Log Search Results | The Walden Woods Project

Thoreau writes in his journal:

I see that E. Wood has sent a couple of Irishman, with axe and bush-whack, to cut off the natural hedges and sumach, Roxbuty waxwork, grapes, etc., which have sprung up by the walls on this hill farm, in order that his cows may get a little more green. And they have cut down two or three of the very rare celtis trees, not found anywhere else in town. The Lord deliver us from these vandalic proprietors! The botanist and lover of nature has, perchance, discovered some rare tree which has sprung up by a farmer’s wall-side to adorn and bless it, sole representative of its kind in these parts. Strangers send for a seed or a sprig from a distance, but, walking there again, he finds that the farmer has sent a raw Irishman, a hireling just arrived on these shores, who was never there before,—and we trust, will never be let loose there again,—who knows not whether he is hacking at the upas tree or the Tree of Knowledge, with axe and stub-scythe to exterminate it, and he will know it no more forever. What is trespassing? This hessian, the day after he was landed, was whirled twenty miles into the interior to do this deed of vandalism on our favorite hedge. I would as soon admit a living mud turtle into my herbarium. If some are prosecuted for abusing children, others deserve to be prosecuted for maltreating the face of nature committed to their care . . .

(Journal, 10:49-51)

28 September 1858. Concord, Mass.

Thoreau writes in his journal:

P.M.—To Great Fields via Gentian Lane.

The gentian (Avdrewsii), now generally in prime, loves moist, shady banks , and its transcendent blue shows best in the shade and suggests coolness; contrasts there with the fresh green;—a splendid blue, light in the shade, turning to purple with age . . .

(Journal, 11:183-184)

28 September 1859. Concord, Mass.

Thoreau writes in his journal:

At Cattle-Show to-day I noticed that the ladies’ apple (small, one side green, the other red, glossy) and maiden’s-blush (good size, yellowish-white with a pink blush) were among the handsomest . . . (Journal, 12:356-357).

28 September 1860. Concord, Mass.

Thoreau writes in his journal:

Butternuts still on tree and falling, as all September.

This morning we had a very severe frost, the first to kill our vines, etc. . . . (Journal, 14:97).

29 and 30 November and 1 December 1852. Concord, Mass.

Thoreau writes in his journal:

The snow which fell the 23d whitened the ground but a day or two. These have been the mildest and pleasantest days since November came in.

November 29th, walked in P. M. to old stone bridge and down bank of river by Sam Barrett’s house . . .

(Journal, 4:417-418)

29 April 1841. Concord, Mass.

Thoreau writes in his journal:

Birds and quadrupeds pass freely through nature, without prop or stilt. But man very naturally carries a stick in his hand, seeking to ally himself by many points to nature, as a warrior stands by his horse’s side with his hand on his mane. We walk the gracefuler for a cane, as the juggler uses a leaded pole to balance him when he dances on a slack wire.

(Journal, 1:255)

29 April 1851. Concord, Mass.

Thoreau gives Cyrus Stow a receipt of payment of $5 for survey work done 18 to 19 April (Thoreau Society Bulletin, 90 (Winter 1965):2; MS, Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature. University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va.).

29 April 1852. Concord, Mass.

Thoreau writes in his journal:

Observed a fire yesterday on the railroad,—Emerson’s Island that was. The leaves are dry enough to burn; and I see a smoke this afternoon in the west horizon. There is a slight haziness on the woods, as I go to Mayflower Road at 2.30 P.M., which advances me further into summer . . .

As I come home over the Corner road, the sun, now getting low, is reflected very bright and silvery from the water on the meadows, seen through the pines of Hubbard’s Grove . . .

(Journal, 3:479-481)

29 April 1853. Concord, Mass.

Thoreau writes in his journal:

Return to Concord. At Natural History Rooms in Boston . . . (Journal, 5:114).

29 April 1854. Concord, Mass.

Thoreau writes in his journal:

The ideal of a market is a place where all things are bought and sold. At an agricultural meeting in New York the other day, one said that he had lately heard a man inquiring for spurry seed; he wanted it to sow on drifting sand. His presumption had been that if he wanted it, i.e., if there was a demand, there was a supply to satisfy that demand. He went simply to the shop instead of going to the weed itself. But the supply does not anticipate the demand.

This is the second day of rain, and the river has risen about as high as any time this year.

P.M.—To Cliffs by boat in the misty rain . . .

The mouse-car is now fairly in blossom in many places. It never looks so pretty as now, in an April rain, covered with pearly drops. Its corymbs of five heads with one in the centre (all tinged red) look like a breast-pin set with pearls . . .

(Journal, 6:228-230)

Return to the Log Index

Donation