AUGUST 



31 



These experiences were very memorable and 

 valuable to rne, anchored in forty feet of water, 

 and twenty or thirty rods from the shore, sur- 

 rounded sometimes by thousands of small perch 

 and shiners, dimpling the surface with their tails 

 in the moonlight, and communicating by a long 

 flaxen line with mysterious nocturnal fishes which 

 had their dwelling forty feet below, or sometimes 

 dragging sixty feet of line about the pond as I 

 drifted in the gentle night breeze, now and then 

 feeling a slight vibration along it, indicative of 

 some life prowling about its extremity, or dull un- 

 certain blundering purpose there, and slow to make 

 up its mind. At length you slowly raise, pulling 

 hand over hand, some horned pout squeaking and 



squirming to the upper air. 



THOKEAU: Walden. 



What if we were to mature as perfectly, root 

 and branch, glowing in the midst of our decay, 

 like the Poke ! I confess that it excites me to 

 behold them. I cut one for a cane, for I would 

 fain handle and lean on it. I love to press the 

 berries between my fingers, and see their juice 



staining my hand. 



THOEEAU: Autumnal Tints. 



