulated beyond the walls of the jail4 ,probably this is the only house in the town where verses are composed1 which are afterward printed in a circular form1 but not published4 ,i was shown quite a long list of verses which were composed by some young men who had been detected in an attempt to escape1 who avenged themselves by singing them4 ,i pumped my fellow-prisoner as dry as ,i could1 for fear ,i should never see him again2 but at length he showed me which was my bed1 and left me to blow out the lamp4 ,it was like travelling into a far country1 such as ,i had never expected to behold1 to lie there for one night4 ,it seemed to me that ,i never had heard the town-clock strike before1 nor the evening sounds of the village2 for we slept with the windows open1 which were inside the grating4 ,it was to see my native village in the light of the ,middle ,ages1 and our ,concord was turned into a ,rhine stream1 and visions of knights and castles passed before me4 ,they were the voices of old burghers that ,i heard in the streets4 ,i was an involuntary spectator and auditor of whatever was done and said in the kitchen of the adjacent village-inn--a wholly new and rare experience to me4 ,it was a closer view of my native town4 ,i was fairly inside of it4 ,i never had seen its institutions before4 ,this is one of its peculiar institutions2 for it is a shire town4 ,i began to comprehend what its inhabitants were about4 ,in the morning1 our breakfasts were put through the hole in the door1 in small oblong-square tin pans1 made to fit1 and holding a pint of chocolate1 with brown bread1 and an iron spoon4 ,when they called for the vessels again1 ,i was green enough to return what bread ,i had left2 but my comrade seized it1 and said that ,i should lay that up for lunch or dinner4 ,soon after1 he was let out to work at haying in a neighboring field1 whither he went every day1 and would not be back till noon2 so he bade me good-day1 saying that he doubted if he should see me again4 ,when ,i came out of prison1--for some one interfered1 and paid the tax1--,i did not perceive that great changes had taken place on the common1 such as he observed who went in a youth1 and emerged a gray-headed man2 and yet a change had to my eyes come over the scene1--the town1 and ,state1 and country1--greater than any that mere time could effect4 ,i saw yet more distinctly the ,state in which ,i lived4 ,i saw to what extent the people among whom ,i lived could be trusted as good neighbors and friends2 that their friendship was for summer weather only2 that they did not greatly purpose to do right2 that they were a distinct race from me by their prejudices and superstitions1 as the ,chinamen and ,malays are2 that1 in their sacrifices to humanity they ran no risks1 not even to their property2 that1 after all1 they were not so noble but they treated the thief as he had treated them1 and hoped1 by a certain outward observance and a few prayers1 and by walking in a particular straight though useless path from time to time1 to save their souls4 ,this may be to judge my neighbors harshly2 for ,i believe that most of them are not aware that they have such an institution as the jail in their village4 ,it was formerly the custom in our village1 when a poor debtor came out of jail1 for his acquaintances to salute him1 looking through their fingers1 which were crossed to represent the grating of a jail window1 8,how do ye do80 ,my neighbors did not thus salute me1 but first looked at me1 and then at one another1 as if ,i had returned from a long journey4 ,i was put into jail as ,i was going to the shoemaker's to get a shoe which was mended4 ,when ,i was let out the next morning1 ,i proceeded to finish my errand1 and1 having put on my mended shoe1 joined a huckleberry party1 who were impatient to put themselves under my conduct2 and in half an hour1--for the horse was soon tackled1--was in the midst of a huckleberry field1 on one of our highest hills1 two miles off2 and then the ,state was nowhere to be seen4 ,this is the whole history of 8,my ,prisons40 ,i have never declined paying the highway tax1 because ,i am as desirous of being a good neighbor as ,i am of being a bad subject2 and1 as for supporting schools1 ,i am doing my part to educate my fellow-countrymen now4 ,it is for no particular item in the tax-bill that ,i refuse to pay it4 ,i simply wish to refuse allegiance to the ,state1 to withdraw and stand aloof from it effectually4 ,i do not care to trace the course of my dollar1 if ,i could1 till it buys a man1 or a musket to shoot one with1--the dollar is innocent1--but ,i am concerned to trace the effects of my allegiance4 ,in fact1 ,i quietly declare war with the ,state1 after my fashion1 though ,i will still make use and get what advantages of her ,i can1 as is usual in such cases4 ,if others pay the tax which is demanded of me1 from a sympathy with the ,state1 they do but what they have already done in their own case1 or rather they abet injustice to a greater extent than the ,state requires4 ,if they pay the tax from a mistaken interest in the individual taxed1 to save his property or prevent his going to jail1 it is because they have not