Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1879-01-09
Che famila Circle.
Thoreau's Hermitage.

One day in March, 1915, the owners oil
Walden Pond, that is to say, inc raIoGons
and SQUIRRELS, were surprised at Tue uolhs
of certain intruders. A party OF men
headed by n young man OF short statute
firmly built, Of light complexion win Sc
rious blue eyes and grave aspect arrlV-
ed. bringing with them planks, ana Deans
and other such apparatus, and began erect,
inc n house among the philippines ana
hiekories. within about half dozen RODS
Of the pond. The men began to build,
while from the trees and from behind
the bushes the owners looked on. Ile
leader of this gang was Henry DaVlu
Tboreau, born at Concord, "a small town
in Massachusetts, in 1917, who DrougnII
nm TO his fathers business us lead-pencll
maker. had left that for the profession Oh
a schoolmaster. and then of II land survey
or. lie lad been educated IN IIarvaru
University where he graduated IN 1921
Bv the 4th of July the house was nhiSH-
ed, and, with the exception OF the leader'
the intruders left the wood. Left alone,
the occupant of the house underwent the
most curious scrunity. When the SOUR
rels and raccoons retreated from his foot
stems. according to the Walden custom on
the approach of man, he would sit down
ouietiy on the edge of u rock or fallen
tree and rest there immovable as his seat
sit there for hours, and apparently with
ont drawing breath. Throughout the
wood curiosity grew and grew All kinds
of experiments were ventured upon. A
souirrel or raccoon or woodchuck, holder
than the rest, would approach the motion
less man silently and warily. and ready to
make retreat at the smallest movement Oh
an arm or leg. But the stranger sat
like a man of marble. Now if there is
one thing more curious than squirrel, 1t
is n raccoon. Such very quiet man must
surely be dead. or very harmless. The
raccoons approached nearer. The SPUR
rels did the same, till ut last they positive
~ touched him, and still no danger. The
news soon made its way through the wood
that there at last was II man who would
allow himself to be touched without Stay
inc the creature til It touched him. An
intimacy sprang up between him and
them. The beautiful creatures OF the
woods would come at his beck; the snakes,
even, would coil round his legs. And this
grew stronger during his sojourn at Wal
den Sometimes it would even become
troublesome to him. Sometimes, on TAX
| ing Il squirrel from Il tree to inspect 1t, the
| title creature would refuse to leave him,
and hide his head in Thoreau's waistcoat.
! The fish in the river became intimate
with him, too; they would let him lift them
up from the water with entire confidence
that he would do them no harm. And
while these things were going on in the
woods something very like it was being
transacted in the hut.
| About the same time that Thoreau had
selected the site for his hut, the very same
spot had been chosen by wood mouse
which had never seen II man before. Tho
reau, needless, in that early period of his
education of the rights of mice, had pro
ceeded to build on the top of the wood
mouse's nest, and alarmed the little crea
ture at first. Finding, however, tina
there was no danger of actual molestatior
from this extraordinary interloper, tn
mouse's alarm changed to Indignation a
an intrusion; but even this did not las
long in presence of an invader so gent
and so wheedling. Nothing could resis
Thoreau. He was the original of Haw
thorne's Donatello. Before even tn
second floor had been laid the nous
would come out regularly at lunch tim
and pick up the crumbs at his feet; and a
the carpentry work proceeded it becam
more familiar still. 1t would run over hi
shoes and outside his clothes. At last. t
show that the compact was quite scaled, a
Thoreau was leaning one day with hi
elbow on the bench, it ran up his clothes
and along his sleeves, and round an
round the paper which held his dinner
and lodged and played bo-peep with i
and when, at last, he held still piece {
cheese between his thumb and finger,
came and nibbled the cheese, sitting j
his hand, and after the meal was owe
cleaned its face and paws like a fly, an
walked away. Pages Life Of Thoreaw.