ˇ¶Waldenˇ·


 Contents

    1. Economy

    2.  I Lived For

    3. Reading

    4. Sounds

    5. Solitude

    6. Visitors

    7. the Bean-Field

    8. the Village

    9. the Ponds

    10. Baker Farm

    11. higher Laws

    12. Brute Neighbors

    13. house-arming

    14. Inants and inter Visitors

    15. inter Animals

    16. ter

    17. Spring

    18. Conclusion

 Economy-1

    Economy()

    e them, I

    lived alone, in the woods, a mile from any neighbor, in a house

    he shore of alden Pond, in Concord,

    Massacts, and earned my living by the labor of my hands only.

    I lived t present I am a sojourner

    in civilized life again.

    I s obtrude my affairs so mucice of my

    readers if very particular inquiries  been made by my

    townsmen concerning my mode of life, which some would call

    impertinent, t appear to me at all impertinent,

    but, considering tances, very natural and pertinent.

    Some  I got to eat; if I did not feel lonesome; if I

    afraid; and to learn

    ion of my income I devoted to cable purposes; and

    some, wained.

    I icular

    interest in me to pardon me if I undertake to anshese

    questions in t books, t person, is

    omitted; in t ained; t, in respect to egotism,

    is t remember t it is,

    after all, al person t is speaking.  I s

    talk so muc myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as

    unately, I am confined to the narrowness

    of my experience.  Moreover, I, on my side, require of every er,

    first or last, a simple and sincere account of

    merely w  as

    o ant land; for if he has

    lived sincerely, it must ant land to me.  Perhaps

    ticularly addressed to poor students.  As

    for t of my readers, t sucions as apply

    to trust t none retcting on the

    coat, for it may do good service to  fits.

    I  so muche Chinese

    and Sandwico

    live in Ne your condition, especially your

    oution or circumstances in town, w

    it is,  it be as bad as it is, wher

    it cannot be improved as .  I ravelled a good deal

    in Concord; and everywhe

    inants o me to be doing penance in a thousand

    remarkable ing exposed to

    four fires and looking in the sun; or hanging suspended,

    the heavens

    over t;until it becomes impossible for to resume

    tural position,  of t

    liquids can pass into tomac;; or dwelling, chained for life,

    at t of a tree; or measuring heir bodies, like

    caterpillars, t empires; or standing on one leg on

    tops of pillars -- even these forms of conscious penance are

    onishe scenes which I daily

    ness.  twelve labors of rifling in comparison

    aken; for they were only

    t these men slew or

    captured any monster or finishey have no friend

    Iolaus to burn  iron t of t as

    soon as one wo spring up.

    I see young men, my to is to have

    ined farms, tle, and farming tools; for these

    are more easily acquired t rid of.  Better if they had been

    born in ture and suckled by a  t have

    seen  field to labor in.  ho

    made t ty acres,

    only ?  hey

    begin digging t

    to live a mans life, pus

    on as al soul

    he

    road of life, pus a barn seventy-five feet by forty,

    its Augean stables never cleansed, and one hundred acres of land,

    tillage, moure, and !  tionless, who

    struggle ed encumbrances, find it

    labor enougo subdue and cultivate a fe of flesh.

    But men labor under a mistake.  tter part of the man is

    soon ploo t.  By a seeming fate, commonly

    called necessity, t says in an old book,

    laying up treasures  and thieves

    break teal.  It is a fools life, as they will find

    o t, if not before.  It is said t

    Deucalion and Pyrred men by tones over their heads

    behem:--

    Inde genus durum sumus, experiensque laborum,

    Et documenta damus qua simus origine nati.

    Or, as Raleig in his sonorous way,--

    quot;From ted is, enduring pain and care,

    Approving t our bodies of a stony nature are.quot;

    So muco a blundering oracle, the

    stones over t seeing whey fell.

    Most men, even in tively free country, through mere

    ignorance and mistake, are so occupied itious cares and

    superfluously coarse labors of life t its finer fruits cannot be

    plucked by toil, are too clumsy

    and tremble too muc.  Actually, t

    leisure for a true integrity day by day;  afford to sustain

    t relations to men; ed in the

    market.  ime to be anyt a machine.  how can he

    remember well h requires -- who has

    so often to use he him

    gratuitously sometimes, and recruit h our cordials, before we

    judge of  qualities of our nature, like the bloom on

    fruits, can be preserved only by t delicate  we

    do not treat ourselves nor one anotenderly.

    Some of you,  o live, are

    sometimes, as it  t

    some of you he dinners

    en, or for ts and shoes which are

    fast , and o to

    spend borroolen time, robbing your creditors of an hour.

    It is very evident w mean and sneaking lives many of you live,

    for my sigted by experience; als,

    trying to get into business and trying to get out of debt, a very

    ancient slougins aes alienum, anothers brass,

    for some of till living, and dying,

    and buried by to pay, promising

    to pay, tomorrooday, insolvent; seeking to curry

    favor, to get custom, by  state-prison

    offenses; lying, flattering, voting, contracting yourselves into a

    nutsy or dilating into an atmosphin and

    vaporous generosity, t you may persuade your neigo let you

    make , or , or

    you may lay up

    somet a sick day, someto be tucked away in an old

    c, or in a stocking beering, or, more safely, in

    tter le.

    I sometimes

    say, as to attend to t somew foreign form of

    servitude called Negro Slavery, tle

    masters t enslave bot is o have a

    Sout is o   of

    all y

    in man!  Look at teamster on to market by

    day or nigy stir  duty

    to fodder and er  is iny to him compared

    erests?  Does not he drive for Squire

    Make-a-stir?  al, is he?  See how he cowers

    and sneaks,  being immortal nor

    divine, but the slave and prisoner of his own opinion of himself, a

    fame  compared

    e opinion.   a man t it

    is es, e.

    Self-emancipation even in t Indian provinces of the fancy and

    imagination -- o bring t about?

    toilet cushions

    against t day, not to betray too green an interest in their

    fates!  As if you could kill time  injuring eternity.

    t desperation.   is called

    resignation is confirmed desperation.  From te city you

    go into te country, and o console yourself he

    bravery of minks and muskrats.  A stereotyped but unconscious

    despair is concealed even under he games and

    amusements of mankind.  this comes

    after  it is a ceristic of  to do

    desperate things.

    , to use teche

    c are true necessaries and means of

    life, it appears as if men ely che common mode

    of living because t to any ot tly

    t.  But alert and ures

    remember t t is never too late to give up

    our prejudices.  No , can

    be trusted  proof.   everybody echoes or in silence

    passes by as true to-day may turn out to be falseo-morrow,

    mere smoke of opinion, ed for a cloud t would

    sprinkle fertilizing rain on t old people say you

    cannot do, you try and find t you can.  Old deeds for old people,

    and ne know enough once,

    perco fetco keep the fire a-going; new people

    put a little dry , and are whe globe

    o kill old people, as the phrase

    is.  Age is no better, ructor

    as yout  profited so muc .  One may

    almost doubt if t man e

    value by living.  Practically, tant advice

    to give tial, and

    te reasons,

    as t believe; and it may be t t

    hey

    , and I

    to  syllable of valuable or even earnest advice from

    my seniors.  told me not tell me

    anyto t to a great

    extent untried by me; but it does not avail me t tried

    it.  If I o

    reflect t tors said not.

    One farmer says to me, quot;You cannot live on vegetable food

    solely, for it furniso make bones ;; and so he

    religiously devotes a part of o supplying em h

    terial of bones; alks behind his

    oxen, wable-made bones, jerk him and his lumbering

    ploe of every obstacle.  Some things are really

    necessaries of life in some circles, t helpless and diseased,

    will are

    entirely unknown.

    to some to have been gone

    over by ts and the valleys, and

    all to o Evelyn, quot;the wise

    Solomon prescribed ordinances for tances of trees; and

    tors en you may go into your

    neigo gat

    trespass, and  neig;  es has

    even left directions  our nails; t is, even h

    ter nor longer.  Undoubtedly

    tedium and ennui he

    variety and t mans

    capacities o judge of w he

    can do by any precedents, so little ried.  ever have

    been to, quot;be not afflicted, my child, for who

    so t t left undone?quot;

    e migry our lives by a tests; as, for

    instance, t t once

    a system of eart would

    ed some mistakes.  t t in which I

    ars are t riangles!

    distant and different beings in the

    universe are contemplating t t!  Nature

    and itutions.  ho

    s prospect life offers to anoter

    miracle take place to look thers eyes for

    an instant?  e she world in an hour;

    ay, in all tory, Poetry, Mythology! -- I

    knoartling and

    informing as this would be.

    ter part of w my neighbors call good I believe in my

    soul to be bad, and if I repent of anyt is very likely to be

    my good be demon possessed me t I behaved so well?

    You may say t thing you can, old man -- you who have lived

    seventy years, not  ible

    voice .  One generation abandons

    terprises of anotranded vessels.

    I t rust a good deal more than we do.

    e may  so mucly bestow

    elseed to our o our

    strengt anxiety and strain of some is a well-nigh

    incurable form of disease.  e are made to exaggerate tance

    of   done by us! or, w if

    ermined not to live

    by fait; all t, at night

    ourselves to

    uncertainties.  So to

    live, reverencing our life, and denying ty of change.

    t there

    can be drare.  All co

    contemplate; but it is a miracle waking place every

    instant.  Confucius said, quot;to kno we know w we know, and

    t  kno kno is true kno;

    of tion to be a fact to

    anding, I foresee t all men at lengtablisheir

    lives on t basis.

    Let us consider for a moment  of trouble and

    anxiety , and  is

    necessary t roubled, or at least careful.  It would be

    some advantage to live a primitive and frontier life, the

    midst of an oution, if only to learn he

    gross necessaries of life and aken to obtain

    to look over ts, to

    see   men most commonly boug tores, w

    tored, t is,  groceries.  For the

    improvements of ages  little influence on tial

    laence; as our skeletons, probably, are not to be

    distinguisors.

    By tever, of all t

    man obtains by ions, , or from

    long use ant to  few, if any,

    empt to

    do  it.  to many creatures t one

    necessary of life, Food.  to t is a few

    incable grass, er to drink; unless he

    Ser of t or tains se

    creation requires more ter.  the necessaries of

    life for man in te may, accurately enougributed

    under ter, Clothing, and Fuel; for

    not till ertain true

    problems of life  of success.  Man has

    invented, not only  clothes and cooked food; and possibly

    from tal discovery of the

    consequent use of it, at first a luxury, arose t necessity

    to sit by it.  e observe cats and dogs acquiring the same second

    nature.  By proper Ser and Clotimately retain our

    oernal ; but  is,

    ernal  greater ternal, may not cookery

    properly be said to begin?  Daruralist, says of the

    inants of tierra del Fuego, t wy, who were

    ting close to a fire, oo warm,

    to his

    great surprise, quot;to be streaming ion at undergoing

    sucing.quot;  So, old, the New hollander goes naked

    y, w

    impossible to combine the

    intellectualness of to Liebig, mans

    body is a stove, and food ternal

    combustion in t more, in warm less.

    t is t of a sloion, and disease and

    deatake place  of fuel, or

    from some defect in t, t.  Of course the

    vital  is not to be confounded  so much for

    analogy.  It appears, t, t the

    expression, animal life, is nearly synonymous he expression,

    animal ; for whe Fuel which keeps

    up to prepare t Food

    or to increase tion from  --

    Ser and Cloto retain t thus

    generated and absorbed.

    ty, to keep o

    keep tal  in us.   pains ake, not only

    er, but h our beds, which

    are our nigs and breasts of birds to

    prepare ter er, as ts bed of

    grass and leaves at ts burro to

    complain t to cold, no less physical

    tly a great part of our ails.  the

    summer, in some climates, makes possible to man a sort of Elysian

    life.  Fuel, except to cook he sun

    is s are sufficiently cooked by its

    rays; while Food generally is more various, and more easily

    obtained, and Cloter are wholly or half unnecessary.

    At t day, and in try, as I find by my own

    experience, a fes, a knife, an axe, a spade, a

    udious, lampligationery, and

    access to a fe to necessaries, and can all be

    obtained at a trifling cost.  Yet some, not o ther

    side of to barbarous and une

    to trade for ten or ty years, in order t they may

    live -- t is, keep comfortably

    last.  t simply kept comfortably warm,

    but unnaturally ; as I implied before, they are cooked, of course

    a la mode.

    Most of ts of

    life, are not only not indispensable, but positive o the

    elevation of mankind.  it to luxuries and comforts, the

    he poor.

    t philosophers, Chinese, hindoo, Persian, and Greek, were

    a class tward riches, none so

    ric muc t is remarkable t

    he more

    modern reformers and benefactors of their race.  None can be an

    impartial or age ground

    of y.  Of a life of luxury the

    fruit is luxury, erature,

    or art.  t not

    p it is admirable to profess because it was once

    admirable to live.  to be a p merely to le

    ts, nor even to found a sc so to love o

    live according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence,

    magnanimity, and trust.  It is to solve some of the problems of

    life, not only tically, but practically.  t

    scier-like success, not

    kingly, not manly.  t to live merely by conformity,

    practically as the

    progenitors of a noble race of men.  But we ever?

    makes families run out?   is ture of the luxury which

    enervates and destroys nations?  Are  there is none of

    it in our ohe philosopher is in advance of his age even

    in thed,

    warmed, like emporaries.  how can a man be a philosopher and

    not maintain al  by better mether men?

    he several modes which I have

    described, ?  Surely not more he

    same kind, as more and richer food, larger and more splendid houses,

    finer and more abundant clot, and

    ter fires, and tained things which

    are necessary to life, ternative to obtain

    ties; and t is, to adventure on life now, his

    vacation from oil  appears,

    is suited to t  its radicle do

    may nos s uph confidence.  hy has man

    rooted  t he

    same proportion into ts are

    valued for t t last in t, far

    from t treated like ts,

    ed only till they

    ed t, and often cut do top for this

    purpose, so t most  knoheir flowering season.

    I do not mean to prescribe rules to strong and valiant natures,

    wher in heaven or hell, and

    percly and spend more lavishe

    ric,  ever impoveris knowing hey

    live -- if, indeed, to

    t and inspiration in precisely the

    present condition of t he fondness and

    ento some extent, I reckon myself in this

    number; I do not speak to tever

    circumstances, and t;

    -- but mainly to tented, and idly

    complaining of t or of times, whey

    mig energetically

    and inconsolably of any, because their

    duty.  I also  seemingly  most

    terribly impoverised dross, but

    kno o use it, or get rid of it, and their

    oters.

    If I stempt to tell o spend my life

    in years past, it hose of my readers who

    are someed s actual ory; it ainly

    astonis it.  I  some

    of terprises which I have cherished.

    In any  any , I have been

    anxious to improve time, and notc on my stick too;

    to stand on ting of ternities, t and future,

    ; to toe t line.  You will

    pardon some obscurities, for ts in my trade than

    in most mens, and yet not voluntarily kept, but inseparable from

    its very nature.  I ell all t I kno it, and

    never paint quot;No Admittancequot; on my gate.

    I long ago lost a urtle dove, and am

    still on trail.  Many are travellers I have spoken

    concerning tracks and hey

    anso.  I  one or two whe

    tramp of the dove disappear behind a cloud,

    and to recover t them

    themselves.

    to anticipate, not t, if

    possible, Nature er,

    before yet any neigirring about his business, have I been

    about mine!  No doubt, many of my tourning

    from terprise, farmers starting for Boston in t,

    or  is true, I never assisted

    terially in , doubt not, it

    importance only to be present at it.

    So many autumn, ay, and er days, spent outside town,

    trying to  o  express!

    I , and lost my oo

    t.  If it her

    of tical parties, depend upon it, it would have appeared in

    tte  intelligence.  At otimes ching

    from tory of some cliff or tree, to telegraph any new

    arrival; or ing at evening on tops for to fall,

    t I migc muc,

    manna-he sun.

    For a long time I er to a journal, of no very wide

    circulation,  to print the bulk

    of my contributions, and, as is too common ers, I got only

    my labor for my pains.  heir

    own reward.

    For many years I ed inspector of snoorms and

    rain-storms, and did my duty fait of

    pat routes, keeping

    t all seasons, where

    testified to tility.

    I er tock of town, which give a

    faitrouble by leaping fences; and I

    o ted nooks and corners of the farm;

    t always know wher Jonas or Solomon worked in a

    particular field to-day; t was none of my business.  I have

    ered ttle-tree,

    te grape and the yellow

    violet, w hered else in dry seasons.

    In s, I  on time (I may say it

    boasting), faitill it became more and

    more evident t my to after all admit me into the

    list of toe

    allos, hfully,

    I  audited, still less accepted, still less

    paid and settled.   set my  on t.

    Not long since, a strolling Indian  to sell baskets at the

    ;Do you wiso

    buy any baskets?quot; ;No,   any,quot; he

    reply.  quot;!quot; exclaimed t out te, quot;do

    you mean to starve us?quot;  rious we neighbors

    so  to s, and, by

    some magic, anding followed -- o himself:

    I o business; I s; it is a thing which I

    can do.  t ws he would have

    done , and t e mans to buy them.  he

    discovered t it  h

    to buy t least make  it

    o make somet h his while

    to buy.  I too  of a delicate texture, but

    I  made it o buy t not the

    less, in my case, did I t o hem, and

    instead of studying o make it o buy my

    baskets, I studied rato avoid ty of selling

    t one

    kind.  e any one kind at the

    others?

    Finding t my felloizens  likely to offer me any

    room in t

    I must s for myself, I turned my face more exclusively than ever

    to tter knoermined to go into

    business at once, and not  to acquire tal, using

    suc.  My purpose in going to

    alden Pond  to live co live dearly t to

    transact some private business  obstacles; to be

    of a little common sense,

    a little enterprise and business talent, appeared not so sad as

    foolish.

    I o acquire strict business s; they

    are indispensable to every man.  If your trade is ial

    Empire, ting , in some Salem

    ure enoug sucicles as

    try affords, purely native products, much ice and pine

    timber and a little granite, alive bottoms.  these will

    be good ventures.  to oversee all tails yourself in person; to

    be at once pilot and captain, and oer; to buy and

    sell and keep ts; to read every letter received, and e

    or read every letter sent; to superintend ts

    nigo be upon many parts of t almost at the same

    time -- often t freight will be discharged upon a Jersey

    so be your oelegraphe

    o keep up a

    steady despatcies, for tant and

    exorbitant market; to keep yourself informed of tate of the

    markets, prospects of e the

    tendencies of trade and civilization -- taking advantage of the

    results of all exploring expeditions, using new passages and all

    improvements in navigation; -- cs to be studied, tion of

    reefs and neained, and ever, and

    ever, tables to be corrected, for by the error of

    some calculator ten splits upon a rock t should have

    reacold fate of La Prouse;

    -- universal science to be kept pace udying the lives of all

    great discoverers and navigators, great adventurers and mercs,

    from o our day; in fine, account of

    stock to be taken from time to time, to kno is a

    labor to task ties of a man -- suc and

    loss, of interest, of tare and tret, and gauging of all kinds in it,

    as demand a universal knowledge.

    I  t alden Pond would be a good place for

    business, not solely on account of trade;

    it offers advantages  be good policy to divulge; it

    is a good port and a good foundation.  No Neva marso be filled;

    t everyw

    is said t a flood-tide, erly he

    Neva, . Petersburg from th.

    As to be entered into  the usual

    capital, it may not be easy to conjecture w

    ill be indispensable to every sucaking, o be

    obtained.  As for Cloto come at once to tical part of

    tion, perener by ty and

    a regard for t, true

    utility.  Let o do recollect t t of

    clot, to retain tal , and secondly, in this

    state of society, to cover nakedness, and he may judge how much of

    any necessary or important work may be accomplis adding

    to  but once, though

    made by some tailor or dressmaker to ties, cannot know

    t of  t fits.  tter than

    wooden o s

    become more assimilated to ourselves, receiving the

    il e to lay t such

    delay and medical appliances and some sucy even as our

    bodies.  No man ever stood timation for having a

    patc I am sure t ter anxiety,

    commonly, to  least clean and unpatched

    cloto  even if t is

    not mended, per vice betrayed is improvidence.  I

    sometimes try my acquaintances by sucests as this -- ho could

    cra seams only, over t behave

    as if t ts for life would be ruined if

    t.  It o o town

    aloon.  Often if an

    accident o a gentlemans legs, t if a

    similar accident o taloons, there is no

    ; for  ruly respectable, but

    ed.  e kno fe many coats and

    breec s, you standing

    sless by,  salute the scarecrow?  Passing a

    cornfield t and coat on a stake, I

    recognized ttle more

    en t.  I

    barked at every stranger h

    clot ed by a naked t is an

    interesting question ain tive rank if

    ted of thes.  Could you, in such a case,

    tell surely of any company of civilized men he

    most respected class?  urous

    travels round t to ,  so near home as

    Asiatic Russia, s s ty of wearing

    otravelling dress, o meet the

    auties, for s;ry, where ...

    people are judged of by t;  Even in our democratic New

    England toal possession of s

    manifestation in dress and equipage alone, obtain for the possessor

    almost universal respect.  But t, numerous as

    to  to

    troduced sewing, a kind of work which you

    may call endless; a  least, is never done.

    A man o do  need to

    get a ne to do it in; for  has lain

    dusty in t for an indeterminate period.  Old shoes will

    serve a  -- if a hero

    ever  -- bare feet are older than shoes, and he can make

    to soires and legislative balls must

    s, coats to cen as them.

    But if my jacket and trousers, my  and s to worship

    God in, t?  hes

    -- , actually , resolved into its primitive

    elements, so t it  a deed of cy to besto on some

    poor boy, by o be bestoill, or

    sh less?  I say, beware of all

    enterprises t require ne rather a new wearer of

    clot a new man, hes be made

    to fit?  If you erprise before you, try it in your old

    clot, not someto do  someto

    do, or rato be.  Perhaps we should never procure a

    ne, y til we have so

    conducted, so enterprised or sailed in some  we feel like

    ne to retain it would be like keeping new

    tles.  Our moulting season, like t of the fowls,

    must be a crisis in our lives.  tires to solitary ponds

    to spend it.  ts its sloughe

    caterpillar its , by an internal industry and expansion;

    for clot our outmost cuticle and mortal coil.  Otherwise

    we sably

    cas last by our o of mankind.

    e don garment after garment, as if we grew like exogenous

    plants by addition .  Our outside and often thin and fanciful

    clotakes not of our

    life, and may be stripped off  fatal injury;

    our ts, constantly egument,

    or cortex; but our ss are our liber, or true bark, w

    be removed  girdling and so destroying the man.  I believe

    t all races at some seasons  to the

    s.  It is desirable t a man be clad so simply t he can lay

    s

    so compactly and preparedly t, if an enemy take town, he can,

    like t te empty-

    anxiety.   is, for most purposes, as good as

    tained at prices really

    to suit customers;  for five

    dollars, aloons for two

    dollars, cows for a dollar and a

    for a quarter of a dollar, and a er cap for sixty-two and a half

    cents, or a better be made at  a nominal cost, where is he so

    poor t, clad in suc, of

    be found o do him reverence?

    of a particular form, my tailoress

    tells me gravely, quot;t make t; not emphasizing

    t;t; at all, as if sed an auty as impersonal as

    tes, and I find it difficult to get made , simply

    because s believe t I mean  I am so

    rasence, I am for a moment

    absorbed in t, empo myself eacely t

    I may come at t, t I may find out by w degree

    of consanguinity ted to me, and y they

    may s me so nearly; and, finally, I am

    inclined to ans any more

    emp;t; -- quot;It is true, t make them so

    recently, but t;  Of his measuring of me if she

    does not measure my cer, but only th of my shoulders,

    as it o bang t on?  e he Graces,

    nor t Fass h

    full auty.  t Paris puts on a travellers cap,

    and all times despair of

    getting anyte simple and  done in the

    o be passed through a powerful press

    first, to squeeze tions out of t they would

    not soon get upon there would be some one

    in t in ched from an egg

    deposited t even fire kills these

    t your labor.  Nevertheless, we will

    not forget t some Egyptian w was o us by a

    mummy.

    On t it cannot be maintained t dressing

    ry risen to ty of an art.  At

    present men make s to .  Like shipwrecked

    sailors, t on  a

    little distance, wime, laug eachers

    masquerade.  Every generation laug t

    follo beume

    of   of the

    King and Queen of tume off a man is

    pitiful or grotesque.  It is only the serious eye peering from and

    t er and

    consecrate tume of any people.  Let aken h a

    fit of trappings  mood too.

    by a cannonball, rags are as becoming as

    purple.

    taste of men and terns

    keeps ing t they

    may discover ticular figure wion requires

    today.  turers  taste is merely

    terns whreads more

    or less of a particular color, the

    ot frequently  after the

    lapse of a season tter becomes t fashionable.

    Comparatively, tattooing is not tom w is

    called.  It is not barbarous merely because ting is

    skin-deep and unalterable.

    I cannot believe t our factory system is t mode by

    ion of tives is

    becoming every day more like t of t cannot be

    , since, as far as I he

    principal object is, not t mankind may be well and ly clad,

    but, unquestionably, t corporations may be enriche long

    run men  only .  they should

    fail immediately, tter aim at something high.

    As for a Ser, I  deny t this is now a necessary

    of life, tances of men  it

    for long periods in colder countries this.  Samuel Laing says

    t quot;the Laplander in his skin dress, and in a skin bag which he

    puts over  after night on

    tinguishe life of

    one exposed to it in any ;  hem asleep

    t ;t ;  But,

    probably, man did not live long on t discovering the

    convenience s, which

    pisfactions of the house

    more t be extremely partial and

    occasional in tes wed in our

    ts er or thirds of

    t for a parasol, is unnecessary.  In our climate, in

    t  solely a covering at night.  In

    ttes a he symbol of a days march, and a

    ro or painted on tree signified t so

    many times t made so large limbed and

    robust but t  seek to narrow his world and wall in a space

    sucted  first bare and out of doors; but

    t enougher, by

    dayliger, to say nothe

    torrid sun, would perhe bud if he had

    not made e to cloter of a house.  Adam

    and Eve, according to ther

    cloted a , first of

    ions.

    e may imagine a time whe human race,

    some enterprising mortal crept into a er.

    Every co some extent, and loves to

    stay outdoors, even in  and cold.  It plays house, as well as

    inct for it.   remember the

    interest  shelving rocks, or any

    approaco a cave?  It ural yearning of t portion,

    any portion of our most primitive ancestor will survived in

    us.  From to roofs of palm leaves, of bark

    and bougretcraw, of

    boards and sones and tiles.  At last,  w

    it is to live in tic in more

    senses t

    distance.  It would be well, pero spend more of

    our days and nig any obstruction bethe

    celestial bodies, if t did not speak so much from under a

    roof, or t d sing in caves,

    nor do doves cs.

    o construct a dwelling-

    beo exercise a little Yankee s after all

    a clue, a

    museum, an almsead.

    Consider first  a ser is absolutely necessary.  I have

    seen Penobscot Indians, in toents of tton

    clot deep around them, and I

    t t to  deeper to keep out the

    my living ly, h freedom

    left for my proper pursuits, ion which vexed me even more

    t does nounately I am become somew callous, I

    used to see a large box by t long by three

    nig

    suggested to me t every man  such a

    one for a dollar, and, , to

    admit t least, get into it  night, and

    he lid, and so have freedom in his love, and in his soul

    be free.  t appear t, nor by any means a

    despicable alternative.  You could sit up as late as you pleased,

    and,  any landlord or

    .  Many a man is o deato

    pay t of a larger and more luxurious box w have

    frozen to deating.

    Economy is a subject reated y, but

    it cannot so be disposed of.  A comfortable house for a rude and

    lived mostly out of doors, was once made here

    almost entirely of sucerials as Nature furniso their

    endent of t to the

    Massacts Colony, ing in 1674, says, quot;t of their

    ly, tigrees,

    slipped from t the sap is up, and

    made into great flakes, y timber, whey

    are green....  t are covered s whey make

    of a kind of bulrusly tig

    not so good as ty or a hundred

    feet long and ty feet broad....  I en lodged in their

    Englis;  he

    adds t ted and lined h

    well-wrougs, and were furnish various

    utensils.  to regulate t

    of t suspended over the roof and moved

    by a string.  Suc instance constructed in

    a day or t most, and taken do up in a few hours; and

    every family os apartment in one.

    In tate every family ohe

    best, and sufficient for its coarser and simpler s; but I think

    t I speak , the

    air s, and the savages

    ty not more than one half

    ter.  In toies, where

    civilization especially prevails, those who own a

    ser is a very small fraction of t pay an

    annual tax for tside garment of all, become indispensable

    summer and er, w

    no mean to

    insist age of

    it is evident t ter because it costs so

    little, w

    afford to o; nor can ter afford to

    , ansax, the poor

    civilized man secures an abode whe

    savages.  An annual rent of from ty-five to a hundred dollars

    (try rates) entitles o t of the

    improvements of centuries, spacious apartments, clean paint and

    paper, Rumford fire-place, back plastering, Venetian blinds, copper

    pump, spring lock, a commodious cellar, and many ot

    t o enjoy things is so

    commonly a poor civilized man, w,

    is ric is asserted t civilization is a real

    advance in tion of man -- and I t it is, though

    only tages -- it must be s it

    ter d making tly; and

    t of a t of w I will call life which is

    required to be exc, immediately or in the long run.  An

    average s per hundred

    dollars, and to lay up take from ten to fifteen years

    of t encumbered h a family --

    estimating t one dollar a

    day, for if some receive more, ot he

    must  more than half his life commonly before his wigwam

    instead, this is

    but a doubtful co

    excerms?

    It may be guessed t I reduce almost tage of

    y as a fund in store against the

    future, so far as to the

    defraying of funeral expenses.  But per required to

    bury s to an important distinction

    bet, they have

    designs on us for our benefit, in making the life of a civilized

    people an institution, in wo a

    great extent absorbed, in order to preserve and perfect t of the

    race.  But I age is at

    present obtained, and to suggest t o

    secure all tage  suffering any of tage.

    mean ye by saying t th you, or

    t ten sour grapes, and teeth

    are set on edge?

    quot;As I live, sait have occasion any

    more to use this proverb in Israel.

    quot;Beher, so also

    t sinnet s;

    least as  for t

    part toiling ty, ty, or forty years, t

    they

    ed  h hired money --

    and  toil as t of their houses

    -- but commonly t paid for t.  It is true, the

    encumbrances sometimes outhe

    farm itself becomes one great encumbrance, and still a man is found

    to in it, being ed , as he says.  On

    applying to to learn t t

    at once name a dozen in town wheir farms free and clear.

    If you ory of teads, inquire at the

    bank ually paid for

    is so rare t every neig

    to  if t has

    been said of ts, t a very large majority, even

    ninety-seven in a o fail, is equally true of the

    farmers.  ito ts, hem says

    pertinently t a great part of t genuine

    pecuniary failures, but merely failures to fulfil ts,

    because it is inconvenient; t is, it is ter t

    breaks do ts an infinitely ter,

    and suggests, beside, t probably not even three succeed

    in saving t are perc in a worse sense

    tly.  Bankruptcy and repudiation are the

    springboards from s and turns

    its somersets, but tands on tic plank of

    famine.  Yet ttle S

    annually, as if all ts of tural machine were

    suent.

    to solve the problem of a livelihood

    by a formula more complicated tself.  to get his

    srings es in tle.  ite skill

    rap o catc and

    independence, and turned a o it.

    the reason he is poor; and for a similar reason we are all

    poor in respect to a ts, though surrounded by

    luxuries.  As Chapman sings,

    quot;ty of men --

    -- for eartness

    All s rarefies to air.quot;

    And he richer

    but t, and it be t  him.  As I

    understand it, t ion urged by Momus against the

    s; made it movable, by

    ;; and it may still

    be urged, for our y t we are

    often imprisoned rathe bad

    neigo be avoided is our own scurvy selves.  I know one or

    t least, in town, wion,

    o sell tskirts and move

    into t  been able to accomplis, and only

    deat them free.

    Granted t ty are able at last eito own or hire

    ts improvements.  ion has

    been improving our   equally improved the men who

    are to in t ed palaces, but it  so easy

    to create noblemen and kings.  And if ts

    are no er

    part of aining gross necessaries and comforts merely,

    he former?

    But y fare?  Per will be found

    t just in proportion as some ward

    circumstances above thers have been degraded below him.

    terbalanced by the indigence of

    anothe

    alms;silent poor.quot;  t to

    be tombs of t may be were

    not decently buried the cornice

    of turns at nigo a  not so good as a

    is a mistake to suppose t, in a country whe

    usual evidences of civilization exist, tion of a very large

    body of tants may not be as degraded as t of savages.

    I refer to t noo to know

    t need to look farto ties which

    every improvement in

    civilization; where I see in my daily walks human beings living in

    sties, and all er ,

    any visible, often imaginable, he forms of

    botly contracted by t of

    s of all their

    limbs and faculties is c certainly is fair to look at

    t class by winguishis

    generation are accomplisoo, to a greater or less extent,

    is tion of tives of every denomination in England,

    w worko

    Ireland, we or enligs on

    trast tion of t of

    ther

    savage race before it act he civilized

    man.  Yet I  t t peoples rulers are as wise as

    tion only proves w

    squalidness may consist ion.  I hardly need refer now

    to tates waple

    exports of try, and are taple production of

    t to confine myself to to be in

    moderate circumstances.

    Most men appear never to  a house is, and

    are actually they

    t t heir neighbors have.  As if

    one o  of coat  for

    or cap of woodchuck

    skin, complain of imes because  afford to buy him

    a cro is possible to invent a ill more convenient and

    luxurious t all  t man could not

    afford to pay for.  Sudy to obtain more of these

    t sometimes to be content he

    respectable citizen teac and example, the

    necessity of tain number of

    superfluous glo chambers for

    empty guests, before  our furniture be as

    simple as the

    benefactors of theosized as messengers

    from s to man, I do not see in my mind

    any retinue at ture.

    Or o allo not be a singular allowance?

    -- t our furniture she Arabs, in

    proportion as ellectually

    present our tered and defiled , and a good

    ter part into t hole, and

    not leave he blushes

    of Aurora and t should be mans morning work

    in tone on my desk, but I

    errified to find t to be dusted daily, when

    ture of my mind ed still, and t

    t.  hen, could I have a furnished house?

    I  in t gathe

    grass, unless where man has broken ground.

    It is ted he fashions which

    tly folloraveller  t

    he publicans presume

    o be a Sardanapalus, and if o tender

    mercies ely emasculated.  I t in

    to spend more on luxury than on

    safety and convenience, and it tens  attaining to

    become no better ts divans, and

    ottomans, and sun-sal things, which

    aking  ed for the harem and

    te natives of tial Empire, whan

    so kno on a

    pumpkin and  all to myself t

    cus, h a free

    circulation, to he fancy car of an excursion

    train and breathe way.

    ty and nakedness of mans life in tive

    ages imply tage, at least, t t ill but a

    sojourner in nature.  h food and sleep, he

    contemplated , as it ent in

    the

    plains, or climbing tain-tops.  But lo! men he

    tools of tools.  tly plucked ts

    ree

    for ser, a ,

    but tled doten heaven.  e have

    adopted Cianity merely as an improved meture.

    e  for t a

    family tomb.  t  are the expression of mans

    struggle to free ion, but t of our

    art is merely to make tate comfortable and t higher

    state to be forgotten.  tually no place in this village

    for a , if any o us, to stand, for

    our lives, our reets, furnisal for

    it.  t a nail to ure on, nor a so

    receive t of a .  hen I consider how our

    and paid for, or not paid for, and ternal

    economy managed and sustained, I  t give

    or whe

    mantelpiece, and let o to some solid and

    tion.  I cannot but perceive t this

    so-called ric, and I do not

    get on in t of ts w, my

    attention being w

    test genuine leap, due to human muscles alone, on record, is

    t of certain wandering Arabs, wo have cleared

    ty-five feet on level ground.  it factitious support, man

    is sure to come to eart distance.  t

    question ed to put to tor of suc

    impropriety is, ers you?  Are you one of ty-seven

    wions, and

    t your baal.

    t before tiful nor useful.  Before

    s t be

    stripped, and our lives must be stripped, and beautiful housekeeping

    and beautiful living be laid for a foundation: noaste for the

    beautiful is most cultivated out of doors, where is no house

    and no housekeeper.

    Old Jo;onder-orking Providence,quot; speaking of the

    first settlers of toemporary, tells us

    t quot;t ser

    under some ing t upon timber, they

    make a smoky fire against t t side.quot;  they did

    not quot;provide t; says ;till the Lords

    blessing, brougo feed t; and t years

    crop ;to cut their bread very

    t;  tary of the Province of New

    Neting in Dutcion of those

    ake up land tates more particularly t

    quot;therland, and especially in New England, who have no

    means to build farm first according to their wishes, dig a

    square pit in t deep, as

    long and as broad as th

    rees or

    someto prevent this

    cellar  it overhead for a ceiling, raise a

    roof of spars clear up, and cover th bark or green sods,

    so t tire

    families for t being understood t

    partitions are run ted to the

    size of thy and principal men in New England,

    in t

    dly, in order

    not to e time in building, and not to  food t season;

    secondly, in order not to discourage poor laboring people whey

    broughree or

    four years, ed to agriculture, they

    built them several

    t;

    In tors took there was a show of

    prudence at least, as if to satisfy the more

    pressing s first.  But are ts satisfied

    now?  hink of acquiring for myself one of our luxurious

    derred, for, so to speak, try is not yet

    adapted to ure, and ill forced to cut our

    spiritual bread far ten.

    Not t all arcectural ornament is to be neglected even in the

    rudest periods; but let our  be lined y, where

    tact enement of the

    s overlaid .  But, alas! I have been inside

    one or t th.

    t so degenerate but t  possibly live

    in a cave or a oday, it certainly is better to

    accept tages, t, wion

    and industry of mankind offer.  In suchis,

    boards and shingles, lime and bricks, are cheaper and more easily

    obtained table caves, or w

    quantities, or even empered clay or flat stones.  I speak

    understandingly on t, for I ed

    botically and practically.  ittle more

    o become ric

    noion a blessing.  the civilized man is

    a more experienced and  to make e to my own

    experiment.

 Economy-2

    Near t doo

    t to o build my

    o cut doall, arroill in

    timber.  It is difficult to begin

    borro per is t generous course to permit

    your felloo erest in your enterprise.  the owner

    of t, said t it he

    apple of  I returned it s.  It

    h pine woods,

    t on the pond, and a small open field in

    the ice in

    t yet dissolved, there were some open spaces,

    and it urated er.  there were

    some slig I here;

    but for t part o the railroad, on my way

    s yelloche hazy

    atmosphe

    lark and peo commence another year

    spring days, in wer of

    mans discontent

    orpid began to stretcself.  One day, when my axe had

    come off and I  a green  h

    a stone, and o soak in a pond-o

    sriped snake run into ter, and he lay

    on ttom, apparently  inconvenience, as long as I stayed

    ter of an

    yet fairly come out of torpid state.  It appeared to me t for

    a like reason men remain in t loive

    condition; but if the spring of

    springs arousing ty rise to a higher and

    more ety

    mornings in my pations of till numb and

    inflexible, ing for to t of April

    it rained and melted t of the day,

    over the

    pond and cackling as if lost, or like t of the fog.

    So I  on for some days cutting and imber, and also

    studs and rafters, all  having many

    communicable or scs, singing to myself, --

    Men say things;

    But lo! taken wings --

    ts and sciences,

    And a thousand appliances;

    t blows

    Is all t any body knows.

    I imbers six inc of tuds on

    ters and floor timbers on one side,

    leaving t of t t as straight

    and mucronger tick was carefully

    mortised or tenoned by its stump, for I ools by

    time.  My days in t very long ones; yet I

    usually carried my dinner of bread and butter, and read the

    ne noon, sitting amid the green

    pine boug off, and to my bread ed some

    of t of

    pitche

    pine tree, t doter

    acquainted .  Sometimes a rambler in ttracted

    by tted pleasantly over the chips

    which I had made.

    By te in my

    rat of it, my he

    raising.  I  ty of James Collins, an

    Irischburg Railroad, for boards.  James

    Collins sy was considered an uncommonly fine one.  hen I

    called to see it  at  tside, at

    first unobserved from

    tage roof, and not much

    else to be seen, t being raised five feet all around as if it

    part, though a good

    deal tle by there was none,

    but a perennial passage for the door board.  Mrs. C.

    came to to vie from the hens

    were driven in by my approac was dark, and  floor

    for t part, dank, clammy, and aguish, only here a board and

    t bear removal.  Sed a lamp to

    s the

    board floor extended under t to step into the

    cellar, a sort of dust  deep.  In hey

    ;good boards overhead, good boards all around, and a good

    ; -- of two w had passed

    out t ely.  tove, a bed, and a place to sit,

    an infant in t was born, a silk parasol,

    gilt-framed looking-glass, and a patent neo an

    oak sapling, all told.  the bargain was soon concluded, for James

    urned.  I to pay four dollars and

    ty-five cents tonigo vacate at five tomorrow morning,

    selling to nobody else meanake possession at six.  It

    icipate certain

    indistinct but  and

    fuel.  t six I passed

    heir all --

    bed, coffee-mill, looking-glass,  t; sook

    to t, and, as I learned afterward,

    trod in a trap set for  last.

    I took dohe nails,

    and removed it to tloads, spreading the

    boards on to bleache sun.

    One early te or the woodland

    patreacrick t neighbor

    Seeley, an Iriservals of ting, transferred

    till tolerable, straigaples, and

    spikes to , and tood he

    time of day, and look fress,

    at tation; th of work, as he said.  he

    o represent spectatordom, and his seemingly

    insignificant event one roy.

    I dug my cellar in to th,

    whrough sumach

    and blackberry roots, and t stain of vegetation, six feet

    square by seven deep, to a fine sand oes  freeze

    in any er.  t s stoned; but

    till keeps its place.

    It  ticular pleasure in this

    breaking of ground, for in almost all latitudes men dig into the

    eartemperature.  Under t splendid house in

    ty is still to be found tore their

    roots as of old, and long after tructure has disappeared

    posterity remark its dent in till but a

    sort of porc trance of a burrow.

    At lengthe help of some of my

    acquaintances, rato improve so good an occasion for

    neigy, I set up the frame of my

    er of his raisers

    tined, I trust, to assist at the raising of

    loftier structures one day.  I began to occupy my h

    of July, as soon as it he boards were

    carefully feat it ly

    impervious to rain, but before boarding I laid tion of a

    c one end, bringing tloads of stones up the hill

    from t ter my hoeing in

    th, doing my

    cooking in t of doors on the

    morning: s more

    convenient and agreeable t stormed before

    my bread

    under to c

    little, but t scraps of paper whe ground, my

    ableclotertainment, in fact

    anshe Iliad.

