Adirondack Country. William Chapman White (10).

New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1954.

Why read it? The history of the Adirondacks, the names, the lakes, the peaks, the guides and impressions of the tourists and the seasons. "As a man tramps the woods to the lake.. .he knows he will find pines and lilies, blue heron and golden shiners, shadows on the rocks and the glint of light on the wavelets, just as they were in the summer of 1954, as they will be in 2054 and beyond; he can stand on a rock by the shore and be in a past he could not have known, in a future he will never see; he can be a part of time that was and time yet to come."

Ideas:

“The Adirondack spring brings not only the quicker pulse of new life but the feeling and fact of freedom, almost forgotten during the winter; it is the freedom of the earth from the blanket of snow, of the lakes from the shackles of ice, of the motorist from slippery hills, of man from heavy boots and clothes.” P. 248. ………. “In earliest May the Adirondack world is one of delicate color.” P. 252. ………. “With mid-May came black flies, the flaw in the Adirondack spring.” P. 255. ………. “No matter in what unlikely spot a lilac appears, some man once lived there and planted it …with grave memory many a lonely lilac bush now growing by an empty roadside in some out of the way place.”  P. 256. ………. “By the end of May the Adirondack world is a green world.” P. 257. ………. “As everywhere else in the land, June goes too fast.” P. 257. ………. “The greens of June have no precise naming…buttery …blackened …silvered …ruddy. …metallic …sunlit …gray-bearded …feathery …waxed …whitened …translucent …feathered …leathery …white-green …velvet … paper…purpled …rubbery …dusted.” P. 257. ………. “Bass fishing is not a simple thing of bent pin and worm, although that system can produce as many fish as five hundred dollars; worth of tackle.” P. 261. ………. “The majority of bass fishermen are plug casters, armed with short rods and, as lures, things made of wood, plastic or metal that are supposed to represent fish, frogs, or just some oddity that the inventor, although never having been a bass himself, imagines bass might like.” P. 261. ………. “So fisherman and his boat go out at dusk; the sunset dapples the still water as a wisp of evening breeze rustles in the pines.” P. 261.

To be continued.

Adirondack Country. William Chapman White (9).

New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1954.

Why read it? The history of the Adirondacks, the names, the lakes, the peaks, the guides and impressions of the tourists and the seasons. "As a man tramps the woods to the lake.. .he knows he will find pines and lilies, blue heron and golden shiners, shadows on the rocks and the glint of light on the wavelets, just as they were in the summer of 1954, as they will be in 2054 and beyond; he can stand on a rock by the shore and be in a past he could not have known, in a future he will never see; he can be a part of time that was and time yet to come."

Ideas:

"In an era when men from all sides had designs on the woods for their own ;profit and devil take the next generation, Colvin's was a voice that could make even legislators hesitate before they voted." P. 207.

………. "Colvin spoke from knowledge tediously gained." P. 207. ………. "He [Robert Marshall] belongs in the Adirondack record not for what he brought to the area, but for a clear statement of what he learned there and his desire to share it with others." P. 208, ………. "Robert Marshall classified the various peaks by the excellence of the view from them." P. 209. ………. Thoreau: "In wilderness is the preservation of the world." P. 210. ………. "The idea that in themselves the woods...had a value ln their natural form, untouched by saw, or ax, was a new concept." P. 212 ………. "Although the number of lumberjacks in the winter woods may be smaller than in years past, and although every precaution is taken, it is still dangerous work—branches fall and kill men; machines slip; there are few winters when some sturdy young lumberman is not carried mute from the woods." P. 225.              "The group who would keep the woods forever wild...are described by their opponents as 'starry-eyed idealists,' 'impractical big city folk,' 'millionaire camp owners,' 'two-week vacationists,' and 'sloppy sentimentalists.' " P. 241. ………. Robert Marshall: "For thousands the most important passion of life is the over-powering desire to escape periodically from the strangling clutch of mechanistic civilization; to us the enjoyment of solitude, complete independence and the beauty of undefiled panoramas is absolutely essential to happiness." P. 242. ………. "Another time cycle, in which human beings have no part except as watchers, works in the

woods." P. 247.

To be continued.

Adirondack Country. William Chapman White (8).

Adirondack Country. William Chapman White (8). New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1954.

Why read it? The history of the Adirondacks, the names, the lakes, the peaks, the guides and impressions of the tourists and the seasons. "As a man tramps the woods to the lake.. .he knows he will find pines and lilies, blue heron and golden shiners, shadows on the rocks and the glint of light on the wavelets, just as they were in the summer of 1954, as they will be in 2054 and beyond; he can stand on a rock by the shore and be in a past he could not have known, in a future he will never see; he can be a part of time that was and time yet to come."

Ideas:

"During his stay, he wrote a book, Saranac Exiles, which he signed 'Not by W. Shakespeare.' " [Rev. John

P. Lundy]. P. 169 ………. Rev. John P. Lundy: "To the everlasting honor of Saranac Lake it must be said

that it has no lawyers or news editors to do the mischievous and harassing headwork of keeping the

community in an uproar of needless excitement and agitation." P. 169 ……….:With such a large patient

population, Saranac Lake was a natural target for all peddlers of nostrums and gadgets; for years the tuberculosis experts in the village had to show patiently that each new one was of questionable value; machines for breathing, glass helmets to admit special gases, vaccines, and secret drugs were each boomed in turn until each went bust; one doctor arrived and opened a sanatorium to cure tuberculosis with a serum

made from turtles; he left in a hurry, three months later."?. 176 ………. "The best symbol of the village of Saranac Lake's eighty-year-old reputation as a 'Town of Second chance' for victims of tuberculosis remains: it is Dr. Trudeau in bronze.. .looking at the hills in which he taught me to find new hope." P. 178.

