The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1915-06-26
At the Library
Essays on Walking

A love of walking, although not in
itself virtue, is one of the character
lstlc outward signs of inward grace.
All the wise and good love walking ac-
cording to Leslie Stephen, and all of
US who love walking, will, of course,
subscribe to Sir Leslie s dictum. But
there is walking and walking The
walking celebrated in literature is not
for exercise, nor for business purposes,
nor merely to see the country, nor even
for pleasure. As Hazlitt observes:
'On a pleasure trip the question is,
where shall we go-on walk the ques-
ton is what shall we meet with by
the way The mind of the true walk
er is passive-he lets the stream of sem
satlon flow in-sounds, colors, odors,
lights and shadows combine to etch a
picture in memory. We recall the pur-
pie light over the hills one November
day; the blood-red hue of West river
at sunset one April day; or Monadnock
in winter after-glow, a rose-pink
pyramid on the eastern horizon. Every
walk has its spiritual adventure and
adds to our store of treasure beyond
the reach of moth and rust
One of the classics of out-of door
literature is Hazlitt s essay ssOn Co.
ing a Journey to be found in the vol
ume of essays published under the
title FTable-Talk.' y Hazlitt walked
about England all his life and had the
root of the matter in him. Give
me, he says, the clear blue sky
over my head, and the green turf be-
meath my feet, a winding road before
me, and three hours march to dim
ner The discreet walker never quite
notions seems a trihe strained. He
preferred to walk alone Most of us
would prefer companion, were it but,
as Sterne says, ''to remark how the
shadows lengthen as the sun declines.
This essay of Hazlitt S is one of the
best pieces of work of one of the finest
writers of English prose, a writer little
read nowadays, we are sorry to say.
In volume of Thoreau's essays en-
titled . Excursions may be found two
delightful essays, "a Winter 5 Walk
and . Walking. Thoreau was a pro
founder and wilder spirit than Hazlitt
In place of the green turf and the
winding road Thoreau would have
chosen a painless mountain side or q
swamp. Thoreau would follow no path
made by another. but many have fol
lowed the paths he made. He has be
come one of America S few classics
| and it is curious to note that his many
books are almost entirely the records
of walks at all seasons and all hours
Leslie Stephen was an English walk.
er, also a famous mountain climber
with number of Alpine first as
cents to HIS credit, and the distinc-
| ten of having been the leader of the
first party that ever watched the set
ting of the sun from the summit OF
Mont Blame In his Playground of Eu
rope and in his essays is garnered the
| harvest Of lifetime of walking.
Robert Louis Stevenson was also q
| good walker who hit the trail'' in
| many lands. Stevenson is an entertain
ing companion in light way but after
certain amount of him we come tC
see with Hazlitt that solitude has its
advantages. The reason is not far t.
L
seek. While Hazlitt, Thoreau and Ste
| phen, good men and true, walked fo1
| the walk s sake, Robert Louis walked
that he might write. The artist must
| be disinterested and walking is one OF
the fine arts. 1t is an art that we car
all practice, and practice in the art o.
walking, real walking, leads to the APP
probation of the more exclusive art.
of literature and painting. But tt
walk in the right spirit we should pu
all theory and teaching to one side anC
give an understanding to our own i'm
| pressions.
/ The 114th anniversary of the brit