    It o build still more deliberately

    tance, ion a door, a

    , ure of man, and perchance

    never raising any superstructure until ter reason for

    it temporal necessities even.  the same

    fitness in a mans building  there is in a birds

    building its o.   if men constructed their

    dhemselves and

    families simply and ly enougic faculty would be

    universally developed, as birds universally sing whey are so

    engaged?  But alas! we do like cowbirds and cuckoos, wheir

    eggs in nests w, and craveller

    tering and unmusical notes.  Shall we forever resign

    truction to ter?   does

    arcecture amount to in the mass of men?  I

    never in all my walks came across a man engaged in so simple and

    natural an occupation as building o the

    community.  It is not tailor alone w of a

    man; it is as muc, and the farmer.

    o end? and  does it

    finally serve?  No doubt anot it is

    not t o the exclusion of my

    thinking for myself.

    true, tects so called in try, and I have

    least possessed he idea of making

    arcectural ornaments ruty, and hence

    a beauty, as if it ion to him.  All very well perhaps

    from  of vie only a little better the common

    dilettantism.  A sentimental reformer in arcecture,

    t at tion.  It  a core

    of truts, t every sugarplum, in fact, might

    -- t almonds

    are most  ant,

    t build truly , and let the

    ornaments take care of t reasonable man ever

    supposed t ornaments he skin

    merely -- t tortoise got ted she shell-fish

    its motints, by sucract as tants of

    Broadrinity C a man o do he

    style of arcecture of ortoise  of its

    so try to paint the

    precise color of ue on andard.  t

    out.  urn pale o me

    to lean over timidly o the

    rude occupants ter t of

    arcectural beauty I now see, I know has gradually grown from

    of ties and cer of the

    indweller, w of some unconscious

    trut ever a t for the

    appearance and ional beauty of tined

    to be produced y of

    life.  t interesting dry, as the

    painter kno unpretending, s and

    cottages of t is tants

    y in their surfaces

    merely, eresting will

    be tizens suburban box, when his life shall be as simple and

    as agreeable to tion, and ttle straining

    after effect in tyle of  proportion of

    arcectural ornaments are literally ember gale

    rip t injury to the

    substantials.  t arcecture who have no olives

    nor  if an equal ado  the

    ornaments of style in literature, and tects of our bibles

    spent as mucime about tects of our

    ctres and ts and

    t concerns a man, forsooth, how a few

    sticks are slanted over  colors are daubed

    upon   sense,

    ed t; but t ed out of

    tenant, it is of a piece ructing he

    arcecture of t;carpenterquot; is but another name for

    quot;coffin-maker.quot;  One man says, in o

    life, take up a  your feet, and paint your

    color.  Is  and narrow house?

    toss up a copper for it as well.   an abundance of leisure be

    must ake up a ?  Better paint your

    it turn pale or blush for you.  An

    enterprise to improve tyle of cottage arcecture!  hen you

    my ornaments ready, I hem.

    Before er I built a che sides of my

    o rain,  and

    sappy s slice of the log, whose edges I was

    obliged to straigh a plane.

    I igered en feet wide

    by fifteen long, and eig posts,  and a closet, a

    large rap doors, one door at the end, and

    a brick fireplace opposite.  t cost of my he

    usual price for sucerials as I used, but not counting the work,

    all of whe

    details because very feo tell exactly heir houses

    cost, and feill, if any, te cost of the various

    materials whem:--

    Boards .......................... $ 8.03+, mostly sy boards.

    Refuse shingles for roof sides ...  4.00

    Laths ............................  1.25

    two second-hand windows

    h glass ....................  2.43

    One thousand old brick ...........  4.00

    t was high.

    han I needed.

    Mantle-tree iron .................  0.15

    Nails ............................  3.90

    hinges and screws ................  0.14

    Latch ............................  0.10

    Chalk ............................  0.01

    transportation ...................  1.40  I carried a good part

    ------- on my back.

    In all ...................... $28.12+

    terials, excepting timber, stones, and

    sand, .  I have also a small

    er

    building the house.

    I intend to build me a he main

    street in Concord in grandeur and luxury, as soon as it pleases me

    as muc me no more t one.

    I t tudent wer can

    obtain one for a lifetime at an expense not greater t

    more than is

    becoming, my excuse is t I brag for y rathan for

    myself; and my scomings and inconsistencies do not affect the

    trutatement.  Notanding muc and hypocrisy --

    c difficult to separate from my  for

    ch

    myself in t, it is suco bothe moral and

    pem; and I am resolved t I  ty

    become ttorney.  I o speak a good word

    for trut Cambridge College t of a students

    room, y dollars

    eacion age of building

    ty-t suffers

    the inconvenience of many and noisy neighbors, and perhaps a

    residence in tory.  I cannot but t if we had

    more true s, not only less education would be

    needed, because, forsooth, more would already have been acquired,

    but tting an education

    measure vanisudent requires at

    Cambridge or elseimes as great

    a sacrifice of life as t on both

    sides.  t money is demanded are never

    tudent most s.  tuition, for instance, is

    an important item in term bill, whe far more valuable

    education ing  cultivated of

    emporaries no che mode of founding a

    college is, commonly, to get up a subscription of dollars and cents,

    and to

    its extreme -- a principle h

    circumspection -- to call in a contractor w

    of speculation, and ives actually

    to lay tions, s t are to be are said

    to be fitting t; and for ts successive

    generations o pay.  I t it ter this,

    for tudents, or to be benefited by it, even to

    lay tion tudent wed

    leisure and retirement by systematically shirking any labor

    necessary to man obtains but an ignoble and unprofitable leisure,

    defrauding he experience which alone can make leisure

    fruitful.  quot;But,quot; says one, quot;you do not mean t tudents

    so ead of t;  I do

    not mean t exactly, but I mean somet think a

    good deal like t; I mean t t play life, or study

    it merely, s t this expensive game,

    but earnestly live it from beginning to end.  hs

    better learn to live t once trying t of

    living?  Metheir minds as much as

    matics.  If I  ts and

    sciences, for instance, I  pursue the common course, which

    is merely to send o the neighborhood of some professor, where

    anytised but t of life; -- to

    survey telescope or a microscope, and never h

    ural eye; to study cry, and not learn how his bread is

    made, or mec learn  is earned; to discover new

    satellites to Neptune, and not detect tes in o

    e o be devoured by the

    monsters t sing ters

    in a drop of vinegar.   at the end

    of a monthe ore

    wed, reading as much as would be necessary

    for ttended tures on metallurgy

    at titute in the meanwhile, and had received a Rodgers

    penknife from  likely to cut his

    fingers?...  to my astonis I was informed on leaving college

    t I udied navigation! -- urn down

    t it.  Even tudent

    studies and is taugical economy, w economy of

    living w even sincerely

    professed in our colleges.  t while he is

    reading Adam Smit

    irretrievably.

    As ;modern improvementsquot;;

    t t alive

    advance.  ting compound interest to t

    for ments in them.

    Our inventions are  to be pretty toys,  our

    attention from serious t improved means to an

    unimproved end, an end  too easy to arrive

    at; as railroads lead to Boston or Ne e

    to construct a magnetic telegrapo texas; but Maine and

    texas, it may be, ant to communicate.  Either is

    in suc as t to be introduced to

    a distinguis wed, and one end

    of rumpet  into o say.  As if

    t o talk fast and not to talk sensibly.  e are

    eager to tunnel under tlantic and bring the Old orld some

    o t perc ne will leak

    to t the

    Princess Adelaide er all, the man whose

    rots a mile in a minute does not carry t important

    messages;  an evangelist, nor does ing

    locusts and wild  if Flying Childers ever carried a

    peck of corn to mill.

    One says to me, quot;I  you do not lay up money; you love

    to travel; you migake to Fitcoday and see

    try.quot;  But I am .  I  the

    sest traveller is  goes afoot.  I say to my friend,

    Suppose ry .  tance is ty

    miles; ty cents.  t is almost a days wages.  I

    remember s a day for laborers on this very

    road.  ell, I start no, and get t; I have

    travelled at t rate by togethe

    meanwime

    tomorroo get a

    job in season.  Instead of going to Fitchburg, you will be working

    er part of the railroad reached

    round t I should keep ahead of you; and as for

    seeing try and getting experience of t kind, I should

    o cut your acquaintance altogether.

    Suc, and

    o t is as broad as it is

    long.  to make a railroad round to all mankind

    is equivalent to grading t.  Men have

    an indistinct notion t if tivity of joint

    stocks and spades long enoug length ride somewhere, in

    next to no time, and for not to the

    depot, and tor ss quot;All aboard!quot; whe smoke is

    blo  a few

    are riding, but t are run over -- and it will be called, and

    ;A melanc.quot;  No doubt t last

    hey survive so long,

    but t ticity and desire to

    travel by t time.  t part of ones life

    earning money in order to enjoy a questionable liberty during the

    least valuable part of it reminds me of t to

    India to make a fortune first, in order t  return to

    England and live t.

    at once.  quot;!quot; exclaim a million Irisarting up from all

    ties in t;is not t

    a good t;  Yes, I ansively good, t is, you

    mig I wis

    you could  your time better t.

    Before I finiso earn ten or twelve

    dollars by some  and agreeable meto meet my

    unusual expenses, I planted about two acres and a  and

    sandy soil near it c also a small part h

    potatoes, corn, peas, and turnips.  t contains eleven

    acres, mostly groo pines and he

    preceding season for eig cents an acre.  One

    farmer said t it ;good for not to raise cheeping

    squirrels on.quot;  I put no manure  being the

    o merely a squatter, and not expecting to cultivate so much

    again, and I did not quite  all once.  I got out several cords

    of stumps in plowing, wime,

    and left small circles of virgin mould, easily distinguishable

    ter luxuriance of there.

    t part unmercable wood behind my house,

    and the remainder of my

    fuel.  I o eam and a man for the plowing,

    tgoes for t season

    s, seed, c., $14.72+.  the seed corn was

    given me.  ts anyto speak of, unless you plant

    more t twelve buseen

    busatoes, beside some peas and s corn.  the yellow

    corn and turnips oo late to come to anything.  My whole income

    from the farm was

    $ 23.44

    Deducting tgoes ............  14.72+

    -------

    t .................. $  8.71+

    beside produce consumed and on  time timate was

    made of t on han

    balancing a little grass hings

    considered, t is, considering tance of a mans soul and

    of today, notanding t time occupied by my experiment,

    nay, partly even because of its transient cer, I believe t

    t ter t year.

    t year I did better still, for I spaded up all the land

    he

    experience of bot being in t awed by many

    celebrated  if

    one  only the crop which he raised, and

    raise no more te, and not exc for an insufficient

    quantity of more luxurious and expensive to

    cultivate only a fe it would be co

    spade up t to use oxen to plo, and to select a fresh

    spot from time to time to manure the old, and he could do all

    odd hours

    in t be tied to an ox, or horse, or

    co present.  I desire to speak impartially on this

    point, and as one not interested in the

    present economical and social arrangements.  I

    t anco a house or

    farm, but could follo of my genius, which is a very

    crooked one, every moment.  Beside being better off they

    already, if my house had been burned or my crops had failed, I

    should have been nearly as well off as before.

    I am  to t men are not so muche keepers of herds

    as he freer.

    Men and oxen exc if we consider necessary work only,

    to ly tage, their farm is

    so muc of the exchange work

    in  is no boys play.  Certainly no

    nation t lived simply in all respects, t is, no nation of

    p so great a blunder as to use the labor of

    animals.  true, t likely soon to be a

    nation of pain it is desirable t there

    should be.  however, I should never have broken a horse or bull and

    taken o board for any work  do for me, for fear I

    sy seems

    to be tain t w is one mans

    gain is not anot table-boy has equal cause

    er to be satisfied?  Granted t some public works

    ructed  t man share

    t follo he

    could not  more

    case?  o do, not merely unnecessary or artistic, but

    luxurious and idle ance, it is inevitable

    t a feher

    rongest.  Man t only works

    for t, for a symbol of this, he works for

    t antial houses of

    brick or stone, ty of till measured by

    to wown is

    said to  houses for oxen, cows, and horses

    s, and it is not bes public buildings; but

    this

    county.  It s be by tecture, but w even by

    tract t, t nations so

    commemorate t-Geeta

    t!  toemples are the luxury

    of princes.  A simple and independent mind does not toil at the

    bidding of any prince.  Genius is not a retainer to any emperor, nor

    is its material silver, or gold, or marble, except to a trifling

    extent.  to w end, pray, is so mucone hammered?  In Arcadia,

    ions are

    possessed ion to perpetuate the memory of

    t of one t if

    equal pains aken to smootheir manners?  One

    piece of good sense  as high

    as tter to see stones in place.  the grandeur of

    tone wall

    t bounds an  mans field ted t

    rue end of life.  the religion and

    civilization whenish build splendid

    temples; but y does not.  Most of the

    stone a nation os tomb only.  It buries itself

    alive.  As for to  in them

    so muc t so many men could be found degraded enough

    to spend tructing a tomb for some ambitious booby,

    w would o he

    Nile, and to t possibly invent

    some excuse for t I ime for it.  As for the

    religion and love of art of t is muche same all

    tian temple or the

    United States Bank.  It costs more t comes to.  the mainspring

    is vanity, assisted by tter.  Mr.

    Balcom, a promising young arcect, designs it on the back of his

    Vitruvius,  out to

    Dobson amp; Sons, stonecutters.  y centuries begin to

    look do, mankind begin to look up at it.  As for your high

    tos, town who

    undertook to dig to C so far t, as he

    said, s and kettles rattle; but I t

    I s go out of my o admire the hole which he made.  Many

    are concerned about ts of t and t -- to

    kno, I so know who in

    t build trifling.  But

    to proceed atistics.

    By surveying, carpentry, and day-labor of various other kinds in

    trades as fingers,

    I  months, namely,

    from July 4to Marc, time es were made,

    t counting potatoes, a

    little green corn, and some peas, which I had raised, nor

    considering t  date -- was

    Rice .................... $ 1.73 1/2

    Molasses .................  1.73 C form of the

    saccharine.

    Rye meal .................  1.04 3/4

    Indian meal ..............  0.99 3/4  Chan rye.

    Pork .....................  0.22

    All experiments which failed:

    Flour ....................  0.88  Costs more than Indian meal,

    botrouble.

    Sugar ....................  0.80

    Lard .....................  0.65

    Apples ...................  0.25

    Dried apple ..............  0.22

    S potatoes ...........  0.10

    One pumpkin ..............  0.06

    One ermelon ...........  0.02

    Salt .....................  0.03

    Yes, I did eat $8.74, all told; but I s thus unblushingly

    publis, if I did not kno most of my readers were

    equally guilty  their deeds would look no

    better in print.  t year I sometimes caught a mess of fish

    for my dinner, and once I  so far as to slaughter a woodchuck

    ion, as a

    tartar s sake;

    but t afforded me a momentary enjoyment, notanding a

    musky flavor, I sa t use  make t a good

    practice,  migo have your woodchucks ready

    dressed by tcher.

    Clotal expenses es,

    ttle can be inferred from tem, amounted to

    $ 8.40-3/4

    Oil and some ensils ........  2.00

    So t all tgoes, excepting for washing and

    mending,   of the house, and

    t yet been received -- and these are all and more

    t in t

    of the world -- were

    house ................................. $ 28.12+

    Farm one year ........................... 14.72+

    Food eighs .......................  8.74

    Clotc., eighs ............  8.40-3/4

    Oil, etc., eighs .................  2.00

    -----------

    In all ............................ $ 61.99-3/4

    I address myself noo to

    get.  And to meet this I have for farm produce sold

    $ 23.44

    Earned by day-labor ....................  13.34

    -------

    In all ............................ $ 36.78,

    ed from tgoes leaves a balance of

    $25.21 3/4 on th

    ed, and to be incurred -- and

    on thus

    secured, a comfortable o occupy

    it.

    tatistics, al and tructive

    tain completeness, ain

    value also.  Not rendered some

    account.  It appears from timate, t my food alone

    cost me in money about ty-seven cents a  was, for

    nearly ter t yeast,

    potatoes, rice, a very little salt pork, molasses, and salt; and my

    drink, er.  It  t I should live on rice, mainly, who

    love so o meet tions of

    some inveterate cavillers, I may as ate, t if I dined out

    occasionally, as I al shall have

    opportunities to do again, it ly to triment of my

    domestic arrangements.  But t, being, as I ated,

    a constant element, does not in t affect a comparative

    statement like this.

    I learned from my t it

    incredibly little trouble to obtain ones necessary food, even in

    titude; t a man may use as simple a diet as the animals,

    and yet retain rengtisfactory

    dinner, satisfactory on several accounts, simply off a dish of

    purslane (Portulaca oleracea) whered in my cornfield,

    boiled and salted.  I give tin on account of the savoriness of

    trivial name.  And pray w more can a reasonable man desire,

    in peaceful times, in ordinary noons, t number of

    ears of green s corn boiled, ion of salt?  Even

    ttle variety he demands of

    appetite, and not of  men o suc

    tly starve, not for  of necessaries, but for  of

    luxuries; and I know a good woman w  his

    life because ook to drinking er only.

    t I am treating t rather

    from an economic tetic point of view, and

    venture to put my abstemiousness to test unless he has a

    ocked larder.

    Bread I at first made of pure Indian meal and salt, genuine

    of doors on a shingle or

    tick of timber sa

    to get smoked and to ried flour

    also; but  last found a mixture of rye and Indian meal most

    convenient and agreeable.  In cold  tle

    amusement to bake several small loaves of this in succession,

    tending and turning tian ching

    eggs.  t whey had

    to my senses a fragrance like t of ots, which I

    kept in as long as possible by hs.  I made a

    study of t and indispensable art of bread-making,

    consulting sucies as offered, going back to tive

    days and first invention of the

    s and meats men first reache mildness and

    refinement of t, and travelling gradually doudies

    t accidental souring of t is supposed,

    taugations

    ter, till I came to quot;good, s, aff

    of life.  Leaven, wus

    issue, which is religiously preserved like

    tal fire -- some precious bottleful, I suppose, first brought

    over in ts

    influence is still rising, swelling, spreading, in cerealian billows

    over thfully procured from

    till at lengt the rules, and

    scalded my yeast; by  even this was

    not indispensable -- for my discoveries  by tic

    but analytic process -- and I ted it since, though

    most ly assured me t safe and wholesome bread

    yeast mig be, and elderly people prophesied a speedy

    decay of tal forces.  Yet I find it not to be an essential

    ingredient, and after going  it for a year am still in the

    land of to escape trivialness of

    carrying a bottleful in my pocket, wimes pop and

    discs contents to my discomfiture.  It is simpler and more

    respectable to omit it.  Man is an animal wher

    can adapt o all climates and circumstances.  Neither did I

    put any sal-soda, or oto my bread.  It would

    seem t I made it according to the recipe which Marcus Porcius

    Cato gave about turies before C.  quot;Panem depsticium sic

    facito.  Manus mortariumque bene lavato.  Farinam in mortarium

    indito, aquae paulatim addito, subigitoque pulchre.  Ubi bene

    subegeris, defingito, coquitoque sub testu.quot;  ake to mean,

    -- quot;Make kneaded bread troug

    to trouger gradually, and knead it

    t , and bake it

    under a cover,quot; t is, in a baking kettle.  Not a

    leaven.  But I did not alaff of life.  At one time,

    oo tiness of my purse, I sa for more than a

    month.

    Every New Englander miguffs

    in t depend on distant and

    fluctuating markets for t so far are y and

    independence t, in Concord, fres meal is rarely sold

    in till coarser form are hardly

    used by any.  For t part to tle and

    least no more er cost, at tore.  I saw

    t I could easily raise my buswo of rye and Indian corn,

    for t land, and tter does

    not require t, and grind them in a hand-mill, and so do

    rice and pork; and if I must rated s, I

    found by experiment t I could make a very good molasses either of

    pumpkins or beets, and I kne I needed only to set out a few

    maples to obtain it more easily still, and whese were growing

    I could use various substitutes beside those which I have named.

    quot;For,quot; as thers sang,--

    quot;o sen our lips

    Of pumpkins and parsnips and -tree c;

    Finally, as for salt, t grossest of groceries, to obtain this

    mig occasion for a visit to the seashore, or, if I did

    it altogeter.  I do

    not learn t troubled to go after it.

    trade and barter, so far as my food was

    concerned, and er already, it o get

    clotaloons which I now wear were woven in a

    farmers family -- tue still in

    man; for I to tive as great

    and memorable as t from to the farmer; -- and in a new

    country, fuel is an encumbrance.  As for a at, if I

    permitted still to squat, I mig the same

    price for ed

    dollars and eigs.  But as it  I

    enting on it.

    tain class of unbelievers wimes ask me

    sucions as, if I t I can live on vegetable food

    alone; and to strike at t of tter at once -- for the

    root is faitomed to answer suc I can live on

    board nails.  If t understand t, t understand

    muc I o say.  For my part, I am glad to bear of

    experiments of tried; as t a young man tried for

    a fortnigo live on eeth

    for all mortar.  tribe tried the same and succeeded.

    terested in ts, though a few old

    ed for thirds in

    mills, may be alarmed.

    My furniture, part of

    me not rendered an account -- consisted of a

    bed, a table, a desk, three inches in

    diameter, a pair of tongs and andirons, a kettle, a skillet, and a

    frying-pan, a dipper, a hree

    plates, one cup, one spoon, a jug for oil, a jug for molasses, and a

    japanned lamp.  None is so poor t  on a pumpkin.  t

    is slessness.  ty of suc

    in ts to be aking ture!

    t and I can stand  ture

    a p be aso see

    ure packed in a cart and going up country exposed to the

    lig of empty

    boxes?  t is Spauldings furniture.  I could never tell from

    inspecting suc belonged to a so-called rich man

    or a poor one; ty-stricken.  Indeed,

    the poorer you are.  Each load

    looks as if it contained tents of a dozen sies; and if

    one sy is poor, times as poor.  Pray, for w

    do  to get rid of our furniture, our exuvioe: at

    last to go from to another newly furnished, and leave

    to be burned?  It is traps were

    buckled to a mans belt, and  move over the rough

    country  dragging them -- dragging

    rap.   left ail in trap.  the

    muskrat will gnaw o be free.  No wonder man has

    lost icity.  en  a dead set!  quot;Sir, if I may

    be so bold, ?quot;  If you are a seer,

    he owns, ay, and much

    t ends to disown, beo chen

    furniture and all trumpery w burn, and

    o be o it and making w headway he can.

    I t t a dead set hrough a

    knot-e

    follo feel compassion wrig,

    compact-looking man, seemingly free, all girded and ready, speak of

    ;furniture,quot; as .  quot;But w shall I

    do ure?quot; -- My gay butterfly is entangled in a

    spiders  to have

    any, if you inquire more narrowly you will find ored in

    somebodys barn.  I look upon England today as an old gentleman who

    is travelling  deal of baggage, trumpery which has

    accumulated from long  to

    burn; great trunk, little trunk, bandbox, and bundle.  throw away

    t t least.  It he powers of a well man

    noo take up ainly advise

    a sick one to lay down  an

    immigrant tottering under a bundle wained his all --

    looking like an enormous he nape of his

    neck -- I ied  because t was  because

    to carry.  If I  to drag my trap, I will

    take care t it be a lig nip me in a vital part.

    But perc  never to put ones pao it.

    I  it costs me nothing for

    curtains, for I o s out but the sun and moon, and

    I am  t sour milk

    nor taint meat of mine, nor ure or fade

    my carpet; and if imes too  still

    better economy to retreat beain wure has

    provided, to add a single item to tails of housekeeping.

    A lady once offered me a mat, but as I o spare hin

    time to spare  to s, I

    declined it, preferring to  on the sod before my door.

    It is best to avoid the beginnings of evil.

    Not long since I  at tion of a deacons

    effects, for  been ineffectual:--

    quot;t men do lives after t;

    As usual, a great proportion rumpery wo

    accumulate in  was a dried

    tapeer lying ury in  and

    ot  burned; instead of a

    bonfire, or purifying destruction of tion, or

    increasing of ted to viehem,

    bougransported to ts and

    dust o lie till tates are settled, whey

    art again.  .

    toms of some savage nations might, perchance, be

    profitably imitated by us, for t least go the

    semblance of casting the idea of

    ty or not.  ould it not be

    o celebrate suc;busk,quot; or quot;feast of first

    fruits,quot; as Bartram describes to om of the

    Mucclasse Indians?  quot;oes t; says he,

    quot;s,

    pans, and otensils and furniture, t all

    t clothings, sweep and

    cleanse toh,

    whey

    cast togeto one common  er

    aken medicine, and fasted for the fire in

    toinguis tain from the

    gratification of every appetite and passion wever.  A general

    amnesty is proclaimed; all malefactors may return to to;

    quot;On t, by rubbing dry wood

    togethe public square, from whence every

    ation in to;

    t on ts, and dance and sing

    for t;and ts and

    rejoice owns who have in like

    manner purified and prepared t;

    tised a similar purification at the end of

    every fifty-t it ime for the world

    to come to an end.

    I ruer sacrament, t is, as the

    dictionary defines it, quot;outward and visible sign of an inward and

    spiritual grace,quot; t t they were

    originally inspired directly from o do they

    ion.

    For more tained myself the

    labor of my , by  six weeks in a

    year, I could meet all the whole of my

    ers, as  of my summers, I had free and clear for

    study.  I ried sc my

    expenses ion, or rat of proportion, to my

    income, for I o dress and train, not to say think and

    believe, accordingly, and I lost my time into the bargain.  As I did

    not teac simply for a

    liveliried trade but I found t

    it ake ten years to get under , and t then I

    so tually afraid

    t I mig time be doing w is called a good business.

    to see w I could do for a

    living, some sad experience in conforming to the wishes of friends

    being freso tax my ingenuity, I t often and

    seriously of picking  surely I could do, and its

    small profits migest skill o

    but little -- so little capital it required, so little

    distraction from my ed moods, I foolis.  hile my

    acquaintances  unatingly into trade or the professions, I

    contemplated tion as most like the hills

    all summer to pick ter

    carelessly dispose of to keep tus.  I

    also dreamed t I mighe wild herbs, or carry evergreens

    to suco be reminded of to the

    city, by  loads.  But I  trade curses

    everyt rade in messages from heaven,

    trade attaco the business.

    As I preferred some to others, and especially valued my

    freedom, as I could fare  succeed  wish

    to spend my time in earning rics or oture, or

    delicate cookery, or a yle just

    yet.  If to erruption to acquire

    to use them when acquired, I

    relinquiso t.  Some are quot;industrious,quot; and appear

    to love labor for its o

    of  noto say.  those

    o do hey now enjoy,

    I migo hey

    pay for t their free papers.  For myself I found

    t tion of a day-laborer  independent of

    any, especially as it required only ty or forty days in a year

    to support one.  the

    sun, and o devote o ,

    independent of  es from

    monto monte from one end of to the

    other.

    In s, I am convinced, bot to

    maintain ones self on t a  a pastime,

    if s of the simpler

    nations are still ts of tificial.  It is not

    necessary t a man s of his

    brohan I do.

    One young man of my acquaintance, wed some acres,

    told me t  he

    means.  I   my mode of living on any

    account; for, beside t before  I may have

    found out anot there may be as many

    different persons in t I would have each

    one be very careful to find out and pursue  his

    fatead.  th may

    build or plant or sail, only let  be

    is by a matical

    point only t ive slave

    keeps tar in  t is sufficient guidance for

    all our life.  e may not arrive at our port hin a calculable

    period, but rue course.

    Undoubtedly, in t is true for one is truer still

    for a t proportionally more

    expensive than a small one, since one roof may cover, one cellar

    underlie, and one e several apartments.  But for my

    part, I preferred tary d will commonly

    be co build to convince another of

    tage of the

    common partition, to be muc be a t

    ot keep his side in

    repair.  tion which is commonly possible is

    exceedingly partial and superficial; and tle true

    co-operation t , being a harmony

    inaudible to men.  If a man e h equal

    fait faitinue to live like

    t of tever company o.  to

    co-operate in t as  sense, means to get

    our living toget proposed lately t two young men

    sravel toget money,

    earning , before t and behe plow,

    t.  It o

    see t t long be companions or co-operate, since one

    operate at all.  t at t interesting

    crisis in tures.  Above all, as I he man

    today; but ravels

    till t ot may be a long time before they

    get off.

    But all townsmen

    say.  I confess t I o indulged very little in

    perprises.  I o a sense

    of duty, and among othere

    are ts to persuade me to undertake

    t of some poor family in town; and if I o

    do -- for t for t try my

    some sucime as t.   to

    indulge myself in t, and lay their heaven under an

    obligation by maintaining certain poor persons in all respects as

    comfortably as I maintain myself, and ured so far as

    to make tatingly

    preferred to remain poor.  oed

    in so many o trust t one at

    least may be spared to ots.  You must

    y as hing else.  As for

    Doing-good, t is one of the professions which are full.

    Moreover, I ried it fairly, and, strange as it may seem, am

    satisfied t it does not agree itution.  Probably I

    s consciously and deliberately forsake my particular

    calling to do ty demands of me, to save the

    universe from anniion; and I believe t a like but infinitely

    greater steadfastness else.  But I

    stand between any man and o him who does

    t and soul and life,

    I  doing evil, as it

    is most likely they will.

    I am far from supposing t my case is a peculiar one; no doubt

    many of my readers  doing something

    -- I  engage t my neig good -- I

    do not ate to say t I sal felloo hire;

    but  is, it is for my employer to find out.   good I

    do, in t  be aside from my main

    pat part wended.  Men say,

    practically, Begin w aiming

    mainly to become of more  go

    about doing good.  If I o preac all in train, I

    s about being good.  As if top

    ar

    of tude, and go about like a Robin Goodfellow,

    peeping in at every cottage ics, and tainting

    meats, and making darkness visible, instead of steadily increasing

    and beneficence till ness t

    no mortal can look he meanwhile

    too, going about t, doing it good, or

    ratruer p

    ting good.  on, wiso prove h

    by  but one day, and drove out

    of ten track, he lower

    streets of h, and dried

    up every spring, and made t desert of Saill at length

    Jupiter o t, and the

    sun, t  shine for a year.

    t which arises from goodness

    tainted.  It is  is divine, carrion.  If I knew for a

    certainty t a man o my he conscious

    design of doing me good, I s dry

    and parcs called the simoom, which

    fills t till you are

    suffocated, for fear t I s some of o me

    -- some of its virus mingled his case I

    ural  a good man

    to me because arving, or warm me if

    I s of a ditch if I should ever

    fall into one.  I can find you a Ne will do as

    muc love for ones fello

    sense.   an exceedingly kind and hy man in

    , comparatively speaking, w are a

    o us, if t help us in our

    best estate, o be helped?  I never heard of

    a ping in o do any

    good to me, or the like of me.

    ts e balked by those Indians who, being burned

    at take, suggested neorture to tormentors.

    Being superior to p sometimes c they

    o any consolation whe missionaries could offer;

    and to do as you h less

    persuasiveness on t, did not

    care er a new

    fashey did.

    Be sure t you give t need, t

    be your example whem far behind.  If you give money,

    spend yourself , and do not merely abandon it to them.  e

    make curious mistakes sometimes.  Often t so cold

    and y and ragged and gross.  It is partly his

    taste, and not merely une.  If you give him money, he

    to pity the clumsy

    Iris ice on the pond, in such mean and ragged

    clotidy and somew more

    fass, till, one bitter cold day, one who had slipped

    into ter came to my o warm rip off

    ts and tockings ere  doo

    ty and ragged enoug is true, and

    t o refuse tra garments which I offered

    ra ones.  thing he

    needed.  to pity myself, and I sa it would be a

    greater cy to bestohan a whole

    slop-s the branches of

    evil to one  t, and it may be t he who

    besto amount of time and money on the needy is doing

    t by o produce t misery wrives

    in vain to relieve.  It is ting the

    proceeds of every tento buy a Sundays liberty for the

    rest.  Some so them in

    tc be kinder if they employed

    t of spending a tent of your income

    in cy; maybe you senth

    it.  Society recovers only a tent of ty then.  Is

    to ty of  is found,

    or to tice?

    P tue wly

    appreciated by mankind.  Nay, it is greatly overrated; and it is our

    selfises it.  A robust poor man, one sunny day

    oo me, because, as he

    said, o the kind uncles and

    aunts of teemed ts true spiritual fathers

    and moturer on England, a man of

    learning and intelligence, after enumerating ific,

    literary, and political hies, Shakespeare, Bacon, Cromwell,

    Milton, Ne of ian heroes,

    o a

    place far above all t, as test of t.  they

    he falsehood

    and cant of t  Englands best men and women;

    only, per ps.

    I  subtract anyt is due to

    p merely demand justice for all wheir lives

    and o mankind.  I do not value chiefly a mans

    uprig were, em and

    leaves.  ts of wea

    for t a  employed by

    quacks.  I  t of a man; t some fragrance

    be ed over from o me, and some ripeness flavor our

    intercourse.   not be a partial and transitory act,

    but a constant superfluity, ws hing and of which he

    is unconscious.  ty t itude of sins.

    t too often surrounds mankind he remembrance

    of off griefs as an atmosp sympathy.

    e s our courage, and not our despair, our h and

    ease, and not our disease, and take care t t spread

    by contagion.  From he voice of

    itudes reside to whom we would

    send lig intemperate and brutal man whom we would

    redeem?  If anyt  perform his

    functions, if  is the

    seat of sympats about reforming -- the world.

    Being a microcosm  is a true

    discovery, and o make it -- t the world has been

    eating green apples; to , tself is a

    great green apple,  the

    c is ripe; and straightway his

    drastic p tagonian, and

    embraces thus, by a

    fey, the meanwhile

    using , he cures himself of his

    dyspepsia, t bluss

    c o be ripe, and life loses its

    crudity and is once more s and wo live.  I never

    dreamed of any enormity greater tted.  I never

    knew, and never shan myself.

    I believe t  hy

    ress, but, t son of

    God, is e ail.  Let ted, let the spring come

    to he morning rise over his couch, and he will forsake his

    generous companions  apology.  My excuse for not lecturing

    against tobacco is, t I never c, t is a

    penalty here are

    ture against.  If you

    srayed into any of t let

    your left  your rig is not h

    knoie your srings.  take your

    time, and set about some free labor.

    Our manners ed by communication he

    saints.  Our h a melodious cursing of God and

    enduring  even ts and

    redeemers he hopes of

    man.  there is nowhere recorded a simple and irrepressible

    satisfaction  of life, any memorable praise of God.

    All hdrawn

    it may appear; all disease and failure o make me sad and does

    me evil,  may .

    If, tore mankind by truly Indian, botanic,

    magnetic, or natural means, let us first be as simple and well as

    Nature ourselves, dispel the clouds which hang over our own brows,

    and take up a little life into our pores.  Do not stay to be an

    overseer of t endeavor to become one of thies of

    the world.

    I read in tan, or Flower Garden, of Sheik Sadi of

    S quot;ted

    trees y and umbrageous, they

    call none azad, or free, excepting the cypress, which bears no

    fruit; ery is ts

    appropriate produce, and appointed season, during tinuance of

    w is fresheir absence dry and

    o neitates is the cypress exposed, being

    alhe azads, or religious

    independents. -- Fix not t on t ory; for

    tigris, inue to floer

    tinct: if ty, be liberal

    as te tree; but if it affords noto give away, be an

    azad, or free man, like t;

    COMPLEMENtAL VERSES

    tensions of Poverty

    t presume too mucch,

    to claim a station in t

    Because ttage, or tub,

    Nurses some lazy or pedantic virtue

    In the cheap sunshine or by shady springs,

    its and pot- hand,

    tearing the mind,

    Upon ues flourish,

    Degradeture, and benumbeth sense,

    And, Gorgon-like, turns active men to stone.

    e not require ty

    Of your necessitated temperance,

    Or t unnatural stupidity

    t knows nor joy nor sorrow; nor your forcd

    Falsely exalted passive fortitude

    Above tive.  t brood,

    t fix ts in mediocrity,

    Become your servile minds; but we advance

    Sucues only as admit excess,

    Brave, bounteous acts, regal magnificence,

    All-seeing prudence, magnanimity

    t kno ue

    For y  no name,

    But patterns only, such as hercules,

    Aco thd cell;

    And ened sphere,

    Study to kno hies were.

    t. CARE

 Where I Lived, and What I Lived For

    At a certain season of our life omed to consider

    every spot as te of a hus surveyed

    try on every side hin a dozen miles of where I live.  In

    imagination I  all the farms in succession, for all were

    to be bougheir price.  I walked over each farmers

    premises, tasted h him,

    took   any price, mortgaging it to him in my

    mind; even put a  -- took everyt a deed of

    it -- took o talk --

    cultivated it, and oo to some extent, I trust, and hdrew

    on.  this

    experience entitled me to be regarded as a sort of real-estate

    broker by my friends.  , t live, and the

    landscape radiated from me accordingly.   is a  a

    sedes, a seat? -- better if a country seat.  I discovered many a

    site for a  likely to be soon improved, w

    too far from t to my eyes the village

    oo far from it.  ell, t live, I said; and there I

    did live, for an er life; saw how I could

    let t ter the spring

    come in.  ture inants of they may

    place t ticipated.  An

    afternoon sufficed to lay out to orc, and

    pasture, and to decide o

    stand before ted tree could be seen to

    t advantage; and t it lie, fallow, perchance, for a

    man is ricion to things which he can

    afford to let alone.

    My imagination carried me so far t I even he refusal of

    several farms -- ted -- but I never got my

    fingers burned by actual possession.  t t I came to

    actual possession he hollowell place, and had

    begun to sort my seeds, and collected materials o make a

    on or off  before the owner gave me

    a deed of it, his wife -- every man has such a wife -- changed her

    mind and , and en dollars to release

    o speak trut ten cents in the world, and

    it surpassed my aritic to tell, if I  man wen

    cents, or ogether.  however,

    I let en dollars and too, for I had carried

    it far enougo be generous, I sold he farm for

    just , and, as  a rich man, made him a

    present of ten dollars, and still en cents, and seeds, and

    materials for a  I had been a

    ric any damage to my poverty.  But I retained the

    landscape, and I  it yielded

    a o landscapes,

    quot;I am monarch of all I survey,

    My rigo dispute.quot;

    I ly seen a poet

    valuable part of a farm,  he

    a fe for

    many years w   admirable

    kind of invisible fence, , milked it, skimmed

    it, and got all t the skimmed

    milk.

    ttractions of to me, s

    complete retirement, being, about the village, half a

    mile from t neiged from the highway by a

    broad field; its bounding on the owner said

    protected it by its fogs from frosts in t was

    noto me; tate of the house and

    barn, and ted fences, ween

    me and t occupant; trees,

    nas, s kind of neig

    above all, tion I  from my earliest voyages up

    the house was concealed behind a dense grove of red

    maples, te to

    buy it, before tor finisting out some rocks,

    cutting dorees, and grubbing up some young

    bircure, or, in s, had made

    any more of s.  to enjoy tages I was ready

    to carry it on; like Atlas, to take the world on my shoulders -- I

    never  compensation  -- and do all

    tive or excuse but t I might

    pay for it and be unmolested in my possession of it; for I knew all

    t it  abundant crop of the kind I

    ed, if I could only afford to let it alone.  But it turned out

    as I have said.

    All t I could say, t to farming on a large

    scale -- I ivated a garden --  I had had my

    seeds ready.  Many t seeds improve h age.  I have no

    doubt t time discriminates bethe bad; and when

    at last I s, I so be disappointed.

    But I o my fellows, once for all, As long as possible

    live free and uncommitted.  It makes but little difference wher

    you are committed to a farm or ty jail.

    Old Cato, icaquot; is my quot;Cultivator,quot; says -- and

    translation I he passage

    -- quot;ting a farm turn it t

    to buy greedily; nor spare your pains to look at it, and do not

    t enougo go round it once.  tener you go the

    more it  is good.quot;  I t buy

    greedily, but go round and round it as long as I live, and be buried

    in it first, t it may please me t last.

    t  experiment of this kind, which I purpose

    to describe more at lengtting the experience

    of to one.  As I  propose to e an

    ode to dejection, but to brag as lustily as cicleer in the

    morning, standing on , if only to wake my neighbors up.

    I took up my abode in t is, began to

    spend my nig, was on

    Independence Day, or t

    finiser, but  the rain,

    plastering or che walls being of rough,

    ained boards,  cool at

    nig we uds and freshly planed door and

    a clean and airy look, especially in the

    morning, imbers urated  I fancied

    t by noon some s gum o my

    imagination it retained t this

    auroral cer, reminding me of a certain ain

    ered

    cabin, fit to entertain a travelling god, and w

    trail s.  the winds which passed over my dwelling were

    sucains, bearing the broken

    strains, or celestial parts only, of terrestrial music.  the morning

    ion is uninterrupted; but few

    are t .  Olympus is but tside of th

    everywhere.

    t a

    boat, ent, which I used occasionally when making excursions

    in till rolled up in my garret; but the

    boat, after passing from o ream of

    time.  itantial ser about me, I had made some

    progress totling in tly

    clad,  of crystallization around me, and reacted on the

    builder.  It ive someure in outlines.  I

    did not need to go outdoors to take tmosphere

    none of its fres  so muchin

    doors as be, even in t her.

    t;An abode  birds is like a meat

    seasoning.quot;  Suc my abode, for I found myself suddenly

    neigo t by  having

    caged myself near t only nearer to some of those

    to those

    smaller and more ters of t which never, or

    rarely, serenade a villager -- the

    scarlet tanager, the whip-poor-will, and many

    others.

    I ed by t a mile and a

    , in

    t of an extensive  town and Lincoln, and

    about t our only field knoo fame, Concord

    Battle Ground; but I  te

    s, covered h wood, was my

    most distant  week, w on

    t impressed me like a tarn he side of a

    mountain, its bottom far above ther lakes, and, as

    t ts nig,

    and s soft ripples or its smooth

    reflecting surface was revealed, ws, like gs, were

    stealtion into t the

    breaking up of some nocturnal conventicle.  to

    rees later into the sides

    of mountains.

    t value as a neigervals

    of a gentle rain-storm in August, wer being

    perfectly still, but t, mid-afternoon he

    serenity of evening, and thrush sang around, and was heard

    from so s

    sucime; and tion of t being,

    ser, full of light and

    reflections, becomes a lower self so muche more

    important.  From a op near by, whe wood had been

    recently cut off, ta southe

    pond, tation in the shore

    te sides sloping toward eacher

    suggested a stream flo in t direction through a wooded

    valley, but stream t ween and

    over to some distant and he

    inged anding on tiptoe I could

    catcill bluer and more

    distant mountain ranges in t, true-blue coins from

    , and also of some portion of t in

    otions, even from t, I could not see over or

    beyond t is o er

    in your neigo give buoyancy to and float th.  One

    value even of t   you

    see t eart continent but insular.  tant

    as t it keeps butter cool.  he pond from

    toime of flood I

    distinguised perhing valley,

    like a coin in a basin, all the pond appeared like

    a t insulated and floated even by t of

    interverting er, and I  t

    dry land.

    till more contracted, I did

    not feel cro.  ture enough

    for my imagination.  teau to we

    sretco and the

    steppes of tartary, affording ample room for all the roving families

    of men.  quot;t beings who enjoy

    freely a vast ; -- said Damodara, when his herds required new

    and larger pastures.

    Botime o those

    parts of to tory w

    attracted me.  here I lived was as far off as many a region viewed

    nigronomers.  e are  to imagine rare and delectable

    places in some remote and more celestial corner of tem,

    beellation of Cassiopeias Chair, far from noise and

    disturbance.  I discovered t my ually s site in

    suc forever ne of the

    universe.  If it o settle in ts near

    to to Aldebaran or Altair, then I was

    really t an equal remoteness from the life which I had

    left beo my nearest

    neigo be seen only in moonless nights by him.  Such was

    t part of creation wted;

    quot;t did live,

    And s as high

    As s whereon his flocks

    Did ;

    she shepherds life if his flocks always

    o ures ts?

    Every morning ion to make my life of equal

    simplicity, and I may say innocence, ure herself.  I have

    been as sincere a wors up

    early and bat was a religious exercise, and one

    of t t cers were

    engraven on tub of King tco t:

    quot;Reneely eac again, and again, and

    forever again.quot;  I can understand t.  Morning brings back the

    ed by t o

    making its invisible and unimaginable tour tment at

    earliest daing h door and windows open, as I

    could be by any trumpet t ever sang of fame.  It was homers

    requiem; itself an Iliad and Odyssey in ts own

    it; a

    standing advertisement, till forbidden, of ting vigor and

    fertility of t memorable

    season of t

    somnolence in us; and for an  least, some part of us awakes

    .  Little is to be

    expected of t day, if it can be called a day, to w

    a by the mechanical nudgings of some

    servitor, are not awakened by our own newly acquired force and

    aspirations from ions of celestial

    music, instead of factory bells, and a fragrance filling the air --

    to a he darkness

    bear its fruit, and prove itself to be good, no less t.

    t man  eacains an earlier,

    more sacred, and auroral  profaned, has

    despaired of life, and is pursuing a descending and darkening way.

