218 
WALDEN. 
away in the middle of some pasture, or in the depths of 
a wood or swamp, or on a hill-top ; such as the black- 
birch, of which we have some handsome specimens two 
feet in diameter ; its cousin the yellow-birch, with its 
loose golden vest, perfumed like the first; the beech, 
which has so neat a bole and beautifully lichen-painted, 
perfect in all its details, of which, excepting scattered 
specimens, I know but one small grove of sizable trees 
left in the township, supposed by some to have been 
planted by the pigeons that were once baited with beech 
nuts near by; it is worth the while to see the silver 
grain sparkle when you split this wood; the bass; the 
hornbeam; the celtis occidentalism or false elm, of which 
we have but one well-grown; some taller mast of a pine, 
a shingle tree, or a more perfect hemlock than usual, 
standing like a pagoda in the midst of the woods; and 
many others I could mention. These were the shrines 
I visited both summer and winter. 
Once it chanced that I stood in the very abutment of 
a rainbow’s arch, which filled the lower stratum of the 
atmosphere, tinging the grass and leaves around, and 
dazzling me as if I looked through colored crystal. It 
was a lake of rainbow light, in which, for a short while, 
I lived like a dolphin. If it had lasted longer it might 
have tinged my employments and life. As I walked on 
the railroad causeway, I used to wonder at the halo of 
light around my shadow, and would fain fancy myself 
one of the elect. One who visited me declared that the 
shadows of some Irishmen before him had no halo 
about them, that it was only natives that were so dis¬ 
tinguished. Benvenuto Cellini tells us in his memoirs, 
that, after a certain terrible dream or vision which he 
had during his confinement in the castle of St. Angelo, 
