Thoreau Day by Day (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1909. Excerpt: ... AUGUST AUGUST FIRST TORNING brings back the heroic ages. I--"-I was as much affected by the faint hum of a mosquito making its invisible and unimaginable tour through my apartment at earliest dawn, when I was sitting with door and windows open, as I could be by any trumpet that ever sang of fame. It was Homer's requiem; itself an Iliad and Odyssey in the air, singing its own wrath and wanderings. There was O something cosmical about it; a standing advertisement, till forbidden, of the everlasting vigor and fertility of the world. Waldeu. AUGUST SECOND The only fruit which even much living yields seems to be often only some trivial success, --the ability to do some slight thing better. We make conquest only of husks and shells for the most part, --at least, apparently, --but sometimes these are cinnamon and spices, you know. Letters to Parlous Persons. AUGUST THIRD So near along life's stream are the fountains of innocence and youth making fertile its sandy margin; and the voyageur will do well to replenish his vessels often at these uncontaminated sources. A Week on the Concord River. AUGUST FOURTH It is true, I came as near as is possible to come to being a hunter and miss it, myself; and as it is, I think that I could spend a year in the woods, fishing and hunting, just enough to sustain myself, with satisfaction. This would be next to living like a philosopher on the fruits of the earth which you had raised, which also attracts me. The Maine Woods. AUGUST FIFTH Most men, even in this comparatively free country, through mere ignorance and mistake, are so occupied with the factitious cares and superfluously coarse labors of life, that its finer fruits cannot be plucked by them. Their fingers, from excessive toil, are too clumsy and tremble too much for tha...