    After a partial cessation of he soul of man, or

    its organs rated eacries

    again  can make.  All memorable events, I should

    say, transpire in morning time and in a morning atmosphe

    Vedas say, quot;All intelligences a;  Poetry and

    art, and t and most memorable of tions of men, date

    from sucs and he

    c t sunrise.  to him whose

    elastic and vigorous t keeps pace he day is a

    perpetual morning.  It matters not he

    attitudes and labors of men.  Morning is where

    is a da to throw off sleep.

    t men give so poor an account of they have

    not been slumbering?  t sucors.  If they

    been overcome hey would have performed

    somet

    only one in a million is aellectual

    exertion, only one in a o a poetic or divine life.

    to be ao be alive.  I  met a man who was

    quite awake.  he face?

    e must learn to rea by

    mec by an infinite expectation of the dawn, which

    does not forsake us in our soundest sleep.  I know of no more

    encouraging fact tionable ability of man to elevate

    is someto be able to

    paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a

    fes beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and

    paint tmosphrough which we look, which

    morally o affect ty of t is the

    of arts.  Every man is tasked to make s

    details, emplation of  elevated and

    critical ry

    information as , tinctly inform us how

    t be done.

    I  to to live deliberately, to

    front only tial facts of life, and see if I could not learn

    o teac,  I

    lived.  I did not  life, living is

    so dear; nor did I ise resignation, unless it e

    necessary.  I ed to live deep and suck out all the marrow of

    life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all

    t  life, to cut a broad so drive

    life into a corner, and reduce it to its lo terms, and, if it

    proved to be mean,  the whole and genuine meanness of

    it, and publiss meanness to t o

    kno by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in

    my next excursion.  For most men, it appears to me, are in a strange

    uncertainty about it, he devil or of God, and have

    some it is to

    quot;glorify God and enjoy ;

    Still s; tells us t

    we were long ago co men; like pygmies we figh

    cranes; it is error upon error, and clout upon clout, and our best

    virtue s occasion a superfluous and evitable chedness.

    Our life is frittered aail.  An  man has hardly need

    to count more ten fingers, or in extreme cases he may add

    en toes, and lump t.  Simplicity, simplicity,

    simplicity!  I say, let your affairs be as t a

    ead of a million count half a dozen, and

    keep your accounts on your t of this

    corms and

    quicksands and tems to be allo a man

    o live, if  founder and go to ttom and not

    make  at all, by dead reckoning, and  be a great

    calculator indeed wead of

    t be necessary eat but one; instead of a

    ion.  Our

    life is like a German Confederacy, made up of petty states, s

    boundary forever fluctuating, so t even a German cannot tell you

    is bounded at any moment.  tion itself, s

    so-called internal improvements, wernal

    and superficial, is just such an unwieldy and overgrown

    establis, cluttered ure and tripped up by its own

    traps, ruined by luxury and  of calculation

    and a he

    only cure for it, as for tern and

    more tan simplicity of life and elevation of purpose.  It

    lives too fast.  Men t it is essential t tion have

    commerce, and export ice, and talk telegraph, and ride

    ty miles an  a doubt,

    wtle

    uncertain.  If  get out sleepers, and forge rails, and

    devote days and nigo t go to tinkering upon our

    lives to improve them, who will build railroads?  And if railroads

    are not built,  to  if ay

    at  railroads?  e do not

    ride on t rides upon us.  Did you ever t

    t underlie the railroad?  Each one is a man,

    an Irishey

    are covered hey

    are sound sleepers, I assure you.  And every fe is

    laid do, if some he pleasure of riding

    on a rail, otune to be ridden upon.  And when

    t is walking in his sleep, a supernumerary

    sleeper in tion, and wake op

    t it, as if this were an

    exception.  I am glad to kno it takes a gang of men for every

    five miles to keep t

    is, for t time get up again.

    e of life?  e are

    determined to be starved before we are  a

    stitcime saves nine, and so take a titches

    today to save nine tomorrow.  As for work, we  any of any

    consequence.  e  Vitus dance, and cannot possibly

    keep our ill.  If I s the

    paris is,  setting the bell,

    tskirts of Concord,

    notanding t press of engagements which was his excuse so

    many times t almost say,

    but  sound, not mainly to save

    property from t, if ruth, much

    more to see it burn, since burn it must, and  known, did

    not set it on fire -- or to see it put out, and ,

    if t is done as  he parish

    cself.  akes a er dinner,

    but ;

    as if t of mankind ood inels.  Some give

    directions to be her

    purpose; and to pay for it, tell hey have dreamed.

    After a nig.

    quot;Pray tell me anyt o a man anywhere on

    t; -- and  over  a man

    to River; never

    dreaming t h cave

    of t t of an eye himself.

    For my part, I could easily do  t-office.  I think

    t tant communications made t.

    to speak critically, I never received more tters

    in my life -- I e t he

    postage.  t is, commonly, an institution through which

    you seriously offer a man t penny for s which is so

    often safely offered in jest.  And I am sure t I never read any

    memorable news in a newspaper.  If we read of one man robbed, or

    murdered, or killed by accident, or one house burned, or one vessel

    eamboat blohe

    estern Railroad, or one mad dog killed, or one lot of grasshoppers

    in ter -- her.  One is enough.  If

    you are acquainted  do you care for a myriad

    instances and applications?  to a p is

    called, is gossip, and t and read it are old women over

    tea.  Yet not a feer there was

    suc one of to learn

    t arrival, t several large squares of

    plate glass belonging to tablis he

    pressure -- news w mige a

    twelve years, before accuracy.

    As for Spain, for instance, if you knohrow in Don Carlos

    and ta, and Don Pedro and Seville and Granada, from time to

    time in t proportions -- the names a

    little since I sa when

    otertainments fail, it rue to tter, and give

    us as good an idea of t state or ruin of things in Spain as

    t succinct and lucid reports under the

    ne t significant scrap of

    ne quarter ion of 1649; and if you have

    learned tory of her crops for an average year, you never need

    attend to t tions are of a merely

    pecuniary cer.  If one may judge he

    nes, a French

    revolution not excepted.

    ne to kno is which

    ;Kieou- dignitary of tate of ei)

    sent a man to Kseu to knohe

    messenger to be seated near ioned erms:

    is your master doing?  t:  My

    master desires to diminiss, but

    come to the philosopher

    remarked:   a  a ;  the

    preacead of vexing their day

    of rest at t conclusion

    of an ill-spent  the fresh and brave beginning of a new

    one -- ail of a sermon, s

    ;Pause!  Avast!  , but

    deadly slo;

    Seemed for soundest truths, while

    reality is fabulous.  If men eadily observe realities only,

    and not alloo be deluded, life, to compare it h

    sucale and the Arabian

    Nigertainments.  If ed only able and

    to be, music and poetry reets.

    only great and

    and absolute existence, t petty

    fears and petty pleasures are but ty.  this

    is alhe eyes and

    slumbering, and consenting to be deceived by sablish

    and confirm tine and  everywhere, which

    still is built on purely illusory foundations.  Children, who play

    life, discern its true laions more clearly than men, who

    fail to live it  hey are wiser by

    experience, t is, by failure.  I

    quot;there was a kings son, who, being expelled in infancy from his

    native city, o

    maturity in t state, imagined o belong to the barbarous

    race ers having

    discovered o  ion

    of er was removed, and o be a prince.

    So soul,quot; continues t;from tances

    in akes its oil truth

    is revealed to it by some eac knoself to

    be Bra;  I perceive t s of Nehis

    mean life t  penetrate the

    surface of t t is wo be.  If a

    man soy, where,

    t;Mill-damquot; go to?  If he should give us an

    account of ties  recognize

    tion.  Look at a meeting-house, or a

    court-

    t true gaze, and to

    pieces in your account of teem trute, in the

    outskirts of tem, be star, before Adam and

    after t man.  In eternity true and

    sublime.  But all times and places and occasions are now and

    es in t moment, and will never

    be more divine in to

    appre all ual

    instilling and drency t surrounds us.  the

    universe constantly and obediently anso our conceptions;

    or slorack is laid for us.  Let us

    spend our lives in conceiving t or tist never

    yet  some of erity at

    least could accomplis.

    Let us spend one day as deliberately as Nature, and not be

    track by every nutsos

    falls on t us rise early and fast, or break fast,

    gently and  perturbation; let company come and let company

    go, let termined to make a

    day of it.  ream?  Let

    us not be upset and overerrible rapid and whirlpool

    called a dinner, situated in this

    danger and you are safe, for t of th

    unrelaxed nerves, , looking another

    ied to t like Ulysses.  If tles, let it

    ill it is s pains.  If the bell rings, why

    s kind of music they are like.

    Let us settle ourselves, and  downward

    tradition,

    and delusion, and appearance, t alluvion whe globe,

    ton and Concord,

    tate, try and philosophy and

    religion, till o a tom and rocks in place, which we

    can call reality, and say, take; and then begin,

    dappui, belo and fire, a place

    ate, or set a lamp-post safely,

    or per a Nilometer, but a Realometer, t future

    ages mig of shams and appearances had

    gatime to time.  If you stand riging and face to

    face to a fact, you s surfaces,

    as if it er, and feel its s edge dividing you

    t and marrow, and so you will happily conclude your

    mortal career.  Be it life or deaty.  If we

    are really dying, let us tle in our ts and feel

    cold in tremities; if  us go about our

    business.

    time is but tream I go a-fis it; but

    ect  is.

    Its t slides a eternity remains.  I would drink

    deeper; fistom is pebbly ars.  I

    cannot count one.  I kno t letter of t.  I

    ting t I  as he day I was

    born.  tellect is a cleaver; it discerns and rifts its way

    into t of t h

    my .  I feel all

    my best faculties concentrated in it.  My instinct tells me t my

    ures use t

    and fore pa I hrough

    t t vein is somews;

    so by thin rising vapors I judge; and here I

    o mine.

 Reading

    ittle more deliberation in ts,

    all men udents and observers, for

    certainly ture and destiny are interesting to all alike.  In

    accumulating property for ourselves or our posterity, in founding a

    family or a state, or acquiring fame even, al; but in

    dealing rutal, and need fear no change nor

    accident.  t Egyptian or hindoo philosopher raised a corner

    of tatue of ty; and still trembling

    robe remains raised, and I gaze upon as fresh a glory as he did,

    since it  is

    no tled on t robe; no time

    divinity  time which we

    really improve, or ,

    nor future.

    My residence  only to t, but to

    serious reading, ty; and the

    range of ting library, I han ever come

    e round the world,

    ten on bark, and are now merely

    copied from time to time on to linen paper.  Says t Mr

    Udd, quot;Being seated, to run the

    spiritual o be

    intoxicated by a single glass of wine; I his

    pleasure rines.quot;  I

    kept able though I looked

    at  labor

    first, for I o finiso  the same

    time, made more study impossible.  Yet I sustained myself by the

    prospect of sucure.  I read one or two shallow books

    of travel in tervals of my ill t employment made me

    as  I lived.

    tudent may read

    danger of dissipation or luxuriousness, for it implies t he in

    some measure emulate te morning o

    ted in ter of

    our motongue, o degenerate

    times; and  laboriously seek the meaning of each word and

    line, conjecturing a larger sense ts out of

    y we he modern cheap and

    fertile press, s translations, tle to bring

    us nearer to ters of antiquity.  they seem as

    solitary, and tter in wed as rare and

    curious, as ever.  It is hful days and

    costly  language,

    rivialness of treet, to be

    perpetual suggestions and provocations.  It is not in vain t the

    farmer remembers and repeats tin words which he has heard.

    Men sometimes speak as if tudy of t length

    make ical studies; but turous

    student udy classics, in hey may be

    ten and  t are the classics

    but t recorded ts of man?  the only oracles

    o t modern

    inquiry in t as well

    omit to study Nature because so read  is, to

    read true books in a true spirit, is a noble exercise, and one t

    ask toms of the

    day esteem.  It requires a training suces under,

    teady intention almost of to t.  Books

    must be read as deliberately and reservedly as tten.

    It is not enougo be able to speak t

    nation by erval

    betten language, the language heard and

    transitory, a sound, a

    tongue, a dialect merely, almost brutis

    unconsciously, like tes, of our mothe

    maturity and experience of t; if t is our motongue, this

    is our fatongue, a reserved and select expression, too

    significant to be  be born again in

    order to speak.  the Greek and

    Latin tongues in t entitled by t

    of birto read tten in those languages; for

    t ten in t Greek or Latin w

    in t language of literature.  t learned the

    nobler dialects of Greece and Rome, but terials on which

    tten e paper to tead

    a cemporary literature.  But wions of

    Europe inct tten languages of their

    o for teratures, then

    first learning revived, and sco discern from

    t remoteness treasures of antiquity.   the Roman and

    Grecian multitude could not er the lapse of ages a few

    scill reading it.

    ors occasional bursts of

    eloquence, t ten words are commonly as far behind or

    above ting spoken language as t s stars

    is bears, and they who can may

    read tronomers forever comment on and observe them.

    t exions like our daily colloquies and vaporous

    breat is called eloquence in to

    be roric in tudy.  tor yields to tion of a

    transient occasion, and speaks to to those who

    can  ter, whose more equable life is his

    occasion, and ed by t and the crowd

    o tellect and h of

    mankind, to all in any age wand him.

    No  Alexander carried th him on his

    expeditions in a precious casket.  A ten  of

    relics.  It is somet once more intimate h us and more

    universal t.  It is t nearest

    to life itself.  It may be translated into every language, and not

    only be read but actually breat be

    represented on canvas or in marble only, but be carved out of the

    breatself.  t mans t

    becomes a modern mans speeced

    to ts of Grecian literature, as to her marbles, only a

    maturer golden and autumnal tint, for their own

    serene and celestial atmospo all lands to protect them

    against time.  Books are treasured h of

    t inance of generations and nations.

    Books, t and t, stand naturally and rightfully on

    ttage.  to

    plead, but ain the reader his common

    sense  refuse tural and

    irresistible aristocracy in every society, and, more than kings or

    emperors, exert an influence on mankind.  erate and

    perrader erprise and industry his

    coveted leisure and independence, and is admitted to the circles of

    urns inevitably at last to till

    yet inaccessible circles of intellect and genius, and is

    sensible only of tion of ure and ty and

    insufficiency of all her proves his good sense

    by takes to secure for

    intellectual culture w  is

    t he founder of a family.

    t learned to read t classics in the

    language in

    knoory of t is remarkable

    t no transcript of to any modern

    tongue, unless our civilization itself may be regarded as such a

    transcript.   been printed in English, nor

    AEschylus, nor Virgil even -- works as refined, as solidly done, and

    as beautiful almost as tself; for later ers, say

    he

    elaborate beauty and finiserary

    labors of ts.  talk of forgetting them who never

    kne  the

    learning and to attend to and

    appreciate t age will be richose relics

    han classic

    but even less knoures of tions, sill

    furted, wicans sh Vedas

    and Zendavestas and Bibles, es and Shakespeares,

    and all turies to come sed

    trophe world.  By such a pile we may

    o scale  last.

    t poets  been read by

    mankind, for only great poets can read they have only been

    read as titude read tars, at most astrologically, not

    astronomically.  Most men o read to serve a paltry

    convenience, as to cipo keep

    accounts and not be ced in trade; but of reading as a noble

    intellectual exercise ttle or not this only is

    reading, in a  t which lulls us as a luxury and

    suffers ties to sleep t w we o

    stand on tip-toe to read and devote our most alert and wakeful hours

    to.

    I t ters we s

    t is in literature, and not be forever repeating our a-b-abs, and

    ting on

    t and foremost form all our lives.  Most men are satisfied

    if ted by the

    of their lives

    vegetate and dissipate ties in w is called easy

    reading.  ting

    Library entitled quot;Little Reading,quot; o a

    to name o.  those who,

    like cormorants and ostric all sorts of this, even

    after t dinner of meats and vegetables, for they suffer

    noto be ed.  If oto provide this

    provender, to read it.  the nine

    tale about Zebulon and Sophey loved as

    none rue

    love run smoot any rate,  did run and stumble, and get

    up again and go on! unate got up on to a

    steeple, wter never he belfry; and

    t  rings

    to come together and hear, O dear! how he

    did get do, I t tter

    metamorpo man

    o put ellations,

    and let till ty, and not come

    do all to bot men  time

    t rings t stir ting-house

    burn do;tip-toe-he Middle

    Ages, by ted autittle-tol-tan, to appear in

    monts; a great rus all come toget;  All this

    t and primitive curiosity, and

    ions even yet need no

    s as some little four-year-old benc

    gilt-covered edition of Cinderella --  any improvement, t

    I can see, in tion, or accent, or emphasis, or any more

    skill in extracting or inserting t is dulness

    of sigagnation of tal circulations, and a general

    deliquium and slougellectual faculties.  this

    sort of gingerbread is baked daily and more sedulously than pure

    every oven, and finds a surer

    market.

    t books are not read even by those who are called good

    readers.   does our Concord culture amount to?  this

    toions, no taste for t or for very

    good books even in Engliserature, whose words all can read and

    spell.  Even ted men

    tle or no acquaintance he

    Englishe

    ancient classics and Bibles, wo all who will

    kno efforts anywo become

    acquainted hem.  I know a woodchopper, of middle age, who

    takes a Frenc for news as ,

    but to quot;keep ice,quot; h; and

    his

    o his English.

    t as muco

    do, and take an Englishe purpose.  One who has

    just come from reading per English books will

    find  it?  Or suppose he

    comes from reading a Greek or Latin classic in the original, whose

    praises are familiar even to terate; he will find

    nobody at all to speak to, but must keep silence about it.  Indeed,

    the professor in our colleges, who, if he has

    mastered ties of tionally

    mastered ties of t and poetry of a Greek poet, and

    o impart to t and heroic reader; and as

    for tures, or Bibles of mankind, wown

    can tell me even titles?  Most men do not kno any nation

    but ture.  A man, any man, will go

    considerably out of o pick up a silver dollar; but here are

    golden iquity tered, and

    whe wise of every succeeding age have assured us of; --

    and yet o read only as far as Easy Reading, the primers

    and class-books, and tle Reading,quot; and

    story-books, which are for boys and beginners; and our reading, our

    conversation and thy only

    of pygmies and manikins.

    I aspire to be acquainted his our Concord

    soil has produced, whose names are hardly known here.  Or shall I

    o and never read o were my

    townsman and I never saw  neighbor and I never heard

    tended to t ually

    is it?  ain al in him, lie

    on t s I never read them.  e are underbred and

    loerate; and in t I confess I do not

    make any very broad distinction beterateness of my

    to all and terateness of him who

    o read only s.

    e siquity, but partly by

    first kno-men, and

    soar but little ellectual flighe columns

    of the daily paper.

    It is not all books t are as dull as there

    are probably o our condition exactly, which, if we

    could really and, ary the

    morning or to our lives, and possibly put a ne on

    ted a new era in

    s for us,

    perche

    at present unutterable ttered.  these

    same questions t disturb and puzzle and confound us heir

    turn occurred to all t one ted; and

    eaco y, by his words and

    y.  the

    solitary skirts of Concord, who has

    h and peculiar religious experience, and is

    driven as o t gravity and exclusiveness by

    is not true; but Zoroaster, thousands of

    years ago, travelled t

    to be universal, and treated his neighbors

    accordingly, and is even said to ed and established

    hen, and

    th Jesus

    C  quot;our c; go by the board.

    e boast t o teentury and are making

    t rapid strides of any nation.  But consider tle this

    village does for its oure.  I do not ter my

    too be flattered by t  advance

    eito be provoked -- goaded like oxen, as we

    are, into a trot.  e ively decent system of common

    scs only; but excepting tarved

    Lyceum in ter, and latterly the puny beginning of a library

    suggested by tate, no school for ourselves.  e spend more on

    almost any article of bodily aliment or ailment tal

    aliment.  It is time t

    leave off our education  is

    time t villages ies, and tants

    ties, hey are, indeed, so

    o pursue liberal studies t of their lives.

    So one Paris or one Oxford forever?

    Cannot students be boarded  a liberal education under

    t o lecture to

    us?  Alas! tle and tending tore, we

    are kept from scoo long, and our education is sadly neglected.

    In try, ts take the place

    of t sron of the fine

    arts.  It is ric s only ty and

    refinement.  It can spend money enoughings as farmers and

    traders value, but it is t Utopian to propose spending money

    for telligent men knoo be of far more h.

    toeen town-house,

    tune or politics, but probably it  spend so much on

    living , true meat to put into t shell, in a hundred

    years.  ty-five dollars annually subscribed

    for a Lyceum in ter is better spent ther equal sum

    raised in toeentury, why

    s enjoy tages ury

    offers?   provincial?  If we

    on and take the

    best ne once? -- not be sucking the pap of

    quot;neutral familyquot; papers, or bro;Olive Branc; here in New

    England.  Let ts of all ties come to us,

    and  to

    o select our reading?  As the

    nobleman of cultivated taste surrounds ever

    conduces to ure -- genius -- learning --  -- books --

    paintings -- statuary -- music -- pruments, and the

    like; so let t stop s at a pedagogue, a

    parson, a sexton, a parismen, because our

    Pilgrim forefat ter once on a bleak rock

    o act collectively is according to t of our

    institutions; and I am confident t, as our circumstances are more

    flouriser the noblemans.  New England

    can o come and teach her, and

    board t be provincial at all.  t is

    t.  Instead of noblemen, let us have noble

    villages of men.  If it is necessary, omit one bridge over the

    river, go round a little t least over the

    darker gulf of ignorance which surrounds us.

 Sounds

    But  select and

    classic, and read only particular ten languages, which are

    t dialects and provincial, we are in danger of

    forgetting ts speak

    metapandard.  Much is published,

    but little printed.  tream tter will

    be no longer remembered wter is wholly removed.  No

    mety of being forever

    on t.   is a course of ory or pry,

    no matter ed, or t society, or t

    admirable routine of life, compared he discipline of looking

    al o be seen?  ill you be a reader, a student

    merely, or a seer?  Read your fate, see w is before you, and walk

    on into futurity.

    I did not read books t summer; I hoed beans.  Nay, I

    often did better times w

    afford to sacrifice t moment to any work,

    wo my life.

    Sometimes, in a summer morning, aken my accustomed bath, I

    sat in my sunny doorill noon, rapt in a revery,

    amidst turbed solitude

    and stillness, wted noiseless

    til by t my  window, or

    travellers ant highway, I was

    reminded of time.  I grehose seasons like corn in

    t, and tter the hands would

    time subtracted from my life, but so much

    over and above my usual alloals

    mean by contemplation and t

    part, I minded not .  to

    lig  is evening,

    and notead of singing like the

    birds, I silently smiled at my incessant good fortune.  As the

    sparrorill, sitting on the hickory before my door, so had

    I my c  of my

    nest.  My days  days of tamp of any

    y, nor o ted by the

    ticking of a clock; for I lived like t is

    said t quot;for yesterday, today, and tomorrohey have only one

    y of meaning by pointing backward

    for yesterday foromorrow, and overhe passing

    day.quot;  to my felloo; but

    if tried me by tandard, I should

    not ing.  A man must find his occasions in

    is true.  tural day is very calm, and will hardly

    reprove his indolence.

    I age, at least, in my mode of life, over those

    , to society and the

    tre, t my life itself  and never

    ceased to be novel.  It  an

    end.  If ting our living, and regulating

    our lives according to t and best mode we had learned, we

    sroubled h ennui.  Follow your genius closely

    enoug  fail to s every

    pastime.  y, I

    rose early, and, setting all my furniture out of doors on the grass,

    bed and bedstead making but one budget, daser on the floor,

    and sprinkled , and th a broom

    scrubbed it clean and ime the villagers had

    broken t tly to

    alloo move in again, and my meditations

    uninterupted.  It  to see my

    on ttle pile like a gypsys pack, and my

    table, from he books and pen

    and ink, standing amid to

    get out to be brought in.  I was

    sometimes tempted to stretcake my seat

    t o see things,

    and eresting most

    familiar objects look out of doors ts

    on t bouging groable, and

    blackberry vines run round its legs; pine cones, cnut burs, and

    strare.  It looked as if the

    o be transferred to our furniture, to tables,

    ceads -- because tood in t.

    My ely on the edge of

    t of a young forest of pitch pines and

    o which a narrow

    footpat yard grerawberry,

    blackberry, and life-everlasting, jo and goldenrod, shrub

    oaks and sand c.  Near the end of May,

    th

    its delicate flo its

    s stems, h goodsized

    and hs like rays on every side.

    I tasted t of compliment to Nature, they were scarcely

    palatable.  tly about the

    which I had made, and

    gro t season.  Its broad pinnate

    tropical leaf  trange to look on.  the large

    buds, suddenly pus late in ticks which

    o be dead, developed to

    graceful green and tender bouger; and

    sometimes, as I sat at my window, so hey grow and

    tax ts, I ender bough suddenly

    fall like a fan to t a breath of air

    stirring, broken off by its ohe large masses

    of berries, ed many wild bees,

    gradually assumed t velvety crimson heir

    ender limbs.

    As I sit at my ernoon, hawks are circling

    about my clearing; tantivy of wo and

    t my viee pine

    bougo the air; a fish hawk

    dimples the pond and brings up a fish; a mink

    steals out of the

    s of the reed-birds

    flitting  half-hour I have heard

    ttle of railroad cars, nohen reviving like

    t of a partridge, conveying travellers from Boston to the

    country.  For I did not live so out of t boy who, as

    I  out to a farmer in t part of to

    ere long ran a the heel and

    -of-the-way place;

    t even he

    if tts now:--

    quot;In trutt

    For one of t railroad ss, and oer

    Our peaceful plain its soot;

    tcouc a hundred rods

    souto ts

    cause ed to society by the

    men on t trains, whe road,

    boo me as to an old acquaintance, ten, and

    apparently take me for an employee; and so I am.  I too would

    fain be a track-repairer someh.

    tle of tive penetrates my woods summer and

    er, sounding like the scream of a hawk sailing over some

    farmers yard, informing me t many restless city mercs are

    arriving ourous country

    traders from they

    s to get off track to ther, heard

    sometimes towns.  here come your

    groceries, country; your rations, countrymen!  Nor is there any man

    so independent on  hem nay.  And heres

    your pay for trymans imber like

    long battering-rams going ty miles an  tys

    all t

    dy the

    country o ty.  All the Indian huckleberry hills

    are stripped, all to ty.  Up

    comes tton, dohe silk, down

    goes t do t

    es them.

    ts train of cars moving off h

    planetary motion -- or, rat, for the beholder knows

    not if  velocity and  direction it will ever

    revisit tem, since its orbit does not look like a returning

    curve -- s steam cloud like a banner streaming behind in

    golden and silver hs, like many a downy cloud which I have

    seen, s masses to t -- as

    if traveling demigod, take

    t sky for train; whe iron

    like the

    eart, and breatrils

    (o the

    ne kno seems as if t a race

    noo in it.  If all  seems, and men made the

    elements ts for noble ends!  If t hangs

    over tion of heroic deeds, or as

    beneficent as t he

    elements and Nature heir

    errands and be t.

    I che same feeling

    t I do the sun, which is hardly more regular.

    train of clouds stretching far behind and rising higher and

    o o Boston, conceals

    te and casts my distant field into the shade, a

    celestial train beside rain of cars whe

    eart tabler of the iron horse

    er morning by t of tars amid the

    mountains, to fodder and eed.  Fire, too, was awakened

    to put tal  in  he

    enterprise  as it is early!  If the snow lies deep,

    trap on  plow, plow a furrow

    from tains to the cars, like a

    folloless men and floating

    mercry for seed.  All day teed flies

    over try, stopping only t er may rest, and I am

    a snort at midnight, when in some

    remote glen in ts ts incased in ice and

    snoar, to

    start once more on ravels  rest or slumber.  Or

    perc evening, I able blohe

    superfluous energy of t he may calm his nerves and cool

    he

    enterprise racted and

    unwearied!

    Far ted owns, where

    once only ter penetrated by day, in t nig

    t saloons  tants;

    t stopping at some brilliant station-own or

    city, he Dismal

    Sartings and arrivals of the

    cars are noh

    sucy and precision, and tle can be heard so

    far, t t thus one

    ed institution regulates a wry.   men

    improved someuality since ted?

    Do t talk and ter in t the

    stage-office?  trifying in tmosphere of

    tonis t has

    wroug some of my neighbors, who, I should have prophesied,

    once for all,  to Boston by so prompt a conveyance,

    are on o do t;railroad fas; is

    no is o be en and

    so sincerely by any poo get off its track.  there is no

    stopping to read t act, no firing over the mob,

    in tructed a fate, an Atropos, t never

    turns aside.  (Let t be the name of your engine.)  Men are

    advertised t at a certain e ts will be

    s toicular points of t it interferes h

    no mans business, and to scrack.

    e live teadier for it.  e are all educated to be sons of

    tell.  ts.  Every pat your own

    is te.  Keep on your orack, then.

    recommends commerce to me is its enterprise and bravery.

    It does not clasp its o Jupiter.  I see these men

    every day go about th more or less courage and

    content, doing more even t, and percter

    employed they could have consciously devised.  I am less

    affected by tood up for

    line at Buena Vista, teady and che

    men er quarters; w

    merely te

    t , but o rest so

    early, he sinews of

    teed are frozen.  On t Snow,

    percill raging and chilling mens blood, I bear

    tone of t their

    c t

    long delay, notanding to of a Ne

    snoorm, and I beh snow and rime,

    turning down

    ots of field mice, like bohe

    Sierra Nevada, t occupy an outside place in the universe.

    Commerce is unexpectedly confident and serene, alert,

    adventurous, and un is very natural in its methods

    astic enterprises and sentimental

    experiments, and s singular success.  I am refreshed and

    expanded rain rattles past me, and I smell the

    stores whe way from Long harf

    to Lake Cs, of coral reefs,

    and Indian oceans, and tropical climes, and tent of the globe.

    I feel more like a citizen of t t of the

    palm-leaf w

    summer, t he old junk, gunny

    bags, scrap iron, and rusty nails.  torn sails is

    more legible and interesting no into

    paper and printed books.  e so grapory

    of torms ts hey

    are proof-ss wion.  here goes lumber from

    t go out to sea in t fres,

    risen four dollars on t did go out or was

    split up; pine, spruce, cedar -- first, second, th

    qualities, so lately all of one quality, to he bear, and

    moose, and caribou.  Next rolls ton lime, a prime lot, which

    far among t gets slacked.  these rags in

    bales, of all ies, t condition to which

    cotton and linen descend, t of dress -- of patterns

    w be in Milwaukee, as

    ticles, Engliss,

    gingc., gaters both of fashion

    and poverty, going to become paper of one color or a few shades

    only, on ales of real life, high

    and lo!  t fish,

    trong Ne, reminding me of the

    Grand Banks and t seen a salt fish,

    t not, and

    putting, ts to th which you

    may sreets, and split your kindlings, and the

    teamster ser  sun, wind, and rain

    be -- and trader, as a Concord trader once did,

    up by il at last

    customer cannot tell surely w be animal,

    vegetable, or mineral, and yet it shall be as pure as a snowflake,

    and if it be put into a pot and boiled,  an excellent

    dun-fisurdays dinner.  Next Spanishe

    tails still preserving t and tion they

    he pampas of

    type of all obstinacy, and evincing

    itutional vices.  I confess,

    t practically speaking, when I have learned a mans real

    disposition, I  for tter or worse

    in tate of existence.  As tals say, quot;A curs tail may

    be ures, and after a

    to, still it ain its

    natural form.quot;  tual cure for suceracies as

    tails ex is to make glue of t

    is usually done ay put and stick.

    ed to Joh,

    Cuttingsville, Vermont, some trader among tains, who

    imports for tands

    over  arrivals on t, how

    t telling omers this

    moment, as old ty times before t

    s some by t train of prime quality.  It is

    advertised in ttingsville times.

    he

    wall pine, hewn

    on far norts he Green

    Mountains and ticut, s like an arrohe

    toes, and scarce anot;

    going

    quot;to be t

    Of some great ammiral.quot;

    And tle-train bearing ttle of a

    ts, stables, and cohe air,

    drovers icks, and s of their

    flocks, all but tain pastures, whirled along like leaves

    bloains by tember gales.  the air is filled

    ing of calves and sling of oxen, as

    if a pastoral valley he

    tles ains do indeed skip like rams and

    ttle oo, in the

    midst, on a level ion gone, but

    still clinging to ticks as their badge of office.

    But t is a stampede to they are

    quite t; t t.  Methem

    barking beerboro ing up tern slope

    of tains.  t be in at their

    vocation, too, is gone.  ty and sagacity are below par

    noo their kennels in disgrace, or

    percrike a league he fox.

    So is your pastoral life  the bell rings,

    and I must get off track and let the cars go by;--

    s to me?

    I never go to see

    ends.

    It fills a few hollows,

    And makes banks for the swallows,

    It sets the sand a-blowing,

    And the blackberries a-growing,

    but I cross it like a cart-pat have my

    eyes put out and my ears spoiled by its smoke and steam and hissing.

    No tless h

    their rumbling, I am

    more alone t of ternoon, perhaps,

    my meditations are interrupted only by t rattle of a

    carriage or team along tant highway.

    Sometimes, on Sundays, I on,

    Bedford, or Concord bell, w,

    s, and, as it ural melody, ing into the

    a sufficient distance over this sound

    acquires a certain vibratory he

    rings of a  s.  All sound heard

    at test possible distance produces one and t,

    a vibration of t as tervening

    atmospant ridge of earteresting to our eyes by

    tint it imparts to it.  to me in this case a

    melody wrained, and wh

    every leaf and needle of t portion of the sound which

    ts aken up and modulated and eco

    vale.  to some extent, an original sound, and therein

    is t.  It is not merely a repetition of w

    ing in t partly the wood;

    trivial es sung by a wood-nymph.

    At evening, tant lohe horizon beyond

    t and melodious, and at first I ake

    it for tain minstrels by wimes

    serenaded, raying over  soon I was

    not unpleasantly disappointed o the cheap

    and natural music of t mean to be satirical, but to

    express my appreciation of tate t

    I perceived clearly t it o the cow, and

    t lengticulation of Nature.

    Regularly at  seven, in one part of ter

    train ed their

    vespers for ting on a stump by my door, or upon the

    ridge-pole of to sing almost h as

    muces of a particular time,

    referred to tting of the sun, every evening.  I had a rare

    opportunity to become acquainted s.  Sometimes I

    once in different parts of the wood, by

    accident one a bar be I

    distinguis only ter eace, but often t

    singular buzzing sound like a fly in a spiders web, only

    proportionally louder.  Sometimes one would circle round and round

    me in t distant as if tetring, when

    probably I s eggs.  t intervals t the

    nig before and about dawn.

    ill, take up train,

    like mourning  u-lu-lu.  their dismal scream is

    truly Ben Jonsonian.  ise midnig is no  and blunt

    tu-u-,  jesting, a most solemn

    graveyard ditty, tual consolations of suicide lovers

    remembering ts of supernal love in the

    infernal groves.  Yet I love to heir doleful

    responses, trilled along times of

    music and singing birds; as if it earful side of

    music, ts and sig he

    spirits, ts and melancholy forebodings, of fallen souls

    t once in -he deeds of

    darkness, noing their wailing hymns or

    transgressions.  they give me a

    ney and capacity of t nature which is our

    common dwelling.  O I never had been bor-r-r-r-n!

    sighe

    restlessness of despair to some new perchen --

    t I never her

    side remulous sincerity, and -- bor-r-r-r-n! comes faintly

    from far in the Lincoln woods.

    I  hand you could

    fancy it t melancure, as if s by

    to stereotype and make permanent in he dying moans

    of a ality w

    h human sobs, on

    entering tain gurgling

    melodiousness -- I find myself beginning ters gl when I

    try to imitate it -- expressive of a mind whe

    gelatinous, mildeage in tification of all hy and

    courageous t.  It reminded me of gs and insane

    norain made

    really melodious by distance -- hoo hoo hoo, hoorer hoo; and indeed

    for t part it suggested only pleasing associations, wher

    , summer or er.

    I rejoice t t tic and

    maniacal ing for men.  It is a sound admirably suited to swamps

    and tes, suggesting a vast and

    undeveloped nature

    tark ts which all have.  All day

    the

    single spruce stands h usnea lichens, and small hawks

    circulate above, and the evergreens, and

    tridge and rabbit skulk beneat now a more dismal and

    fitting day da race of creatures ao

    express ture there.

    Late in tant rumbling of wagons over

    bridges -- a sound  any ot night --

    times again the lowing of some

    disconsolate coant barn-yard.  In the

    srump of bullfrogs, turdy spirits of

    ancient ill unrepentant, trying to

    sing a catcygian lake -- if the alden nymphs will

    pardon t no here

    are frogs the hilarious rules of

    tal tables, their voices have waxed hoarse and

    solemnly grave, mocking at mirt its flavor,

    and become only liquor to distend t

    intoxication never comes to dro, but mere

    saturation and erloggedness and distention.  t aldermanic,

    -leaf, wo his

    drooling c of

    ter, and passes round the

    ejaculation tr-r-r-oonk, tr-r-r--oonk, tr-r-r-oonk! and straightway

    comes over ter from some distant cove the same password

    repeated, y and girto

    of the

    ses ter of ceremonies, isfaction,

    tr-r-r-oonk! and eacurn repeats to t

    distended, leakiest, and flabbiest paunc there be no

    mistake; and til the sun

    disperses t, and only triarc under the

    pond, but vainly belloroonk from time to time, and pausing for

    a reply.

    I am not sure t I ever he sound of cock-crowing from

    my clearing, and I t t it migo keep

    a cockerel for e of

    t is certainly t remarkable of

    any birds, and if turalized  being

    domesticated, it  famous sound in our

    ing of the

    oo fill the pauses

    man added this

    bird to ame stock -- to say noticks.

    to er morning in a wood whese birds abounded,

    tive woods, and rees,

    clear and she

    feebler notes of ot!  It  nations

    on t.   be early to rise, and rise earlier and

    earlier every successive day of ill he became unspeakably

    e is celebrated

    by ts of all countries along es of tive

    songsters.  All climates agree icleer.  he is more

    indigenous even tives.  h is ever good, his

    lungs are sound, s never flag.  Even the

    Atlantic and Pacific is as shrill sound

    never roused me from my slumbers.  I kept neit, cow,

    pig, nor  you would here was a deficiency of

    domestic sounds; neithe spinning-wheel, nor even

    ttle, nor the urn, nor children

    crying, to comfort one.  An old-fas his

    senses or died of ennui before t even rats in the wall, for

    tarved out, or rated in -- only

    squirrels on the

    ridge-pole, a blue jay screaming beneathe window, a hare or

    woodc owl be, a

    flock of wild geese or a laugo

    bark in t.  Not even a lark or an oriole, those mild

    plantation birds, ever visited my clearing.  No cockerels to crow

    nor o cackle in t unfenced nature

    reaco your very sills.  A young forest growing up under

    your meadows, and wild sumachrough

    into your cellar; sturdy pitc

    t of room, ts reace under the

    ead of a scuttle or a blind blohe gale -- a

    pine tree snapped off or torn up by ts behind your house for

    fuel.  Instead of no pato t-yard gate in t Snow

    -- no gate -- no front-yard -- and no pato the civilized world.

 Solitude

    the whole body is one sense,

    and imbibes deligh a

    strange liberty in Nature, a part of he

    stony s-sleeves, t is cool as

    o attract me,

    all ts are unusually congenial to me.  trump

    to us, and te of the whip-poor-will is borne

    on ter.  Sympathe

    fluttering alder and poplar leaves almost takes a,

    like ty is rippled but not ruffled.  these small

    e from storm as the

    smooting surface.  t is noill

    bloill dash, and some

    creatures lull t es.  the repose is never

    complete.  t animals do not repose, but seek their prey

    no, nohe fields and woods

    fear.  tures c the

    days of animated life.

    urn to my  visitors here

    and left th of

    evergreen, or a name in pencil on a yello leaf or a chip.

    to take some little piece of the

    forest into to play hey leave,

    eitentionally or accidentally.  One has peeled a willow wand,

    into a ring, and dropped it on my table.  I could always

    tell if visitors he bended

    t of t

    sex or age or quality t trace left, as a

    flower dropped, or a bunchrown away, even as

    far off as tant, or by the lingering

    odor of a cigar or pipe.  Nay, I ly notified of the

    passage of a traveller along ty rods off by t

    of his pipe.

    t space about us.  Our horizon is

    never quite at our elbo just at our door,

    nor t somew is always clearing, familiar and worn by

    us, appropriated and fenced in some ure.

    For , some square

    miles of unfrequented forest, for my privacy, abandoned to me by

    men?  My nearest neigant, and no house is visible

    from any place but tops hin half a mile of my own.  I

    o myself; a distant view of

    t touche

    fence  for t

    part it is as solitary w is as

    muc were, my own sun

    and moon and stars, and a little o myself.  At night

    traveller passed my  my door,

    more t or last man; unless it he

    spring, ervals some came from to fish

    for pouts -- the alden Pond of

    tures, and baited t they

    soon retreated, usually  baskets, and left quot;to

    darkness and to me,quot; and t was never

    profaned by any  men are

    generally still a little afraid of tches are

    all ianity and candles roduced.

    Yet I experienced sometimes t t s and tender, the

    most innocent and encouraging society may be found in any natural

    object, even for t melancholy man.

    to

    of Nature and ill.  t such a

    storm but it o a  ear.

    Notly compel a simple and brave man to a vulgar

    sadness.  rust t

    noto me.  tle rain wers

    my beans and keeps me in today is not drear and

    melanc good for me too.  t prevents my hem,

    it is of far more  sinue so

    long as to cause to rot in troy the

    potatoes in t ill be good for the grass on

    t would be good for me.

    Sometimes, w seems as if I

    s t I

    am conscious of; as if I  and surety at their hands

    w, and were especially guided and guarded.

    I do not flatter myself, but if it be possible tter me.  I

    lonesome, or in t oppressed by a sense of

    solitude, but once, and t er I came to the

    he near neighborhood of man

    essential to a serene and o be alone was

    somet.  But I  time conscious of a

    sligy in my mood, and seemed to foresee my recovery.  In

    t of a gentle rain ws prevailed, I was

    suddenly sensible of suc and beneficent society in Nature, in

    ttering of t around

    my e and unaccountable friendliness all at once

    like an atmospaining me, as made tages of

    , and I  of them

    since.  Every little pine needle expanded and shy

    and befriended me.  I inctly made ahe presence

    of someto me, even in scenes womed

    to call  t of blood to me

    and   a person nor a villager, t I t no

    place could ever be strange to me again.

    quot;Mourning untimely consumes the sad;

    Fehe living,

    Beautiful daugoscar.quot;

    Some of my pleasantest orms in

    to ternoon

    as heir ceaseless roar and

    pelting;  ushered in a long evening in which

    many ts ime to take root and unfold those

    driving nort rains he

    maids stood ready  entries to keep the

    deluge out, I sat betle house, which was all

    entry, and ts protection.  In one heavy

    tning struck a large pitche

    pond, making a very conspicuous and perfectly regular spiral groove

    from top to bottom, an inch or more deep, and four or five inches

    ick.  I passed it again the

    otruck

    mark, noinct terrific and resistless

    bolt came do of t years ago.  Men

    frequently say to me, quot;I shink you would feel lonesome down

    t to be nearer to folks, rainy and snowy days and

    nig;  I am tempted to reply to suchis whole

    eart is but a point in space.  ,

    t distant inants of yonder star,

    t be appreciated by our instruments?

    our planet in this

    o me not to be t important question.

    sort of space is t wes a man from his fellows

    and makes ary?  I  no exertion of the legs

    can bring t do

    most to do?  Not to many men surely, t, the

    post-office, ting-he

    grocery, Beacon s, e,

    but to the perennial source of our life, whence in all our

    experience o issue, as tands near

    ter and sends out its roots in t direction.  this will vary

    natures, but the place where a wise man will

    dig ook one of my townsmen, who

    ed ;a yquot; -- though I

    never got a fair vie -- on the alden road, driving a pair of

    cattle to market, wo

    give up so many of ts of life.  I ans I was very

    sure I liked it passably  joking.  And so I  home

    to my bed, and left o pick he

    mud to Brig-town -- which place he would reach some

    time in the morning.

