JULY 



II 



I meet to-day with a wood-tortoise which is eat- 

 ing the leaves of the early potentillas, and soon 

 after another . . . deliberately eating sorrel. ... It 

 continued to eat when I was within a few feet, 

 holding its head high and biting down at it, each 

 time bringing away a piece of the leaf. It made 

 you think of an old and sick tortoise eating some 

 salutary herb to cure itself with, and reminded me 

 of the stories of the ancients, who, I think, made 

 the tortoises thus cure themselves with dittany or 

 origanum when bitten by a venomous snake. 



THOREAU: Summer. 



12 



HENRY DAVID THOREAU, 1817. 



He saw the partridge drum in the woods ; 

 He heard the woodcock's evening hymn ; 

 He found the tawny thrushes' broods, 

 And the shy hawk did wait for him ; 

 What others did at distance hear, 

 And guessed within the thicket's gloom, 

 Was shown to this philosopher, 

 And at his bidding seemed to come. 



EMERSON: Woodnotes. 



Hast thou named all the birds without a gun ? 

 Loved the wood-rose, and left it on its stalk ? 

 EMERSON: Forbearance. 



