Baker Farm
undercurrent, I drank to genuine hospitality the heartiest draught I
"Landscape where the richest element
"Do you ever fish?" I asked. "Oh yes, I catch a mess now and
the days of thy youth. Rise free from care before the dawn, and
without. I had sat there many times of old before the ship was
his wife stared with arms a-kimbo, and both appeared to be wondering
but shiftless man plainly was John Field; and his wife, she too was
clean house, which hardly cost more than the annual rent of such a
the woods, to eke out my scanty fare of vegetables. My way led
light, so soft and green and shady that the Druids would have
apples, leaped the brook, and scared the musquash and the trout. It
occidentalis, or false elm, of which we have but one well-grown;
poor man, born to be poor, with his inherited Irish poverty or poor
never become English bay. Let the thunder rumble; what if it
to eat hard again to repair the waste of his system -- and so it was
my eyes, and excluding the motes by a skilfully directed
world, he nor his posterity, till their wading webbed bog-trotting
line, and the hope and cynosure of the world, instead of John
was one of those afternoons which seem indefinitely long before one,
are regarded at all?
clothing, which yet were soon soiled and worn out, but I wore light
the pickerelweed, standing up to my middle in water, I found myself
some taller mast of a pine, a shingle tree, or a more perfect
over the shadow of his head at morning and evening, whether he was
superfluous expenses which directly or indirectly result from the
"No one runs to revel
wrinkled, sibyl-like, cone-headed infant that sat upon its fathers
swamps where the usnea lichen hangs in festoons from the white
as may enable you to do without these, and where the state does not
room like members of the family, too humanized, methought, to roast
significantly. Meanwhile my host told me his story, how hard he
living, John Field, alas! without arithmetic, and failing so.
Is a little sunshine innocent." ...
John Field, with altered mind, letting go "bogging" ere this sunset.
spiring higher and higher, are fit to stand before Valhalla, and the
grass was moist with dew. This was probably the same phenomenon to
of the roof which leaked the least, while it showered and thundered
philosopher, or des九九藏书网ired to be one. I should be glad if all the
no halo about them, that it was only natives that were so
an Irishman, and his wife, and several children, from the
And Guy Faux of the state,
promised a fair evening; so I took my departure. When I had got
catching a fair string, and he said it was his luck; but when we
brooks and hearth-sides without misgiving. Remember thy Creator in
suddenly in the shadow of a cloud, and the thunder began to rumble
Once it chanced that I stood in the very abutment of a rainbows
shadow, and would fain fancy myself one of the elect. One who
because it breathes its own breath over again; their shadows,
so; therefore I suppose they still take life bravely, after their
consequence of mens beginning to redeem themselves. A man will not
beechnuts near by; it is worth the while to see the silver grain
built that floated his family to America. An honest, hard-working,
retired meadows, in sloughs and bog-holes, in forlorn and savage
if they had capital enough to begin such a course with, or
forbidden fruits, too fair for mortal taste. Instead of calling on
to the pond, and had long been uninhabited:--
In thy plain russet gabardine dressed." ...
so neat a bole and beautifully lichen-painted, perfect in all its
which had also taken shelter here from the rain, stalked about the
I set out one afternoon to go a-fishing to Fair Haven, through
in which many events may happen, a large portion of our natural
From the tough rafters of the trees!"
small grove of sizable trees left in the township, supposed by some
shallows and quicksands, and rope broken withal, and bucket
distinguished. Benvenuto Cellini tells us in his memoirs, that,
So the Muse fables. But therein, as I found, dwelt now John Field,
As tame at the first sight as now,
places, appeared for an instant trivial to me who had been sent to
But he, poor man, disturbed only a couple of fins while I was
its loose golden vest, perfumed like the first; the beech, which has
street, where their household echoes haunt, and their life pines
need to study history to find out what is best for his own culture.
handkerchief for a shed; and when at length I had made one cast over
want for two days, or earn enough money to support me a week. If he
like fleets at sea, full-rigged, with wavy boughs, and rippling with
life, t九_九_藏_书_网hough it was already half spent when I started. By the way
But are they not indeed distinguished who are conscious that they
"I catch shiners with fishworms, and bait the perch with them."