    Any prospect of ao life to a dead man makes

    indifferent all times and places.  t may occur is

    al to all our senses.  For

    t part lying and transient circumstances to

    make our occasions.  t, the cause of our

    distraction.  Nearest to all t power which fashions

    t to us t lainually being

    executed.  Next to us is not th

    alk, but the workman whose work we are.

    quot; and profound is tile powers of

    ;

    quot;e seek to perceive t see to

    ified ance of

    t be separated from t;

    quot;t in all tify

    ts, and clots to

    offer sacrifices and oblations to tors.  It is an ocean

    of subtile intelligences.  they are everywhere, above us, on our

    left, on our rig;

    e are ts of an experiment tle

    interesting to me.  Can  do  ty of our gossips

    a little o

    cruly, quot;Virtue does not remain as an

    abandoned orp must of necessity ;

    ithinking we may be beside ourselves in a sane sense.  By a

    conscious effort of tand aloof from actions and

    things, good and bad, go by us like a

    torrent.  e are not he

    driftream, or Indra in t.  I

    may be affected by a trical exion; on ther hand, I may

    not be affected by an actual event wo concern me much

    more.  I only knoy; to speak,

    of ts and affections; and am sensible of a certain doubleness

    by e from myself as from another.  however

    intense my experience, I am conscious of ticism

    of a part of me,  a part of me, but

    spectator, s taking note of it, and t is

    no more I t is you.   may be tragedy, of

    life is over, tator goes  ion,

    a ion only, so far as his

    doubleness may easily make us poor neigimes.

    I find it er part of time.

    to be in company, even , is soon wearisome and

    dissipating.  I love to be alone.  I never found t

    ude.  e are for t part more

    lonely way in our

    c him be

    measured by t

    intervene between a man and

    student in one of the crowded hives of Cambridge College is as

    solitary as a dervis.  the farmer can work alone in

    t feel

    lonesome, because   he

    cannot sit do ts, but

    must be ; and recreate, and, as he

    te ude; and hence he

    can sit alone in t and

    most of t ennui and quot;t;; but

    realize t tudent, till at work in

    he farmer in his, and in

    turn seeks tion and society t tter does,

    t may be a more condensed form of it.

    Society is commonly too c at very s intervals,

    not ime to acquire any new value for eacher.  e

    meet at meals times a day, and give eacaste of

    t old musty c we are.  e o agree on a

    certain set of rules, called etiquette and politeness, to make this

    frequent meeting tolerable and t  come to open war.

    e meet at t-office, and at t the

    fireside every nighers way, and

    stumble over one anot

    for one anotainly less frequency would suffice for all

    important and y communications.  Consider the girls in a

    factory -- never alone,  ter

    if t one inant to a square mile, as where I live.

    t in  we souch him.

    I  in the woods and dying of famine and

    exion at t of a tree, whose loneliness was relieved by

    tesque visions o bodily weakness, his

    diseased imagination surrounded o be

    real.  So also, oo bodily and mental rength, we

    may be continually c more normal and natural

    society, and come to kno we are never alone.

    I  deal of company in my he

    morning,  a fe

    some one may convey an idea of my situation.  I am no more lonely

    t laughan alden Pond

    itself.   company  lonely lake, I pray?  And yet it has

    not t t, in tint of

    its ers.  t in there

    sometimes appear to be t one is a mock sun.  God is alone --

    but t deal of

    company; han a single mullein or

    dandelion in a pasture, or a bean leaf, or sorrel, or a horse-fly,

    or a bumblebee.  I am no more lonely the Mill Brook, or a

    ar, or th wind, or an April

    s spider in a new house.

    I s in ter evenings, whe

    sno and ttler

    and original proprietor, o have dug alden Pond,

    and stoned it, and fringed it ells me stories

    of old time and of neernity; and beto pass a

    c viehings,

    even  apples or cider -- a most wise and humorous friend,

    han ever did Goffe

    or  to be dead, none can show where

    oo, dwells in my neighborhood,

    invisible to most persons, in wo

    stroll sometimes, gatening to her fables; for

    sility, and her memory runs back

    fartell me the original of every

    fable, and on  every one is founded, for ts

    occurred wy old dame, who

    deligo outlive all

    .

    ture -- of sun

    and er -- such, such cheer,

    th our race,

    t all Nature ed, and tness fade,

    and tears, and

    t on mourning in midsummer, if any

    man s cause grieve.  S have

    intelligence  partly leaves and vegetable

    mould myself?

    is tented?

    Not my or t-grandfat our great-grandmother

    Natures universal, vegetable, botanic medicines, by which she has

    kept lived so many old Parrs in her day,

    and fed ness.  For my panacea,

    instead of one of ture dipped from Acheron

    and t of those long shallow

    black-scimes see made to carry

    bottles, let me  of undiluted morning air.  Morning

    air!  If men  drink of t tainhe day,

    tle up some and sell it in the shops, for

    t of t tion ticket to

    morning time in t remember, it  keep quite

    till noonday even in t cellar, but drive out topples

    long ere t and folloeps of Aurora.  I am no

    old or

    AEsculapius, and s

    in one  of w

    sometimes drinks; but rato Jupiter, who was

    ter of Juno and tuce, and whe power of

    restoring gods and men to the

    only tioned,  young lady

    t ever  was spring.

 Visitors

    I t I love society as muc, and am ready enough

    to fasten myself like a bloodsucker for time to any full-blooded

    man t comes in my urally no , but might

    possibly sit out turdiest frequenter of the bar-room, if my

    business called me ther.

    I ude, two for

    friendsy.  ors came in larger and

    unexpected numbers t t

    tanding up.  It is surprising

    men and women a small ain.  I have had

    ty-five or ty souls,  once under my

    roof, and yet en parted  being a we had come

    very near to one anoth public and

    private,  innumerable apartments, their huge halls

    and torage of ions of

    peace, appear to be extravagantly large for tants.  they

    are so vast and magnificent t tter seem to be only vermin

    he herald blows his summons

    before some tremont or Astor or Middlesex o see come

    creeping out over tants a ridiculous mouse,

    wo some .

    One inconvenience I sometimes experienced in so small a house,

    ty of getting to a sufficient distance from my guest

    ter ts in big  room

    for your ts to get into sailing trim and run a course or two

    before t.  t of your t must have

    overcome its lateral and ricoc motion and fallen into its last

    and steady course before it reac

    may plo again the side of his head.  Also, our

    sentences ed room to unfold and form the

    interval.  Individuals, like nations, must able broad and

    natural boundaries, even a considerable neutral ground, between

    t a singular luxury to talk across to

    a companion on te side.  In my

    begin to  speak low enougo be

    ones into calm er so near t

    tions.  If we are merely loquacious

    and loud talkers, to stand very near together,

    c if we speak

    reservedly and tfully,  to be fart, t all

    animal  and moisture may o evaporate.  If we

    intimate society  in each of us which

    is , or above, being spoken to,  not only be silent,

    but commonly so far apart bodily t  possibly hear each

    oto tandard, speech is for

    t there are many

    fine t say if he

    conversation began to assume a loftier and grander tone, we

    gradually s till touche wall

    in opposite corners, and t room enough.

    My quot;bestquot; room, hdrawing room, always ready for

    company, on he pine wood

    beinguiss

    came, I took tic s the floor and

    dusted ture and kept things in order.

    If one guest came imes partook of my frugal meal, and it

    erruption to conversation to be stirring a y-pudding,

    or curing of a loaf of bread in the ashes,

    in t if ty came and sat in my here was

    not dinner, t be bread enough for

    ting  urally

    practised abstinence; and t to be an offence

    against ality, but t proper and considerate course.

    te and decay of pen needs repair,

    seemed miraculously retarded in sucal vigor

    stood its ground.  I could entertain thousand as well as

    ty; and if any ever  aed or hungry from my

    t I

    sympat least.  So easy is it, though many

    it, to establister customs in the

    place of t rest your reputation on the dinners

    you give.  For my o, I ually deterred from

    frequenting a mans ever, as by

    t dining me, o be a very

    polite and roundabout  never to trouble hink I

    s to he

    motto of my cabin tors

    inscribed on a yello leaf for a card:--

    quot;Arrived ttle hey fill,

    Ne looke for entertainment where none was;

    Rest is t, and all t their will:

    t mind t contentment ;

    er

    of ceremony to Massasoit on foot through

    tired and  hey were well

    received by t not eating t day.

    arrived, to quote t;he laid us on

    t t the

    ot being only planks laid a foot from thin

    mat upon two more of  of room, pressed

    by and upon us; so t han of

    our journey.quot;  At one oclock t day Massasoit quot;brougwo

    fis ,quot; about t;these

    being boiled, t least forty looked for a shem;

    t eat of ts and a

    day; and  one of us bougridge, we aken our

    journey fasting.quot;  Fearing t t-

    of food and also sleep, oo quot;the savages barbarous singing,

    (for to sing t; and t t get

    rengto travel, ted.  As for

    lodging, it is true t poorly entertained, t

    t intended for an

    as far as eating  see he Indians could

    ter.  to eat they were

    o t apologies could supply to

    ts; so ts tighing

    about it.  Anotime  being a season

    of plenty .

    As for men, they will hardly fail one anywhere.  I had more

    visitors her period in my

    life; I mean t I  several there under more

    favorable circumstances t fewer came

    to see me on trivial business.  In t, my company was

    ance from town.  I hdrawn so far

    ocean of solitude, into wy

    empty, t for t part, so far as my needs were concerned,

    only t sediment ed around me.  Beside, there

    ed to me evidences of unexplored and uncultivated

    continents on ther side.

    o my lodge t a true homeric or

    Papable and poetic a name t I am

    sorry I cannot print it here -- a Canadian, a woodchopper and

    post-maker, s in a day, w

    supper on a woodc.  oo, has heard of

    ;if it  for books,quot; ;not knoo do

    rainy days,quot; t read one whrough for

    many rainy seasons.  Some priest whe Greek

    itself taugo read estament in ive

    paris translate to he

    book, Aco Patroclus for enance. --

    quot;ears, Patroclus, like a young girl?quot;

    quot;Or hia?

    t Menoetius lives yet, son of Actor,

    And Peleus lives, son of AEacus, among the Myrmidons,

    Eitly grieve.quot;

    ;ts good.quot;   bundle of we oak bark

    under ;I

    suppose ter suco-day,quot; says

    o  er, t ing was

    about  knoural man it would be

    o find.  Vice and disease, w such a sombre moral hue

    over to ance for him.  he was

    about ty-eig Canada and hers

    o ates, and earn money to

    buy a farm  last, perive country.

    in t mould; a stout but sluggis gracefully

    carried,  neck, dark bushy hair, and dull

    sleepy blue eyes, h expression.

    gray clotcoat, and

    co, usually carrying

    o  my house -- for he

    cin pail; cold meats, often cold

    tle wring

    from ; and sometimes he offered me a drink.  he came along

    early, crossing my bean-field, t anxiety or e to

    get to .   a-going to

    care if ly he

    would leave  a

    and

    leave it in ter

    deliberating first for  sink it in

    till nigo dhese

    t by in t;he

    pigeons are!  If  my trade, I could get

    all t I s by ing-pigeons, woodcs,

    partridges -- by gos all I s for a week in

    one day.quot;

    he was a skilful chopper, and indulged in some flourishes and

    ornaments in .   rees level and close to the

    ground, t ts  be more

    vigorous and a sled migumps; and instead of

    leaving a o support

    ao a slender stake or splinter wh

    your  last.

    erested me because  and solitary and so

    entment which overflowed

    at  alloy.  Sometimes I saw

    rees, and  me h a

    laugisfaction, and a salutation in Canadian

    Frenchough he spoke English as well.  hen I approached him he

    would suspend he

    trunk of a pine whe inner

    bark, roll it up into a ball and c while he laughed and

    talked.  Sucs  he

    sometimes tumbled doer at

    anytickled him.  Looking round upon

    trees ;By George!  I can enjoy myself well

    enoug no better sport.quot;  Sometimes, w

    leisure,

    pistol, firing salutes to  regular intervals as he walked.

    In ter  noon he warmed his coffee in

    a kettle; and as  on a log to eat he chickadees

    imes come round and alig the

    potato in  ;liked to tle

    fellers about ;

    In he animal man chiefly was developed.  In physical

    endurance and contentment o the rock.  I

    asked  sometimes tired at niger working

    all day; and h a sincere and serious look,

    quot;Gorrappit, I never ired in my life.quot;  But tellectual and

    ual man in .

    ructed only in t innocent and ineffectual way in

    eache pupil

    is never educated to t only to the

    degree of trust and reverence, and a c made a man, but

    kept a cure made rong body and

    contentment for ion, and propped h

    reverence and reliance, t  live out hreescore years

    and ten a cicated t no

    introduction o introduce han if you

    introduced a o find

    as you did.   play any part.  Men paid him wages for

    he never exchanged

    opinions urally humble -- if he

    can be called  y was no

    distinct quality in .  iser men

    o old  such a one was coming,

    t anyt nothing

    of  take all ty on itself, and let him

    be forgotten still.  he sound of praise.  he

    particularly reverenced ter and their

    performances e

    considerably,  for a long time t it he

    ing w, for e a remarkably good hand

    imes found tive parish handsomely

    ten in t,

    and kne o e

    s.   ten letters for

    t, but ried to e ts -- no, he

    could not,  tell o put first, it would kill him,

    and to be attended to at time!

    I  a distinguished wise man and reformer asked him if

    to be c h a

    c, not kno the

    question ertained before, quot;No, I like it well

    enoug;  It o a po

    o a stranger o knohing

    of t I sometimes saw in him a man whom I had

    not seen before, and I did not know wher he was as wise as

    S as a co suspect him

    of a fine poetic consciousness or of stupidity.  A toold me

    t he village in his small

    close-fitting cap, and o himself, he reminded him of a

    prince in disguise.

    ic, in w

    .  t of cyclopaedia to

    o contain an abstract of human knowledge, as

    indeed it does to a considerable extent.  I loved to sound him on

    to look at them

    in t simple and practical light.  he had never heard of such

    t factories? I asked.  he had

    gray,  was good.  Could

    ea and coffee?  Did try afford any

    beverage beside er?  er and

    drank it, and t t ter ter in her.

    money, he

    convenience of money in suco suggest and coincide h

    t ps of titution,

    and tion of the word pecunia.  If an ox were his

    property, and o get needles and t tore, he

    t it  and impossible soon to go on

    mortgaging some portion of ture eacime to t amount.

    itutions better than any philosopher,

    because, in describing true

    reason for tion  suggested to

    anotime, os definition of a man

    -- a biped  feat one exed a cock plucked

    and called it Platos man,  it an important difference

    t t times exclaim, quot;how

    I love to talk!  By George, I could talk all day!quot;  I asked him

    once, w seen  a new

    idea t;Good Lordquot; -- said ;a man t o work

    as I do, if  forget the ideas he has had, he will do

    o race; then, by

    gorry, your mind must be t;  he would

    sometimes ask me first on such occasions, if I had made any

    improvement.  One er day I asked isfied

    o suggest a substitute he

    priest , and some ive for living.  quot;Satisfied!quot;

    said ;some men are satisfied h

    anot enougisfied

    to sit all day o to table,

    by George!quot;  Yet I never, by any manoeuvring, could get o take

    tual vie t o

    conceive of  an

    animal to appreciate; and tically, is true of most men.

    If I suggested any improvement in his mode of life, he merely

    ans expressing any regret, t it oo late.  Yet

    y and tues.

    tain positive originality, , to be

    detected in  hinking

    for himself and expressing his own opinion, a phenomenon so rare

    t I en miles to observe it, and it amounted

    to tion of many of titutions of society.

    tated, and pero express himself

    distinctly, able t be his

    tive and immersed in ,

    t rarely ripened

    to anyted.  ed t t be

    men of genius in t grades of life, ly

    erate,

    pretend to see at all; wtomless even as alden Pond was

    t to be, they may be dark and muddy.

    Many a traveller came out of o see me and the inside of

    my er.

    I told t I drank at ted ther, offering

    to lend t exempted from

    tation  of

    April, whe move; and I had my share of good

    luck, tors.

    ted men from to see me; but

    I endeavored to make t they had, and make

    to me; in suc theme of our

    conversation; and so ed.  Indeed, I found some of them

    to be men

    of to it ime t tables urned.

    it to , I learned t t much difference

    beticular, an

    inoffensive, simple-minded pauper, wen seen

    used as fencing stuff, standing or sitting on a bushe fields

    to keep cattle and raying, visited me, and expressed

    a most simplicity and

    trute superior, or rato anyt is

    called y, t ;deficient in intellect.quot;  these were

    he Lord cared

    as muc;I ; said he,

    quot;from my c like other

    c he Lords will, I

    suppose.quot;  And to prove truth of his words.  he was

    a metapo me.  I  a fellowman on such

    promising ground -- it rue all

    t rue enougion as o

    ed.  I did not kno first but it was

    t of a  seemed t from such a basis of

    truthe poor weak-headed pauper had laid, our

    intercourse migo sometter the

    intercourse of sages.

    I s from t reckoned commonly among the

    to w

    any rate; guests o your ality, but to your

    alality; wly wiso be heir

    appeal ion t thing,

    never to or t

    actually starving, t appetite in the

    .  Objects of cy are not guests.  Men

    ed, t

    about my business again, anser and greater

    remoteness.  Men of almost every degree of  called on me in the

    migrating season.  Some  to do

    ation manners, ime

    to time, like the hounds

    a-baying on track, and looked at me beseechingly, as much as

    to say, --

    quot;O Cian, will you send me back?

    One real runa, wo forward

    toar.  Men of one idea, like a h one

    c a duckling; men of a t

    o take charge of a hundred

    c of one bug, a score of t in every

    mornings dew -- and become frizzled and mangy in consequence; men

    of ideas instead of legs, a sort of intellectual centipede t made

    you crawl all over.  One man proposed a book in wors

    se t te Mountains; but, alas! I

    oo good a memory to make t necessary.

    I could not but notice some of ties of my visitors.

    Girls and boys and young o be in the

    the flowers, and improved

    time.  Men of business, even farmers, t only of solitude

    and employment, and of t distance at w from

    somet they loved a ramble in

    t  t.  Restless

    committed men, aken up in getting a living or

    keeping it; ministers whey enjoyed a monopoly

    of t, ors,

    lawyers, uneasy o my cupboard and bed when

    I  -- o kno my ss  as

    clean as o be young, and had

    concluded t it  to folloen track of the

    professions -- all t it  possible to

    do so mucion.  Ay! the old and

    infirm and timid, of  most of

    sickness, and sudden accident and deato them life seemed full of

    danger --  think of any? -- and

    t t a prudent man  t

    position, s o

    terally a community, a league for mutual

    defence, and you  t go

    a- a medicine c.  t of it is, if

    a man is alive, t he

    danger must be alloo be less in proportion as he is

    dead-and-alive to begin s as many risks as he runs.

    Finally, tyled reformers, test bores of

    all,  I was forever singing,--

    t I built;

    t lives in t I built;

    but t kno third line was,

    t he man

    t lives in t I built.

    I did not fear t no c I

    feared ther.

    I ors t.  Children come

    a-berrying, railroad men taking a Sunday morning walk in clean

    ss, fisers, poets and p, all

    pilgrims, o the woods for freedoms sake, and

    really left to greet h --

    quot;elcome, Englis; for I had had

    communication  race.

 The Bean-Field

    Meanher,

    ed, ient to be he

    earliest est he

    ground; indeed t easily to be put off.   he

    meaning of teady and self-respecting, this small herculean

    labor, I kne.  I came to love my rohough so many

    more ted.  ttaco t

    strengtaeus.  But whem?  Only heaven

    knoo make tion

    of ths surface, which had yielded only cinquefoil,

    blackberries, jo, and t s and

    pleasant floead t shall I learn of

    beans or beans of me?  I ce I

    o t is a fine broad

    leaf to look on.  My auxiliaries are ter

    t fertility is in tself, which for

    t part is lean and effete.  My enemies are worms, cool days,

    and most of all woodc er

    of an acre clean.  But  jo and the

    rest, and break up t he

    remaining beans oo tougo meet

    new foes.

    from Boston to tive tohese very woods and

    to t is one of t scenes stamped on

    my memory.  And noo-nige

    very er.  till stand han I; or, if some

    umps, and a new

    gro

    eyes.  Almost t springs from the same perennial

    root in ture, and even I  lengto clothe

    t fabulous landscape of my infant dreams, and one of ts

    of my presence and influence is seen in these bean leaves, corn

    blades, and potato vines.

    I planted about two acres and a  was

    only about fifteen years since the land was cleared, and I myself

    out tumps, I did not give it any

    manure; but in t appeared by the

    arroinct nation had

    anciently d ed corn and beans ere we men came

    to clear to some extent, ed the soil

    for this very crop.

    Before yet any woodche road, or

    t above the dew was on,

    t it -- I o do

    all your work if possible wo level

    ty  upon

    ted, dabbling

    like a plastic artist in t later in

    tered my feet.  ted me to hoe

    beans, pacing slo yellow gravelly

    upland, beteen rods, the one end

    terminating in a s in the shade,

    the green berries deepened

    tints by time I .  Removing the

    ting fres tems, and encouraging this

    weed ws summer

    t in bean leaves and blossoms rathan in wormwood and

    piper and millet grass, making tead of grass

    -- ttle aid from horses or

    cattle, or s of husbandry, I

    e han

    usual.  But labor of to the verge of

    drudgery, is per form of idleness.  It has a

    constant and imperiso t yields a

    classic result.  A very agricola laboriosus o travellers

    bound o nobody knows where;

    tting at th elbows on knees, and reins

    loosely oons; I taying, laborious native of

    t soon my ead  of t and t.

    It ivated field for a great distance on

    eit of it; and sometimes

    travellers gossip and comment

    t for ;Beans so late! peas so late!quot; -- for I

    continued to plant wo erial

    suspected it.  quot;Corn, my boy, for fodder; corn

    for fodder.quot;  quot;Does ; asks t of the

    gray coat; and tured farmer reins up eful dobbin

    to inquire w you are doing whe furrow,

    and recommends a little c, or any little e stuff, or it

    may be aser.  But wo acres and a half of

    furro -- there

    being an aversion to ots and  far

    aravellers as ttled by compared it aloud h

    t I came to know ood

    in tural  in Mr. Colemans

    report.  And, by timates the crop which

    nature yields in till he

    crop of Englisure calculated,

    tes and tas in all dells and pond-he

    ures and swamps grows a rich and various crop only

    unreaped by man.  Mine  ing link between

    ivated fields; as some states are civilized, and others

    hers savage or barbarous, so my field was,

    t in a bad sense, a ivated field.  they were beans

    curning to tive state t I

    cultivated, and my hem.

    Near at opmost spray of a birche brown

    to call he

    morning, glad of your society, t  another farmers

    field if yours  ing the seed, he

    cries -- quot;Drop it, drop it -- cover it up, cover it up -- pull it

    up, pull it up, pull it up.quot;  But t corn, and so it was

    safe from suc his rigmarole,

    eur Paganini performances on one string or on ty, have

    to do ing, and yet prefer it to leached ashes or

    plaster.  It op dressing in wire

    faith.

    As I dreill fres th my hoe, I

    disturbed tions who in primeval years

    lived under ts of war and

    ing  of they lay

    mingled ural stones, some of whe marks of

    he sun, and also

    bits of pottery and glass broug cultivators

    of tinkled against tones, t music

    eco t to my

    labor  and immeasurable crop.  It was no

    longer beans t I  hoed beans; and I remembered

    y as pride, if I remembered at all, my acquaintances

    y to attend torios.  thawk

    circled overernoons -- for I sometimes made a

    day of it -- like a mote in the eye, or in heavens eye, falling

    from time to time he heavens were

    rent, torn at last to very rags and tatters, and yet a seamless cope

    remained; small imps t fill the

    ground on bare sand or rocks on tops of hills, where few have

    found t up from the

    pond, as leaves are raised by to float in the heavens; such

    kindredsure.  the wave

    ed

    o tal unfledged pinions of the sea.  Or

    sometimes I che sky,

    alternately soaring and descending, approaching, and leaving one

    anot of my os.  Or I

    tracted by to t,

    quivering winnowing sound and carrier e; or from

    under a rotten stump my urned up a sluggisentous and

    outlandisted salamander, a trace of Egypt and t

    our contemporary.  o lean on my hese sounds and

    sig of the

    inexible entertainment wry offers.

    On gala days tos great guns, which echo like

    popguns to tial music occasionally

    penetrate to me, a ther

    end of to;

    and urnout of w, I

    imes  of itching

    and disease in tion

    tina or canker-rasil at length some

    more favorable puff of he

    ayland road, brougion of t;trainers.quot;  It seemed

    by tant  the

    neigo Virgils advice, by a faint tintinnabulum

    upon t sonorous of tic utensils, were endeavoring

    to call to the sound died

    quite a favorable breezes

    told no tale, I kne t t drone of them all

    safely into t no

    on t was smeared.

    I felt proud to kno ties of Massacts and of

    our faturned to my

    h an inexpressible confidence, and

    pursued my labor crust in ture.

    sounded as if all

    t bellohe buildings expanded and

    collapsed alternately  sometimes it was a really

    noble and inspiring strain t reacrumpet

    t sings of fame, and I felt as if I could spit a Mexican h a

    good relisand for trifles? -- and

    looked round for a woodco exercise my chivalry

    upon.  tial strains seemed as far aine, and

    reminded me of a marc

    tantivy and tremulous motion of tree tops whe

    village.  t days; the sky had from my

    clearing only tingly great look t it wears daily,

    and I sa.

    It  long acquaintance which I

    cultivated  ing, and hoeing, and

    ing, and the

    last  of all -- I miging, for I did taste.

    I ermined to know beans.  o

    ill noon, and commonly spent

    t of t otimate and

    curious acquaintance one makes

    eration in t, for ttle

    iteration in turbing te organizations so

    rutinctions h his hoe,

    levelling ing

    anots Roman s pigs sorrel

    -- ts piper-grass --  urn s

    upo t let he shade, if you

    do urn  other side up and be as green as a leek in

    t  hose

    trojans whe

    beans sao the

    ranks of trench weedy dead.

    Many a lusty crest --  towered a w above

    .

    temporaries devoted to the

    fine arts in Boston or Rome, and oto contemplation in India,

    and oto trade in London or Neher

    farmers of Need to  t I ed

    beans to eat, for I am by nature a Pythagorean, so far as beans are

    concerned, wing, and exchem

    for rice; but, perc work in fields if only for

    tropes and expression, to serve a parable-maker one day.

    It , oo long,

    migion.  them no manure, and

    did not hem unusualy well as far as I

    , and  in t;trut; as

    Evelyn says, quot;no compost or laetation o this

    continual motion, repastination, and turning of the

    spade.quot;  quot;t; ;especially if fresh, has a

    certain magnetism in it, by tracts t, power, or

    virtue (call it eit life, and is the logic of all

    tir  it, to sustain us; all dungings and

    otemperings being but to this

    improvement.quot;  Moreover, t; and

    exed lay fields w; had perchance, as

    Sir Kenelm Digby ttracted quot;vital spiritsquot; from the

    air.  I ed twelve bushels of beans.

    But to be more particular, for it is complained t Mr. Coleman

    ed cs of gentlemen farmers,

    my outgoes were,--

    For a hoe ................................... $ 0.54

    Plowing, oo much.

    Beans for seed ...............................  3.12+

    Potatoes for seed ............................  1.33

    Peas for seed ................................  0.40

    turnip seed ..................................  0.06

    e line for crow fence ....................  0.02

    ivator and boy three hours .........  1.00

    to get crop ...................  0.75

    --------

    In all .................................. $14.72+

    My income rem familias vendacem, non emacem esse

    oportet), from

    Nine buss of beans sold .. $16.94

    Fivequot;large potatoes ..................... 2.50

    Ninequot;small .............................. 2.25

    Grass ........................................... 1.00

    Stalks .......................................... 0.75

    -------

    In all .................................... $23.44

    Leaving a pecuniary profit,

    as I have elsewhere said, of .............. $ 8.71+

    t of my experience in raising beans:  Plant the

    common small  of June, in rohree

    feet by eig, being careful to select fresh round

    and unmixed seed.  First look out for worms, and supply vacancies by

    planting ane for woodc is an exposed

    place, for t tender leaves almost

    clean as tendrils make their

    appearance, tice of it, and will sh

    botting erect like a squirrel.  But above

    all  as early as possible, if you s and

    his means.

    to myself, I will

    not plant beans and corn ry anot

    suc lost, as sincerity, truth,

    simplicity, fait

    grooil and manurance, and sustain

    me, for surely it  been exed for these crops.  Alas!  I

    said to myself; but noher,

    and anoto say to you, Reader, t the seeds

    ues,

    en or  tality, and so did not come up.

    Commonly men hers were brave, or

    timid.  tion is very sure to plant corn and beans each

    neuries ago and taughe

    first settlers to do, as if te in it.  I saw an old

    man to my astonis, making th a hoe

    for tietime at least, and not for o lie down

    in!  But ry neures, and

    not lay so mucress on ato and grass crop, and

    hese?  hy concern ourselves

    so muc our beans for seed, and not be concerned at all about

    a neion of men?  e should really be fed and cheered if

    o see t some of ties

    wher

    productions, but  broadcast and floating

    in taken root and grown in him.  here comes such a

    subtile and ineffable quality, for instance, as trutice,

    test amount or ney of it, along the road.

    Our ambassadors sructed to send home such seeds as

    to distribute the land.  e

    sand upon ceremony y.  e should never

    c and insult and banishere

    t

    meet te.  Most men I do not meet at all, for they seem

    not to ime; t t

    deal hus plodding ever, leaning on a hoe or a spade as a

    staff betially risen out

    of t, like sed and

    he ground:--

    quot;And as hen

    Spread, as  to fly, t;

    so t  we migh an angel.

    Bread may not al al even

    takes stiffness out of our joints, and makes us supple and buoyant,

    o recognize any generosity in man

    or Nature, to share any unmixed and heroic joy.

    Ancient poetry and myt, at least, t husbandry

    ; but it is pursued  e and

    being to have large farms and large

    crops merely.  e ival, nor procession, nor ceremony,

    not excepting our cattle-shanksgivings, by which

    the sacredness of his calling, or is

    reminded of its sacred origin.  It is t

    to Ceres and terrestrial

    Jove, but to tus rather.  By avarice and

    selfis, from which none of us is free,

    of regarding ty, or the means of acquiring

    property che landscape is deformed, husbandry is degraded

    of lives.  ure

    but as a robber.  Cato says t ts of agriculture are

    particularly pious or just (maximeque pius quaestus), and according

    to Varro t;called ther and Ceres, and

    t t tivated it led a pious and useful life, and

    t t of turn.quot;

    e are  to forget t tivated

    fields and on ts  distinction.  they

    all reflect and absorb  a

    small part of ture which he beholds in his daily

    course.  In ivated like a

    garden.  t of  and

    rust and magnanimity.   though I

    value t t in the

    year?  t so long looks not to

    me as tivator, but ao influences more

    genial to it,  green.  these beans have

    results  grow for

    (in Latin spica, obsoletely

    speca, from spe,  be the

    s kernel or grain (granum from gerendo, bearing) is

    not all t it bears.   fail?  Shall I

    not rejoice also at the

    granary of t matters little comparatively whe

    fields fill true husbandman will cease from

    anxiety, as t no concern whe woods will

    bear cnuts t, and finish every

    day, relinquiso the produce of his fields, and

    sacrificing in  only  but  fruits also.

 The Village

    After ing, in the forenoon, I

    usually bats coves

    for a stint, and was of labor from my person, or

    smoot t wrinkle wudy he

    afternoon ely free.  Every day or trolled to the

    village to ly going on

    ting eito mouto

    newspaper, and waken in hic doses, was really as

    refress le of leaves and the peeping of

    frogs.  As I o see the birds and squirrels, so

    I o see tead of the wind

    among ts rattle.  In one direction from my

    s in the

    grove of elms and buttonher horizon was a village of

    busy men, as curious to me as if they had been prairie-dogs, each

    sitting at ts burroo a neighbors

    to gossip.  I  tly to observe ts.  the

    village appeared to me a great neo

    support it, as once at Redding amp; Companys on State Street, they

    kept nuts and raisins, or salt and meal and other groceries.  Some

    appetite for ty, t is, the

    ne t forever in

    public avenues  stirring, and let it simmer and whisper

    tesian winds, or as if in

    only producing numbness and insensibility to pain -- ot

    en be painful to bear --  affecting the

    consciousness.  I he

    village, to see a roing on a ladder

    sunning their

    eyes glancing along t, from time to time,

    uous expression, or else leaning against a barn h

    ts, like caryatides, as if to prop it up.

    t of doors, ever he wind.

    t mills, in w rudely

    digested or cracked up before it is emptied into finer and more

    delicate  tals of the

    village -office, and the

    bank; and, as a necessary part of t a bell, a

    big gun, and a fire-engine, at convenient places; and the houses

    o make t of mankind, in lanes and

    fronting one anot every traveller o run the

    gauntlet, and every man,  a lick at him.

    Of course, tationed nearest to the line,

    prices for the few

    straggling inants in tskirts, whe line

    began to occur, and traveller could get over urn aside

    into co ground or window

    tax.  Signs o allure o catch

    ite, as tavern and victualling cellar; some by

    tore and thers by

    t or ts, as the shoemaker,

    or tailor.  Besides, till more terrible standing

    invitation to call at every one of these houses, and company

    expected about times.  For t part I escaped wonderfully

    from t once boldly and

    deliberation to to the

    gauntlet, or by keeping my ts on hings, like Orpheus,

    o his lyre, drowned

    t out of danger.quot;  Sometimes I

    bolted suddenly, and nobody could tell my

    stand muc gracefulness, and never ated at a gap in a

    fence.  I omed to make an irruption into some houses,

    ained, and after learning the kernels and

    very last sieveful of news -- w s of

    her

    muc out the rear avenues, and so

    escaped to the woods again.

    It , e in too launch

    myself into t, especially if it empestuous,

    and set sail from some brigure room, h a

    bag of rye or Indian meal upon my shoulder, for my snug harbor in

    tig and ches

    s, leaving only my outer man at the

    ying up t was plain sailing.  I had

    many a genial t by t;as I sailed.quot;  I was never

    cast aressed in any ered some

    severe storms.  It is darker in ts,

    t suppose.  I frequently o look up at the opening

    betrees above to learn my route, and,

    o feel  t track

    ion of particular trees

    ance,

    not more teen inc, in t of the woods,

    invariably, in t nigimes, after coming hus

    late in a dark and muggy nig felt th which my

    eyes could not see, dreaming and absent-minded all til I

    tc

    been able to recall a single step of my walk, and I

    t pers er should

    forsake it, as ts o t

    assistance.  Several times, ay into

    evening, and it proved a dark nigo conduct o

    t-pat out to him

    tion o pursue, and in keeping wo be

    guided rat t I

    directed two young men whe

    pond.  t a mile off te

    used to te.  A day or ter one of told me t they

    ter part of t, close by their own

    premises, and did not get ill toward morning, by wime,

    as the

    leaves , to their skins.  I have

    ray even in treets, whe

    darkness  you could cut it he

    saying is.  Some s, o town

    a-so put up for the

    niglemen and ladies making a call have gone half a mile

    out of t, and not

    kno is a surprising and memorable, as well

    as valuable experience, to be lost in time.  Often in

    a snoorm, even by day, one  upon a well-known road

    and yet find it impossible to tell he village.

    t ravelled it a times,

    recognize a feature in it, but it is as strange to  were

    a road in Siberia.  By nigy is

    infinitely greater.  In our most trivial antly,

    teering like pilots by certain well-known

    beacons and ill

    carry in our minds t

    till ely lost, or turned round -- for a man needs only

    to be turned round once  in to be lost

    -- do e tness and strangeness of nature.  Every

    man o learn ts of compass again as often as be awakes,

    ion.  Not till , in

    ot till o find

    ourselves, and realize ent of our

    relations.

    One afternoon, near t summer, o

    to get a s

    into jail, because, as I ed, I did not pay a tax

    to, or recognize ty of, tate which buys and sells

    men, le, at ts

    senate-o ther purposes.

    But, wheir

    dirty institutions, and, if train o belong to

    te odd-felloy.  It is true, I might have

    resisted forcibly , mig;amokquot;

    against society; but I preferred t society s;amokquot;

    against me, it being te party.  however, I was released

    t day, obtained my mended surned to the woods in

    season to get my dinner of huckleberries on Fair haven hill.  I was

    never molested by any person but ted tate.  I

    but for t even

    a nail to put over my latcened my door

    nigo be absent several days; not even when

    t fall I spent a fortnig my

    ed t had been surrounded by a file of

    soldiers.  tired rambler could rest and warm himself by my fire,

    terary amuse able, or the

    curious, by opening my closet door, see  of my dinner,

    and  I , though many people of

    every class came to the pond, I suffered no serious

    inconvenience from t

    one small book, a volume of homer, which perhaps was improperly

    gilded, and trust a soldier of our camp his

    time.  I am convinced, t if all men o live as simply as I

    take place

    only in communities

    w enoug

    properly distributed.

    quot;Nec bella fuerunt,

    Faginus astabat dum scype dapes.quot;

    quot;Nor ,

    .quot;

    quot;You w need o employ

    puniss?  Love virtue, and tuous.  the

    virtues of a superior man are like tues of a common

    man are like t,

    bends.quot;

 The Ponds

    Sometimes,  of y and gossip, and

    all my village friends, I rambled still fartward

    tually do yet more unfrequented parts of the

    to;to fresures ne; or, whe sun was

    setting, made my supper of huckleberries and blueberries on Fair

    ore for several days.  ts do not

    yield true flavor to to him who

    raises t.  t one o obtain it, yet

    feake t he flavor of huckleberries,

    ask tridge.  It is a vulgar error to suppose

    t you asted hem.  A

    on; t been knohere

    since tial

    part of t is lost he

    market cart, and ternal

    Justice reigns, not one innocent ransported

    trys hills.

    Occasionally, after my he day, I joined

    some impatient companion whe pond since

    morning, as silent and motionless as a duck or a floating leaf, and,

    after practising various kinds of philosophy, had concluded

    commonly, by time I arrived, t o t

    sect of Coenobites.  t fisher

    and skilled in all kinds of , wo look upon

    my ed for the convenience of fishermen; and

    I o arrange his

    lines.  Once in a oget one end

    of t, and I at t not many ween

    us, for er years, but he occasionally

    h my philosophy.

    Our intercourse ogether one of unbroken harmony, far

    more pleasing to remember t had been carried on by speech.

    o commune h, I used

    to raise triking he side of my

    boat, filling ting

    sound, stirring the keeper of a menagerie his wild

    beasts, until I elicited a growl from every wooded vale and

    hillside.

    In ly sat in t playing te,

    and sao have charmed, hovering around me,

    and travelling over ttom, wrewed

    .  Formerly I o this pond

    adventurously, from time to time, in dark summer nigh a

    companion, and, making a fire close to ters edge, which we

    t attracted t pouts h a bunch of worms

    strung on a t, threw

    to ts, which, coming

    doo th a loud hissing, and we were

    suddenly groping in total darkness.  tling a tune,

    ook our o ts of men again.  But now I had made my

    he shore.

    Sometimes, after staying in a village parlor till the family had

    all retired, I urned to tly h a view

    to t days dinner, spent t fishing from a

    boat by moonlight, serenaded by owls and foxes, and hearing, from

    time to time, te of some unkno hand.

    to me -- anchored

    in forty feet of er, and ty or ty rods from the shore,

    surrounded sometimes by thousands of small perch and shiners,

    dimpling tails in t, and

    communicating by a long flaxen line erious nocturnal fishes

    beloimes dragging

    sixty feet of line about ted in tle night

    breeze, no vibration along it, indicative

    of some life pro its extremity, of dull uncertain

    blundering purpose to make up its mind.  At length

    you slowly raise, pulling  squeaking

    and squirming to t was very queer, especially in

    dark nigs o vast and cosmogonal

    to feel t jerk, wo

    interrupt your dreams and link you to Nature again.  It seemed as if

    I mig cast my line upo the air, as well as downward

    into t, wo

    fis h one hook.

    though very

    beautiful, does not approaco grandeur, nor can it much concern

    one ed it or lived by its s this

    pond is so remarkable for its depty as to merit a

    particular description.  It is a clear and deep green well, half a

    mile long and a mile and ters in circumference, and

    contains about sixty-one and a he

    midst of pine and oak  any visible inlet or outlet

    except by tion.  the surrounding hills rise

    abruptly from ter to t of forty to eig,

    t and east ttain to about one hundred

    and one y feet respectively, er and a

    they are exclusively woodland.  All our Concord

    ers  least; one ance, and

    anot  depends more on the

    lighey

    appear blue at a little distance, especially if agitated, and at a

    great distance all appear alike.  In stormy hey are

    sometimes of a dark slate-color.  to be

    blue one day and green anot any perceptible che

    atmosphe landscape being

    covered er and ice  as green as grass.

    Some consider blue quot;to be ter, wher liquid or

    solid.quot;  But, looking directly doo our ers from a boat,

    to be of very different colors.  alden is blue at one

    time and green at anot of view.  Lying

    bet partakes of th.

    Vie reflects t near at

    is of a yello next the

    sand, t green, wo a uniform dark

    green in ts, viewed even from a

    op, it is of a vivid green next the shore.  Some have referred

    to tion of t it is equally green there

    against the leaves

    are expanded, and it may be simply t of the prevailing blue

    mixed s iris.

    t portion, also, whe ice being

    of ted from ttom, and also

    transmitted ts first and forms a narrow canal

    about till frozen middle.  Like t of our ers, when

    mucated, in clear  the waves

    may reflect t t angle, or because there is more

    lig, it appears at a little distance of a darker

    blue tself; and at sucime, being on its surface,

    and looking o see tion, I have

    discerned a matc blue, sucered

    or c, more cerulean the

    sky itself, alternating e

    sides of t appeared but muddy in comparison.  It

    is a vitreous greenis, like tches of

    ter sky seen tas in t before sundown.

    Yet a single glass of its er o t is as colorless

    as an equal quantity of air.  It is  a large plate of

    glass , oo its

    quot;body,quot; but a small piece of the same will be colorless.  how large

    a body of alden er o reflect a green tint I

    er of our river is black or a very dark

    broo one looking directly do, and, like t of most

    ponds, imparts to t a yellowisinge;

    but ter is of sucalline purity t the

    bater ill more unnatural,

    ed hal, produces a

    monstrous effect, making fit studies for a Michael Angelo.

    ter is so transparent t ttom can easily be

    discerned at ty-five or ty feet.  Paddling over

    it, you may see, many feet beneathe schools of perch

    and s the former easily

    distinguisransverse bars, and you t t

    be ascetic fis find a subsistence ter,

    many years ago, wting he ice in

    order to catcepped asossed my axe back on

    to t, as if some evil genius ed it, it slid

    four or five rods directly into one of ter

    y-five feet deep.  Out of curiosity, I lay dohe ice

    and looked til I satle on one

    side, standing on its s  and gently swaying

    to and fro  migood

    erect and sill in time tted off,

    if I  disturbed it.  Making anotly over it

    ting do birch

    wh my knife, I made a

    slip-noose, s end, and, letting it down

    carefully, passed it over t by a

    line along t again.

    t of smoote stones

    like paving-stones, excepting one or two s sand beaches, and is

    so steep t in many places a single leap o er

    over your  not for its remarkable transparency,

    t  to be seen of its bottom till it rose on the

    opposite side.  Some t is bottomless.  It is nowhere muddy,

    and a casual observer  t all in

    it; and of noticeable plants, except in ttle meadoly

    overfloo it, a closer scrutiny

    does not detect a flag nor a bulrush, nor even a lily, yellow or

    only a feamogetons, and

    perer-target or t

    perceive; and ts are clean and brig

    tones extend a rod or to ter, and

    ttom is pure sand, except in t parts, where

    ttle sediment, probably from the

    leaves o it so many successive falls, and

    a brig up on ancer.

    e  like te Pond, in Nine Acre

    Corner, about t, though I am

    acquainted  of this

    centre I do not knoer.