considered wisely how far they let their private feelings interfere with the public good4 ,this1 then1 is my position at present4 ,but one cannot be too much on his guard in such a case1 lest his actions be biassed by obstinacy1 or an undue regard for the opinions of men4 ,let him see that he does only what belongs to himself and to the hour4 ,i think sometimes1 ,why1 this people mean well2 they are only ignorant2 they would do better if they knew how3 why give your neighbors this pain to treat you as they are not inclined to8 ,but ,i think1 again1 this is no reason why ,i should do as they do1 or permit others to suffer much greater pain of a different kind4 ,again1 ,i sometimes say to myself1 ,when many millions of men1 without heat1 without ill-will1 without personal feeling of any kind1 demand of you a few shillings only1 without the possibility1 such is their constitution1 of retracting or altering their present demand1 and without the possibility1 on your side1 of appeal to any other millions1 why expose yourself to this overwhelming brute force8 ,you do not resist cold and hunger1 the winds and the waves1 thus obstinately2 you quietly submit to a thousand similar necessities4 ,you do not put your head into the fire4 ,but just in proportion as ,i regard this as not wholly a brute force1 but partly a human force1 and consider that ,i have relations to those millions as to so many millions of men1 and not of mere brute or inanimate things1 ,i see that appeal is possible1 first and instantaneously1 from them to the ,maker of them1 and1 secondly1 from them to themselves4 ,but1 if ,i put my head deliberately into the fire1 there is no appeal to fire or to the ,maker of fire1 and ,i have only myself to blame4 ,if ,i could convince myself that ,i have any right to be satisfied with men as they are1 and to treat them accordingly1 and not according1 in some respects1 to my requisitions and expectations of what they and ,i ought to be1 then1 like a good ,mussulman and fatalist1 ,i should endeavor to be satisfied with things as they are1 and say it is the will of ,god4 ,and1 above all1 there is this difference between resisting this and a purely brute or natural force1 that ,i can resist this with some effect2 but ,i cannot expect1 like ,orpheus1 to change the nature of the rocks and trees and beasts4 ,i do not wish to quarrel with any man or nation4 ,i do not wish to split hairs1 to make fine distinctions1 or set myself up as better than my neighbors4 ,i seek rather1 ,i may say1 even an excuse for conforming to the laws of the land4 ,i am but too ready to conform to them4 ,indeed ,i have reason to suspect myself on this head2 and each year1 as the tax-gatherer comes round1 ,i find myself disposed to review the acts and position of the general and state governments1 and the spirit of the people to discover a pretext for conformity4 8,we must affect our country as our parents1 ,and if at any time we alienate ,out love of industry from doing it honor1 ,we must respect effects and teach the soul ,matter of conscience and religion1 ,and not desire of rule or benefit40 ,i believe that the ,state will soon be able to take all my work of this sort out of my hands1 and then ,i shall be no better patriot than my fellow-countrymen4 ,seen from a lower point of view1 the ,constitution1 with all its faults1 is very good2 the law and the courts are very respectable2 even this ,state and this ,american government are1 in many respects1 very admirable1 and rare things1 to be thankful for1 such as a great many have described them2 seen from a higher still1 and the highest1 who shall say what they are1 or that they are worth looking at or thinking of at all8 ,however1 the government does not concern me much1 and ,i shall bestow the fewest possible thoughts on it4 ,it is not many moments that ,i live under a government1 even in this world4 ,if a man is thought-free1 fancy-free1 imagination-free1 that which is not never for a long time appearing to be to him1 unwise rulers or reformers cannot fatally interrupt him4 ,i know that most men think differently from myself2 but those whose lives are by profession devoted to the study of these or kindred subjects content me as little as any4 ,statesmen and legislators1 standing so completely within the institution1 never distinctly and nakedly behold it4 ,they speak of moving society1 but have no resting-place without it4 ,they may be men of a certain experience and discrimination1 and have no doubt invented ingenious and even useful systems1 for which we sincerely thank them2 but all their wit and usefulness lie within certain not very wide limits4 ,they are wont to forget that the world is not governed by policy and expediency4 ,webster never goes behind government1 and so cannot speak with authority about it4 ,his words are wisdom to those legislators who contemplate no essential reform in the existing government2 but for thinkers1 and those who legislate for all time1 he never once glances at the subject4 ,i know of those whose serene and wise speculations on this theme would soon reveal the limits of his mind's range and hospitality4 ,yet1 compared with the cheap professions of most