gods must be proud, thought I, with such forked flashes to rout a
west, with the rainbow over my shoulder, and some faint tinkling
broad-faced boy who assisted his father at his work, and now came
could. I am not squeamish in such cases when manners are concerned.
hand, and yet no effects of it visible anywhere. The chickens,
there came up a shower, which compelled me to stand half an hour
visited me declared that the shadows of some Irishmen before him had
to settle. Such gruel sustains life here, I thought; so, shutting
after a certain terrible dream or vision which he had during his
feet get talaria to their heels.
forsaken their oaks to worship in them; or to the cedar wood beyond
that country where you are at liberty to pursue such a mode of life
which I have referred, which is especially observed in the morning,
what quarter, my Good Genius seemed to say -- Go fish and hunt far
bottom, to complete my survey of the premises; but there, alas! are
imagination like Cellinis, it would be basis enough for
"Come ye who love,
in Italy or France, and it was particularly conspicuous when the
sparkle when you split this wood; the bass; the hornbeam; the Celtis
confinement in the castle of St. Angelo a resplendent light appeared
tea, nor coffee, nor butter, nor milk, nor fresh meat, and so did
Before I had reached the pond some fresh impulse had brought out
reckoning to them, and they saw not clearly how to make their port
should come home from far, from adventures, and perils, and
knee as in the palaces of nobles, and looked out from its home in
worked cheerfully at his fathers side the while, not knowing how
as he began with tea, and coffee, and butter, and milk, and beef, he
And hang conspiracies
Children of the Holy Dove,
Which some mossy fruit trees yield
to improve her condition one day; with the never absent mop in one
hilltop; such as the black birch, of which we have some handsome
passed out to the thirsty one -- not yet suffered to cool, not yet
one, it is not commonly noticed, and, in the case of an excitable
colored crystal. It was a lake of rainbow light, in which, for a
The shower was now o九九藏书网ver, and a rainbow above the eastern woods
might have tinged my employments and life. As I walked on the
Let not to get a living be thy trade, but thy sport. Enjoy the
in detail; -- thinking to deal with it roughly, as one should handle
and his family would live simply, they might all go a-huckleberrying
running by his side from the bog to escape the rain, to the
In the completed years,
bait sometimes, I allow. With his horizon all his own, yet he a
not have to work to get them; again, as I did not work hard, I did
some scholar, I paid many a visit to particular trees, of kinds
But alas! the culture of an Irishman is an enterprise to be
O Baker Farm!
Fields poor starveling brat. There we sat together under that part
with such emphasis that I could do no more than listen to it. The
"And here a poet builded,
primitive new country -- to catch perch with shiners. It is good
a thistle. But they fight at an overwhelming disadvantage --
hopeful face; but John demurred.
woods; and many others I could mention. These were the shrines I
morning and evening, reach farther than their daily steps. We
waxwork grooves and crushes the hardest woods in its folds, and the
That to destruction steers."
sounds borne to my ear through the cleansed air, from I know not
shoes and thin clothing, which cost not half so much, though he
well. They stood and looked in my eye or pecked at my shoe
Flints Pond, where the trees, covered with hoary blue berries,
Darting about."
not have to eat hard, and it cost me but a trifle for my food; but
ruin as his commonly amounts to; and how, if he chose, he might in a
not the case), and in an hour or two, without labor, but as a
which are rare in this neighborhood, standing far away in the middle
discoveries every day, with new experience and character.
experience, telling him that he was one of my nearest neighbors, and
then when I am lying by; good perch I catch. -- "Whats your bait?"
details, of which, excepting scattered specimens, I know but one
serfs.
getting my living like himself; that I lived in a tight, light, and
Take shelter under the cloud, while they flee to carts and sheds.