    Successive nations perc, admired, and fathomed

    it, and passed aill its er is green and pellucid as

    ever.  Not an intermitting spring!  Per spring morning

    w of Eden alden Pond was already in

    existence, and even tle spring rain

    accompanied  and a south myriads

    of ducks and geese, w ill such

    pure lakes sufficed t o rise and

    fall, and s ers and colored they

    noained a patent of o be the only alden Pond

    in tiller of celestial dews.  ho knows in how many

    unremembered nations literatures talian

    Fountain? or  is

    a gem of t er w.

    Yet perc  some

    trace of tsteps.  I o detect

    encircling t been cut down

    on teep hillside,

    alternately rising and falling, approache

    ers edge, as old probably as the

    feet of aboriginal ers, and still from time to time untingly

    trodden by t occupants of ticularly

    distinct to one standing on ter, just

    after a liging we

    line, unobscured by er of a

    mile off in many places w is inguishable

    close at s it, as it were, in clear we

    type alto-relievo.  ted grounds of villas which will one

    day be built ill preserve some trace of this.

    t w, and

    period, nobody knoend to

    kno is commonly er and lohe summer,

    t corresponding to t and dryness.  I can

    remember  or t

    least five feet .  there is a narrow

    sand-bar running into it, er on one side, on which

    I tle of che main

    s t  been possible to do for

    ty-five years; and, on to listen

    y  a feer I was

    accustomed to fis in a secluded cove in the woods,

    fifteen rods from they knew, which place was long

    since converted into a meado teadily for

    t five feet higher

    t y years ago, and

    fishis makes a difference of

    level, at tside, of six or seven feet; and yet ter shed

    by t in amount, and this

    overflo be referred to causes he deep springs.

    to fall again.  It is remarkable

    t tuation, o

    require many years for its accomplis.  I have observed one rise

    and a part of t t a dozen or fifteen years

    er will again be as low as I .

    Flints Pond, a mile easturbance

    occasioned by its inlets and outlets, and termediate

    ponds also, sympatly attained their

    greatest  at time ter.  true,

    as far as my observation goes, of e Pond.

    t long intervals serves this use

    at least; ter standing at t  for a year or

    more, t makes it difficult to , kills the

    srees s edge since t

    rise -- pitchers -- and,

    falling again, leaves an unobstructed shore; for, unlike many ponds

    and all ers o a daily tide, its shore is

    cleanest .  On t my

    ceen feet high, has been killed and

    tipped over as if by a lever, and top put to their

    encroacs; and tes how many years have elapsed

    since t rise to t.  By tuation the pond

    asserts its title to a she

    trees cannot  by righe lips of

    t licks its cime to

    time.  er is at its , the alders, willows, and

    maples send forts several feet long from

    all sides of tems in ter, and to t of three or

    four feet from t to maintain themselves; and

    I  the shore, which

    commonly produce no fruit, bear an abundant crop under these

    circumstances.

    Some o tell he shore became so regularly

    paved.  My toion -- t

    people tell me t t in t anciently

    the Indians were holding a pow-wow upon a hill here, which rose as

    o to th, and

    ty, as tory goes, this vice is one

    of wy, and whus

    engaged the hill shook and suddenly sank, and only one old squaw,

    named alden, escaped, and from  has been

    conjectured t s

    side and became t s is very certain, at any rate,

    t once this

    Indian fable does not in any respect conflict  of

    t ancient settler wioned, who remembers so well

    w came hin vapor

    rising from ted steadily downward, and

    o dig a ill

    t to be accounted for by tion of the

    I observe t the surrounding hills are

    remarkably full of tones, so t they have been

    obliged to pile t

    nearest t stones whe

    s abrupt; so t, unfortunately, it is no longer a

    mystery to me.  I detect t derived

    from t of some Englisy -- Saffron alden, for instance

    -- one mig it was called originally alled-in Pond.

    ts

    er is as cold as it is pure at all times; and I t it is

    t t, in toer,

    all er han springs and

    ed from it.  temperature of the pond

    er  from five oclock in

    ternoon till noon t day, the

    ter o 65x or 70x some of time, owing

    partly to than

    ter of one of t  drawn.

    temperature of the

    of any er tried, t is t t I know of

    in summer,  surface er is not

    mingled .  Moreover, in summer, alden never becomes so warm

    as most er  of its depth.

    In t her I usually placed a pailful in my cellar,

    , and remained so during the day;

    ted to a spring in t was as

    good e of

    the shore of a

    pond, needs only bury a pail of er a fe deep in the shade

    of o be independent of the luxury of ice.

    t in alden pickerel, one weighing seven

    pounds -- to say noth

    great velocity,  eight pounds

    because  see s, some of each weighing

    over two pounds, shiners, chivins or roach (Leuciscus pulchellus), a

    very few breams, and a couple of eels, one weighing four pounds -- I

    am ticular because t of a fiss only

    title to fame, and the only eels I have heard of here; --

    also, I  recollection of a little fish some five inches

    long,  dace-like in

    its cer, s to

    fable.  Nevert very fertile in fiss

    pickerel, t abundant, are its c.  I

    one time lying on t least t

    kinds: a long and seel-colored, most like t

    in t golden kind, ions and

    remarkably deep, w common her,

    golden-colored, and s, but peppered on the sides

    s, intermixed

    blood-red ones, very mucrout.  the specific name

    reticulatus  apply to t status rather.

    their size

    promises.  ts, and perche

    fis this pond, are much cleaner, handsomer, and

    firmer-fles othe

    er is purer, and tinguishem.

    Probably many ics ies of some of

    tortoises, and a few

    mussels in it; muskrats and minks leave traces about it, and

    occasionally a travelling mud-turtle visits it.  Sometimes, when I

    pus in turbed a great mud-turtle

    .  Ducks and

    geese frequent it in te-bellied swallows

    (, and ts (totanus

    macularius) quot;teeterquot; along its stony shores all summer.  I have

    sometimes disturbed a fisting on a he

    er; but I doubt if it is ever profaned by the wind of a gull,

    like Fair  most, it tolerates one annual loon.  these are

    all t it now.

    You may see from a boat, in calm he sandy

    eastern ser is eigen feet deep, and also

    in some ots of the pond, some circular heaps half a dozen

    feet in diameter by a foot in , consisting of small stones

    less t

    first you he ice

    for any purpose, and so, o the

    bottom; but too regular and some of too fresh

    for t.  to t as there

    are no suckers nor lampreys  by w fishey could

    be made.  Pers of these lend a

    pleasing mystery to ttom.

    t to be monotonous.  I have in

    my minds eye tern, indented he bolder

    nortifully scalloped southern shore, where

    successive capes overlap eac unexplored coves

    bet ting, nor is so

    distinctly beautiful, as whe middle of a small lake

    amid ers edge; for ter in which

    it is reflected not only makes t foreground in such a case,

    but, s ural and agreeable boundary

    to it.  tion in its edge there, as

    ivated field abuts on it.

    trees o expand on ter side, and each

    sends forts most vigorous branc direction.  there

    Nature ural selvage, and t

    gradations from to t trees.

    traces of mans o be seen.  ter laves the

    s did a thousand years ago.

    A lake is t beautiful and expressive feature.

    It is earto whe

    depture.  tile trees next the shore are

    t, and the wooded hills and

    cliffs around are its overhanging brows.

    Standing on t t end of the pond,

    in a calm September afternoon, w e

    sinct, I ;the

    glassy surface of a lake.quot;   your  looks like

    a t gossamer stretche valley, and

    gleaming against tant pine ing one stratum of

    tmosp you could walk

    dry under it to te  the swallows which skim

    over mig.  Indeed, times dive belohis

    line, as it ake, and are undeceived.  As you look over

    to employ boto

    defend your eyes against ted as rue sun, for

    t; and if, bets

    surface critically, it is literally as smoot where

    ter insects, at equal intervals scattered over its whole

    extent, by tions in t imaginable

    sparkle on it, or, percself, or, as I have

    said, a so touc.  It may be t in the

    distance a fis in the air,

    and t flas emerges, and anot

    strikes ter; sometimes the whole silvery arc is revealed; or

    le-doing on its surface,

    and so dimple it again.  It is like molten

    glass cooled but not congealed, and tes in it are pure and

    beautiful like tions in glass.  You may often detect a

    yet smooter, separated from t as if by an

    invisible cober nymping on it.  From a

    op you can see a fis any part; for not a

    pickerel or s from t it

    manifestly disturbs t is

    elaborateness t is advertised --

    t -- and from my distant perch I

    distinguisions whey are half a dozen rods

    in diameter.  You can even detect a er-bug (Gyrinus) ceaselessly

    progressing over ter of a mile off; for

    ter slightly, making a conspicuous ripple bounded

    by t ters glide over it

    rippling it perceptibly.  ated

    ters nor er-bugs on it, but apparently, in calm

    days, turously glide forthe

    s impulses till tely cover it.  It is a

    soot, on one of the fall when all

    ted, to sit on a stump on

    suc as tudy the dimpling

    circles s otherwise invisible

    surface amid ted skies and trees.  Over t expanse

    turbance but it is t once gently smoothed away

    and assuaged, as, rembling

    circles seek t a fish can leap

    or an insect fall on t it is ted in circling

    dimples, in lines of beauty, as it ant welling up of

    its fountain, tle pulsing of its life, ts

    breast.  thrills of pain are

    undistinguishe lake!  Again

    twig

    and stone and cob mid-afternoon as when covered

    ion of an oar or an insect

    produces a flas; and if an oar falls,  the echo!

    In sucember or October, alden is a perfect

    forest mirror, set round ones as precious to my eye as if

    fe time so

    large, as a lake, perch.  Sky

    er.  It needs no fence.  Nations come and go  defiling it.

    It is a mirror wone can crack, whose quicksilver will

    never inually repairs; no storms,

    no dust, can dim its surface ever fresh; -- a mirror in which all

    impurity presented to it sinks, s and dusted by the suns hazy

    brus dust-clotains no breat

    is breat, but sends its oo float as clouds high above

    its surface, and be reflected in its bosom still.

    A field of er betrays t t is in t is

    continually receiving neion from above.  It is

    intermediate in its nature bethe

    grass and trees  ter itself is rippled by the wind.

    I see reaks or flakes of

    lig is remarkable t s surface.  e

    s length, and

    mark ler spirit s.

    ters and er-bugs finally disappear in tter part

    of October, ws hen and in

    November, usually, in a calm day, tely noto

    ripple ternoon, in t the end

    of a rain-storm of several days duration, will

    completely overcast and t, I observed t

    t it  to

    distinguiss surface; t no longer reflected t

    tints of October, but the surrounding

    as gently as possible, t

    undulations produced by my boat extended almost as far as I could

    see, and gave a ribbed appearance to tions.  But, as I was

    looking over t a distance a faint

    glimmer, as if some skater insects ws

    miged the surface, being so

    smootrayed wtom.  Paddling

    gently to one of to find myself

    surrounded by myriads of small perc five inches long, of a

    ricer, sporting tantly

    rising to t, sometimes leaving bubbles on

    it.  In sucransparent and seemingly bottomless er, reflecting

    to be floating the air as in a balloon,

    and t or hovering, as

    if t flock of birds passing just beneath my level

    on t or left, t all around them.

    tly improving the

    s season before er er over their

    broad skyligimes giving to the surface an appearance as if

    a sligruck it, or a fehere.  hen I

    approachey made a sudden splash

    and rippling ails, as if one ruck ter h a

    brusantly took refuge in t length

    t increased, and to run, and

    t of er, a

    s, t once above the surface.

    Even as late as th of December, one year, I saw some dimples

    on t o rain ely,

    t, I made e to take my place at the oars

    and row hough

    I felt none on my cicipated a t

    suddenly the perch,

    hs, and I saw

    t a dry afternoon after

    all.

    An old man  ty years

    ago, s, tells me t in

    times sa all alive her

    er-fo t it.  he came here

    a-fishe shore.

    It  and pinned together, and

    off square at t  lasted a

    great many years before it became er-logged and pero

    ttom.   kno belonged to the pond.

    o make a cable for rips of hickory bark

    tied togetter, whe pond before

    tion, told  t at the

    bottom, and t .  Sometimes it ing

    up to t o, it o

    deep er and disappear.  I o he old log

    canoe, erial

    but more graceful construction, w been a

    tree on t o ter, to

    float tion, t proper vessel for the lake.

    I remember t o there were

    many large trunks to be seen indistinctly lying on ttom, which

    on t t

    cutting, ly

    disappeared.

    paddled a boat on alden, it ely

    surrounded by ty pine and oak s

    coves grape-vines rees next ter and formed

    bos

    seep, and t,

    as you looked do end, it he appearance of an

    ampre for some land of sylvan spectacle.  I  many

    an ing over its surface as the zephyr

    o the middle, and lying on my back

    across ts, in a summer forenoon, dreaming ail I was

    aroused by t touco see w shore

    my fates o; days w

    attractive and productive industry.  Many a forenoon olen

    ao spend t valued part of the day; for

    I was ric in money, in sunny hours and summer days, and

    spent t t I did not e more of

    teac since I left those

    sill furte, and now

    for many a year the aisles of

    tas ter.

    My Muse may be excused if s h.  how can you

    expect to sing w down?

    Norunks of trees on ttom, and the old log canoe,

    and the villagers, who

    scarcely knoead of going to to bathe

    or drink, are to bring its er, which should be as sacred

    as t least, to to washeir

    diso earn turning of a cock or

    dra devilish Iron horse, whose ear-rending

    neig town, he Boiling Spring

    , and  is t he woods on

    alden s trojan housand men in his belly,

    introduced by mercenary Greeks!  rys champion,

    to meet  t and t an

    avenging lance beted pest?

    Neverters I have known, perhaps alden

    , and best preserves its purity.  Many men have been

    likened to it, but fe he woodchoppers

    t, and the Irish have

    built ties by it, and ts

    border, and t once, it is itself

    uncer whe

    c  acquired one permanent er

    all its ripples.  It is perennially young, and I may stand and see a

    sly to pick an insect from its surface as of

    yore.  It struck me again tonig seen it almost

    daily for more ty years -- he same

    I discovered so many years ago; w

    do er anots shore as

    lustily as ever; t is o its surface t

    is to itself and its

    Maker, ay, and it may be to me.  It is the work of a brave man

    surely, in h his

    in , and in his will

    bequeat to Concord.  I see by its face t it is visited by

    tion; and I can almost say, alden, is it you?

    It is no dream of mine,

    to ornament a line;

    I cannot come nearer to God and heaven

    to alden even.

    I am its stony shore,

    And t passes oer;

    In the hollow of my hand

    Are its er and its sand,

    And its deepest resort

    Lies .

    to look at it; yet I fancy t the

    engineers and firemen and brakemen, and those passengers who have a

    season ticket and see it often, are better men for t.  the

    engineer does not forget at nigure does not, t he

    y and purity once at least during

    t once, it o ate Street

    and t.  One proposes t it be called quot;Gods Drop.quot;

    I  alden  nor outlet, but it

    is on tantly and indirectly related to Flints Pond,

    wed, by a c

    quarter, and on tly and manifestly to Concord River,

    whrough which in some

    ot may tle digging,

    o floher again.  If by

    living tere, like a  in the woods, so

    long, it y,

    t tively impure ers of Flints Pond should be

    mingled , or itself so e its sness in

    the ocean wave?

    Flints, or Sandy Pond, in Lincoln, our greatest lake and inland

    sea, lies about a mile east of alden.  It is much larger, being

    said to contain one y-seven acres, and is more

    fertile in fis it is comparatively s remarkably

    pure.  A en my recreation.  It

    o feel the wind blow on your cheek

    freely, and see the life of mariners.  I

    a-cnutting ts

    o ter and ; and one

    day, as I crept along its sedgy she fresh spray blowing in my

    face, I came upon t, the sides gone,

    and s flat bottom left amid the

    rus its model was s were a large

    decayed pad, s veins.  It was as impressive a wreck as one

    could imagine on t is by

    time mere vegetable mould and undistinguishable pond shore,

    to admire the

    ripple marks on ttom, at this pond,

    made firm and o t of the

    er, and the rushes which grew in Indian file, in waving lines,

    corresponding to the waves had

    planted tities,

    curious balls, composed apparently of fine grass or roots, of

    pipe pero four incer, and

    perfectly sper on

    a sandy bottom, and are sometimes cast on they are

    eittle sand in t first

    you  tion of the waves, like

    a pebble; yet t are made of equally coarse materials,

    one season of the

    year.  Moreover, t, do not so mucruct as

    erial hey

    preserve te period.

    Flints Pond!  Sucy of our nomenclature.

    rigupid farmer, his

    sky er, wo give his

    name to it?  Some skin-flint, ing

    surface of a dollar, or a brig, in which he could see his own

    brazen face;  as

    trespassers; o crooked and bony talons from the

    long  of grasping  is not named for me.  I

    go not to see o , who

    never bat, ed it, who

    never spoke a good , nor t .

    Rat it be named from t s, the wild

    fo, the wild flowers which grow by

    its sory is

    inters o from itle to it

    but ture gave him --

    only of its money value; whose presence perchance

    cursed all ted t, and would

    fain ed ters ;  it

    Engliso

    redeem it, forsooth, in his eyes -- and would have drained and sold

    it for t its bottom.  It did not turn  was

    no privilege to o be.  I respect not his labors, his

    farm ws price, whe landscape,

    , if  anything for

    o market for  is; on whing

    grows free, whose fields bear no crops, whose meadows no flowers,

    s, but dollars; y of his

    fruits,  ripe for ill turned to

    dollars.  Give me ty t enjoys true h.  Farmers are

    respectable and interesting to me in proportion as they are poor --

    poor farmers.  A model farm! wands like a fungus in

    a muckheap, chambers for men horses, oxen, and swine, cleansed and

    uncleansed, all contiguous to one anotocked h men!  A

    great grease-spot, redolent of manures and buttermilk!  Under a high

    state of cultivation, being manured s and brains of

    men!  As if you o raise your potatoes in the churchyard!  Such

    is a model farm.

    No, no; if t features of to be named

    after men, let t and  men alone.  Let our

    lakes receive as true names at least as the Icarian Sea, where

    quot;still t; a quot;brave attempt resounds.quot;

    Goose Pond, of small extent, is on my o Flints; Fair

    o contain some seventy

    acres, is a mile sout; and e Pond, of about forty acres, is

    a mile and a ry.

    ter privileges; and night and

    day, year in year out, t as I carry to them.

    Since tters, and the railroad, and I myself have

    profaned alden, per attractive, if not t

    beautiful, of all our lakes, te Pond; --

    a poor name from its commonness, whe remarkable

    purity of its ers or ts sands.  In these as in

    ots,  is a lesser they are so

    muc you  be connected under ground.

    It ony ss ers are of the same hue.  As

    at alden, in sultry dog-day he woods

    on some of its bays  t tion

    from ttom tinges ts ers are of a misty bluish-green

    or glaucous color.  Many years since I used to go to collect

    tloads, to make sandpaper inued

    to visit it ever since.  One  proposes to call it

    Virid Lake.  Per mighe

    folloance.  About fifteen years ago you could see the

    top of a pitcs,

    t is not a distinct species, projecting above the surface in

    deep er, many rods from t was even supposed by some

    t tive forest

    t formerly stood t even so long ago as 1792, in

    a quot;topograpion of to; by one of its

    citizens, in tions of tts orical

    Society, ter speaking of alden and e Ponds, adds,

    quot;In tter may be seen, wer is very

    loree  now

    stands, alts are fifty feet belohe

    er; top of tree is broken off, and at t place

    measures fourteen incer.quot;  In the spring of 49 I

    talked  told

    me t it  tree ten or fifteen years before.

    As near as  stood teen rods from

    ter y or forty feet deep.  It was in

    ter, and ting out ice in the forenoon, and had

    resolved t in ternoon, he aid of his neighbors, he

    ake out the ice

    to over and along and out on to the ice

    , before he had gone far in his work, he was surprised

    to find t it umps of the

    brancing doened in the

    sandy bottom.  It  a foot in diameter at the big end, and

    ed to get a good sa it ten as to be

    fit only for fuel, if for t.   in hen.

    tt.  he

    t t it migree on t was

    finally bloo ter top had become

    er-logged, ill dry and light, had

    drifted out and sunk wrong end up.  y years old,

    could not remember  tty large logs

    may still be seen lying on ttom, he

    undulation of ter snakes in

    motion.

    t, for there is

    little in it to tempt a fisead of te lily, which

    requires mud, or t flag, the blue flag (Iris

    versicolor) groer, rising from tony

    bottom all around t is visited by hummingbirds in

    June; and ts bluiss flowers and

    especially tions, is in singular he

    glaucous er.

    e Pond and alden are great crystals on the

    eart.  If tly congealed, and

    small enougo be clutchey would, perchance, be carried off

    by slaves, like precious stones, to adorn t

    being liquid, and ample, and secured to us and our successors

    forever, er the diamond of Kohinoor.

    too pure to  value; tain no muck.  how

    muciful transparent than

    our cers, are them.  how

    muche farmers door, in which his

    ducks swim!  ure has no human

    inant wes heir plumage and

    tes are in  h or

    maiden conspires  beauty of Nature?  She

    flouris alone, far from towns walk

    of h.

 Baker Farm

    Sometimes I rambled to pine groves, standing like temples, or

    like fleets at sea, full-rigged, h

    lig and green and s the Druids would have

    forsaken to he cedar wood beyond

    Flints Pond, h hoary blue berries,

    spiring  to stand before Valhe

    creeping juniper covers t; or to

    se

    spruce trees, and toadstools, round tables of the swamp gods, cover

    tiful fungi adorn tumps, like

    butterflies or sable winkles; whe swamp-pink and

    doghe

    s folds, and the

    wild  heir

    beauty, and empted by nameless other wild

    forbidden fruits, too fair for mortal taste.  Instead of calling on

    some sc to particular trees, of kinds

    he middle

    of some pasture, or in ths of a wood or swamp, or on a

    op; suche black birch, of which we have some handsome

    specimens t in diameter; its cousin, th

    its loose golden vest, perfumed like t; the beech, which has

    so neat a bole and beautifully liced, perfect in all its

    details, of tered specimens, I kno one

    small grove of sizable trees left in township, supposed by some

    to ed by t ed h

    beecs near by; it is o see the silver grain

    sparkle is

    occidentalis, or false elm, of w one well-grown;

    some taller mast of a pine, a sree, or a more perfect

    anding like a pagoda in t of the

    ion.  the shrines I

    visited boter.

    Once it c I stood in tment of a rainbows

    arcratum of tmospinging the

    grass and leaves around, and dazzling me as if I looked through

    colored crystal.  It , in which, for a

    s

    miginged my employments and life.  As I he

    railroad causeo  t around my

    s.  One who

    visited me declared t the shadows of some Irishmen before him had

    no  t it ives t were so

    distinguiso Cellini tells us in ,

    after a certain terrible dream or vision which he had during his

    confinement in tle of St. Angelo a resplendent light appeared

    over t morning and evening, wher he was

    in Italy or France, and it icularly conspicuous whe

    grass  o

    whe morning,

    but also at otimes, and even by moonligant

    one, it is not commonly noticed, and, in table

    imagination like Cellinis, it would be basis enough for

    superstition.  Beside, ells us t  to very few.

    But are t indeed distinguis they

    are regarded at all?

    I set out one afternoon to go a-fiso Fair hrough

    to eke out my scanty fare of vegetables.  My way led

    t Meado of t retreat

    of w has since sung, beginning,--

    quot;try is a pleasant field,

    trees yield

    Partly to a ruddy brook,

    By gliding musquasook,

    And mercurial trout,

    Darting about.quot;

    I t of living t to alden.  I quot;; the

    apples, leaped trout.  It

    ernoons wely long before one,

    in ural

    life, t ed.  By the way

    to stand half an hour

    under a pine, piling boughs over my head, and wearing my

    lengt over

    tanding up to my middle in er, I found myself

    suddenly in to rumble

    I could do no more ten to it.  the

    gods must be proud, t I, o rout a

    poor unarmed fise for ser to t

    , wood  so muche nearer

    to ted:--

    quot;And  builded,

    In ted years,

    For berivial cabin

    t to destruction steers.quot;

    So t t now John Field,

    an Irishe

    broad-faced boy wed  his work, and now came

    running by o escape to the

    sat upon its fathers

    knee as in t from its home in

    t of  and ively upon tranger, h

    t kno it  of a noble

    line, and tead of John

    Fields poor starveling brat.  t toget part

    of t, w shundered

    .  I  times of old before the ship was

    built t floated o America.  An , hard-working,

    but sless man plainly was Jooo was

    brave to cook so many successive dinners in t

    lofty stove; , still thinking

    to improve ion one day;  mop in one

    no effects of it visible anywhe chickens,

    the

    room like members of too , to roast

    ood and looked in my eye or pecked at my shoe

    significantly.  Meanold me ory, how hard he

    ;boggingquot; for a neigurning up a meadoh

    a spade or bog  te of ten dollars an acre and the use of

    ttle broad-faced son

    worked c  knowing how

    poor a bargain tter ried to h my

    experience, telling   neighbors, and

    t I too, who came a-fishing here, and looked like a loafer, was

    getting my living like  I lived in a tig, and

    clean  more t of such a

    ruin as s to; and  in a

    mont use

    tea, nor coffee, nor butter, nor milk, nor fres, and so did

    not o o get t work hard, I did

    not o eat  cost me but a trifle for my food; but

    as ea, and coffee, and butter, and milk, and beef, he

    o hem, and when he had worked hard he had

    to eat o repair te of em -- and so it was

    as broad as it   was long, for

    ented and ed o t he

    ed it as a gain in coming to America, t

    tea, and coffee, and meat every day.  But true America is

    t country y to pursue such a mode of life

    as may enable you to do  tate does not

    endeavor to compel you to sustain ther

    superfluous expenses ly result from the

    use of sucalked to him as if he were a

    po be one.  I she

    meado in a ate, if t he

    consequence of mens beginning to redeem t

    need to study ory to find out  for ure.

    But alas! ture of an Iriserprise to be

    undertaken  of moral bog old  as he

    out

    clot , but I

    s not hough he

    mig I leman (which, however, was

    not t labor, but as a

    recreation, I could, if I wisch as many fish as I should

    for t me a week.  If he

    and  all go a-huckleberrying

    in t.  Jo this, and

    ared o be wondering

    if tal enougo begin such, or

    aritic enougo carry it t was sailing by dead

    reckoning to t clearly o make t

    so; till take life bravely, after their

    faso face, giving it toot o

    split its massive columns ering  it

    in detail; -- to deal  roughly, as one should handle

    a tle.  But t at an overwage --

    living, Jo aritic, and failing so.

    quot;Do you ever fis; I asked.  quot;Och a mess now and

    tc;s your bait?quot;

    quot;I catc t;

    quot;Youd better go now, Jo; said ening and

    John demurred.

    tern woods

    promised a fair evening; so I took my departure.

    I asked for a drink, o get a sighe well

    bottom, to complete my survey of t there, alas! are

    s

    irrecoverable.  Meaned,

    er illed, and after consultation and long delay

    passed out to ty one -- not yet suffered to cool, not yet

    to settle.  Sucains life ; so, sting

    my eyes, and excluding tes by a skilfully directed

    undercurrent, I drank to genuine ality tiest draught I

    could.  I am not squeamish in such cases when manners are concerned.

    As I er the rain, bending my

    steps again to te to catch pickerel, wading in

    retired meadows, in sloughs and bog-holes, in forlorn and savage

    places, appeared for an instant trivial to me o

    sc as I ran doohe reddening

    ,  tinkling

    sounds borne to my ear t

    er, my Good Genius seemed to say -- Go fis far

    and  thee by many

    brooks and  misgiving.  Remember tor in

    the dawn, and

    seek adventures.  Let the

    nigake t here are no larger fields

    than may here be played.  Grow wild

    according to ture, like these sedges and brakes, which will

    never become Englis t if it

    ten ruin to farmers crops?  t is not its errand to thee.

    take ser under to carts and sheds.

    Let not to get a living be trade, but t.  Enjoy the

    land, but o not.  t of enterprise and faith men are

    wheir lives like

    serfs.

    O Baker Farm!

    quot;Landscape

    Is a little suns.quot; ...

    quot;No one runs to revel

    On t; ...

    quot;Debate  thou,

    itions art never perplexed,

    As tame at t sight as now,

    In t gabardine dressed.quot; ...

    quot;Come ye who love,

    And ye we,

    Che holy Dove,

    And Guy Faux of tate,

    And hang conspiracies

    From tougers of trees!quot;

    Men come tamely  nig field or

    street, heir life pines

    because it breats oheir shadows,

    morning and evening, reaceps.  e

    sures, and perils, and

    discoveries every day, er.

    Before I  out

    Joered mind, letting go quot;boggingquot; ere t.

    But urbed only a couple of fins while I was

    catcring, and  was  when we

    cs in t luck cs too.  Poor John Field!

    -- I trust  read t --

    to live by some derivative old-country mode in this

    primitive nery -- to catc is good

    bait sometimes, I allo he a

    poor man, born to be poor, ed Irisy or poor

    life,  to rise in this

    y, till trotting

    feet get talaria to their heels.

 Higher Laws

    As I came ring of fish,

    trailing my pole, it being noe dark, I caught a glimpse of a

    a strange thrill of

    savage deligrongly tempted to seize and devour him

    ra t I  wildness which he

    represented.  Once or the pond, I

    found myself ranging tarved h a

    strange abandonment, seeking some kind of venison w

    devour, and no morsel could oo savage for me.  the

    scenes ably familiar.  I found in

    myself, and still find, an instinct toward a  is

    named, spiritual life, as do most men, and anotoward a

    primitive rank and savage one, and I reverence th.  I love

    t less ture t

    are in fisill recommended it to me.  I like sometimes to take

    rank he animals do.  Perhaps

    I o t and to ing, we young, my

    closest acquaintance ure.  troduce us to and

    detain us in scenery  t age, we should

    tle acquaintance.  Fisers, woodchoppers, and

    othe fields and woods, in a peculiar

    sense a part of Nature ten in a more favorable

    mood for observing ervals of ts, than

    ps even, ion.  She

    is not afraid to ex o traveller on the

    prairie is naturally a er, on ters of the Missouri

    and Columbia a trapper, and at t. Mary a fisherman.

    raveller learns t second-he

    y.  e are most interested when science

    reports ically or instinctively,

    for t alone is a true y, or account of human experience.

    take  ts,

    because  so many public

    play so many games as the more

    primitive but solitary amusements of ing, fishe like

    yet given place to t every New England

    boy among my contemporaries she

    ages of ten and fourteen; and ing and fishing grounds were

    not limited, like t were

    more boundless even t

    oftener stay to play on t already a change

    is taking place, o to an increased y, but to an

    increased scarcity of game, for perer is test

    friend of ted, not excepting ty.

    Moreover, imes to add fiso my

    fare for variety.  I ually fishe same kind of

    necessity t t fisever y I might

    conjure up against it itious, and concerned my

    phan my feelings.  I speak of fishing only now, for

    I  differently about fowling, and sold my gun before I

    to t t I am less  I did

    not perceive t my feelings  pity

    t.  As for fowling, during

    t years t I carried a gun my excuse  I was

    studying ornit only ne I

    confess t I am noo t there is a finer way of

    studying ornit requires so much closer

    attention to ts of t, if for t reason only,

    I o omit t notanding the

    objection on ty, I am compelled to doubt if

    equally valuable sports are ever substituted for these; and when

    some of my friends  ther

    t t, I

    it  parts of my education -- make ters,

    tsmen only at first, if possible, migers at last,

    so t t find game large enoughis or

    any vegetable wilderness -- ers as well as fishus

    far I am of the opinion of Chaucers nun, who

    quot;yave not of text a pulled hen

    t sait ers ben not ;

    tory of the race,

    ;best men,quot; as them.

    e cannot but pity the boy who has never fired a gun; he is no more

    ion ed.  this was my

    ans to t on t,

    trusting t tgro.  No  the

    tless age of boyonly murder any creature which

    s life by tenure t s

    extremity cries like a c my

    sympat alinctions.

    Sucenest troduction to t, and

    t original part of  first as a

    er and fisil at last, if ter

    life in inguiss, as a poet or

    naturalist it may be, and leaves the

    mass of men are still and al.  In some

    countries a ing parson is no uncommon sig

    make a good s is far from being the Good Shepherd.

    I o consider t t,

    except ing, or the like business, which ever

    to my knoained at alden Pond for a whole half-day any of

    my felloizens, h

    just one exception,

    time, unless t a long

    string of fisunity of seeing the pond

    all t go times before the

    sediment of fiso ttom and leave their purpose

    pure; but no doubt such a clarifying process would be going on all

    tly remember the pond,

    for t a-fis nohey are

    too old and dignified to go a-fis no more

    forever.  Yet even t to go to  last.  If the

    legislature regards it, it is co regulate the number of

    o be used t t the hook of

    o angle for tself, impaling the

    legislature for a bait.  ties, the

    embryo man passes ter stage of development.

    I edly, of late years, t I cannot fish

    falling a little in self-respect.  I ried it again and

    again.  I  it, and, like many of my felloain

    instinct for it, o time, but always when I

    it er if I  fished.

    I t I do not mistake.  It is a faint intimation, yet so are

    t streaks of morning.  tionably tinct

    in me ion; yet h every

    year I am less a fis more y or even

    present I am no fis all.  But I see t if I

    o live in a ed to become a

    fiser in earnest.  Beside, thing

    essentially unclean about t and all fleso

    see ws

    so muco idy and respectable appearance eaco keep

    t and free from all ill odors and sights.  having been

    my ocleman for

    whe dishes were served up, I can speak from an unusually

    complete experience.  tical objection to animal food in my

    case s uncleanness; and besides, w and cleaned

    and cooked and eaten my fis to have fed me

    essentially.  It  and unnecessary, and cost more

    t came to.  A little bread or a featoes would have done

    as rouble and filth.  Like many of my

    contemporaries, I had rarely for many years used animal food, or

    tea, or coffee, etc.; not so mucs which I

    raced to t agreeable to my

    imagination.  to animal food is not t of

    experience, but is an instinct.  It appeared more beautiful to live

    lohough I never did so, I

    far enougo please my imagination.  I believe t every man

    o preserve ic faculties

    in t condition icularly inclined to abstain from

    animal food, and from muc is a significant

    fact, stated by entomologists -- I find it in Kirby and Spence --

    t quot;some insects in t state, th

    organs of feeding, make no use of t;; and t do;a

    general rule, t almost all insects in tate eat much less

    t of larvae.  terpillar wransformed

    into a butterfly ... and ttonous maggot w;

    content two of

    liquid.  tterfly still

    represents tidbit s his

    insectivorous fate.  tate;

    and tions in t condition, nations  fancy

    or imagination, ray them.

    It is o provide and cook so simple and clean a diet as

    offend tion; but to be fed

    table.

    Yet pers eaten temperately need not

    make us asites, nor interrupt t

    pursuits.  But put an extra condiment into your dis will

    poison you.  It is not o live by rich cookery.

    Most men heir own hands

    precisely sucable food, as is

    every day prepared for t till therwise

    civilized, and, if gentlemen and ladies, are not true men

    and ainly suggests

    may be vain to ask  be reconciled to

    fles.  I am satisfied t it is not.  Is it not a reproach

    t man is a carnivorous animal?  true, he can and does live, in a

    great measure, by preying on ot this is a miserable

    s, or slaughtering

    lambs, may learn -- and or of his

    race  and

    ice may be, I

    t it is a part of tiny of ts gradual

    improvement, to leave off eating animals, as surely as the savage

    tribes  off eating eacact

    he more civilized.

    If one listens to test but constant suggestions of his

    genius, rue,  to remes, or

    even insanity, it may lead  t way, as he grows more

    resolute and faitest assured

    objection h prevail over

    ts and customs of mankind.  No man ever followed his

    genius till it misled  were bodily weakness,

    yet per to be

    regretted, for ty to higher principles.

    If t are suc you greet th joy, and

    life emits a fragrance like flo-scented herbs, is more

    elastic, more starry, more immortal -- t is your success.  All

    nature is your congratulation, and you arily to

    bless yourself.  test gains and values are fart from

    being appreciated.  e easily come to doubt if t.  e soon

    forget t reality.  Pers most

    astounding and most real are never communicated by man to man.  the

    true  of my daily life is someangible and

    indescribable as tints of morning or evening.  It is a little

    star-dust caug of tched.

    Yet, for my part, I was never unusually squeamish; I could

    sometimes eat a fried rat  were necessary.

    I am glad to er so long, for t I

    prefer tural sky to an opium-eaters heaven.  I would fain

    keep sober ale degrees of drunkenness.  I

    believe t er is t so

    noble a liquor; and th a

    cup of ea!  Ah, how

    loed by them!  Even music may be

    intoxicating.  Sucly sligroyed Greece and

    Rome, and roy England and America.  Of all ebriosity, who

    does not prefer to be intoxicated by thes?  I have

    found it to be t serious objection to coarse labors long

    continued, t to eat and drink coarsely also.

    But to tell trut present somew less

    particular in ts.  I carry less religion to table,

    ask no blessing; not because I am , I am

    obliged to confess, because,  is to be regretted,

    .  Perhese

    questions are entertained only in yout believe of poetry.

    My practice is quot;now; my opinion is heless I am far

    from regarding myself as one of to whe

    Ved refers  quot;rue faithe

    Omnipresent Supreme Being may eat all t exists,quot; t is, is not

    bound to inquire w is ; and even in

    t is to be observed, as a ator has

    remarked, t t limits to quot;time of

    distress.quot;

    sometimes derived an inexpressible satisfaction from

    ite o

    t I oal perception to the commonly gross sense of

    taste, t I e, t some

    berries he

    soul not being mistress of ; says tseu, quot;one looks,

    and one does not see; one listens, and one does not s,

    and one does not kno;  inguishe

    true savor of ton;

    cannot be otan may go to  h

    as gross an appetite as ever an alderman to urtle.  Not t

    food o t tite

    is eaten.  It is neity nor tity,

    but tion to sensual savors;

    a viand to sustain our animal, or inspire our spiritual life, but

    food for t possess us.  If ter aste for

    mud-turtles, muskrats, and otidbits, the fine lady

    indulges a taste for jelly made of a calfs foot, or for sardines

    from over to the mill-pond, she

    to .  they, how you and I, can

    live tly life, eating and drinking.

    Our lingly moral.  there is never an

    instants truce betue and vice.  Goodness is the only

    investment t never fails.  In the harp which

    trembles round t is ting on thrills

    us.  travelling patterer for the Universes

    Insurance Company, recommending its latle goodness is

    all t t  last grows

    indifferent, t indifferent, but are

    forever on t sensitive.  Listen to every zephyr

    for some reproof, for it is surely tunate who

    does not .  e cannot toucring or move a stop but the

    cransfixes us.  Many an irksome noise, go a long way

    off, is  satire on the meanness of our

    lives.

    e are conscious of an animal in us, wion

    as our ure slumbers.  It is reptile and sensual, and

    per be whe worms which, even in

    life and hdraw from

    it, but never cs nature.  I fear t it may enjoy a certain

    s o  not pure.  ther day

    I picked up te and sound teeth and

    tusks,  th and vigor

    distinct from tual.  ture succeeded by other means

    temperance and purity.  quot;t in we

    beasts,quot; says Mencius, quot;is a the common

    very soon; superior men preserve it carefully.quot;  ho

    kno of life  if ained to purity?

    If I kneeacy I o seek

    ;A command over our passions, and over ternal

    senses of ts, are declared by to be

    indispensable in tion to God.quot;  Yet t

    can for time pervade and control every member and function of

    transmute  sensuality

    into purity and devotion.  tive energy, which, when we are

    loose, dissipates and makes us unclean,

    invigorates and inspires us.  City is the flowering of man; and

    w are called Genius,

    various fruits  once to God whe

    cy is open.  By turns our purity inspires and our

    impurity casts us dohe

    animal is dying out in he divine being

    establis has cause for shame on

    account of tisure to which he is allied.  I

    fear t he

    divine allied to beasts, tures of appetite, and t, to

    some extent, our very life is our disgrace.--

    quot;h due place assigned

    to s and disafforested his mind!

    . . . . . . .

    Can use t, ,

    And is not ass o all t!

    Else man not only is the herd of swine,

    But oo which did incline

    to a ;

    All sensuality is one, t takes many forms; all purity is

    one.  It is t, or drink, or co, or

    sleep sensually.  t one appetite, and o see

    a person do any one of to kno

    and nor sit y.  he

    reptile is attacked at one mout

    anote, you must be temperate.   is

    city?  e?   know

    it.  e ue, but   is.  e

    speak conformably to tion

    come y; from sloty.  In the

    student sensuality is a sluggis of mind.  An unclean person

    is universally a slots by a stove, whe sun

    srate, igued.  If you

    ly, t

    be at cleaning a stable.  Nature is o be overcome, but she

    must be overcome.   avails it t you are Cian, if you are

    not purer then, if you deny yourself no more, if you are

    not more religious?  I knoems of religion esteemed

    s fill th shame, and provoke

    o ne be to tes

    merely.

    I ate to say t it is not because of the

    subject -- I care not  because I

    cannot speak of t betraying my impurity.  e discourse

    freely  sy, and are silent about

    anot  speak simply of the

    necessary functions of ure.  In earlier ages, in some

    countries, every function ly spoken of and regulated by

    laoo trivial for the hindoo lawgiver, however

    offensive it may be to modern taste.  eaco eat, drink,

    co, void excrement and urine, and ting w is

    mean, and does not falsely excuse hings

    trifles.

    Every man is temple, called o the

    god er a style purely  off by

    ead.  e are all sculptors and painters, and

    our material is our own flesh and blood and bones.  Any nobleness

    begins at once to refine a mans features, any meanness or

    sensuality to imbrute them.

    Jo at ember evening, after a hard

    days work, ill running on his labor more or less.

    doo re-create ellectual man.  It

    her cool evening, and some of his neighbors were

    appre.   attended to train of his

    ts long

    sound ill  of

    t  t running in his

    riving it against his

    it concerned tle.  It he

    scurf of antly s tes

    of te came o  of a different sphere from

    t ed ain faculties which

    slumbered in ly did areet, and the

    village, and tate in wo him --

    ay his mean moiling life, when a

    glorious existence is possible for you?  tars twinkle

    over ot o come out of this

    condition and actually migrate t hink of

    o practise some neerity, to let o his

    body and redeem it, and treat .

 Brute Neighbors

    Sometimes I he

    village to my ohe

    catcing

    of it.

    .  I  heard

    so muc over t-fern the

    pigeons are all asleep upon ts -- no flutter from them.

    as t a farmers noon he woods

    just noo boiled salt beef and cider and

    Indian bread.   does not

    eat need not work.  I wonder hey have reaped.  ho would

    live the barking of Bose?

    And oo keep brighe devils door-knobs, and

    scour ubs t day!  Better not keep a house.  Say, some

    ree; and ties!  Only a

    apping.  Ooo hey

    are born too far into life for me.  I er from the spring,

    and a loaf of broling

    of t some ill-fed village o the

    instinct of t pig hese

    er t comes on apace; my

    sumacbriers tremble. -- E, is it you?  how do

    you like to-day?

    Poet.  See ts test

    to-day.  t in old paintings,

    not in foreign lands -- unless whe

    coast of Spain.  ts a true Mediterranean sky.  I t, as I

    o get, and  eaten to-day, t I might go

    a-fiss true industry for poets.  It is the only

    trade I s along.

    .  I cannot resist.  My brown bread will soon be gone.  I

    I am just concluding a serious

    meditation.  I t I am near t.  Leave me alone,

    t t  be delayed, you shall be

    digging t mean h in

    ts, he race

    is nearly extinct.  t of digging t is nearly equal to

    t of catcite is not too keen; and

    to yourself today.  I o set

    in ts, whe

    jo  I may  you one o every

    turn up, if you look s of the

    grass, as if you

    be uno be

    very nearly as tances.

    alone.  Let me see; whinks I was nearly

    in t at this angle.  Shall I

    go to ation

    to an end,  occasion be likely to offer?  I

    o things as ever I was

    in my life.  I fear my ts  come back to me.  If it

    hey make us an

    offer, is it o say, e ?  My ts have

    left no track, and I cannot find t  t I

    ry these

    tences of Confutsee; tc state about again.

    I kno asy.  Mem.

    t one opportunity of a kind.

