Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1854-09-23
HENRY D. THOREAU.

Our readers remember tho speech of Henry d.
Thoreau, at birmingham, of which we give them
some pungcnt extracts, not long since. We spoke
of him as n literary rcclusc. A book from his pen
entitled Lie in the Woods" has Just issued from
the press. The following notice of it We copy
from the Christian Register, in the belief that our
readers will thank us for the information it con-
ycys - S1Hdrdd.
~ young man, eight years out of college, of fine
scholarship and original genius, rcvives, in the
midst of our bustling times, the life of an anchor
itc. By the side Of n secluded pond in Concord,
he builds with his own hands n hut which cost him
twcnty-eight dollars and twelve and a half cents
and there he lived two and Il half years, '%cultivat-
ing poverty because he wanted to drive life into
n corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and
suck out all its marrow Here he found that the
labor of six weeks would support him through the
year and so he had long quiet days for reading,
observation, and reflection, learning to free him
self from all the hollow customs and false shows
Of the world, and TO pity those who by slavery to
inherited property seemed to be doing incredible
and astonishing pcnancc. In the account he gives
us of his clothes, house, food, and furniture, we
find mingled many acute and wise criticisms upon
modern life while in his descriptions of all living
things around him, birds, fishes, squirrels, mice,
insects, trees, flowers, weeds, it is evident that he
had the sharpcst eye and the quickest sympathy.
One remarkable chapter is given to the sounds that
came to his car, with suggestions, full of poetry
and beauty, of the feelings which these sounds
But nothing interested him so much
rs the Pond, whose names gives the title to his
book. lie describes it rs a clear sheet of water,
about II mile in circumference; he bathed in it
every morning; its cool crystal depths were his
well, ready dug he sailed upon its bosom in sum
ner he noted many curious facts pertaining to
its ice in winter in short, it became to Linn q liv-
ing thing, and he almost worshipcd it. But we
must not describe the contents of this book any
.urther. Its opening pages may seem n lite caus-
ic and cynical but it mellows apacc, and playful
lumor and sparkling thought appear on almost
very page. We suppose its author does not rev.
renee many things which we reverence; but this
act has not prevented our seeing that he has n
'cverential, tender and devout spirit at bottom.
Rarely have we enjoyed a book more, or been
more grateful for many and rich suggestions
Who would have looked to the Walden Pond for a
CruSoe, or for an observer ike the author
Of the Natural History Of SheidOrRe, or for n NOR
alist like the writer of Religio Medjci? Yet para
graphs in this book have reminded us of each Of
these. And as we shut the box up, we ask our-
selves, will the great lesson it teaches of the free
dom and beauty of a simple lifcb needed? Shall
this struggle for wealth, and this bondage to the
i~mpedimentS of life, continue forever? Will the
time ever come when it will be fashionable to be
poor-that is, when men will he so smitten with n
purpose to seek the true ends Of life that they will
not care about laying up riches on, the earth ?
Such times we know there have been, and thousands
listened revcrently to the reply given in the last of
these two lines to the inquiry contained in the
first
20 where is n"oo" Cor thou its path has trod?
in poverty, I-A..DAtnt, and with Cod
"Who can say that it is impossible that such q
time may come round, although the fashion of this
world now runs with such a rosistless current il
the opposite direction"