WINTER RAMBLES IN THOREAU'S COUNTRY 



169 



Thoreau found such endless charm in 

 the mystery and beauty of Concord fields 

 and woods, so many fascinating problems 

 requiring solution, such infinite variety in 

 flower and bird and butterfly, such fresh 

 delight in watching the progress of the 

 seasons, as well as so much food for 

 thought and inspiration in the human life 

 around him, that he had no time for for- 

 eign travel. And for this he is sincerely 

 grateful. 



"I cannot but regard it," he says, "as a 

 'kindness in those who have the steering 

 of me that, by the want of pecuniary 

 wealth, I have been nailed down to this 

 my native region so long and steadily, and 

 made to study and love this spot of earth 

 more and more. What would signify in 

 comparison a thin and diffused love and 

 knowledge of the whole earth instead, got 

 by wandering?" 



And there was a providence in this for 

 others besides Thoreau. With his rare 

 powers of observation, his innate sym- 

 pathy with Nature, his keen sensitiveness 

 to beauty wherever found, and his won- 

 derful gift of verbal description, he has 

 given us an unsurpassed picture of New 

 England outdoor life which is destined 

 to afford enjoyment and inspiration to 

 thousands of people through all the years 

 to come. It goes without saying that he 

 never could have drawn this picture had 

 he given much of his time to travel 

 abroad. 



Louisa Alcott, in her beautiful poem 

 on "Thoreau's Flute," put the matter 

 concisely : 



"Above man's aims his nature rose. 

 The wisdom of a just content 

 Made one small spot a continent, 

 And tuned to poetry life's prose." 



FOLLOWING THOREAU'S FOOTPATHS 



It has been the writer's esteemed privi- 

 lege during the past fifteen years and 

 more to make many rambling trips to 

 Concord, lured thither by Thoreau's vivid 

 descriptions of Nature's beauty in his 

 home surroundings. Without purposely 

 attempting to repeat Thoreau's "travels," 

 there has been found a peculiar pleasure 

 in seeking out his favorite haunts, identi- 

 fying places with which he was closely 

 associated and which he named after a 

 fashion of his own, and at the same time 



securing photographs of a great number 

 of the actual scenes and phenomena in 

 which he delighted. 



These trips have been undertaken in all 

 seasons of the year, coinciding so far as 

 possible with Thoreau's own records and 

 duplicating to a large degree many of his 

 most enjoyable experiences. Especially 

 has the winter season, which to many 

 people is so burdensome and even repel- 

 lant, proved wonderfully fruitful in sub- 

 jects of interest and beauty. 



DAYS OF NFW OPPORTUNITY 



Thoreau was an enthusiast over the 

 New England winter. He hailed its ad- 

 vent, noted every step of its progress, 

 and found much of interest even in its 

 lingering departure. At the close of the 

 long, cold winter of 1855-56, with its 

 record of ninety-nine consecutive days 

 of sleighing in Concord — a period, one 

 would think, long enough to upset the 

 complacency of a man like Thoreau — he 

 wrote, under date of April 10: "I look 

 with more than respect, if not with regret, 

 on its last dissolving traces." 



There was something in winter's bare- 

 ness and ruggedness, its simplicity and 

 severity, its imperative challenge and its 

 unexplored grandeur, which appealed 

 irresistibly to his stalwart soul. And 

 even stronger was the appeal to his es- 

 thetic sense. He never ceased to adore 

 the spotless purity of the snow. Every 

 snowstorm was a fresh revelation to him 

 of Nature's inexhaustible beauty. 



Days of intense cold were days of new 

 opportunity to him. He was abroad in 

 all kinds of weather, in all degrees of 

 frost. The ice of the ponds and river he 

 was diligent in exploring, both superfi- 

 cially and in its interior structure, and he 

 was rewarded with exquisite displays of 

 crystallization which very few people are 

 ever privileged to see. Indeed, so ex- 

 tended and minute were his studies of 

 winter's varying aspects that he could say 

 on one occasion, as Emerson pleasantly 

 relates, when returning a copy of Kane's 

 "Arctic Explorations" which had been 

 loaned to him, that "most of the phe- 

 nomena noted might be observed in Con- 

 cord !" 



The winter climate of New England 

 has been much reviled on account of its 