    Poet.  , is it too soon?  I  just

    teen w or

    undersized; but t cover

    up te too large; a

    s finding the skewer.

    .  ell, ts be off.  So the Concord?

    t ter be not too high.

    s which we behold make a world?

    these species of animals for his neighbors; as if

    not a mouse could  t

    Pilpay amp; Co.  animals to t use, for they are all

    beasts of burden, in a sense, made to carry some portion of our

    ts.

    ted my  the common ones, which

    are said to roduced into try, but a ive

    kind not found in t one to a distinguished

    naturalist, and it interested him much.  hen I was building, one of

    ts nest underneathe

    second floor, and s out t regularly

    at luncime and pick up t my feet.  It probably had

    never seen a man before; and it soon became quite familiar, and

    would run over my s could readily ascend

    t impulses, like a squirrel, w

    resembled in its motions.  At length my elbow on

    t ran up my clothes, and along my sleeve, and

    round and round t the

    latter close, and dodged and played at bopeep ; and w

    last I ill a piece of c

    came and nibbled it, sitting in my ers

    face and paws, like a fly, and walked away.

    A p in my section in a

    pine ridge (tetrao

    umbellus), w my windows,

    from to t of my house, clucking and

    calling to them like a hen, and in all her behavior proving herself

    the young suddenly disperse on your approach,

    at a signal from t them away,

    and tly resemble t many a

    traveler  in t of a brood, and he

    whe old bird as she flew off, and her anxious calls and

    metract tention,

    suspecting t imes

    roll and spin round before you in suc you

    cannot, for a fes, detect ure it is.  the

    young squat still and flat, often running their heads under a leaf,

    and mind only tions given from a distance, nor

    hemselves.  You

    may even tread on te,

    discovering t such

    a time, and still t to ther and

    tinct, o squat t fear or trembling.  So

    perfect is tinct, t once, whe

    leaves again, and one accidentally fell on its side, it was found

    in exactly tion ten minutes afterward.

    t callo birds, but more perfectly

    developed and precocious even t

    yet innocent expression of their open and serene eyes is very

    memorable.  All intelligence seems reflected in t

    not merely ty of infancy, but a wisdom clarified by

    experience.  Suc born w is

    coeval  reflects.  t yield another

    sucraveller does not often look into such a limpid

    or reckless sportsman often ss t at

    sucime, and leaves ts to fall a prey to some

    pro or bird, or gradually mingle he decaying leaves

    wched by a hen

    tly disperse on some alarm, and so are lost, for they

    never hese were

    my hens and chickens.

    It is remarkable ures live hough

    secret in till sustain the

    neigoed by ers only.  ired the

    otter manages to live o be four feet long, as big

    as a small boy, per any ting a glimpse of

    he woods behind where my house

    is built, and probably still  night.

    Commonly I rested an  noon, after

    planting, and ate my lunctle by a spring which was

    ters

    o through a

    succession of descending grassy ch pines,

    into a larger  there, in a very secluded and

    s, under a spreading  a clean,

    firm so sit on.  I  the spring and made a well of

    clear gray er, ,

    and t for t every day in midsummer,

    oo, the woodcock led her

    brood, to probe t a foot above them down

    troop beneat at last, spying me,

    she would leave her young and circle round and round me, nearer and

    nearer till , pretending broken wings and

    legs, to attract my attention, and get off her young, who would

    already aken up t, wiry peep, single

    file ted.  Or I he

    young  bird.  too turtle

    doves sat over ttered from bougo boughe

    soft we pines over my he red squirrel, coursing down

    t bougicularly familiar and inquisitive.  You

    only need sit still long enougtractive spot in the woods

    t all its inants may ex to you by turns.

    I ness to events of a less peaceful cer.  One day

    to my umps, I

    observed ts, ther much larger, nearly

    ending her.

    go, but struggled and led

    and rolled on tly.  Looking farther, I was

    surprised to find t tants,

    t it  a duellum, but a bellum, a wo races of

    ants, tted against tly two

    red ones to one black.  these Myrmidons covered all

    the ground was already

    stre he only

    battle tle-field I ever

    trod ernecine he red

    republicans on ts on the

    ot, yet

    any noise t I could

    so resolutely.  I c  locked in each

    ottle sunny valley amid t

    noonday prepared to figill t do out.

    tened o his

    adversarys front, and tumblings on t field never

    for an instant ceased to gna one of ,

    o go by the

    stronger black one daso side, and, as I saw on

    looking nearer, ed him of several of his members.

    t inacity ted

    t disposition to retreat.  It  t their

    battle-cry ;Conquer or die.quot;  In there came along

    a single red ant on tly full of

    excitement,  taken

    part in ttle; probably tter, for  none of his

    limbs; urn h his shield or

    upon it.  Or perchance he was some Achilles, who had nourished his

    , and o avenge or rescue roclus.  he

    sa from afar -- for the blacks were nearly

    till be

    stood on ants; then,

    cunity, he black warrior, and

    commenced ions near t of  fore leg,

    leaving to select among here were

    ted for life, as if a netraction had been

    invented s to shame.  I should

    not ime to find t their

    respective musical bands stationed on some eminent chip, and playing

    tional airs to excite the

    dying combatants.  I ed somehey had

    been men.  t, the difference.  And

    certainly t t recorded in Concord ory, at

    least, if in tory of America, t s

    comparison , or for

    triotism and heroism displayed.  For numbers and for carnage

    it erlitz or Dresden.  Concord Fighe

    patriots side, and Lut

    trick -- quot;Fire! for Gods sake fire!quot; -- and thousands

    se of Davis and  one hireling

    t t it  for, as

    mucors, and not to avoid a tax on their

    tea; and ts of ttle ant and

    memorable to t concerns as ttle of Bunker

    least.

    I took up ticularly

    described ruggling, carried it into my

    under a tumbler on my o see the issue.

    o t-mentioned red ant, I sa,

    t the near fore leg of his enemy,

    orn

    aals o the black

    e ly too to

    pierce; and th

    ferocity suce.  truggled half an hour

    longer under tumbler, and whe black soldier

    ill

    living ly

    trop ill apparently as firmly fastened as

    ever, and ruggles, being

    feelers and  of a leg, and I kno how many

    oto divest  lengter half

    an  off

    over t crippled state.  her he finally

    survived t combat, and spent the remainder of his days in some

    el des Invalides, I do not kno I t t ry

    be er.  I never learned wy was

    victorious, nor t I felt for t of

    t day as if I ed and harrowed by

    nessing truggle, ty and carnage, of a tle

    before my door.

    Kirby and Spence tell us t ttles of ants have long been

    celebrated and te of t huber

    is to nessed them.

    quot;AEneas Sylvius,quot; say t;after giving a very circumstantial

    account of one contested  obstinacy by a great and small

    species on trunk of a pear tree,quot; adds t quot;tion was

    fougificate of Eugenius the presence of

    Nicoriensis, an eminent lahe whole,

    ory of ttle est fidelity.quot;  A similar

    engagement bet and small ants is recorded by Olaus Magnus,

    in o have buried

    t left t

    enemies a prey to t o the

    expulsion of tyrant Ciern t;  the

    battle ook place in the Presidency of Polk, five

    years before ters Fugitive-Slave Bill.

    Many a village Bose, fit only to course a mud-turtle in a

    victualling cellar, sported ers in t

    ter, and ineffectually smelled at old fox

    burrows and woodc cur

    ill inspire a natural

    terror in its denizens; -- now far behind his guide, barking like a

    canine bull toself for

    scrutiny, tering off, bending t,

    imagining t rack of some stray member of the

    jerbilla family.  Once I o see a cat walking along

    tony shey rarely wander so far from

    ual.  Nevert domestic cat,

    he

    hy behavior, proves herself more

    native tants.  Once, when berrying, I

    met  tens in te hey

    all, like their backs up and were fiercely

    spitting at me.  A fehere was

    ;quot; in one of the farm-houses in Lincoln

    nearest to see her in

    June, 1842, sing in t (I

    am not sure he more

    common pronoun), but ress told me t so the

    neigtle more than a year before, in April, and was

    finally taken into t she was of a dark brownish-gray

    color, e spot on , and , and had a

    large busail like a fox; t in ter thick

    and flatted out along ripes ten or twelve

    incwo and a half wide, and under her chin like a muff,

    tted like felt, and in the spring

    t;;

    t it  flying squirrel or some other wild

    animal, o naturalists,

    prolific en and

    domestic cat.  t kind of cat for me to

    keep, if I  any; for s cat be winged

    as well as his horse?

    In to

    moult and bath his wild

    laug rumor of he

    Mill-dam sportsmen are on t, in gigs and on foot, two

    and tent rifles and conical balls and

    spy-glasses.  tling tumn

    leaves, at least ten men to one loon.  Some station themselves on

    t, for t be

    omnipresent; if  come up t nohe

    kind October ling the

    surface of ter, so t no loon can be hough

    he woods resound

    he waves generously rise and dash angrily,

    taking sides er-fosmen must beat a

    retreat to tooo

    often successful.   to get a pail of er early in the

    morning I frequently saately bird sailing out of my cove

    o overtake , in

    order to see ely

    lost, so t I did not discover imes, till the

    latter part of t I che

    surface.   off in a rain.

    As I ober

    afternoon, for suctle on to the lakes,

    like the pond for a

    loon, suddenly one, sailing out from tohe middle a

    fe of me, set up rayed himself.

    I pursued  when he came up I was

    nearer t I miscalculated the

    direction ake, and y rods apart when he came

    to time, for I o erval;

    and again han

    before.   I could not get hin half

    a dozen rods of ime, he surface,

    turning , er and

    tly c  come up

    er and at test

    distance from t.  It was surprising how quickly he made up

    o execution.   once to

    t part of t be driven from it.  hile

    o divine

    in mine.  It ty game, played on th

    surface of t a loon.  Suddenly your

    adversarys che problem is

    to place yours nearest to wimes he

    edly on te side of me, having

    apparently passed directly under t.  So long-winded was he

    and so un w he would

    immediately plunge again, nevert could divine

    w be

    speeding ime and ability to visit

    ttom of ts deepest part.  It is said t loons

    in ty feet beneathe

    surface,  for trout -- than

    t.   to see tor

    from anot he

    appeared to knohe surface,

    and swice I saw a ripple where he

    approac put  to reconnoitre, and

    instantly dived again.  I found t it o rest

    on my oars and  o endeavor to calculate

    wraining my

    eyes over tartled by his

    uneart wer displaying so much

    cunning, did ray  he came up by

    t loud laug e breast enougray him?  he

    .  I could commonly he

    splaser ed

    after an hour he seemed as fresh as ever, dived as willingly, and

    s fart first.  It o see how

    serenely  he

    surface, doing all t beneath.  his usual

    note er, yet some of a

    er-fo occasionally, w

    successfully and come up a long ered a long-drawn

    uneart of a han any bird; as

    s o tely howls.

    t sound t is ever heard

    he

    laugs, confident of his own resources.

    time overcast, th

    t I could see w hear him.

    e breast, tillness of thness of

    ter   lengty rods

    off, tered one of the

    god of loons to aid ely the

    east and rippled ty

    rain, and I  he loon

    answered, and  him

    disappearing far aumultuous surface.

    For cack and

    veer and sman; tricks

    ise in Louisiana bayous.

    o rise times circle round and round

    and over t a considerable , from whey could

    easily see to otes in the

    sky; and, hey

    tle doing fliger of a mile on to

    a distant part  y t

    by sailing in t knohey love

    its er for t I do.

 House-Warming

    In October I  a-graping to the river meadows, and loaded

    myself ers more precious for ty and fragrance

    too, I admired, t gathe

    cranberries, small s of the meadow grass, pearly

    and red, whe

    smoothe bushel

    and to Boston and

    Neined to be jammed, to satisfy tastes of lovers of

    Nature tcongues of bison out of the

    prairie grass, regardless of torn and drooping plant.  the

    barberrys brilliant fruit

    I collected a small store of wild apples for coddling, whe

    proprietor and travellers nuts were ripe

    I laid up er.  It ing at t

    season to roam tnut hey

    noh a bag on my

    sick to open burs

    al for t, amid tling of leaves and the loud

    reproofs of ts

    I sometimes stole, for ted o

    contain sound ones.  Occasionally I climbed and srees.

    tree, w

    overs, he

    most of its

    fruit; t coming in flocks early in the morning and picking

    ts out of these

    trees to ted tant woods composed wholly of

    cnut.  ts, as far as t, itute

    for bread.  Many otitutes might, perhaps, be found.

    Digging one day for fis (Apios

    tuberosa) on its string, tato of t of

    fabulous fruit,  if I had ever dug and

    eaten in cold, and  dreamed it.  I had

    often since seen its crumpled red velvety blossom supported by the

    stems of ots  kno to be the same.

    Cultivation erminated it.  It isaste,

    muc of a frost-bitten potato, and I found it better

    boiled ted.  tuber seemed like a faint promise of

    Nature to rear  some

    future period.  In tted cattle and waving

    grain-fields t, em of an Indian

    tribe, is quite forgotten, or knos flo

    let ure reign ender and luxurious

    English grains will probably disappear before a myriad of foes, and

    t seed

    of corn to t cornfield of t,

    ; but t

    exterminated ground-nut will pere of

    frosts and self indigenous, and resume its ancient

    importance and dignity as t of ter tribe.  Some Indian

    Ceres or Minerva must or and besto; and

    ring of

    nuts may be represented on our .

    Already, by t of September, I hree

    small maples turned scarlet across te

    stems of t t of a promontory, next

    ter.  Aale told!  And gradually from

    o er of eacree came out, and it admired

    itself reflected in the

    manager of tituted some neure, distinguished

    by more brilliant or he

    walls.

    to my lodge in October, as to er

    quarters, and settled on my he walls

    overimes deterring visitors from entering.  Each morning,

    , but I did

    not trouble myself muco get rid of t complimented

    by ter.  they never

    molested me seriously, they

    gradually disappeared, into  know, avoiding

    er and unspeakable cold.

    Like t into er quarters in

    November, I used to resort to t side of alden, which

    ted from tcony shore,

    made t is so mucer and

    han by an

    artificial fire.  I till glowing embers

    wed er, .

    o build my cudied masonry.  My bricks,

    being second-o be cleaned rowel, so

    t I learned more ties of bricks and

    troar on ty years old, and o be

    still grohose sayings which men

    love to repeat .  Such sayings

    t would

    take many bloroo clean an old hem.

    Many of tamia are built of second-hand bricks

    of a very good quality, obtained from the

    cement on till.   may

    be, I ruck by tougeel which bore

    so many violent blo being .  As my bricks had been

    in a c read the name of

    Nebuc its many fireplace bricks as I

    could find, to save e, and I filled tween

    t tones from the pond shore, and

    also made my mortar e sand from the same place.  I

    lingered most about t vital part of the

    ely, t t

    the morning, a course of bricks raised a few inches

    above t nig I did not get a

    stiff neck for it t I remember; my stiff neck is of older date.

    I took a poet to board for a fortnig times, which

    caused me to be put to it for room.   his own knife,

    to scour ting to

    the labors of cooking.  I was pleased

    to see my ed,

    t, if it proceeded slo ed to endure a long

    time.  to some extent an independent structure,

    standing on to the heavens;

    even after t still stands sometimes, and its

    importance and independence are apparent.  tohe end

    of summer.  It was now November.

    to cool t

    took many eady bloo accomplis, it is so deep.

    o  evening, before I plastered my house,

    ticularly he numerous

    c I passed some cheerful evenings in

    t cool and airy apartment, surrounded by the rough brown boards

    full of knots, and rafters he bark on high overhead.  My house

    never pleased my eye so mucer it ered, though I was

    obliged to confess t it able.  S every

    apartment in e some

    obscurity over evening

    about ters?  to the fancy and

    imagination tings or ot expensive

    furniture.  I no began to in my house, I may say, when I

    began to use it for er.  I  a couple

    of old fire-dogs to keep t did me

    good to see t form on the chimney which I had

    built, and I poked t and more satisfaction

    tertain an

    ec; but it seemed larger for being a single apartment and

    remote from neigtractions of a house were

    concentrated in one room; it chen, chamber, parlor, and

    keeping-room; and isfaction parent or cer or

    servant, derive from living in a  all.  Cato

    says, ter of a family (patremfamilias) must have in his

    rustic villa quot;cellam oleariam, vinariam, dolia multa, uti lubeat

    caritatem expectare, et rei, et virtuti, et gloriae erit,quot; t is,

    quot;an oil and  it may be pleasant to

    expect imes; it ue, and

    glory.quot;  I atoes, about ts

    of peas tle rice, a

    jug of molasses, and of rye and Indian meal a peck each.

    I sometimes dream of a larger and more populous anding

    in a golden age, of enduring materials, and  gingerbread

    of only one room, a vast, rude,

    substantial, primitive  ceiling or plastering, h

    bare rafters and purlins supporting a sort of lower heaven over

    ones o keep off rain and snow, whe king and

    queen posts stand out to receive your homage, when you have done

    reverence to trate Saturn of an older dynasty on stepping

    over t reacorch

    upon a pole to see the fireplace,

    some in ttles, some at one end

    of t anot on rafters he

    spiders, if t into when you

    side door, and the

    raveller may

    furter as you o reach in a

    tempestuous nigaining all tials of a house, and

    notreasures of

    t one vies peg, t a man

    s once kitcry, parlor, corehouse,

    and garret; whing, as a barrel or a

    ladder, so convenient a t boil,

    and pay your respects to t cooks your dinner, and the

    oven t bakes your bread, and ture and utensils

    are ts;  out, nor the

    fire, nor tress, and perimes requested to

    move from off trap-door, he

    cellar, and so learn wh

    you  stamping.  A

    as a birds nest, and you cannot go in at t door and out at

    t seeing some of its inants;

    is to be presented  to be

    carefully excluded from seven eig, s up in a particular

    cell, and told to make yourself at ary

    confinement.  No does not admit you to h,

    but  to build one for yourself somewhere in his

    alley, and ality is t of keeping you at test

    distance.  t the cooking as if he had a

    design to poison you.  I am a I have been on many a mans

    premises, and mig I am not

    a I  visit in my

    old clothes a king and queen who lived simply in such a house as I

    backing out of a

    modern palace  I so learn, if ever I am

    caught in one.

    It he very language of our parlors would lose

    all its nerve and degenerate into palaver w

    suceness from its symbols, and its metapropes are

    necessarily so far fetcers, as it

    chen and

    workshe parable of a dinner,

    commonly.  As if only t near enougo Nature and

    truto borrorope from the scholar, who dwells

    a territory or tell w is

    parliamentary in tchen?

    s were ever bold enougo

    stay and eat a y-pudding  w crisis

    approac a y retreat rat would shake

    to its foundations.  Nevert stood through a

    great many y-puddings.

    I did not plaster till it  over

    some e

    s, a sort of conveyance which would have

    tempted me to go muche

    meanhe ground on every side.  In

    lato be able to send h a

    single blo ion to transfer the

    plaster from to tly and rapidly.  I remembered

    tory of a conceited felloo

    lounge about to uring

    one day to substitute deeds for words, urned up his cuffs,

    seized a plasterers board, and ro

    mis look tohing overhead, made a

    bold gesture traigo e

    discomfiture, received tents in his ruffled bosom.  I

    admired aneering, which so

    effectually ss out takes a handsome finish, and I

    learned ties to werer is liable.  I

    o see y the bricks were which drank up all

    ture in my plaster before I , and how many

    pailfuls of er it takes to cen a new he

    previous er made a small quantity of lime by burning the shells

    of tilis, whe sake of

    t; so t I knew werials came from.  I

    mig good limestone

    myself, if I o do so.

    t and

    s coves, some days or even he general

    freezing.  t ice is especially interesting and perfect,

    being ransparent, and affords t opportunity

    t ever offers for examining ttom w is shallow; for

    you can lie at your lengter

    insect on ter, and study ttom at your

    leisure, only tant, like a picture behind a

    glass, and ter is necessarily alhere are

    many furroure ravelled about and

    doubled on its tracks; and, for  is strehe cases

    of caddis-e grains of z.  Perhaps

    t, for you find some of the

    furroo make.  But the

    ice itself is t of most interest, t improve

    t opportunity to study it.  If you examine it closely the

    morning after it freezes, you find t ter part of the

    bubbles,  appeared to be , are against its

    under surface, and t more are continually rising from ttom;

    ively solid and dark, t is, you

    see ter t.  tieto an

    eiger, very clear and beautiful, and you see

    your face reflected in ty or

    forty of to a square inche

    ice narro half an inch long,

    sener, if te

    frese sply above another, like a

    string of beads.  But t so numerous nor

    obvious as times used to cast on stones to try

    trengthrough carried in

    air e bubbles

    beneato ty-eight hours

    after till perfect,

    tinctly by

    t as t two days had been

    very  noransparent,

    ser, and ttom, but

    opaque and hick was hardly

    stronger tly expanded under

    t and run toget ty; they were no

    longer one directly over anot often like silvery coins

    poured from a bag, one overlapping anothin flakes, as if

    occupying sligy of t

    oo late to study ttom.  Being curious to know w

    position my great bubbles occupied o the new ice, I

    broke out a cake containing a middling sized one, and turned it

    bottom uphe bubble,

    so t it  was whe

    lo close against ttish, or perhaps

    sligicular, er of an inch deep

    by four incer; and I o find t

    directly under ted  regularity

    in to t of five eighths of

    an incition the

    er and thick; and in many

    places tition  out downward,

    and probably t all under t bubbles,

    er.  I inferred t te number

    of minute bubbles  the under surface

    of t eacs

    degree, ed like a burning-glass on to melt

    and rot it.  ttle air-guns e to make

    the ice crack and whoop.

    At lengter set in good earnest, just as I had finished

    plastering, and to  had

    not o do so till t after nighe geese

    came lumbering in tling of wings,

    even after to alight in

    alden, and some flying looward Fair haven, bound

    for Mexico.  Several times,  ten

    or eleven oclock at nigread of a flock of geese,

    or else ducks, on the woods by a pond-hole behind

    my d honk or

    quack of they hurried off.  In 1845 alden froze

    entirely over for t time on t of the 22d of

    December, Flints and othe river having

    been frozen ten days or more; in 46, t the

    31st; and in 50, about th of

    January; in 53, t of December.  the snow had already covered

    th of November, and surrounded me suddenly

    er.  I  farto my shell,

    and endeavored to keep a brighin

    my breast.  My employment out of doors noo collect the dead

    , bringing it in my hands or on my shoulders, or

    sometimes trailing a dead pine tree under eaco my shed.  An

    old forest fence  days  haul for

    me.  I sacrificed it to Vulcan, for it  serving the god

    terminus.  eresting an event is t mans supper

    o , nay, you might say,

    steal, to cook it  are s.

    ts and e s

    of most of our too support many fires, but

    he young wood.

    the

    summer I  of pitche bark on,

    pinned toget.  this I

    ly on ter soaking then

    lying  ly sound, terlogged

    past drying.  I amused myself one er day his

    piecemeal across ting beh

    one end of a log fifteen feet long on my sher on

    tied several logs togethe, and

    t the end,

    dragged tely erlogged and almost as

    only burned long, but made a very  fire;

    nay, I t t tter for the

    pitcer, burned longer, as in a lamp.

    Gilpin, in  of t borderers of England, says

    t quot;ts of trespassers, and the houses and fences

    t,quot; ;considered as great

    nuisances by t law, and were severely punished under

    tures, as tending ad terrorem ferarum -- ad

    nocumentum forestae, etc.,quot; to tening of the

    detriment of t.  But I erested in tion

    of t more ters or woodchoppers,

    and as muche Lord arden himself; and if any

    part  myself by accident, I grieved

    lasted longer and

    of tors; nay, I grieved  dohe

    proprietors t our farmers w down

    a forest felt some of t awe whey

    came to t in t to, a consecrated grove (lucum

    conlucare), t is,  it is sacred to some god.

    tory offering, and prayed, ever god or

    goddess t to o me,

    my family, and cc.

    It is remarkable ill put upon wood even in

    try, a value more permanent and

    universal t of gold.  After all our discoveries and

    inventions no man  is as precious to

    us as it o our Saxon and Norman ancestors.  If their

    bo, ocks of it.  Micy

    years ago, says t the price of wood for fuel in New York and

    P;nearly equals, and sometimes exceeds, t of t

    al annually requires more

    to tance

    of tivated plains.quot;  In tohe

    price of  steadily, and tion is, how

    muc is to be t .  Mechanics

    and tradesmen  on no other errand,

    are sure to attend tion, and even pay a high price for

    ter t is now many

    years t men ed to t for fuel and the

    materials of ts: the

    Parisian and t, the farmer and Robin hood, Goody Blake and

    parts of t,

    till a feicks from

    t to her could I do

    them.

    Every man looks at ion.  I

    love to ter to

    remind me of my pleasing work.  I had an old axe which nobody

    claimed, er days, on the sunny side of

    t tumps  of my

    bean-field.  As my driver prophey warmed

    me ting they

    no fuel could give out more .  As for

    to get to quot;jumpquot; it;

    but I jumped ting a o

    it, made it do.  If it   least rue.

    A fe pine  treasure.  It is

    interesting to remember ill

    concealed in ten

    gone prospecting over some bare ch pine wood

    ood, and got out t pine roots.  t

    indestructible.  Stumps ty or forty years old, at least, will

    still be sound at the sapwood has all become

    vegetable mould, as appears by thick bark forming

    a ring level ant from the

    .  ithe

    marroore, yelloallow, or as if you ruck on a

    vein of gold, deep into t commonly I kindled my fire

    , wored up in my shed

    before t makes the

    woodche woods.  Once in a

    tle of ting

    too gave notice to the various

    s of alden vale, by a smoky streamer from my

    c I was awake.--

    Light-winged Smoke, Icarian bird,

    Melting t,

    Lark  song, and messenger of dawn,

    Circling above ts as t;

    Or else, departing dream, and shadowy form

    Of midnigs;

    By nigar-veiling, and by day

    Darkening t and blotting out the sun;

    Go th,

    And ask to pardon this clear flame.

    cut, t little of t,

    anster times left a good

    fire o take a er afternoon; and when I

    returned, ter ill alive and

    gloy t was as if I

    a c

    lived trusthy.  One

    day, ting  t I

    look in at t on fire; it was

    time I remember to icularly anxious on this

    score; so I looked and sa a spark  my bed, and I

    in and extinguis w had burned a place as big as my

    my ered a position, and

    its roof  I could afford to let t in

    t any er day.

    ted in my cellar, nibbling every tato, and

    making a snug bed even t after plastering and

    of bro animals love comfort and h

    as er only because they are so

    careful to secure them.  Some of my friends spoke as if I was coming

    to to freeze myself.  the animal merely makes a

    bed,  man,

    ment,

    and , instead of robbing  his bed, in

    ed of more cumbrous clotain

    a kind of summer in t of er, and by means of windows

    even admit t, and  thus he

    goes a step or tinct, and saves a little time for the

    fine arts.  to t blasts a

    long time, my orpid, whe

    genial atmospies and

    prolonged my life.  But t luxuriously tle to

    boast of in t, nor need rouble ourselves to speculate

    last destroyed.  It o

    cut time tle s from the

    norting from Cold Fridays and Great Sno a

    little colder Friday, or greater sno a period to mans

    existence on the globe.

    t er I used a small cooking-stove for economy, since

    I did not o; but it did not keep fire so he

    open fireplace.  Cooking  part, no longer a

    poetic, but merely a c ten, in

    toves, t o roast potatoes in the ashes,

    after tove not only took up room and

    scented t it concealed t as if I had

    lost a companion.  You can alhe

    laborer, looking into it at evening, purifies s of the

    dross and earted during the day.

    But I could no longer sit and look into tinent

    recurred to me h new force.--

    quot;Never, brigo me

    thy.

    but my  up?

    but my fortunes sunk so lo?

    th and hall,

    t welcomed and beloved by all?

    as tence too fanciful

    For our lifes common light, who are so dull?

    Did t gleam mysterious converse hold

    its too bold?

    ell, rong, for no

    Beside a ,

    a fire

    arms feet and o more aspire;

    By ilitarian heap

    t may sit doo sleep,

    Nor fear ts w walked,

    And  of talked.quot;

 Former Inhabitants and Winter Visitors

    I orms, and spent some cheerful

    er evenings by my fireside, whe snow whirled wildly

    , and even ting of the owl was hushed.  For many weeks

    I met no one in my  to cut wood

    and sled it to ts, ted me in

    making a pat snohe woods, for when I had

    once gone to my tracks, where

    ted the snow,

    and so not only made a my bed for my feet, but in t their

    dark line o conjure

    up ts of the memory of many

    of my toands resounded h

    tants, and t

    cted tle gardens and

    d  in by t than

    nohe pines would

    scrape bot once, and women and children who

    o go to Lincoln alone and on foot did it

    en ran a good part of tance.  though mainly

    but a e to neighe woodmans

    team, it once amused traveller more ts variety, and

    lingered longer in retch

    from to t through a maple swamp on

    a foundation of logs, ts of ill

    underlie t dusty ratton, nohe

    Alms-o Bristers hill.

    East of my bean-field, across to Ingraham,

    slave of Duncan Ingraleman, of Concord village,

    w o live in

    alden oods; -- Cato, not Uticensis, but Concordiensis.  Some say

    t tle

    patcs, ill he should be old

    and need t a younger and or got t last.

    oo,  present.

    Catos erated cellar-ill remains, to

    feraveller by a fringe of pines.  It is

    nohe

    earliest species of goldenrod (Solidago stricta) grohere

    luxuriantly.

    ill nearer to town,

    Zilptle house, where she spun linen

    for toh her shrill

    singing, for sable voice.  At lengthe

    war of 1812,  on fire by English soldiers,

    prisoners on parole, w and dog and hens

    oget

    iner of t as he

    passed tering to herself over her

    gurgling pot -- quot;Ye are all bones, bones!quot;  I have seen bricks amid

    there.

    Do ers hill, lived

    Brister Freeman, quot;a ; slave of Squire Cummings once --

    till trees ed and

    tended; large old trees no t still wild and ciderish

    to my taste.  Not long since I read aphe old Lincoln

    burying-ground, a little on one side, near the unmarked graves of

    some Britisreat from Concord --

    ;Sippio Bristerquot; -- Scipio Africanus he had some

    title to be called -- quot;a man of color,quot; as if he were discolored.

    It also told me, aring emp

    an indirect

    Fenda, able unes, yet pleasantly --

    large, round, and black, blacker t,

    such a dusky orb as never rose on Concord before or since.

    Fart, on the

    ratton family; whose

    orcers  was long

    since killed out by pitcing a feumps, whose old

    roots furnisill tocks of many a ty village tree.

    Nearer yet to too Breeds location, on ther

    side of t on the

    pranks of a demon not distinctly named in old mythology, who has

    acted a prominent and astounding part in our New England life, and

    deserves, as mucer, to have his

    biograpten one day; he guise of a friend

    or he whole family --

    Ne ory must not yet tell tragedies

    enacted  time intervene in some measure to assuage and lend

    an azure tint to t indistinct and dubious

    tradition says t once a tavern stood; the same, which

    tempered travellers beverage and refreseed.  here

    ted one anotold t

    their ways again.

    Breeds  anding only a dozen years ago, t had

    long been unoccupied.  It  t  on

    fire by miscion nig mistake.

    I lived on t lost myself

    over Davenants quot;Gondibert,quot; t er t I labored h a

    leto regard as a

    family complaint, o sleep shaving himself,

    and is obliged to sprout potatoes in a cellar Sundays, in order to

    keep atempt

    to read Cion of Englisry  skipping.  It

    fairly overcame my Nervii.  I  sunk my he

    bells rung fire, and in  e t way, led

    by a straggling troop of men and boys, and I among t, for

    I  it he woods

    -- we wo fires before -- barn, shop, or dwelling-house,

    or all toget;Its Bakers barn,quot; cried one.  quot;It is the Codman

    place,quot; affirmed anot up above the

    ed quot;Concord to the

    rescue!quot;  agons s past h furious speed and crushing loads,

    bearing, perc, t of the Insurance

    Company, wo go he

    engine bell tinkled be of all,

    as it erhe fire and gave

    t on like true idealists, rejecting the

    evidence of our senses, until at a turn in the

    crackling and actually felt t of the wall,

    and realized, alas! t he

    fire but cooled our ardor.  At first  to throw a frog-pond

    on to it; but concluded to let it burn, it was so far gone and so

    ood round our engine, jostled one another,

    expressed our sentiments trumpets, or in loone

    referred to t conflagrations wnessed,

    including Bascoms s t,

    ;tub,quot; and a full frog-pond by, we

    could turn t tened last and universal one into another

    flood.  e finally retreated  doing any miscurned

    to sleep and quot;Gondibert.quot;  But as for quot;Gondibert,quot; I

    t passage in t  being the souls powder --

    quot;but most of mankind are strangers to , as Indians are to

    po;

    It c I  he

    follo

    t, I drehe only survivor

    of t I knos virtues and its

    vices, ed in this burning, lying on his

    stomac till smouldering

    cinders beneattering to .  he had been

    he

    first moments t o visit the home of his

    fato the cellar from all sides and

    points of vieurns, alo it, as if there was

    some treasure, ones,

    a heap of bricks and ashes.

    t .  he was

    soothy which my mere presence, implied, and showed

    me, as ted, whe well was covered

    up; whank heaven, could never be burned; and he groped long

    about to find t and

    mounted, feeling for taple by which a burden had

    been fastened to t o --

    to convince me t it ;rider.quot;  I felt it, and still

    remark it almost daily in my  ory of a

    family.

    Once more, on t, whe well and lilac bushes

    by tting and Le Grosse.

    But to return toward Lincoln.

    Farthe road

    approac to tter squatted, and

    furniso descendants to

    succeed he

    land by sufferance he sheriff

    came in vain to collect taxes, and quot;attac; for forms

    sake, as I s, t

    he could lay his hands on.  One day in midsummer, when I was hoeing,

    a man o market stopped his horse

    against my field and inquired concerning yman the younger.  he had

    long ago bougters wo know w had

    become of ters clay and wheel in

    Scripture, but it o me t ts we use were

    not suchose days, or grown on

    trees like gourds somewo  so

    fictile an art iced in my neighborhood.

    t inant of these woods before me was an Irishman,

    h coil enough), who occupied

    ymans tenement -- Col. Quoil,  he

    aterloo.  If he had lived I should have made

    tles over again.  rade  of a

    ditc to St. o alden oods.

    All I know of ragic.  he was a man of manners, like one who

    han you

    could tend to.  coat in midsummer, being

    affected rembling delirium, and he color of

    carmine.   t of Bristers ly

    after I came to t I  remembered him as a

    neighbor.  Before his house was pulled down, when his comrades

    avoided it as quot;an unlucky castle,quot; I visited it.  there lay his old

    clothey were himself, upon his raised

    plank bed.  ead of a bowl

    broken at tain.  t could never he symbol

    of o me t, though he had heard of

    Bristers Spring, ; and soiled cards, kings of

    diamonds, spades, and s, tered over the floor.  One

    black crator could not catch, black as

    nig, not even croaking, aing Reynard, still

    to roost in t apartment.  In the dim

    outline of a garden,  had never received

    its first o terrible ss, t

    ime.  It h Roman wormwood and

    beggar-ticks, uck to my clot.  the

    skin of a che

    rop aterloo; but no tens

    would  more.

    No in te of these dwellings,

    ones, and strawberries, raspberries,

    the sunny

    sc he

    c-scented black birch, perhaps, waves where

    tone imes t is visible, where once

    a spring oozed; noearless grass; or it was covered deep

    -- not to be discovered till some late day --  stone

    under t of ted.   a sorrowful

    act must t be -- t he

    opening of ears.  ts, like deserted fox

    burro wir

    and bustle of ;fate, free will, foreknowledge

    absolute,quot; in some form and dialect or oturns

    discussed.  But all I can learn of ts to just

    t quot;Cato and Brister pulled ;; w as

    edifying as tory of more famous schools of philosophy.

    Still groion after the door and

    lintel and ts s-scented flowers

    eaco be plucked by traveller; planted and

    tended once by c-yard plots -- noanding

    by ired pastures, and giving place to new-rising

    forests; -- t of t stirp, sole survivor of t family.

    Little did t ts two

    eyes only, he house

    and daily ered,  itself so, and outlive them, and house

    itself in t s, and grown mans garden and

    orcell tory faintly to the lone wanderer a

    ury after they had grown up and died -- blossoming as fair,

    and smelling as s, as in t first spring.  I mark its still

    tender, civil, cheerful lilac colors.

    But t fail

    ural advantages --

    no er privileges, forsoothe deep alden Pond and cool

    Bristers Spring -- privilege to drink long and s at

    t to dilute they

    y race.  Mig t,

    stable-broom, mat-making, corn-parctery

    business o blossom like

    terity ed their

    faterile soil  least  a

    lole does these

    ants eny of the landscape!  Again,

    perure ry,  settler, and my house

    raised last spring to be t in t.

    I am not a any man  on t which I

    occupy.  Deliver me from a city built on te of a more ancient

    city, he soil

    is blanc becomes necessary

    tself royed.  ith such reminiscences I

    repeopled the woods and lulled myself asleep.

    At tor.  he snow lay

    deepest no ured near my night

    at a time, but ttle

    and poultry wo ime buried

    in drifts, even  food; or like t early settlers family in

    toton, in tate, ely

    covered by t snow of 1717 w, and an Indian

    found it only by the

    drift, and so relieved t no friendly Indian concerned

    me; nor needed er of t

    Snoo he

    farmers could not get to teams, and

    o cut dorees before their houses, and,

    rees in ten feet

    from t appeared t spring.

    In t snoo

    my   ed by a

    meandering dotted line, ervals bets.  For a

    ook exactly teps, and of

    tepping deliberately and h

    tracks -- to such

    routine ter reduces us -- yet often th

    no erfered fatally h my walks,

    or ratly tramped eigen

    miles t snoo keep an appointment h a beech

    tree, or a yellohe pines;

    wo droop, and so

    sops, o fir trees; wading

    to tops of t

    deep on a level, and sorm on my

    every step; or sometimes creeping and floundering ther on my

    ers o er quarters.

    One afternoon I amused myself by crix

    nebulosa) sitting on one of te pine,

    close to trunk, in broad dayliganding hin a rod of

    h my

    feet, but could not plainly see me.   noise he would

    stretc  hers, and open his eyes

    to nod.  I too

    felt a slumberous influence after ching him half an hour, as he

    sat t, he

    cat.  t left betheir lids, by which

    be preserved a pennisular relation to me; t eyes,

    looking out from to realize me,

    vague object or mote t interrupted  length, on

    some louder noise or my nearer approach, he would grow uneasy and

    sluggisurn about on ient at having his

    dreams disturbed; and when he launched himself off and flapped

    to unexpected breadth, I

    could not est sound from the

    pine bouge sense of than by

    sigive

    pinions,  in peace a the

    dawning of his day.

    As I hrough

    tered many a blustering and nipping wind, for

    noen me on one

    curned to it t

    mucter by ters o

    toill, like a friendly Indian, s of the broad

    open fields he alden road,

    and o obliterate tracks of t

    traveller.  And s would have formed,

    t wind had been

    depositing t

    a rabbits track, nor even t, type, of a

    meadoo be seen.  Yet I rarely failed to find, even in

    mider, some warm and springly swamp whe

    skunk-cabbage still put forth perennial verdure, and some

    ed turn of spring.

    Sometimes, notanding turned from my

    evening I crossed tracks of a woodchopper leading

    from my door, and found tlings on th, and my

    ernoon,

    if I co be at he snow made

    by tep of a long-he woods

    sougo ;crackquot;; one of the few of his

    vocation ;; wead of

    a professors goo extract t of

    cate as to haul a load of manure from his barn-yard.  e

    talked of rude and simple times,  large fires in

    cold, bracing

    failed, ried our teet which wise squirrels have

    long since abandoned, for t shells are

    commonly empty.

    t to my lodge, t

    sno dismal tempests, .  A farmer, a er, a

    soldier, a reporter, even a ped; but nothing

    can deter a poet, for uated by pure love.

    at all hours,

    even  small h

    boisterous mirtalk,

    making amends to alden vale for the long silences.  Broadway

    ill and deserted in comparison.  At suitable intervals there

    es of laug have been referred

    indifferently to t-uttered or t.  e made

    many a quot;bran ne; thin dish of gruel, which

    combined tages of conviviality he clear-headedness

    which philosophy requires.

    I s forget t during my last er at there

    or, ime came the

    village, till he saw my lamp

    trees, and ser evenings.

    One of t of ticut gave o the

    world --  erwards, as he declares, his

    brains.  till, prompting God and disgracing man,

    bearing for fruit  its kernel.  I think

    t  be t faith of any alive.  his words

    and attitude alter state of ther men

    are acquainted  man to be disappointed

    as ture in t.  But though

    comparatively disregarded now, wed

    by most ake effect, and masters of families and rulers will

    come to him for advice.

    quot; cannot see serenity!quot;

    A true friend of man; almost the only friend of human progress.  An

    Old Mortality, say ratality, ience

    and faithe God

    of s.  ith his

    able intellect he embraces children, beggars, insane, and

    scertains t of all, adding to it commonly

    some breadt he should keep a

    caravansary on the worlds highway, where philosophers of all

    nations mig up, and on ed,

    quot;Entertainment for man, but not for .  Enter ye t have

    leisure and a quiet mind,  road.quot;  he is

    per man and  crotcs of any I chance

    to knoerday and tomorrow.  Of yore we ered

    and talked, and effectually put the world behind us; for he was

    pledged to no institution in it, freeborn, ingenuus.  hichever way

    urned, it seemed t t

    togety of the landscape.  A

    blue-robed man,  roof is the overarching sky which

    reflects y.  I do not see ure

    cannot spare him.

    and

    rying our knives, and admiring the clear yellowish

    grain of tly and reverently, or we

    pulled toget t

    scared from tream, nor feared any angler on t came

    and  grandly, like t tern

    sky, and times form and

    dissolve thology, rounding a

    fable les in the air for which

    eartion.  Great Looker!  Great Expecter!

    to converse s Entertainment.  Ah!

    suc and ptler I

    expanded and racked my little

    dare to say  there was

    above tmosp opened its

    seams so t to be calked er to

    stop t leak; -- but I  kind of oakum

    already picked.

    t;solid seasons,quot; long to be

    remembered, at he village, and who looked in upon me

    from time to time; but I y there.

    too, as everyed tor who

    never comes.  t;to remain

    at eventide in yard as long as it takes to milk a cow, or

    longer if o a t.quot;  I often

    performed ty of ality, ed long enougo milk a

    see the

    town.

 Winter Animals

    only new

    and ser routes to many points, but neheir surfaces

    of ts Pond,

    after it en paddled about and

    skated over it, it edly range t I

    could t Baffins Bay.  the Lincoln hills rose up

    around me at tremity of a snowy plain, in w

    remember to ood before; and t an

    indeterminable distance over t heir

    her

    loomed like fabulous creatures, and I did not know whey were

    giants or pygmies.  I took t to lecture in

    Lincoln in travelling in no road and passing no house

    beture room.  In Goose Pond, which lay

    in my s d, and raised their cabins high

    above t.

    alden, being like t usually bare of snoh only

    serrupted drifts on it, was my yard where I could walk

    freely  deep on a level elsewhere

    and to treets.  there, far from

    treet, and except at very long intervals, from the

    jingle of sleiged, as in a vast moose-yard

    rodden, over doh

    snoling h icicles.

    For sounds in er nigen in er days, I heard

    t melodious note of a ing oely far;

    sucruck h a

    suitable plectrum, the very lingua vernacula of alden ood, and

    quite familiar to me at last, t

    .  I seldom opened my door in a er evening

    ; he

    first ted somew like how der do; or

    sometimes  in ter,

    before t nine oclock, I artled by

    tepping to the

    sound of tempest in they flew low

    over my oward Fair haven,

    seemingly deterred from settling by my ligheir commodore

    .  Suddenly an unmistakable

    cat-o remendous voice

    I ever ant of t regular

    intervals to termined to expose and disgrace this

    intruder from ing a greater compass and

    volume of voice in a native, and boo- of Concord horizon.

    do you mean by alarming tadel at time of night

    consecrated to me?  Do you t napping at such an

    I  got lungs and a larynx as well as

    yourself?  Boo-

    t, if you had a

    discriminating ear, t ts of a concord such

    as these plains never saw nor heard.

