Thoreau writes in his journal:
Walden completely frozen over again last night. Goodwin & Co. are fishing there to-day. Ice about four inches thick, occasionally sunk by the snow beneath the water . . .
I thrive best on solitude. If I have had a companion only one clay in a week, unless it were one or two I could name, I find that the value of the week to one has been seriously affected. It dissipates my days, and often it takes me another week to get over it . . .