land, but own it not. Through want of enterprise and faith men are
worked "bogging" for a neighboring farmer, turning up a meadow with
through Pleasant Meadow, an adjun九九藏书网ct of the Baker Farm, that retreat
according to thy nature, like these sedges and brakes, which will
brave to cook so many successive dinners in the recesses of that
beauty, and he is dazzled and tempted by nameless other wild
poor unarmed fisherman. So I made haste for shelter to the nearest
undertaken with a sort of moral bog hoe. I told him, that as he
I thought of living there before I went to Walden. I "hooked" the
of some pasture, or in the depths of a wood or swamp, or on a
the land with manure for one year, and his little broad-faced son
lofty stove; with round greasy face and bare breast, still thinking
Men come tamely home at night only from the next field or
school and college; but as I ran down the hill toward the reddening
steps again to the pond, my haste to catch pickerel, wading in
visited both summer and winter.
By gliding musquash undertook,
split its massive columns with any fine entering wedge, and rout it
arch, which filled the lower stratum of the atmosphere, tinging the
of which a poet has since sung, beginning,--
had rated it as a gain in coming to America, that here you could get
without I asked for a drink, hoping to get a sight of the well
"Thy entry is a pleasant field,
month or two build himself a palace of his own; that I did not use
as broad as it was long, indeed it was broader than it was long, for
might think that I was dressed like a gentleman (which, however, was
And ye who hate,
a spade or bog hoe at the rate of ten dollars an acre and the use of
railroad causeway, I used to wonder at the halo of light around my
thinking to live by some derivative old-country mode in this
hemlock than usual, standing like a pagoda in the midst of the
the privilege of infancy, not knowing but it was the last of a noble
dogwood grow, the red alderberry glows like eyes of imps, the
superstition. Beside, he tells us that he showed it to very few.
worked so hard at bogging, he required thick boots and stout
recreation, I could, if I wished, catch as many fish as I should
-- I trust he does not read this, unless he will improve by it --
under a pine, piling boughs over my head, and wearing my
short while, I lived like a dolphin. If it had lasted longer it
fashion, face to face, giving it tooth and nail, not having skill to
And mercurial trout,
For behold a trivial cabin
in the summer for their amusement. John heaved a sigh at this, and
that I too, who came a-fishing here, and looked like a loafer, was
water was seemingly distilled, and after consultation and long delay
seek adventures. Let the noon find thee by other lakes, and the
where they are, buying and selling, and spending their lives like
creeping juniper covers the ground with wreaths full of fruit; or to
grass and leaves around, and dazzling me as if I looked through
With questions art never perplexed,
On thy rail-fenced lea." ...
wild holly berries make the beholder forget his home with their
but also at other times, and even by moonlight. Though a constant
poor a bargain the latter had made. I tried to help him with my
"Debate with no man hast thou,
specimens two feet in diameter; its cousin, the yellow birch, with
had to work hard to pay for them, and when he had worked hard he had
endeavor to compel you to sustain the slavery and war and other
the midst of wet and hunger inquisitively upon the stranger, with
arithmetic enough to carry it through. It was sailing by dead
Sometimes I rambled to pine groves, standing like temples, or
night overtake thee everywhere at home. There are no larger fields
"Youd better go now, John," said his wife, with glistening and
Partly to a ruddy brook,
use of such things. For I purposely talked to him as if he were a
hut, which stood half a mile from any road, but so much the nearer
he was discontented and wasted his life into the bargain; and yet he
threaten ruin to farmers crops? That is not its errand to thee.
butterflies or shells, vegetable winkles; where the swamp-pink and
changed seats in the boat luck changed seats too. Poor John Field!
the ground, and more beautiful fungi adorn the stumps, like
life, his Adams grandmother and boggy ways, not to rise in this
tea, and coffee, and meat every day. But the only true America is
and wide day by day -- farther and wider -- and rest thee by many
meadows on the earth were left in a wild state, if that were the
than these, no worthier games than may here be played. Grow wild
As I was leaving the Irishmans roof after the rain, bending my
irrecoverable. Meanwhile the right culinary vessel was selected,
spruce trees, and toadstools, round tables of the swamp gods, cover
to have been planted by the pigeons that were once baited with