    I also

    bed-fello part of Concord, as if it less in its

    bed and urn over, roubled ulency and had

    dreams; or I ,

    as if some one eam against my door, and in the morning

    er of a mile long and a third

    of an inch wide.

    Sometimes I ,

    in moonligs, in searcridge or other game, barking

    raggedly and demoniacally like forest dogs, as if laboring h some

    anxiety, or seeking expression, struggling for ligo be dogs

    outrigreets; for if ake to

    our account, may t be a civilization going on among brutes

    as o me to be rudimental, burrowing men,

    still standing on ting transformation.

    Sometimes one came near to my tracted by my light, barked

    a vulpine curse at me, and treated.

    Usually the

    dahe house,

    as if sent out of the

    er I t  corn, which had

    not got ripe, on to t by my door, and was amused by

    cions of ted by it.

    In ts came regularly and made a

    y meal.  All day long t, and

    afforded me mucertainment by their manoeuvres.  One would

    approac first he

    sno by fits and starts like a leaf blohe wind, now a

    fee of energy, making

    inconceivable e ;trotters,quot; as if it were for a wager,

    and no  never getting on more than half

    a rod at a time; and th a ludicrous

    expression and a gratuitous somerset, as if all the

    universe were eyed on ions of a squirrel, even

    in t solitary recesses of t, imply spectators as

    mucing more time in delay and

    circumspection to ance

    -- I never sahen suddenly, before you could say

    Jack Robinson, op of a young pitch pine, winding

    up ators, soliloquizing and

    talking to all t time -- for no reason t I

    could ever detect, or .  At length

    ing a suitable ear, frisk about

    in tain trigonometrical o topmost stick of my

    wood-pile, before my window, whe face, and

    t for ime to

    time, nibbling at first voraciously and the half-naked cobs

    about; till at lengty still and played h his

    food, tasting only the ear, which was

    ick by one paw, slipped from his careless

    grasp and fell to t it h a

    ludicrous expression of uncertainty, as if suspecting t it had

    life,  made up  it again, or a new one,

    or be off; noening to  was in

    ttle impudent felloe many an ear in

    a forenoon; till at last, seizing some longer and plumper one,

    considerably bigger t, he

    out  to tiger h a buffalo, by

    t pauses, scratch

    it as if it oo he while, making

    its fall a diagonal between a perpendicular and al, being

    determined to put it t any rate; -- a singularly frivolous

    and  to where he

    lived, per to top of a pine tree forty or fifty

    rods distant, and I erre the

    ions.

    At lengt screams were heard

    long before, as th of

    a mile off, and in a stealt from

    tree to tree, nearer and nearer, and pick up the

    squirrels ting on a pitchey

    attempt to se a kernel woo big for

    ts and cer great labor they disgorge

    it, and spend an o crack it by repeated blows

    ly t much

    respect for t t first s to

    aking heir own.

    Meanwhe chickadees in flocks, which, picking up

    to t twig and,

    placing t their

    little bills, as if it  in till they were

    sufficiently reduced for ts.  A little flock of

    titmice came daily to pick a dinner out of my he

    crumbs at my door,  flitting lisping notes, like the

    tinkling of icicles in tly day day

    day, or more rarely, in spring-like days, a wiry summery phe-be

    from t at length one

    alig

    ticks  fear.  I once  upon my

    s while I was hoeing in a village garden, and I

    felt t I inguis circumstance than I

    s I could he squirrels

    also gre last to be quite familiar, and occasionally stepped

    upon my s  way.

    yet quite covered, and again near the

    end of er, h hillside and

    about my ridges came out of the woods morning and

    evening to feed the

    partridge bursts away on whe

    dry leaves and the

    sunbeams like golden dust, for t to be scared

    by er.  It is frequently covered up by drifts, and, it is said,

    quot;sometimes plunges from on o t snow, w remains

    concealed for a day or t;  I used to start the open land

    also,  sunset to quot;budquot; the

    rees.  to

    particular trees,  for them,

    and tant orc t a little.  I

    am glad t tridge gets fed, at any rate.  It is Natures

    own bird w drink.

    In dark er mornings, or in s er afternoons, I

    sometimes h

    o resist tinct of the chase,

    and te of ting- intervals, proving t man was

    in t no fox bursts forth on

    to their

    Actaeon.  And per evening I see ters returning h a

    single brusrailing from tropheir

    inn.  tell me t if the

    frozen eartraight line

    away no foxake ,  his pursuers

    far beops to rest and listen till they come up, and when

    o s,

    imes, however, he will run upon a wall many rods, and

    to one side, and o kno er

    retain .  A er told me t he once saw a fox

    pursued by  out on to alden whe ice was covered

    urn to the

    same s  the

    scent.  Sometimes a pack ing by themselves would pass my door,

    and circle round my  regarding me,

    as if afflicted by a species of madness, so t nothing could

    divert t.  til they fall upon

    t trail of a fox, for a wise hing

    else for to my  from Lexington to

    inquire after  made a large track, and had been

    ing for a   the wiser

    for all I told ime I attempted to answer his

    questions errupted me by asking, quot; do you do ;  he

    a dog, but found a man.

    One old er o bathe

    in alden once every year , and at such

    times looked in upon me, told me t many years ago ook his gun

    one afternoon and  out for a cruise in alden ood; and as he

    he cry of hounds approaching, and

    ere long a fox leaped to the road, and as quick as

    t leaped t of t bullet

    touched him.  Some way behind came an old hound and her

    t, ing on t, and

    disappeared again in te in ternoon, as he was

    resting in the voice of

    tohe fox; and on

    the woods ring sounding

    nearer and nearer, nohe Baker Farm.

    For a long time ood still and listened to t

    to a ers ear, whe

    solemn aisles h an easy coursing pace, whose sound was concealed

    by a sympatic rustle of t and still, keeping the

    round, leaving his pursuers far behind; and, leaping upon a rock

    amid t erect and listening, o the

    er.  For a moment compassion restrained tters arm; but

    t  can follow

    t he fox, rolling over

    ter still kept his place

    and listened to till on the near

    heir demoniac cry.

    At lengt into vieo the ground,

    and snapping tly to the rock;

    but, spying the dead fox, she suddenly ceased her hounding as if

    struck dumb , and walked round and round him in

    silence; and one by one her,

    o silence by tery.  ter came

    forood in t, and tery hey

    ed in silence whe brush

    a urned off into t

    evening a eston squire came to ters cottage to

    inquire for old hey had been

    ing on t from eston er

    told   ther

    declined it and departed.   find  night,

    but t day learned t t up

    at a farm, whey

    took ture early in the morning.

    ter ting, who

    used to  bears on Fair heir skins

    for rum in Concord village; wold  he had seen a

    moose tting had a famous foxhound named Burgoyne -- he

    pronounced it Bugine -- o borrohe

    quot;ast Bookquot; of an old trader of town, wain,

    toative, I find try.  Jan.

    18t;Jo;; t

    noton

    quot;by 1/2 a Catt skin 0--1--4+quot;; of course, a , for

    Stratton  in t have

    got credit for ing less noble game.  Credit is given for

    deerskins also, and till preserves

    t deer t y, and

    anotold me ticulars of t in which his uncle

    ers were formerly a numerous and merry crew

    Nimrod wch up a leaf by

    train on it wilder and more melodious, if

    my memory serves me, ting-horn.

    At midnigimes met h hounds

    in my pat t of my

    and silent amid till I had

    passed.

    Squirrels and ed for my store of nuts.  there

    co four inches

    in diameter, wer -- a

    Norer for they

    o mix a large proportion of pine bark her

    diet.  trees ly flouris

    midsummer, and many of t, tely

    girdled; but after anoter suc exception dead.

    It is remarkable t a single mouse shus be allowed a whole

    pine tree for its dinner, gnaead of up and do;

    but per is necessary in order to trees, which are

    to grow up densely.

    the hares (Lepus Americanus) were very familiar.  One had her

    form under my er, separated from me only by the

    flooring, and sartled me eacy departure

    ir -- triking her head

    against timbers in o come round my

    door at dusk to nibble tato parings w,

    and  they could hardly be

    distinguisill.  Sometimes in tely

    lost and recovered sigting motionless under my window.

    h a

    squeak and a bounce.  Near at ed my pity.  One

    evening one sat by my door t first trembling

    uno move; a poor hing, lean and bony,

    tail and slender pa

    looked as if Nature no longer contained the breed of nobler bloods,

    but stood on  toes.  Its large eyes appeared young and

    un dropsical.  I took a step, and lo, a scud

    ic spring over t, straigs body

    and its limbs into graceful lengt t between

    me and itself -- ting its vigor and the

    dignity of Nature.  Not  reason s slenderness.  Such

    ts nature.  (Lepus, levipes, lig, some think.)

    is a country  rabbits and partridges?  they are

    among t simple and indigenous animal products; ancient and

    venerable families knoo antiquity as to modern times; of the

    very ance of Nature, nearest allied to leaves and to

    to one anot is eit is

    legged.  It is ure when a

    rabbit or a partridge bursts aural one, as muco be

    expected as rustling leaves.  tridge and t are still

    sure to true natives of tever revolutions

    occur.  If t is cut off, ts and bushes which

    spring up afford t, and they become more numerous

    t must be a poor country indeed t does not support

    a eem h, and around every swamp may

    be seen tridge or rabbit  wiggy fences and

    ends.

 The Pond in Winter

    After a still er nig some

    question  to me, wo

    anshere was

    daure, in  my broad

    isfied face, and no question on her lips.

    I ao an ansion, to Nature and daylighe snow

    lying deep on tted he very slope

    of to say, Forward!

    Nature puts no question and answers none wals ask.  She

    aken ion.  quot;O Prince, our eyes contemplate

    ion and transmit to the wonderful and varied

    spectacle of t veils  doubt a part of

    tion; but day comes to reveal to us t

    o t;

    to my morning  I take an axe and pail and go in

    searcer, if t be not a dream.  After a cold and snowy

    nig needed a divining-rod to find it.  Every er the liquid

    and trembling surface of tive to every

    breated every ligo the

    dept or a foot and a  it  the

    teams, and perc to an equal depth,

    and it is not to be distinguishe

    marmots in t closes its eyelids and becomes

    dormant for tanding on the snow-covered

    plain, as if in a pasture amid t my  through

    a foot of sno of ice, and open a window under my

    feet, o t parlor of

    tened lighrough a window of

    ground glass, s brighe same as in summer;

    ty reigns as in t

    sky, corresponding to temperament of the

    inants.   is well as over our heads.

    Early in t, men

    come  doheir fine

    lines to take pickerel and perch; wild men,

    ively follorust oties

    toitcowns

    togets

    tout fear-naughe

    sural lore as tizen is in artificial.

    ted ell much less

    tice are said not

    yet to be known.  h grown perch

    for bait.  You look into o a summer pond,

    as if  summer locked up at home, or knew where she had

    retreated.   ter?  O

    of rotten logs since t

    tself passes deeper in nature tudies of

    turalist penetrate;  for turalist.  the

    latter raises tly h his knife in search of

    insects; to th his axe, and

    moss and bark fly far and wide.  s his living by barking

    trees.  Suc to fiso see nature

    carried out in he pickerel

    she pickerel; and so

    all the scale of being are filled.

    rolled around ty imes

    amused by tive mode wed.

    he narrow holes in

    t and an equal distance

    from tened to a stick

    to prevent its being pulled the slack line over

    a t or more above tied a dry

    oak leaf to it, which, being pulled down, would show when he had a

    bite.  t at regular intervals as

    you walked he pond.

    Ahe ice, or

    in ts in ttle

    o admit ter, I am aly,

    as if to treets,

    even to to our Concord life.  they

    possess a quite dazzling and transcendent beauty wes

    terval from the cadaverous cod and haddock whose

    fame is trumpeted in our streets.  t green like the

    pines, nor gray like tones, nor blue like t they

    o my eyes, if possible, yet rarer colors, like flowers and

    precious stones, as if the animalized nuclei

    or crystals of ter.  they, of course, are alden all

    over and all the animal

    kingdom, aldenses.  It is surprising t t here --

    t in ttling

    teams and cinkling sleig travel the alden road,

    t gold and emerald fiso see its

    kind in any market; it here.

    Easily, ery

    gs, like a mortal translated before ime to thin air of

    heaven.

    As I o recover t bottom of alden

    Pond, I surveyed it carefully, before the ice broke up, early in

    46, here have been many

    stories told about ttom, or rattom, of this pond,

    is remarkable

    tomlessness of a pond

    taking trouble to sound it.  I ed tomless

    Ponds in one

    alden reace to the globe.  Some

    ime, looking dohrough

    tery eyes into the bargain,

    and driven to y conclusions by tching cold in

    ts,  ;into w

    be driven,quot; if to drive it, ted source

    of tyx and entrance to ts.

    Ot;fifty-sixquot; and a

    o find any bottom; for

    y-sixquot; ing by t

    ttempt to fatruly immeasurable

    capacity for marvellousness.  But I can assure my readers t

    alden igtom at a not unreasonable, though

    at an unusual, dept easily h a cod-line and a

    stone ely

    ttom, by o pull so much harder

    before ter got underneato est depth was

    exactly one ; to whe five

    feet w his

    is a remarkable dept not an inc

    can be spared by tion.   if all ponds were shallow?

    ould it not react on t this

    pond was made deep and pure for a symbol.  he

    infinite some ponds  to be bottomless.

    A factory-o t it

    could not be true, for, judging from ance h dams,

    sand  lie at so steep an angle.  But t ponds are

    not so deep in proportion to t suppose, and, if

    drained,  leave very remarkable valleys.  t like

    cups bethis one, which is so unusually deep for

    its area, appears in a vertical section ts centre not

    deeper te.  Most ponds, emptied, would leave a

    meadow no more ly see.  illiam Gilpin, who

    is so admirable in all t relates to landscapes, and usually so

    correct, standing at tland, which he

    describes as quot;a bay of salt er, sixty or seventy fathoms deep,

    four miles in breadt; and about fifty miles long, surrounded by

    mountains, observes, quot;If ely after the

    diluvian crasever convulsion of nature occasioned it,

    before ters gus a  it have

    appeared!

    quot;So umid hills, so low

    Doom broad and deep,

    Capacious bed of ers.quot;

    But if, using test diameter of Lochese

    proportions to alden, which, as we have seen, appears already in a

    vertical section only like a se, it will appear four

    times as she chasm of

    Locied.  No doubt many a smiling valley s

    stretcly suc;; from

    and

    t of t to convince ting

    inants of t.  Often an inquisitive eye may detect the

    sive lake in the low horizon hills, and no

    subsequent elevation of to conceal

    tory.  But it is easiest, as the highways

    knoo find ter a s

    of it is, tion give it t license, dives deeper

    and soars ure goes.  So, probably, the

    ocean o be very inconsiderable compared s

    breadth.

    As I sounded termine the

    bottom er accuracy than is possible in surveying harbors

    its general

    regularity.  In t part there are several acres more level

    t any field he sun, wind, and plow.

    In one instance, on a line arbitrarily c

    vary more t in ty rods; and generally, near the

    middle, I could calculate tion for eac in

    any direction beforehree or four inches.  Some are

    accustomed to speak of deep and dangerous  sandy

    ponds like t t of er under tances

    is to level all inequalities.  ty of ttom and its

    conformity to the neighboring hills were

    so perfect t a distant promontory betrayed itself in the

    soundings quite across ts direction could be

    determined by observing te shore.  Cape becomes bar, and

    plain ser and channel.

    en rods to an inch,

    and put dohan a hundred in all, I observed

    ticed t the number

    indicating test deptly in tre of the

    map, I laid a rule on thwise, and

    found, to my surprise, t test lengtersected

    test breadtly at t of greatest depth,

    notanding t tline of

    treme length were

    got by measuring into to myself,

    t  to t part of the ocean as well as

    of a pond or puddle?  Is not t of

    mountains, regarded as te of valleys?  e kno a hill

    is not  at its narro part.

    Of five coves, three, or all which had been sounded, were

    observed to e across ter

    tended to be an expansion of er hin

    t only ally but vertically, and to form a basin

    or independent pond, tion of two capes she

    course of t, also, s bar

    at its entrance.  In proportion as the cove was wider

    compared s lengter over the bar was deeper compared

    in the

    cove, and ter of the surrounding shore, and you have

    almost elements enougo make out a formula for all cases.

    In order to see his experience,

    at t point in a pond, by observing tlines of a

    surface and ter of its shores alone, I made a plan of

    e Pond,  forty-one acres, and, like this,

    , nor any visible inlet or outlet; and as the

    line of greatest breadt breadth,

    e capes approace bays

    receded, I ventured to mark a point a s distance from tter

    line, but still on test lengt.  the

    deepest part o be  of till

    fartion to which I had inclined, and was only one

    foot deeper, namely, sixty feet.  Of course, a stream running

    the problem much more

    complicated.

    If ure, we s,

    or tion of one actual po infer all the

    particular results at t point.  Now we know only a few laws, and

    our result is vitiated, not, of course, by any confusion or

    irregularity in Nature, but by our ignorance of essential elements

    in tion.  Our notions of law and harmony are commonly

    confined to tances ; but the harmony which

    results from a far greater number of seemingly conflicting, but

    really concurring, laected, is still more

    icular las of vieo

    traveller, a mountain outline varies ep, and it has

    an infinite number of profiles, tely but one form.

    Even  is not compres

    entireness.

    I rue in et

    is ters not only

    guides us toem and t in man, but

    drae of a

    mans particular daily beo his coves

    and inlets, and   or depth of

    er.  Pero know rend

    and  country or circumstances, to infer h and

    concealed bottom.  If ainous circumstances,

    an Aced in his

    bosom, t a corresponding dept a low and

    smoot side.  In our bodies, a bold

    projecting broo and indicates a corresponding depth of

    t.  Also trance of our every cove,

    or particular inclination; each is our harbor for a season, in which

    ained and partially land-locked.  tions are

    not ion are

    determined by tories of t axes of

    elevation.  orms, tides,

    or currents, or ters, so t it

    reaco t  but an inclination

    in t was harbored becomes an individual

    lake, cut off from t secures its own

    conditions -- c to fres

    sea, dead sea, or a mars t of eaco

    t suppose t suco the

    surface somerue,  our

    ts, for t part, stand off and on upon a harborless

    coast, are conversant only s of the bays of poesy, or

    steer for ts of entry, and go into the dry docks of

    science, ural

    currents concur to individualize them.

    As for t or outlet of alden, I  discovered any

    but rain and snoion, th a

    ter and a line, suche

    er floo t  in summer and

    in er.   work he

    cakes sent to ted by those who were

    stacking t being to lie side by side

    ; and tters t the ice over a

    small space han elsewhere, which

    made t t they also showed me

    in anot t ;leac; through which

    t under a o a neighboring meadow, pushing

    me out on a cake of ice to see it.  It y under ten

    feet of er; but I t I can  t to need

    soldering till t.  One ed,

    t if suc;leac; ss connection he

    meadoed, might be proved by conveying some, colored

    po to tting a

    strainer over tch some of

    ticles carried t.

    een inchick,

    undulated under a sliger.  It is  a

    level cannot be used on ice.  At one rod from ts greatest

    fluctuation, wed

    toed staff on ters of an inch,

    ttaco t was

    probably greater in t if our instruments

    e enoug detect an undulation in t of

    the

    ts ed over tter, a

    rise or fall of t infinitesimal amount made a

    difference of several feet on a tree across the pond.  hen I began

    to cut er

    on t t the

    er began immediately to run into tinued to

    run for treams, whe ice on every

    side, and contributed essentially, if not mainly, to dry the surface

    of ter ran in, it raised and floated the

    ice.  t like cutting a tom of a ship

    to let ter out.  hen such holes freeze, and a rain succeeds,

    and finally a new freezing forms a fres is

    beautifully mottled internally by dark figures, s like

    a spiders tes, produced by the

    cer floo a centre.

    Sometimes, also, wh shallow puddles, I

    sahe

    otrees or hillside.

    it is cold January, and snohick and

    solid, t landlord comes from to get ice to

    cool ically, o

    foresee t and t of July now in January -- wearing a

    t and mittens! w provided for.

    It may be t reasures in this world which will cool

    .  s and sahe solid pond,

    unroofs ts off t and

    air,  by cakes like corded he

    favoring er air, to ry cellars, to underlie the summer

    t looks like solidified azure, as, far off, it is drawn

    treets.  tters are a merry race, full of

    jest and sport, and  to invite

    me to sa-fasanding underneath.

    In ter of 46-7 there came a hundred men of hyperborean

    extraction so our pond one morning, h many carloads

    of ungainly-looking farming tools -- sleds, plows, drill-barrows,

    turf-knives, spades, saws, rakes, and each a

    double-pointed pike-staff, suc described in the

    Neivator.  I did not know whey

    o soer rye, or some other kind of grain

    recently introduced from Iceland.  As I sa

    t to skim the soil was

    deep and  a gentleman

    farmer, o double his money,

    ed to  in

    order to cover eacook off the

    only coat, ay, tself, of alden Pond in t of a

    er.  t to  once, plowing, barrowing,

    rolling, furro on

    making t wo see w

    kind of seed to the furrow, a gang of fellows by my

    side suddenly began to self, h a

    peculiar jerk, clean doo ter -- for it

    erra firma there was --

    and  a t be

    cutting peat in a bog.  So t every day, h a

    peculiar sive, from and to some point of the

    polar regions, as it seemed to me, like a flock of arctic

    sno sometimes Squaw alden had her revenge, and a hired

    man, he ground

    dooartarus, and he who was so brave before suddenly became

    but t of a man, almost gave up , and was

    glad to take refuge in my  there was

    some virtue in a stove; or sometimes took a piece of

    steel out of a plo in to

    be cut out.

    to speak literally, a h Yankee overseers,

    came from Cambridge every day to get out t

    into cakes by metoo o require description, and

    to to an

    ice platform, and raised by grappling irons and block and tackle,

    ack, as surely as so many barrels of

    flour, and there placed evenly side by side, and row upon row, as if

    to pierce the

    clouds.  told me t in a good day t out a

    tons, s and

    quot;cradle-; erra firma, by the

    passage of track, and the horses invariably

    ate ts out of cakes of ice  like buckets.  they

    stacked up ty-five feet

    ting ween

    tside layers to exclude though

    never so cold, finds a passage t ies,

    leaving sligs or studs only here, and finally

    topple it do first it looked like a vast blue fort or

    Val uck to the

    crevices, and t looked

    like a venerable moss-grointed

    marble, ter, t old man he almanac --

    y, as if o estivate hey

    calculated t not ty-five per cent of ts

    destination, and t t ed in the

    cars.  ill greater part of t

    destiny from ended; for, eithe ice was

    found not to keep so ed, containing more air than

    usual, or for some ot never got to market.  this heap,

    made in ter of 46-7 and estimated to contain ten thousand

    tons,  was

    unroofed t of it carried off, t

    remaining exposed to t stood over t summer and t

    er, and  quite melted till September, 1848.  the

    pond recovered ter part.

    Like ter, t hand, has a green

    tint, but at a distance is beautifully blue, and you can easily tell

    it from te ice of the merely greenish ice of

    some ponds, a quarter of a mile off.  Sometimes one of t

    cakes slips from to treet, and

    lies t emerald, an object of interest to

    all passers.  I iced t a portion of alden whe

    state of er en, whe

    same point of vie this pond will,

    sometimes, in ter, be filled er somew

    like its o t day will he

    blue color of er and ice is due to t and air they

    contain, and t transparent is t.  Ice is an

    interesting subject for contemplation.  told me t they had

    some in t Fresh Pond five years old which was as

    good as ever.   t a bucket of er soon becomes putrid,

    but frozen remains s forever?  It is commonly said t this is

    tions and tellect.

    teen days I saw from my window a  work

    like busy eams and ly all the

    implements of farming, sucure as  page of

    ten as I looked out I he

    fable of the sower, and

    ty days more,

    probably, I she pure sea-green

    alden er ting trees, and sending

    up its evaporations in solitude, and no traces  a

    man ood tary loon

    laugh as he dives and plumes himself, or shall see a lonely fisher

    in , like a floating leaf, beed in

    tely a hundred men securely labored.

    t appears t tering inants of Con

    and Neta, drink at my

    ellect in tupendous and

    cosmogonal p-Geeta, since wion

    years of th which our

    modern s literature seem puny and trivial; and I doubt

    if t p to be referred to a previous state of

    existence, so remote is its sublimity from our conceptions.  I lay

    doo my er, and lo! t the

    servant of t of Brahma and Vishnu and Indra, who

    still sits in emple on the Vedas, or dwells

    at t of a tree  and er jug.  I meet his

    servant come to draer for er, and our buckets as it

    e togeter is

    mingled er of t

    is ed past te of tlantis and the

    ing by ternate

    and tidore and ts in tropic

    gales of ts of which Alexander

    only he names.

 Spring

    tracts by tters commonly causes a

    pond to break up earlier; for ter, agitated by the wind, even

    in cold  suc

    t on alden t year, for s a thick new

    garment to take this pond never breaks up so

    soon as t bots

    greater depts ream passing t to melt or

    to open in the course of a

    er, not excepting t of 52-3, whe ponds so severe

    a trial.  It commonly opens about t of April, a en

    days later ts Pond and Fair o melt on

    ts o freeze.

    It indicates better ter s te progress

    of t affected by transient changes of

    temperature.  A severe cold of a feion in March may very

    mucard temperature

    of alden increases almost uninterruptedly.  A ter t

    into tood at 32x,

    or freezing point; near t 33x; in ts

    Pond, t 32+x; at a dozen rods from the shore, in

    ser, under ice a foot t 36x.  this difference of

    temperature of ter

    and tter pond, and t t a great

    proportion of it is comparatively s should break

    up so muc part was

    at time several inche middle.  In

    mider t and t

    t the

    pond in summer must er is

    close to than a

    little distance out, and on t is deep, than near

    ttom.  In spring t only exerts an influence through

    temperature of t its  passes

    t or more ted from ttom

    in ser, and so also er and melts the under

    side of t time t it is melting it more

    directly above, making it uneven, and causing the air bubbles which

    it contains to extend til it is

    completely  last disappears suddenly in a single

    spring rain.  Ice s grain as well as wood, and when a cake

    begins to rot or quot;comb,quot; t is, assume the appearance of

    ever may be its position, t right

    angles  er surface.  here is a rock or a

    log rising near to t is muchinner, and

    is frequently quite dissolved by ted ; and I have

    been told t in t at Cambridge to freeze er in a

    sed underneath, and

    so o botion of the

    bottom more terbalanced tage.  hen a warm rain

    in ter melts off the snow-ice from alden, and

    leaves a ransparent ice on there will be a

    strip of rotten te ice, a rod or more

    ted by ted .  Also, as I have said,

    te as burning-glasses to

    melt th.

    take place every day in a pond on a

    small scale.  Every morning, generally speaking, ter

    is being  may not be

    made so er all, and every evening it is being cooled more

    rapidly until tome of the

    niger, the spring and

    fall, and the

    ice indicate a cemperature.  One pleasant morning after a

    cold nigo Flints Pond to

    spend ticed  he ice

    resounded like a gong for many rods

    around, or as if I ruck on a tighe pond began

    to boom about an er sunrise,  the influence of

    ted upon it from over t stretched

    itself and yah a gradually increasing

    tumult,  took a s

    siesta at noon, and boomed once more toward nighe sun was

    stage of ther a pond

    fires its evening gun  regularity.  But in the middle of

    tic,

    it ely lost its resonance, and probably fishes and

    muskrats could not tunned by a blo.  the

    fis t;t; scares the fishes

    and prevents ting.  t thunder every evening,

    and I cannot tell surely  its t though I

    may perceive no difference in t does.  ho would have

    suspected so large and cold and to be so

    sensitive?  Yet it s lao hunders obedience when

    it sh is

    all alive and covered  pond is as

    sensitive to atmosps

    tube.

    One attraction in coming to to live  I should

    unity to see the ice in

    t lengto be  my heel

    in it as I walk.  Fogs and rains and warmer suns are gradually

    melting the days have grown sensibly longer; and I see how

    I s ter  adding to my wood-pile, for

    large fires are no longer necessary.  I am on t for the

    first signs of spring, to e of some arriving

    bird, or triped squirrels cores must be now

    nearly exed, or see ture out of er

    quarters.  On ter I he bluebird,

    song sparroill nearly a foot thick.

    As t  sensibly he

    er, nor broken up and floated off as in rivers, but, t

    ely melted for  the

    middle ed er, so t you

    could put your foot t he

    next day evening, perer a

    would ed

    a across t

    disappeared entirely.  In 1845 alden  completely open on

    t of April; in 46, th of

    April; in 51, th of April; in 53,

    t th of April.

    Every incident connected he rivers and

    ponds and ttling of ticularly interesting to

    us  extremes.  he warmer days

    come, t nigh

    a startling s icy fetters were

    rent from end to end, and  rapidly going

    out.  So tor comes out of the

    earture, and

    seems as to all ions as if she

    upon tocks wo

    lay o h, and can hardly acquire

    more of natural lore if o thuselah --

    told me -- and I o  any of

    Natures operations, for I t t ts

    bet one spring day ook , and

    t t tle sport here was

    ice still on t it  of the river, and

    obstruction from Sudbury, wo

    Fair edly, covered for t

    part  was a warm day, and he was

    surprised to see so great a body of ice remaining.  Not seeing any

    ducks,  on the

    pond, and to

    a ted for the

    s of er, h a muddy

    bottom, suc it likely

    t some ty soon.  After ill there

    about an ant sound, but

    singularly grand and impressive, unlike anything he had ever heard,

    gradually s would have a universal

    and memorable ending, a sullen ruso him

    all at once like t body of foo

    settle tarted up in e and

    excited; but o  the

    ice arted o the shore, and

    ts edge grating on the shore --

    at first gently nibbled and crumbled off, but at length heaving up

    and scattering its o a considerable

    before it came to a standstill.

    At lengttained t angle, and warm

    and rain and melt the sun,

    dispersing t, smiles on a c and

    raveller picks his

    to islet, cinkling

    rills and rivulets wer

    whey are bearing off.

    Feo observe the forms

    whe sides of a

    deep cut on to the

    village, a p very common on so large a scale, though

    t material must have

    been greatly multiplied since railroads ed.  terial

    was sand of every degree of fineness and of various rich colors,

    commonly mixed tle clay.   comes out in the

    spring, and even in a ter, to

    floimes bursting out the

    sno wo be seen before.

    Innumerable little streams overlap and interlace one her,

    exing a sort of , whe law of

    currents, and  of vegetation.  As it flo takes the

    forms of sappy leaves or vines, making

    or more in depthe

    laciniated, lobed, and imbricated thalluses of some lichens; or you

    are reminded of coral, of leopards pa, of brains

    or lungs or bos of all kinds.  It is a truly

    grotesque vegetation, ed in

    bronze, a sort of arcectural foliage more ancient and typical

    table leaves;

    destined perances, to become a puzzle to

    future geologists.  t impressed me as if it were a cave

    s stalactites laid open to t.  the various shades of

    t

    iron colors, brown, gray, yellowishe flowing

    mass reac t of t spreads out

    flatter into strands, te streams losing their

    semi-cylindrical form and gradually becoming more flat and broad,

    running toget, till t

    flat sand, still variously and beautifully s in which you

    can trace tation; till at lengthe

    er itself, ted into banks, like those formed off

    tation are lost in the

    ripple marks on ttom.

    ty to forty feet high, is

    sometimes overlaid his kind of foliage, or sandy

    rupture, for a quarter of a mile on one or bothe produce

    of one spring day.   makes ts

    springing into existence the one side

    t bank -- for ts on one side first -- and on the

    ot foliage, tion of an ed

    as if in a peculiar sense I stood in tory of tist

    work,

    sporting on trewing his fresh

    designs about.  I feel as if I o tals of the

    globe, for thing such a foliaceous mass

    as tals of the very sands

    an anticipation of table leaf.  No  th

    expresses itself out so labors he idea

    inoms

    by it.  ts prototype.  Internally,

    thick lobe, a

    o the leaves of

    fat (jnai, labor, lapsus, to flow or slip downward, a lapsing;

    jiais, globus, lobe, globe; also lap, flap, and many other words);

    externally a dry the f and v are a pressed and

    dried b.  t mass of the b

    (single lobed, or B, double lobed),

    pressing it fortural g adds to the

    meaning ty of t.  thers and wings of birds

    are still drier and the

    lumpiso ttering butterfly.  the

    very globe continually transcends and translates itself, and becomes

    s orbit.  Even ice begins e crystal leaves,

    as if it o moulds s have

    impressed on tery mirror.  tree itself is but one

    leaf, and rivers are still vaster leaves wervening

    eartoies are ts in their axils.

    o flo in the

    morning treams art once more and branch and branch again

    into a myriad of others.  You here see perchance how blood-vessels

    are formed.  If you look closely you observe t first there pushes

    forream of softened sand h a

    drop-like point, like ts way slowly

    and blindly doil at last  and moisture, as

    ts  fluid portion, in its effort to obey

    to  also yields, separates from the

    latter and forms for itself a meandering cery hin

    t, in ream glancing like

    ligage of pulpy leaves or branco another, and

    ever and anon s is wonderful how rapidly

    yet perfectly tself as it flo

    material its mass affords to form ts channel.

    Sucter whe

    er deposits is perem, and in till finer

    soil and organic matter tissue.

    is man but a mass of the human finger is

    but a drop congealed.  toes floo tent

    from t the human body

    to under a more genial  the

    s lobes and veins?  the ear may be

    regarded, fancifully, as a liche

    s lobe or drop.  the lip -- labium, from labor (?) --

    laps or lapses from the nose is a

    manifest congealed drop or stalactite.  till larger

    drop, t dripping of the cheeks are a slide

    from to the face, opposed and diffused by

    table leaf, too, is a

    tering drop, larger or smaller; the

    fingers of t has, in so many

    directions it tends to floher genial

    influences o flo farther.

    t seemed t trated the principle

    of all tions of Nature.  t

    patented a leaf.   Chis hieroglyphic

    for us, t urn over a ne last?  this phenomenon

    is more exing to me tility of

    vineyards.  true, it is someitious in its cer,

    and to ts, and bowels, as if

    turned  ts at least

    t Nature y.

    t coming out of t

    precedes thology precedes regular

    poetry.  I knoive of er fumes and

    indigestions.  It convinces me t Eartill in her

    sretch baby fingers on every side.

    Fres brohing

    inorganic.  the slag

    of a furnace, s Nature is quot;in full blastquot; he

    eart a mere fragment of dead ory, stratum upon stratum

    like to be studied by geologists and

    antiquaries c living poetry like tree,

    a fossil eart a living

    eart central life all animal and

    vegetable life is merely parasitic.  Its throes will heave our

    exuviae from t your metals and cast them

    into t beautiful moulds you can; te me

    like ten eart into.  And not only

    it, but titutions upon it are plastic like clay in the hands

    of tter.

    Ere long, not only on t on every hill and plain

    and in every  comes out of the ground like a

    dormant quadruped from its burroh music, or

    migrates to otle persuasion

    is more pos, the

    ot breaks in pieces.

    ially bare of snow, and a few warm days

    s surface some  to compare t

    tender signs of t year just peeping fortately

    beauty of tation he

    er -- life-everlasting, goldenrods, pinweeds, and graceful wild

    grasses, more obvious and interesting frequently than in summer

    even, as if ty  ripe till tton-grass,

    cat-tails, mulleins, jo, , and other

    strong-stemmed plants, ted granaries ain

    t birds -- decent  least, wure

    icularly attracted by the arching and sheaf-like

    top of t brings back to our er

    memories, and is among t loves to copy, and which,

    in table kingdom, ion to types already in

    t astronomy  is an antique style, older

    tian.  Many of ter are

    suggestive of an inexpressible tenderness and fragile delicacy.  e

    are accustomed to erous

    tyrant; but leness of a lover resses of

    Summer.

    At t under my house,

    t a time, directly under my feet as I sat reading or ing,

    and kept up t chuckling and chirruping and vocal

    pirouetting and gurgling sounds t ever were heard; and when I

    stamped t all fear and

    respect in ty to stop them.  No, you

    dont -- co my

    arguments, or failed to perceive to a strain

    of invective t ible.

    t sparroh younger

    silvery warblings he

    partially bare and moist fields from the song sparrow,

    and t flakes of er tinkled as they

    fell!   at sucime are ories, craditions,

    and all ten revelations?  to

    the meadow, is already

    seeking t slimy life t ahe sinking sound of

    melting snow is he ice dissolves apace in

    the hillsides like a spring fire

    -- quot;et primitus oritur aquot; -- as if

    t fort to greet turning sun; not

    yello green is ts flame; -- the symbol of

    perpetual youtreams

    from to t, but anon

    pusing its spear of last years he

    fres groeadily as t of the

    ground.  It is almost identical , for in the growing days

    of June, wheir

    co year t this perennial

    green stream, and t betimes ter

    supply.  So our  dies doo its root, and still puts

    forts green blade to eternity.

    alden is melting apace.  two rods wide along

    terly sides, and ill at t end.

    A great field of ice he main body.  I hear a

    song sparro, olit,

    olit -- coo

    is o crack it.   sweeping curves in

    t to t

    more regular!  It is unusually o t severe but

    transient cold, and all ered or

    ts opaque surface in vain, till it

    reac is glorious to behis

    ribbon of er sparkling in the pond full

    of glee and yout spoke t,

    and of ts she scales

    of a leuciscus, as it ive fishe

    contrast beter and spring.  alden was dead and is alive

    again.  But t broke up more steadily, as I have said.

    torm and er to serene and mild her,

    from dark and sluggiso brigic ones, is a

    memorable crisis w is seemingly

    instantaneous at last.  Suddenly an influx of light filled my house,

    t er still

    over, and ty rain.  I looked

    out terday here lay

    transparent pond already calm and full of hope as in a summer

    evening, reflecting a summer evening sky in its bosom, though none

    e

    ance, t I had heard for

    many a t,  for

    many a t and powerful song as of yore.

    O t the end of a New England summer day!  If I

    could ever find twig s upon!  I mean wig.

    t least is not turdus migratorius.  tch pines and

    s my house, which had so long drooped, suddenly

    resumed ters, looked brighter, greener, and more

    erect and alive, as if effectually cleansed and restored by the

    rain.  I kne it  rain any more.  You may tell by

    looking at any t, ay, at your very wood-pile,

    er is past or not.  As it grew darker, I was

    startled by the woods, like

    ravellers getting in late from Southern lakes, and indulging

    at last in unrestrained complaint and mutual consolation.  Standing

    at my door, I could bear their wings; when, driving

    toh hushed

    clamor  the

    door, and passed my first spring nighe woods.

    In tche

    mist, sailing in ty rods off, so large

    and tumultuous t alden appeared like an artificial pond for

    t.  But  once rose up

    flapping of  their commander, and

    o rank circled about over my y-nine

    of teered straigo Canada, h a regular honk

    from t intervals, trusting to break t in

    muddier pools.  A quot;plumpquot; of ducks rose at time and took

    te to their noisier cousins.

    For a week I he circling, groping clangor of some

    solitary goose in ts companion, and

    still peopling they

    could sustain.  In April the pigeons were seen again flying express

    in small flocks, and in due time I ins ttering over

    my clearing, t  seemed t townsained so

    many t it could afford me any, and I fancied t they were

    peculiarly of t race t d in rees ere we

    men came.  In almost all climes tortoise and the frog are among

    th song

    and glancing plumage, and plants spring and bloom, and winds blow,

    to correct t oscillation of the

    equilibrium of nature.

    As every season seems best to us in its turn, so the coming in

    of spring is like tion of Cosmos out of Che

    realization of the Golden Age.--

    quot;Eurus ad Auroram Nabat,

    Persidaque, et radiis juga subdita matutinis.quot;

    quot;t-ind o Aurora and thean kingdom,

    And the morning rays.

    . . . . . . .

    Man ificer of things,

    tter world, made he divine seed;

    Or t and lately sundered from the high

    Etained some seeds of cognate ;

    A single gentle rain makes the grass many shades greener.  So

    our prospects brigter ts.  e should

    be blessed if  alook advantage of

    every accident t befell us, like the

    influence of test de falls on it; and did not spend

    our time in atoning for t of past opportunities, which we

    call doing our duty.  e loiter in er w is already

    spring.  In a pleasant spring morning all mens sins are forgiven.

    Sucruce to vice.   to burn,

    t sinner may return.  through our own recovered innocence

    he innocence of our neighbors.  You may have known your

    neigerday for a t, and

    merely pitied or despised  the

    sun s and  spring morning, recreating the

    some serene work, and see  is

    exed and debaucill joy and bless the

    nehe innocence of infancy,

    and all s are forgotten.  t only an atmosphere

    of good   even a savor of holiness groping for

    expression, blindly and ineffectually perhaps, like a new-born

    instinct, and for a s o no

    vulgar jest.  You see some innocent fair ss preparing to burst

    from ry anotender and fresh

    as t plant.  Even ered into the joy of his

    Lord.   leave open his prison doors -- why

    t dismis

    dismiss ion!  It is because t obey t

    he pardon which he freely offers

    to all.

    quot;A return to goodness produced eacranquil and

    beneficent breat in respect to the love

    of virtue and tred of vice, one approactle the

    primitive nature of man, as ts of t which has been

    felled.  In like manner terval of a

    day prevents tues wo spring up again

    from developing troys them.

    quot;After tue ed many times

    from developing t breath of evening

    does not suffice to preserve th of evening

    does not suffice longer to preserve ture of man

    does not differ muc of te.  Men seeing ture

    of t of te, t he has never

    possessed te faculty of reason.  Are true and

    natural sentiments of man?quot;

    quot;t created, w any avenger

    Spontaneously  laitude.

    Punis and fear ; nor ening words read

    On suspended brass; nor did t crowd fear

    t  an avenger.

    Not yet ts mountains had descended

    to t it might see a foreign world,

    And mortals kneheir own.

    . . . . . . .

    ternal spring, and placid zeph warm

    Blasts soot seed.quot;

    On the

    river near tanding on the quaking

    grass and s, ws lurk, I heard a singular

    rattling sound, some of ticks which boys play

    and

    graceful ernately soaring like a ripple

    and tumbling a rod or two over and over, she under side of

    its he

    pearly inside of a s reminded me of falconry and

    ry are associated  sport.  the

    Merlin it seemed to me it mig I care not for its

    name.  It  et I nessed.  It did

    not simply flutter like a butterfly, nor soar like the larger hawks,

    but it sported ing

    again and again s strange c repeated its free and

    beautiful fall, turning over and over like a kite, and then

    recovering from its lofty tumbling, as if it  its foot

    on terra firma.  It appeared to he universe --

    sporting to need none but the

    et played.  It  lonely, but made all the

    eart.   s

    kindred, and its fatenant of t

    seemed related to t by an egg cime in the

    crevice of a crag; -- or s native nest made in the angle of a

    cloud, rimmings and t sky, and

    lined  midsummer  up from earts eyry

    now some cliffy cloud.

    Beside t a rare mess of golden and silver and bright

    cupreous fisring of jewels.  Ah! I have

    penetrated to t spring

    day, jumping from o  to willow

    root, whed in so

    pure and brig as would hey had

    been slumbering in there needs no

    stronger proof of immortality.  All t live in such a

    liging?  O Grave, why

    victory, then?

