Cascade and Bellows-Pipe 217 



the path to the summit diverged to the right, while the 

 summit itself rose directly in front." But it seems he 

 ** determined to follow up the valley to its head," and 

 there find his " own route up the steep as the shorter 

 and more adventurous way." He believed this ** oc- 

 cupied much less time than it would have taken to 

 follow the path — for what 's the hurry ? If a per- 

 son lost would conclude that after all he is not lost, 

 . . . but the places that have known him, Ikey are 

 lost, — how much anxiety and danger would vanish. I 

 am not alone if I stand by myself." ^ 



We followed up the eastern sides of Notch Valley to 

 the head of The Bellows where the Saw Mill had stood 

 in Thoreau's day. We regaled ourselves upon the red 

 raspberries along the pasture, and found the Deadly 

 Nightshade in bloom amid the bushes. These fields 

 furnish pasturage for yearlings and calves. The sides 

 of Greylock are clothed with a heavy forest — ** all be- 

 shaggled," — and adorned with '* headlong precipices " 

 and innumerable rivulets. Finally we crossed to the 

 west side of the valley, in the shadow of the great 

 hill, and entered a ravine which we christened ^olian 

 Glen. 



I have always believed that this Notch Valley 

 was in Thoreau's thoughts when he wrote ''Rumors 

 from an ^olian Harp." The name ** Bellows- Pipe " 

 originated with the early settlers for the extreme por- 

 tion of Notch Valley, on account of the subtle roaring 



' Thoreau, Tuesday, Week on the Concord and Merrimack 

 Rivers. 



