Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from Boston Public Library http://www.archive.org/details/waldenorlifeinwo1854thor WALDEN; OR, LIFE IN THE WOODS. Br HENRY D. THOREAU, AUTHOR OF "A WEEK ON THE CONCORD AND MERRIMACK RIVERS." Idonot proposetowritean odetodejection,buttobragaslustilyaschanticleerinthe morning,standingonhisroost,ifonlyto wakemyneighborsup.—Page92. BOSTON: TICKNOR AND FIELDS U DCCC LIV. V k UwmflGSfc* V*, £. (^ry^B^Hm^JL^ % /7 \m » \' Entered, accordingtoActof Congress, in theyear1854, by HENRY D. THOREAU, Inthe Clerk's Officeof the District Courtof the Districtof Massachusetts. -^ &^.<fr \ » * ' f c/ ~ // r^ •• ***••* ••*• .•.•• * • • •• • • • STEREOTYPED AT THE BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY. CONTENTS PAGE ... ECONOMY, 5 ... WHERE I LIVED, AND WHAT I LIVED FOR, 88 READING, 108 SOUNDS, . * . . 121 SOLITUDE, 140 VISITORS, 152 THE BEAN-FIELD, . 168 THE VILLAGE, 181 THE PONDS, 188 BAKER FARM, 217 HIGHER LAWS, 226 BRUTE NEIGHBORS, 240 HOUSE-WARMING, 256 FORMER INHABITANTS; AND WINTER VISITORS, . 275 WINTER ANIMALS, 291 THE POND IN WINTER, 303 SPRING, 320 CONCLUSION, 342 (3) ECONOMY. When I wrote the following pages, or rather the bulk of them, I lived alone, in the woods, a mile from any neighbor, in a house which I had built myself, on the shore of Walden Pond, in Concord, Massachusetts, and earned my living by the labor of my hands only. I lived there two years and two months. At present I am a sojourner in civilized life again. I should not obtrude my affairs so much on the notice of my readers if very particular inquiries had not been made by my townsmen concerning my mode of life, which some would call impertinent, though they do not appear to me at all impertinent, but, considering the circumstances, very natural and pertinent. Some have asked what I got to eat if I did not feel lone- ; some ; if I was not afraid; and the like. Others have been curious to learn what portion of my income I devoted to charitable purposes and some, who have ; large families, how many poor children I maintained. I will therefore ask those of my readers who feel no particular interest in me to pardon me if I undertake to answer some of these questions in this book. In (5) 6 WALDEN. most books, the I, or first person, is omitted ; in this it will be retained ; that, in respect to egotism, is the We main difference. commonly do not remember that it is, after all, always the first person that is speaking. I should not talk so much about myself if there were any body else whom I knew as well. Unfortunately, I am confined to this theme by the narrowness of my experience. Moreover, I, on my side, require of every writer, first or last, a simple and sincere account of his own life, and not merely what he has heard of other men's lives some such account as he would sendto his ; kindred from a distant land; for if he has lived sin- cerely, it must have been in a distant land to me. Per- haps these pages are more particularly addressed to poor students. As for the rest of my readers, they will accept such portions as apply to them. I trust that none will stretch the seams in putting on the coat, for it may do good service to him whom it fits. I would fain say something, not so much concerning the Chinese and Sandwich Islanders as you who read these pages, who are said to live in New England; something aboutyour condition, especially your outward condition or circumstances in this world, in this town, what it is, whether it is necessary that it be as bad as it is, whether it cannot be improved as well as not. I have travelled a good deal in Concord and everywhere, ; in shops, and offices, and fields, the inhabitants have appeared to me to be doing penance in a thousand remarkable ways. What I have heard of Bramins sitting exposed to four fires and"looking in the face of the sun; or hanging suspended, with their heads down- ward, over flames; or looking at the heavens over their shoulders " until it becomes impossible for them to