reformers1 and the still cheaper wisdom and eloquence of politicians in general1 his are almost the only sensible and valuable words1 and we thank ,heaven for him4 ,comparatively1 he is always strong1 original1 and1 above all1 practical4 ,still his quality is not wisdom1 but prudence4 ,the lawyer's truth is not ,truth1 but consistency or a consistent expediency4 ,truth is always in harmony with herself1 and is not concerned chiefly to reveal the justice that may consist with wrong-doing4 ,he well deserves to be called1 as he has been called1 the ,defender of the ,constitution4 ,there are really no blows to be given by him but defensive ones4 ,he is not a leader1 but a follower4 ,his leaders are the men of '#hg4 8,i have never made an effort10 he says1 8and never propose to make an effort2 ,i have never countenanced an effort1 and never mean to countenance an effort1 to disturb the arrangement as originally made1 by which the various ,states came into the ,union40 ,still thinking of the sanction which the ,constitution gives to slavery1 he says1 8,because it was part of the original compact1--let it stand40 ,notwithstanding his special acuteness and ability1 he is unable to take a fact out of its merely political relations1 and behold it as it lies absolutely to be disposed of by the intellect1--what1 for instance1 it behoves a man to do here in ,america today with regard to slavery1 but ventures1 or is driven1 to make some such desperate answer as the following1 while professing to speak absolutely1 and as a private man1--from which what new and singular code of social duties might be inferred8--8,the manner10 says he1 8in which the governments of those ,states where slavery exists are to regulate it1 is for their own consideration1 under the responsibility to their constituents1 to the general laws of propriety1 humanity1 and justice1 and to ,god4 ,associations formed elsewhere1 springing from a feeling of humanity1 or any other cause1 have nothing whatever to do with it4 ,they have never received any encouragement from me and they never will40 ,they who know of no purer sources of truth1 who have traced up its stream no higher1 stand1 and wisely stand1 by the ,bible and the ,constitution1 and drink at it there with reverence and humanity2 but they who behold where it comes trickling into this lake or that pool1 gird up their loins once more1 and continue their pilgrimage toward its fountain-head4 ,no man with a genius for legislation has appeared in ,america4 ,they are rare in the history of the world4 ,there are orators1 politicians1 and eloquent men1 by the thousand2 but the speaker has not yet opened his mouth to speak who is capable of settling the much-vexed questions of the day4 ,we love eloquence for its own sake1 and not for any truth which it may utter1 or any heroism it may inspire4 ,our legislators have not yet learned the comparative value of free-trade and of freedom1 of union1 and of rectitude1 to a nation4 ,they have no genius or talent for comparatively humble questions of taxation and finance1 commerce and manufactures and agriculture4 ,if we were left solely to the wordy wit of legislators in ,congress for our guidance1 uncorrected by the seasonable experience and the effectual complaints of the people1 ,america would not long retain her rank among the nations4 ,for eighteen hundred years1 though perchance ,i have no right to say it1 the ,new ,testament has been written2 yet where is the legislator who has wisdom and practical talent enough to avail himself of the light which it sheds on the science of legislation4 ,the authority of government1 even such as ,i am willing to submit to1--for ,i will cheerfully obey those who know and can do better than ,i1 and in many things even those who neither know nor can do so well1--is still an impure one3 to be strictly just1 it must have the sanction and consent of the governed4 ,it can have no pure right over my person and property but what ,i concede to it4 ,the progress from an absolute to a limited monarchy1 from a limited monarchy to a democracy1 is a progress toward a true respect for the individual4 ,even the ,chinese philosopher was wise enough to regard the individual as the basis of the empire4 ,is a democracy1 such as we know it1 the last improvement possible in government8 ,is it not possible to take a step further towards recognizing and organizing the rights of man8 ,there will never be a really free and enlightened ,state1 until the ,state comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power1 from which all its own power and authority are derived1 and treats him accordingly4 ,i please myself with imagining a ,state at last which can afford to be just to all men1 and to treat the individual with respect as a neighbor2 which even would not think it inconsistent with its own repose1 if a few were to live aloof from it1 not meddling with it1 nor embraced by it1 who fulfilled all the duties of neighbors and fellow-men4 ,a ,state which bore this kind of fruit1 and suffered it to drop off as fast as it ripened1 would prepare the way for a still more perfect and glorious ,state1 which also ,i have imagined1 but not yet anywhere seen4