    Our village life agnate if it  for the

    unexplored forests and meadoonic

    of o imes in marstern and

    to smell the

    wary fowl

    builds , and ts belly close to the

    ground.  At time t  to explore and learn

    all t all terious and

    unexplorable, t land and sea be infinitely wild, unsurveyed and

    unfathomable.  e can never have enough of

    nature.  e must be refres of inexible vigor,

    vast and titanic features, t s he

    s living and its decaying trees, the

    ts three weeks and produces

    fress.  e need to ness our os transgressed, and some

    life pasturing freely where we never wander.  e are cheered when we

    observe ture feeding on ts and

    disens us, and deriving rengt.

    to my house, which

    compelled me sometimes to go out of my

    gave me of trong

    appetite and inviolable ure ion for

    to see t Nature is so rife  myriads

    can be afforded to be sacrificed and suffered to prey on one

    anot tender organizations can be so serenely squas

    of existence like pulp -- tadpoles which herons gobble up, and

    tortoises and toads run over in t sometimes it has

    rained flesy to accident,  see

    tle account is to be made of it.  the impression made on a

    of universal innocence.  Poison is not poisonous

    after all, nor are any al.  Compassion is a very untenable

    ground.  It must be expeditious.  Its pleadings  bear to be

    stereotyped.

    Early in May, trees, just

    putting out amidst ted a

    brigo the landscape, especially in cloudy

    days, as if ts and sly

    on th of May I

    sa h I

    he wood

    pehrush

    long before.  t

    my door and o see if my house was cavern-like enough for

    aining alons, as if

    she

    sulpche

    stones and rotten  you could have

    collected a barrelful.  t;sulp; we bear of.

    Even in Calidas drama of Sacontala, ;rills dyed yellow

    of tus.quot;  And so t rolling

    on into summer, as one rambles into higher and higher grass.

    t years life in ted; and the

    second year o it.  I finally left alden September 6th,

    1847.

 Conclusion

    to tors wisely recommend a change of air and

    scenery.  t all the buckeye does

    not grohe mockingbird is rarely heard here.

    te t

    in Canada, takes a lunche

    nigo some extent, keeps

    pace ures of the Colorado only

    till a greener and ser grass as one.  Yet

    if rail fences are pulled doone walls piled

    up on our farms, bounds are  to our lives and our

    fates decided.  If you are co

    go to tierra del Fuego t you may go to the land of

    infernal fire neverthan our views of

    it.

    Yet afferel of our craft, like

    curious passengers, and not make tupid sailors

    picking oakum.  t the home of our

    correspondent.  Our voyaging is only great-circle sailing, and the

    doctors prescribe for diseases of tens to

    souto c surely t is not the

    game er.   giraffes

    if ; but I

    trust it o s ones self.--

    quot;Direct your eye right inward, and youll find

    A thousand regions in your mind

    Yet undiscovered.  travel them, and be

    Expert in ;

    does Africa --  stand for?  Is not our own

    interior ? black t may prove, like the

    coast, he Niger,

    or t Passage around tinent,

    t  concern

    mankind?  Is Franklin t, t his wife should

    be so earnest to find him?  Does Mr. Grinnell know where he himself

    is?  Be rathe Lewis and Clark and Frobisher, of

    your oreams and oceans; explore your oudes --

    s to support you, if they be

    necessary; and pile ty cans sky-high for a sign.  ere

    preserved meats invented to preserve meat merely?  Nay, be a

    Columbus to s and hin you, opening new

    c of trade, but of t.  Every man is the lord of a

    realm beside ty

    state, a  by t some can be patriotic who

    , and sacrifice ter to they

    love t h

    t e triotism is a

    maggot in t  South-Sea

    Exploring Expedition, s parade and expense, but an

    indirect recognition of t t tinents and seas

    in to

    unexplored by  t it is easier to sail many thousand miles

    torm and cannibals, in a government sh

    five o assist one, t is to explore the

    private sea, tlantic and Pacific Ocean of ones being alone.

    quot;Erret, et extremos alter scrutetur Iberos.

    Plus  ae, plus  ille viae.quot;

    Let tinize tlandisralians.

    I he road.

    It is not o go round to count ts in

    Zanzibar.  Yet do till you can do better, and you may

    per;Symmes ; by  at t

    last.  England and France, Spain and Portugal, Gold Coast and Slave

    Coast, all front on te sea; but no bark from them has

    ventured out of sig is  doubt t

    o India.  If you o speak all tongues and conform

    to toms of all nations, if you ravel farthan all

    travellers, be naturalized in all climes, and cause to

    das a stone, even obey t of the old

    phe eye and

    ted and deserters go to the wars, cowards

    t run a.  Start no fart ern way,

    t

    to C leads on direct, a tangent to

    ter, day and night, sun down, moon down,

    and at last eartoo.

    It is said t Mirabeau took to ;to ascertain

    ion o place ones self

    in formal opposition to t sacred lay.quot;  he

    declared t quot;a soldier  require

    padquot; -- quot;t honor and religion have

    never stood in t;

    t it

    desperate.  A saner man would en enoug;in

    formal oppositionquot; to ;t sacred laws of

    society,quot; to yet more sacred laws, and so have

    tested ion  going out of  is not for a

    man to put titude to society, but to maintain

    ever attitude o

    tion to a

    just government, if o meet h such.

    I left t there.  Perhaps

    it seemed to me t I o live, and could not

    spare any more time for t one.  It is remarkable how easily and

    insensibly o a particular route, and make a beaten track

    for ourselves.  I  lived t wore a

    pato t is five or six

    years since I trod it, it is still quite distinct.  It is true, I

    fear, t oto it, and so o keep it

    open.  t and impressible by t

    of men; and so ravels.  how worn and

    dusty, t be ts of

    tradition and conformity!  I did not ake a cabin passage,

    but rato go before t and on the world, for

    t see t amid tains.  I do not

    wiso go below now.

    I learned t least, by my experiment: t if one advances

    confidently in tion of o live

    t h a success

    unexpected in common  some things behind, will

    pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws

    o establishe old

    laerpreted in his favor in a more liberal

    sense, and he license of a higher order of

    beings.  In proportion as he

    universe ude  be

    solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness.  If you have

    built castles in t be lost; t is where

    t tions under them.

    It is a ridiculous demand w

    you s tand you.  Neither men nor

    toadstools gro ant, and t

    enougo understand you  ture could support

    but one order of understandings, could not sustain birds as well as

    quadrupeds, flying as hings, and hush and whoa,

    and,  Englishere

    y in stupidity alone.  I fear c my expression

    may not be extravagant enoug wander far enoughe

    narros of my daily experience, so as to be adequate to the

    trutra vagance! it depends on

    ing buffalo, wures

    in anotitude, is not extravagant like the cow which kicks

    over ter her calf, in

    milking time.  I desire to speak somew bounds; like a

    man in a , to men in ts; for I am

    convinced t I cannot exaggerate enougo lay tion

    of a true expression.   rain of music feared

    t ravagantly any more forever?  In view

    of ture or possible, we se laxly and undefined

    in front, our outlines dim and misty on t side; as our shadows

    reveal an insensible perspiration toile

    trutinually betray the

    residual statement.  trutantly translated; its

    literal monument alone remains.  th

    and piety are not definite; yet t and fragrant

    like frankincense to superior natures.

    o our dullest perception always, and praise

    t as common sense?  t sense is the sense of men

    asleep, o

    class tted ted,

    because e only a t of t.  Some would

    find fault  up early enough.

    quot;tend,quot; as I ;t the verses of Kabir have four

    different senses; illusion, spirit, intellect, and teric

    doctrine of t;; but in t of t is

    considered a ground for complaint if a mans ings admit of more

    terpretation.  o cure the

    potato-rot,  any endeavor to cure t, which

    prevails so mucally?

    I do not suppose t I tained to obscurity, but I should

    be proud if no more fatal fault his

    score tomers

    objected to its blue color, y, as

    if it e,

    but tastes of y men love is like ts which

    envelop t like ther beyond.

    Some are dinning in our ears t we Americans, and moderns

    generally, are intellectual ds, or

    even t  to the purpose?  A

    living dog is better than a dead lion.  Shall a man go and hang

    o t be the

    biggest pygmy t  every one mind his own business, and

    endeavor to be w he was made.

    e e to succeed and in such

    desperate enterprises?  If a man does not keep pace h his

    companions, per is because  drummer.  Let

    ep to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.

    It is not important t ure as soon as an apple tree

    or an oak.  Surn o summer?  If tion

    of t yet, y

    ute?  e  be shipwrecked on a vain

    reality.  S a heaven of blue glass over

    ourselves, t is done ill at

    true et?

    tist in ty of Kouroo wo

    strive after perfection.  One day it came into o make a

    staff.   in an imperfect ime is an

    ingredient, but into a perfect ime does not enter, o

    s in all respects, though I should do

    notantly to t for

    it s be made of unsuitable

    material; and as ed stick after stick, his

    friends gradually deserted heir works and

    died, but  older by a moment.  his singleness of purpose

    and resolution, and ed piety, endowed  his

    knoh

    time, time kept out of  a distance

    because  overcome ock in

    all respects suitable ty of Kouroo was a hoary ruin, and he

    sat on one of its mounds to peel tick.  Before

    ty of t an end, and

    of tick e t of t

    race in time he had

    smootaff Kalpa ar;

    and ere  on th precious

    stones, Braimes.  But why do I

    stay to mention troke  to

    suddenly expanded before tonished

    artist into t of all tions of Brahma.  he had made

    a neem in making a staff, a h full and fair

    proportions; in ies had

    passed aheir places.

    And now ill fres ,

    t, for ime had been an

    illusion, and t no more time han is required for a

    single scintillation from to fall on and inflame

    tinder of a mortal brain.  terial was pure, and

    han wonderful?

    No face ter ead us so

    last as trut part, we

    are not ion.  ty

    of our natures,  ourselves into it, and

    time, and it is doubly difficult

    to get out.  In sane moments s, t

    is.  Say  h is

    better tom inker, standing on the

    gallo;tell tailors,quot;

    said ;to remember to make a knot in they

    take t stitc;  ten.

    it and live it; do not s

    and call it  is not so bad as you are.  It looks

    poorest -finder s

    even in paradise.  Love your life, poor as it is.  You may perhaps

    , thrilling, glorious hours, even in a poorhouse.

    tting sun is reflected from the almshouse as

    brigs before its

    door as early in t see but a quiet mind may live

    as contentedly ts, as in a palace.

    too me often to live t independent lives

    of any.  Maybe t enougo receive

    misgiving.  Most t ted by the

    to it oftener  t above supporting

    t means, wable.

    Cultivate poverty like a garden  trouble

    yourself muco get neurn

    turn to t change; we change.  Sell

    your clots.  God  you do not

    society.  If I o a corner of a garret all my

    days, like a spider, t as large to me while I

    s about me.  t;From an army of

    take as general, and put it in

    disorder; from t abject and vulgar one cannot take

    a;  Do not seek so anxiously to be developed, to

    subject yourself to many influences to be played on; it is all

    dissipation.  y like darkness reveals ts.

    ty and meanness gat;and lo!

    creation o our vie;  e are often reminded t if there

    o still be

    tially the same.  Moreover, if you are

    restricted in your range by poverty, if you cannot buy books and

    neance, you are but confined to t

    significant and vital experiences; you are compelled to deal h

    terial  starc is

    life near t is sest.  You are defended from

    being a trifler.  No man loses ever on a loy

    on a ies only.  Money

    is not required to buy one necessary of the soul.

    I live in to wion was

    poured a little alloy of bell-metal.  Often, in the repose of my

    mid-day, tintinnabulum from

    .  It is temporaries.  My neigell

    me of tures lemen and ladies, w

    notabilities t at table; but I am no more

    interested in sucents of times.

    terest and tion are about costume and manners

    c a goose is a goose still, dress it as you hey

    tell me of California and texas, of England and the

    ts, all transient and

    fleeting pill I am ready to leap from t-yard

    like t to come to my bearings -- not walk

    in procession  to

    to live

    in tless, nervous, bustling, trivial Nineteentury, but

    stand or sit tfully w goes by.   are men

    celebrating?  ttee of arrangements, and

    a speec of

    ter is or.  I love to tle, to

    gravitate to rongly and rigtracts

    me -- not ry to weig

    suppose a case, but take t is; to travel th I

    can, and t on  affords me no

    satisfaction to commerce to spring an arc a solid

    foundation.  Let us not play at kittly-benders.  there is a solid

    bottom everyraveller asked the

    som.  t it had.

    But presently travellers o ths, and he

    observed to t;I t you said t this bog had a hard

    bottom.quot;  quot;So it ; anster, quot;but you  got

    o it yet.quot;  So it is he bogs and quicksands of

    society; but  kno.  Only ,

    said, or done at a certain rare coincidence is good.  I  be

    one of to mere lath and

    plastering; sucs.  Give me a

    me feel for t depend on the

    putty.  Drive a nail  so fait you can

    and tisfaction -- a

    he Muse.  So will

    her

    rivet in the work.

    Ratrut

    at a table where were rich food and wine in abundance, and

    obsequious attendance, but sincerity and trut; and I

    aality was as

    cold as t t to freeze

    talked to me of the

    vintage; but I t of an older, a newer, and purer wine, of a

    more glorious vintage, , and could not buy.

    tyle, t;entertainmentquot; pass for

    not  in his

    ed like a man incapacitated for ality.  there

    was a man in my neigree.  his

    manners ruly regal.  I ster had I called on

    him.

    in our porticoes practising idle and musty

    virtues, ?  As if one o

    begin to hoe his

    potatoes; and in ternoon go forto practise Cian

    meekness and cy !  Consider the China

    pride and stagnant self-complacency of mankind.  tion

    inclines a little to congratulate itself on being t of an

    illustrious line; and in Boston and London and Paris and Rome,

    ts long descent, it speaks of its progress in art and

    science and literature isfaction.  the Records of

    ties, and t Men!

    It is templating ue.  quot;Yes, we have

    done great deeds, and sung divine songs, w; --

    t is, as long as ies and

    great men of Assyria -- hful philosophers

    and experimentalists  one of my readers who has

    yet lived a hs in

    tch, we have

    not seen teen-year locust yet in Concord.  e are

    acquainted

    delved six feet beneathe surface, nor leaped as many

    above it.  e kno where we are.  Beside, we are sound asleep

    nearly ime.  Yet eem ourselves wise, and have an

    establisruly, hinkers, we

    are ambitious spirits!  As I stand over t crahe

    pine needles on t floor, and endeavoring to conceal itself

    from my sig will chose humble

    ts, and bide its , pers

    benefactor, and impart to its race some cion, I am

    reminded of ter Benefactor and Intelligence t stands over

    me t.

    t influx of novelty into t

    olerate incredible dulness.  I need only suggest w kind of

    sermons are still listened to in t enligries.

    t the burden

    of a psalm, sung wang, whe

    ordinary and mean.  e t we can ches only.

    It is said t tisable,

    and t ted States are a first-rate po

    believe t a tide rises and falls be

    tis in his

    mind.   sort of seventeen-year locust  come

    out of t of t

    framed, like t of Britain, in after-dinner conversations over the

    wine.

    ter in t may rise this

    year , and flood the parched

    uplands; even tful year, w

    all our muskrats.  It  always dry land where we dwell.  I see

    far inland tream anciently washed, before

    science began to record its fress.  Every one ory

    iful

    bug able of apple-tree

    cy years, first

    in Connecticut, and afters -- from an egg

    deposited in tree many years earlier still, as appeared

    by counting t; w

    for several weeks, c of an urn.  ho

    does not feel ion and immortality

    strengt beautiful and

    winged life, whose egg has been buried for ages under many

    concentric layers of y,

    deposited at first in tree,

    o ts

    omb --  now for years by

    tonis round tive board --

    may unexpectedly come fort societys most trivial and

    ure, to enjoy its perfect summer life at last!

    I do not say t Jo

    sucer of t morrow wime can

    never make to da  our eyes is darkness

    to us.  Only t day dao where is more

    day to da a morning star.

 ON THE DUTY OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE

    I ily accept tto, -- quot;t government is best which

    governs leastquot;; and I so see it acted up to more rapidly

    and systematically.  Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which

    also I believe, -- quot;t government is best

    allquot;; and  he kind of

    government  best but an

    expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are

    sometimes, inexpedient.  tions w

    against a standing army, and ty, and deserve

    to prevail, may also at last be broug a standing

    government.  tanding army is only an arm of tanding

    government.  t itself, whe

    people o execute to be

    abused and perverted before t t.  itness

    t Mexican ively a few individuals

    using tanding government as tool; for, in tset, the

    people  ed to this measure.

    t --  but a tradition, though a

    recent one, endeavoring to transmit itself unimpaired to posterity,

    but eacant losing some of its integrity?  It  the

    vitality and force of a single living man; for a single man can bend

    it to  is a sort of o the people

    t it is not the

    people must ed macs

    din, to satisfy t idea of government whey have.

    Governments shus how successfully men can be imposed on, even

    impose on tage.  It is excellent, we

    must all allo t never of itself furthered any

    enterprise, but by ty  got out of its way.

    It does not keep try free.  It does not settle t.  It

    does not educate.  ter in in the American people has

    done all t  would

    more, if t  sometimes got in its way.  For

    government is an expedient by which men would fain succeed in

    letting one anot is most

    expedient, t let alone by it.  trade and

    commerce, if t made of India rubber, would never manage

    to bounce over tacles inually

    putting in to judge these men wholly by

    ts of tions, and not partly by tentions,

    to be classed and punishose mischievous

    persons ructions on the railroads.

    But, to speak practically and as a citizen, unlike those who

    call t men, I ask for, not at once no

    government, but at once a better government.  Let every man make

    kno

    ep toaining it.

    After all, tical reason whe power is once in

    ty are permitted, and for a long

    period continue, to rule, is not because t likely to be

    in t, nor because t to ty, but

    because trongest.  But a government in

    be based on justice,

    even as far as men understand it.  Can t be a government in

    virtually decide rig

    conscience? -- in ions to

    izen ever

    for a moment, or in t degree, resign o the

    legislator?   we

    s, and subjects after is not desirable to

    cultivate a respect for t.  the only

    obligation o assume is to do at any time w

    I t.  It is truly enoug a corporation has no

    conscience; but a corporation of conscientious men is a corporation

    more just; and, by

    means of t for it, even the well-disposed are daily made

    ts of injustice.  A common and natural result of an undue

    respect for la you may see a file of soldiers, colonel,

    captain, corporal, privates, powder-monkeys, and all, marching in

    admirable order over o t their wills,

    ay, against t very

    steep marcation of t.

    t t it is a damnable business in whey are

    concerned; t are they?

    Men at all? or small movable forts and magazines, at the service of

    some unscrupulous man in po the Navy Yard, and behold a

    marine, suc can make, or suc

    can make a man s black arts -- a mere shadow and reminiscence

    of y, a man laid out alive and standing, and already, as one

    may say, buried under arms s, t

    may be

    quot;Not a drum e,

    As o t we hurried;

    Not a soldier disc

    Oer t;

    tate t as men mainly, but as

    macanding army, and the

    militia, jailers, constables, posse comitatus, etc.  In most cases

    tever of t or of the moral

    sense; but t th and

    stones; and  will serve

    t traw

    or a lump of dirt.  t of h only as horses

    and dogs.  Yet suceemed good

    citizens.  Ot legislators, politicians, lawyers,

    ministers, and office-ate cheir

    inctions, they are as

    likely to serve t intending it, as God.  A very

    fes, martyrs, reformers in t sense, and

    men, serve tate heir consciences also, and so necessarily

    resist it for t part; and treated as

    enemies by it.  A wise man will only be useful as a man, and will

    not submit to be quot;clay,quot; and quot;stop a o keep t;

    but leave t office to  at least:--

    quot;I am too o be propertied,

    to be a secondary at control,

    Or useful serving-man and instrument

    to any sovereign state t t;

    irely to o them

    useless and selfis ially to them is

    pronounced a benefactor and p.

    become a man to beohis American

    government to-day?  I ans   disgrace be

    associated .  I cannot for an instant recognize t

    political organization as my government whe slaves

    government also.

    All men recognize t of revolution; t is, t to

    refuse allegiance to, and to resist, t, ws

    tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable.  But almost

    all say t suc t suchey

    tion of 75.  If one o tell me t this

    because it taxed certain foreign commodities

    brougo its ports, it is most probable t I s make an

    ado about it, for I can do  their

    friction; and possibly to counterbalance the

    evil.  At any rate, it is a great evil to make a stir about it.  But

    o s machine, and oppression and

    robbery are organized, I say, let us not have such a machine any

    longer.  In otion of a nation

    o be ty are slaves, and a

    ly overrun and conquered by a foreign army,

    and subjected to military la it is not too soon for

    men to rebel and revolutionize.   makes ty the

    more urgent is t t try so overrun is not our own,

    but ours is the invading army.

    Paley, a common auty ions, in his

    cer on t;Duty of Submission to Civil Government,quot; resolves

    all civil obligation into expediency; and o say t

    quot;so long as terest of ty requires it, t is,

    so long as tablis cannot be resisted or changed

    public inconveniency, it is t the

    establis be obeyed, and no longer....  this principle

    being admitted, tice of every particular case of resistance

    is reduced to a computation of tity of the danger and

    grievance on ty and expense of

    redressing it on t;  Of this, he says, every man shall

    judge for  Paley appears never to emplated

    to w apply, in which

    a people, as  do justice, cost

    may.  If I ly ed a plank from a dro

    restore it to o Paley,

    .  But  would save his life, in such a

    case, s.  t cease to o

    make  cost tence as a people.

    In tice, nations agree  does any one

    t Massacts does exactly

    crisis?

    quot;A drab of state, a clot,

    to rain borne up, and rail in t.quot;

    Practically speaking, ts to a reform in Massacts are

    not a icians at t a hundred

    ts and farmers erested in

    commerce and agriculture ty, and are not

    prepared to do justice to to Mexico, cost  may.

    I quarrel not   home,

    co-operate

    o say, t

    t improvement is slohe

    fe materially ter t is not so

    important t many s there be some

    absolute goodness somehe whole lump.

    to slavery and to the

    do noto put an end to them; who,

    esteeming ton and Franklin, sit down

    s, and say t t w

    to do, and do notpone tion of freedom to

    tion of free-trade, and quietly read t

    along est advices from Mexico, after dinner, and, it may

    be, fall asleep over t is t of an

    man and patriot to-day?  tate, and t, and

    sometimes tition; but t and h

    effect.  t, o remedy the

    evil, t t to regret.  At most, they give

    only a ce, and a feeble countenance and Godspeed, to the

    rig goes by ty-nine

    patrons of virtue to one virtuous man; but it is easier to deal

    emporary guardian

    of it.

    All voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers or backgammon,

    moral tinge to it, a playing  and wrong,

    ions; and betting naturally accompanies it.  the

    cer of ters is not staked.  I cast my vote, perchance,

    as I t; but I am not vitally concerned t t right

    so leave it to ty.  Its

    obligation, t of expediency.  Even

    voting for t is doing not.  It is only expressing

    to men feebly your desire t it should prevail.  A wise man will

    not leave t to t to prevail

    ty.  t little virtue in

    tion of masses of men.  y s lengte

    for tion of slavery, it hey are

    indifferent to slavery, or because t little slavery left

    to be abolise.  the only slaves.

    Only e can en tion of slavery ws his

    own freedom by e.

    I ion to be  Baltimore, or elsewhere,

    for tion of a candidate for the Presidency, made up chiefly

    of editors, and men  I think,

    to any independent, intelligent, and respectable man w

    decision to?  S age of his

    count upon some

    independent votes?  Are t many individuals in try

    tend conventions?  But no: I find t table

    man, so called, ely drifted from ion, and

    despairs of ry, wry o despair

    of s one of tes ted as

    t he is himself available

    for any purposes of te is of no more h

    t of any unprincipled foreigner or ive, who may

    .  Oh for a man who is a man, and, as my neighbor

    says,  pass your hand

    tatistics are at fault: tion has been

    returned too large.  o a square thousand

    miles in try?   America offer any

    inducement for men to settle o

    an Odd Fellow -- one w of his

    organ of gregariousness, and a manifest lack of intellect and

    c and chief concern, on coming

    into to see t the almshouses are in good repair;

    and, before yet o collect a

    fund for t of t may be; who, in

    s ventures to live only by tual Insurance

    company, wo bury ly.

    It is not a mans duty, as a matter of course, to devote himself

    to tion of any, even t enormous wrong; he may

    still properly o engage  it is his

    duty, at least, to was, and, if  no

    t longer, not to give it practically .  If I devote

    myself to ots and contemplations, I must first see, at

    least, t I do not pursue tting upon another mans

    s get off , t he may pursue his

    contemplations too.  See ency is tolerated.  I

    o;I so hem

    order me out to  doion of to

    marco Mexico; -- see if I ;; and yet these very men have

    eacly by tly, at least, by

    titute.  the soldier is applauded who

    refuses to serve in an unjust  refuse to

    sustain t government whe war; is applauded by

    t and auty s at naught;

    as if tate ent to t degree t it o

    scourge it  not to t degree t it left off

    sinning for a moment.  the name of Order and Civil

    Government,  last to pay o and support our

    oer t bluss indifference;

    and from immoral it becomes, as it  quite

    unnecessary to t life which we have made.

    t and most prevalent error requires t

    disinterested virtue to sustain it.  t reproaco which

    tue of patriotism is commonly liable, t

    likely to incur.  ter

    and measures of a government, yield to it their allegiance and

    support are undoubtedly its most conscientious supporters, and so

    frequently t serious obstacles to reform.  Some are

    petitioning tate to dissolve to disregard the

    requisitions of t.   dissolve it

    tate -- and

    refuse to pay ta into its treasury?  Do not tand in

    tion to tate, t tate does to the Union?

    And  ted tate from resisting the

    Union, ing tate?

    isfied to entertain an opinion merely, and

    enjoy it?  Is t in it, if  he

    is aggrieved?  If you are ced out of a single dollar by your

    neig rest satisfied  you are

    ced, or  you are ced, or even h

    petitioning o pay you your due; but you take effectual steps at

    once to obtain t, and see t you are never ced

    again.  Action from principle -- tion and the performance

    of rigions; it is essentially

    revolutionary, and does not consist whing which was.

    It not only divides states and c divides families; ay, it

    divides ting the

    divine.

    Unjust la; sent to obey them, or shall we

    endeavor to amend til we have succeeded, or

    sransgress t once?  Men generally, under such a

    government as t t to  until they have

    persuaded ty to alter t, if they

    s, t it is

    t of t itself t the

    evil.  It makes it  more apt to anticipate and

    provide for reform?   not cs y?  hy

    does it cry and resist before it is ?   not encourage

    its citizens to be on t to point out its faults, and do

    better t would  always crucify C,

    and excommunicate Copernicus and Luton

    and Franklin rebels?

    One  a deliberate and practical denial of its

    auty emplated by government;

    else,  assigned its definite, its suitable and

    proportionate, penalty?  If a man

    once to earn nine sate,  in prison for a

    period unlimited by any la I knoermined only by the

    discretion of t if eal

    ninety times nine sate, ted to

    go at large again.

    If tice is part of tion of the

    mac, let it go, let it go; perc will wear

    smootainly t.  If tice has

    a spring, or a pulley, or a rope, or a crank, exclusively for

    itself, t be

    if it is of sucure t it requires

    you to be t of injustice to anothe

    la your life be a counter friction to stop t

    I o do is to see, at any rate, t I do not lend myself to

    the wrong which I condemn.

    As for adopting tate has provided for

    remedying t of sucake too much

    time, and a mans life tend

    to.  I came into t co make this a good place

    to live in, but to live in it, be it good or bad.  A man

    everyto do, but somet do

    everyt is not necessary t hing wrong.

    It is not my business to be petitioning the

    Legislature any more t is to petition me; and if they

    s ition, his

    case tate s very Constitution is the

    evil.  to be ubborn and unconciliatory;

    but it is to treat most kindness and consideration the

    only spirit t can appreciate or deserves it.  So is an change for

    tter, like birthe body.

    I do not ate to say, t themselves

    Abolitionists s once effectually ,

    boty, from t of Massacts,

    and not  till titute a majority of one, before they

    suffer t to prevail t it is enough

    if t ing for t other one.

    Moreover, any man more rigitutes a

    majority of one already.

    I meet t, or its representative, the

    State government, directly, and face to face, once a year -- no more

    -- in ts tax-gathe only mode in which

    a man situated as I am necessarily meets it; and it then says

    distinctly, Recognize me; and t, t effectual, and,

    in t posture of affairs, t mode of

    treating  on ttle

    satisfaction , is to deny it then.  My civil

    neigax-gato deal h --

    for it is, after all,   t I quarrel

    -- and arily co be an agent of t.

    he

    government, or as a man, until o consider wher he

    sreat me, , as a neighbor

    and urber of the peace,

    and see if  over truction to his neighborliness

    a ruder and more impetuous t or speech corresponding

    ion?  I kno if one thousand, if one

    en men wen  men only --

    ay, if one  man, in tate of Massacts, ceasing to

    ually to nership, and

    be locked up in ty jail t ion

    of slavery in America.  For it matters not he beginning

    may seem to be:  we love

    better to talk about it: t we say is our mission.  Reform keeps

    many scores of nes service, but not one man.  If my

    esteemed neigates ambassador, we his days

    to ttlement of tion of s in the Council

    Cead of being tened he prisons of Carolina,

    o sit dots, t State which is

    so anxious to foist ter -- t

    present s of inality to be the

    ground of a quarrel ure  wholly

    ter.

    Under a government rue place

    for a just man is also a prison.  to-day, the only

    place wts has provided for her freer and less

    desponding spirits, is in o be put out and locked out

    of tate by , as t t

    by t is t tive slave, and the

    Mexican prisoner on parole, and to plead the wrongs

    of  separate, but more free and

    ate places t h

    against ate in which a

    free man can abide  their influence

    t the ear of

    tate, t t be as an enemy s hey

    do not knoronger than error, nor how much

    more eloquently and effectively  injustice who has

    experienced a little in  your  a

    strip of paper merely, but your wy is

    poo ty; it is not even a

    minority t it is irresistible s whole

    ive is to keep all just men in prison, or

    give up ate  ate wo

    c to pay tax-bills this

    year, t  be a violent and bloody measure, as it would be

    to pay tate to commit violence and shed

    innocent blood.  t, tion of a peaceable

    revolution, if any sucax-gatherer, or any

    ot;But w shall I

    do?quot; my ans;If you really hing, resign your

    office.quot;   he officer

    ion is accomplis

    even suppose blood s a sort of blood shed

    whis wound a mans real

    manality flo, and o an everlasting

    deathis blood flowing now.

    I emplated t of ther

    the same

    purpose -- because t t right, and

    consequently are most dangerous to a corrupt State, commonly have

    not spent mucime in accumulating property.  to sucate

    renders comparatively small service, and a sligax is  to

    appear exorbitant, particularly if to earn it by

    special labor here were one who lived wholly

    tate itself e to demand

    it of  t to make any invidious comparison

    -- is alo titution which makes him rich.

    Absolutely speaking, tue; for money

    comes betains them for him; and

    it ainly no great virtue to obtain it.  It puts to rest many

    questions o answer; whe

    only neion s is t superfluous one, how

    to spend it.  taken from under .

    tunities of living are diminision as w are

    called t;meansquot; are increased.  t thing a man can do for

    ure o carry out those

    scertained he

    o tion.  quot;She

    tribute-money,quot; said ook a penny out of ;

    -- if you use money w, and which

    and valuable, t is, if you are men of the

    State, and gladly enjoy tages of Caesars government, then

    pay ; quot;Render therefore

    to Caesar t hings which are

    Godsquot; -- leaving to which was which;

    for t wiso know.

    of my neighbors, I perceive

    t,  tude and seriousness of

    tion, and tranquillity, the long

    and t of tter is, t t spare the

    protection of ting government, and the

    consequences to ty and families of disobedience to it.

    For my o, I s like to t I ever rely on the

    protection of tate.  But, if I deny ty of tate

    s its tax-bill, it ake and e all my

    property, and so  end.  this is

    impossible for a man to live ly, and at

    time comfortably in outs.  It  be h

    to accumulate property; t o go again.

    You must  somew a small crop, and

    eat t soon.  You must live hin yourself, and depend upon

    yourself alucked up and ready for a start, and not have many

    affairs.  A man may grow ricurkey even, if he will be in all

    respects a good subject of turkis.  Confucius said,

    quot;If a state is governed by ty and

    misery are subjects of sate is not governed by the

    principles of reason, rics of s;

    No: until I  tection of Massacts to be extended to

    me in some distant Sout, wy is endangered, or

    until I am bent solely on building up an estate at home by peaceful

    enterprise, I can afford to refuse allegiance to Massacts, and

    to my property and life.  It costs me less in every sense

    to incur ty of disobedience to tate t o

    obey.  I s case.

    Some years ago, tate met me in behe Church, and

    commanded me to pay a certain sum to of a clergyman

    never I myself.  quot;Pay,quot; it

    said, quot;or be locked up in t;  I declined to pay.  But,

    unfortunately, anot to pay it.  I did not see whe

    scer saxed to support t, and not the

    priest ter: for I  tates scer, but

    I supported myself by voluntary subscription.  I did not see whe

    lyceum s present its tax-bill, and ate to back

    its demand, as  t of the

    selectmen, I condescended to make some sucatement as this in

    ing:-- quot;Knos, t I, horeau,

    do not ed society

    ;  to town clerk; and he has

    it.  tate,  I did not wiso be

    regarded as a member of t church, has never made a like demand on

    me since; t said t it must ado its original

    presumption t time.  If I o name them, I should

    tail from all ties which I never

    signed on to; but I did not knoe list.

    I ax for six years.  I  into a jail

    once on t, for one nigood considering the

    one, t the door of wood and

    iron, a foot ting , I

    could not ruck  institution

    ed me as if I were mere fleso be

    locked up.  I  it s lengt

    t use it could put me to, and  to

    avail itself of my services in some , if there was a

    one betoill more

    difficult one to climb or break t to be

    as free as I  for a moment feel confined, and the

    e of stone and mortar.  I felt as if I

    alone of all my to know

    o treat me, but behaved like persons who are underbred.  In

    every t and in every compliment they

    t t my co stand t

    stone  but smile to see riously they

    locked tations, w again

    let or  was

    dangerous.  As t reaco punish

    my body; just as boys, if t come at some person against

    ate

    ed, t it imid as a lone h her silver

    spoons, and t it did not knos friends from its foes, and I

    lost all my remaining respect for it, and pitied it.

    tate never intentionally confronts a mans sense,

    intellectual or moral, but only  is not

    armed  or y, but h superior physical

    strengt born to be forced.  I er my own

    fas us see .   force has a

    multitude?  than I.

    to become like t hear of men being

    forced to  by masses of men.   sort of life

    to live?   a government ;Your

    money or your life,quot; o give it my money?

    It may be in a great strait, and not knoo do: I cannot help

    t.  It must self; do as I do.  It is not he while

    to snivel about it.  I am not responsible for the successful working

    of ty.  I am not the engineer.  I

    perceive t,  fall side by side, the

    one does not remain inert to make  both obey

    t they can,

    till one, percroys t

    cannot live according to its nature, it dies; and so a man.

    t in prison eresting enoughe

    prisoners in t-sleeves he

    evening air in tered.  But the jailer said,

    quot;Come, boys, it is time to lock upquot;; and so they dispersed, and I

    eps returning into tments.

    My room-mate roduced to me by t;a first-rate

    fello;  he door was locked, he showed me

    ers the rooms

    , he

    , most simply furnisest apartment

    in toed to know where I came from, and

    w brougold him, I asked him in my

    turn o be an  man, of

    course; and, as t;; said he,

    quot;t I never did it.quot;  As near as

    I could discover, o bed in a barn when drunk,

    and smoked .  he

    reputation of being a clever man, hs

    ing for rial to come on, and  as much

    longer; but e domesticated and contented, since

    t reated.

    if one

    stayed to look out the

    s t  there, and

    examined w, and we

    ory of ts

    of t room; for I found t even ory and a

    gossip he jail.

    Probably town where verses are

    composed, ed in a circular form, but not

    publise a long list of verses which were

    composed by some young men ed in an attempt to

    escape, whem.

    I pumped my fellow-prisoner as dry as I could, for fear I should

    never see  at length he showed me which was my bed,

    and left me to blo the lamp.

    It ravelling into a far country, such as I had never

    expected to beo lie t.  It seemed to me

    t I never orike before, nor the evening

    sounds of t he windows open, which

    ing.  It o see my native village in the

    ligurned into a Rhine

    stream, and visions of knigles passed before me.  they

    I reets.  I was

    an involuntary spectator and auditor of wever was done and said

    in tc village-inn -- a wholly new and rare

    experience to me.  It ive town.  I was

    fairly inside of it.  I never s institutions before.

    ts peculiar institutions; for it is a sown.  I

    began to compre its inants .

    In ts  the

    door, in small oblong-square tin pans, made to fit, and holding a

    pint of ce, hey

    called for to return w

    bread I ; but my comrade seized it, and said t I should

    lay t up for luncer  out to work

    at  every day, and

    be back till noon; so  he

    doubted if he should see me again.

    of prison -- for some one interfered, and paid

    t tax -- I did not perceive t great caken place on

    t in a youth and emerged a

    tottering and gray- a co my eyes come

    over toate, and country -- greater than

    any t mere time could effect.  I sa more distinctly the

    State in ent the people among whom

    I lived could be trusted as good neig their

    friends t greatly

    propose to do rig tinct race from me by their

    prejudices and superstitions, as t

    in to y, t even to

    ty; t after all t so noble but they

    treated treated tain

    outicular

    straigime to time, to save their souls.

    to judge my neig many

    of t a titution as the jail

    in their village.

    It om in our village, wor

    came out of jail, for ances to salute him, looking

    to represent ting

    of a jail ;;  My neig te

    me, but first looked at me, and t one another, as if I had

    returned from a long journey.  I  into jail as I o

    to get a s out

    t morning, I proceeded to finis

    on my mended sy,  to

    put t; and in he

    ackled --  of a huckleberry field,

    on one of our  ate was

    nowo be seen.

    tory of quot;My Prisons.quot;

    I ax, because I am as

    desirous of being a good neig;

    and as for supporting sc to educate my

    fellorymen no is for no particular item in tax-bill

    t I refuse to pay it.  I simply o the

    State, to and aloof from it effectually.  I do not

    care to trace till it buys a

    man or a musket to s one  -- but I

    am concerned to trace ts of my allegiance.  In fact, I

    quietly declare ate, after my fashough I will

    still make  age of her I can, as is usual

    in such cases.

    If otax why

    ate, t heir own

    case, or rat injustice to a greater extent the

    State requires.  If tax from a mistaken interest in the

    individual taxed, to save y, or prevent o

    jail, it is because t considered wisely

    te feelings interfere he public good.

    tion at present.  But one cannot be too

    muc ion be biased by

    obstinacy or an undue regard for t him see

    t  belongs to o the hour.

    I times, hey are only

    ignorant; tter if they knew how: why give your

    neigo treat you as t inclined to?  But I

    they do, or

    permit oto suffer mucer pain of a different kind.

    Again, I sometimes say to myself,

    ,  ill- personal feeling of any kind, demand

    of you a fey, sucheir

    constitution, of retracting or altering t demand, and

    ty, on your side, of appeal to any other

    millions, e force?  You

    do not resist cold and hus

    obstinately; you quietly submit to a ties.

    You do not put your o t just in proportion as I

    regard t  partly a human force,

    and consider t I ions to to so many

    millions of men, and not of mere brute or inanimate things, I see

    t appeal is possible, first and instantaneously, from to the

    Maker of to t, if I

    put my ely into to fire

    or to to blame.  If I

    could convince myself t I  to be satisfied h men

    as to treat t according, in

    some respects, to my requisitions and expectations of hey and

    I ougo be, talist, I should

    endeavor to be satisfied  is the

    ween

    resisting te or natural force, t I can

    resist t; but I cannot expect, like Orpo

    cure of trees and beasts.

    I do not ion.  I do not wish

    to split o make fine distinctions, or set myself up as

    better ther, I may say, even an excuse

    for conforming to t too ready to

    conform to to suspect myself on this

    ax-gatherer comes round, I find myself

    disposed to revies and position of tate

    conformity.

    quot;e must affect our country as our parents,

    And if at any time e

    Our love or industry from doing it honor,

    e must respect effects and teache soul

    Matter of conscience and religion,

    And not desire of rule or benefit.quot;

    I believe t tate o take all my work

    of t out of my ter a

    patriot trymen.  Seen from a lo of view,

    titution, s faults, is very good; the

    courts are very respectable; even tate and this American

    government are, in many respects, very admirable and rare things,

    to be t many

    seen from a point of vietle  I have

    described till, and t, who shall

    say  t or thinking of

    at all?

    does not concern me much, and I shall

    besto possible ts on it.  It is not many moments

    t I live under a government, even in this world.  If a man is

    t-free, fancy-free, imagination-free, t w never

    for a long time appearing to be to him, unwise rulers or reformers

    cannot fatally interrupt him.

    I kno most men tly from myself; but those

    o tudy of these or

    kindred subjects, content me as little as any.  Statesmen and

    legislators, standing so completely itution, never

    distinctly and nakedly be.  ty, but

    ing-place  it.  tain

    experience and discrimination, and  invented ingenious

    and even useful systems, for w all

    t and usefulness lie ain not very s.

    t to forget t t governed by policy and

    expediency.  ebster never goes be, and so cannot

    speak y about it.  o those

    legislators e no essential reform in ting

    government; but for te for all time,

    t.  I knohose whose serene

    and ions on ts of

    ality.  Yet, compared he cheap

    professions of most reformers, and till cheaper wisdom and

    eloquence of politicians in general,  the only

    sensible and valuable hank heaven for him.

    Comparatively, rong, original, and, above all,

    practical.  Still, y is not  prudence.  the

    larut trut consistency or a consistent

    expediency.  trut

    concerned co reveal tice t may consist h

    wrong-doing.  o be called, as he has been called,

    titution.  to be

    given by  defensive ones.   a leader, but a

    follower.  ;I have never made an

    effort,quot; ;and never propose to make an effort; I have never

    countenanced an effort, and never mean to countenance an effort, to

    disturb t as originally made, by whe various

    States came into t;  Still tion which

    titution gives to slavery, ;Because it

    of t -- let it stand.quot;  Notanding his

    special acuteness and ability, o take a fact out of

    its merely political relations, and be as it lies absolutely

    to be disposed of by tellect -- ance, it

    beo do o-day o slavery,

    but ventures, or is driven, to make some suce answer as

    to speak absolutely, and as a

    private man -- from w new and singular code of social

    duties mig;t; says ;in whe

    governments of tates o regulate it

    is for tion, under ty to their

    constituents, to ty, y, and

    justice, and to God.  Associations formed elsewhere, springing from

    a feeling of y, or any otever to

    do .  t from me, and

    t;

    trutraced up

    its stream no and, and and, by the

    Constitution, and drink at it ty; but

    t comes trickling into t

    pool, gird up tinue their pilgrimage

    tos fountain-head.

    No man ion has appeared in America.

    tory of tors,

    politicians, and eloquent men, by t the speaker has

    not yet opened o speak he

    mucions of ts own

    sake, and not for any trut may utter, or any

    may inspire.  Our legislators  yet learned tive

    value of free-trade and of freedom, of union, and of rectitude, to a

    nation.  talent for comparatively humble

    questions of taxation and finance, commerce and manufacturers and

    agriculture.  If  solely to t of legislators

    in Congress for our guidance, uncorrected by the seasonable

    experience and tual complaints of the people, America would

    not long retain ions.  For eighteen hundred

    years, t to say it, testament

    ten; yet wor who has wisdom and

    practical talent enougo avail  w sheds

    on tion?

    ty of government, even suco submit

    to -- for I er

    ther know nor can do so

    ill an impure one: to be strictly just, it must have

    tion and consent of t can

    over my person and property but o it.  the progress

    from an absolute to a limited monarced monarco a

    democracy, is a progress torue respect for the individual.

    Even to regard the

    individual as the empire.  Is a democracy, such as we

    kno, t improvement possible in government?  Is it not

    possible to take a step furtowards recognizing and organizing

    ts of man?  there will never be a really free and

    enligate until tate comes to recognize the individual

    as a  power, from ws own power and

    auty are derived, and treats him accordingly.  I please myself

    ate at least  to all

    men, and to treat t as a neighbor; which

    even  t inconsistent s own repose if a few

    o live aloof from it, not meddling , nor embraced by

    it, wies of neighbors and fellow-men.  A

    State  to drop off as

    fast as it ripened, ill more perfect

    and glorious State,  yet anywhere

    seen.