 ………. "Al Jolson played a benefit in Saranac Lake in 1927 and broke all theatrical records by staying on stage alone for three hours, an astonishing show of repertoire, stamina and ability to hold an audience." P.180 ………. "...Chester Gillette of Cortland, New York, who drowned his mistress Grace Brown in Big

Moose Lake in July 1906, providing the incidents and murder trial which inspired Dreiser's An American Tragedy."? p. 180.

To be continued.

Adirondack Country. William Chapman White (7).

New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1954.

Why read it? The history of the Adirondacks, the names, the lakes, the peaks, the guides and impressions of the tourists and the seasons. "As a man tramps the woods to the lake...he knows he will find pines and lilies, blue heron and golden shiners, shadows on the rocks and the glint of light on the wavelets, just as they were in the summer of 1954, as they will be in 2054 and beyond; he can stand on a rock by the shore and be in a past he could not have known, in a future he will never see; he can be a part of time that was and time yet to come."

Ideas:

"As a storyteller no one surpassed Mike Cronin, guide and teamster; he was unique, however, in that he had only one story; it was the tale of how he drove Theodore Roosevelt out of the woods below Marcy in September 1901, after Roosevelt, then vice-president, had received the news that President McKinley was dying from an assassin's bullet.... Mike never seemed to remember to tell one astounding fact in the whole episode, that each of those black horses had two hundred hooves; if Mike liked a listener well and if the listener didn't look too skeptical, Mike presented him with one of the genuine horseshoes that his black team wore on that ride; there used to be about four hundred homes in the Adirondack country that proudly treasured a genuine shoe from Mike's black team." P. 158 ……… "Like most of the guides, Les Hathaway stuck to just one section of the woods, the area around Saranac Lake; 'There's maybe only a couple hundred square miles I know but Mister, I know' em, every rock and stump on 'em; the trouble with people today is they're so busy coverin' ground they ain't got time to notice what's on the ground they're covering.'"?. 162.

To be continued.

Adirondack Country. William Chapman White (6)

New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1954.

Why read it? The history of the Adirondacks, the names, the lakes, the peaks, the guides and impressions of the tourists and the seasons. "As a man tramps the woods to the lake... he knows he will find pines and lilies, blue heron and golden shiners, shadows on the rocks and the glint of light on the wavelets, just as they were in the summer of 1954, as they will be in 2054 and beyond; he can stand on a rock by the shore and be in a past he could not have known, in a future he will never see; he can be a part of time that was and time yet to come."

Ideas:

Another view of the Adirondack guide: "A more impudent, lazy, extortionate, and generally offensive

class... would be hard to find." P. 153................ "Each Adirondack guide worked in only one part of the

country and took pride in being known as a 'Lower Saranac,' a 'Loon Lake,' a 'Blue Mountain,' or a 'Lake

Pleasant' guide; he never guided a party outside his own district." P. 157................ "The Adirondack guide

boats had to be storm worthy; few guides ever learned to swim." P. 157............... "If the great number of

stories which they knew and which, in retrospect, they seemed to tell around the clock, were not all based

on personal experience, they were at least the guide's in the manner of telling." P. 158................ "Well, sir, I

remember one day I was hunting in the swale over to Ampersand and I'd fired my last bullet; all I had for a
weapon was a bottle of iodine when along come a ten-point buck; I hit him with that in the tail; the iodine
itched and the deer started scratching and by the time I catched up to him he'd rubbed himself all away; all
that was left was a pair of antlers; I got 'em home over the fireplace." P. 158...............

To be continued.

Adirondack Country. William Chapman White (5).

New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1954.

Why read it? The history of the Adirondacks, the names, the lakes, the peaks, the guides and impressions of the tourists and the seasons. “As a man tramps the woods to the lake…he knows he will find pines and lilies, blue heron and golden shiners, shadows on the rocks and the glint of light on the wavelets, just as they were in the summer of 1954, as they will be in 2054 and beyond; he can stand on a rock by the shore and be in a past he could not have known, in a future he will never see; he can be a part of time that was and time yet to come.”

Ideas:

“A ‘camp’ means more things up here than a ;porcupine’s got quills.” P. 140. ……….. “One caretaker complained that he had to hire ten guides, and guides were hard to find; ‘You see, the Missus has a rough camp back in the woods and she has twenty guests at a time,’ he said; ‘She decides each week to rough it for lunch at the ‘rough camp’; so in the morning a maid goes round to each guest asking whether he’d like squab or filet mignon and what kind of cold soup and dessert; then all the lunches are put in pack baskets; I need a guide for each two guests to cart the stuff so they can rough it.’ ” P. 149. ………. “The Adirondack guide was portrayed variously as a limitless fount of stories and yarns, a tracker with the skill of a bloodhound, a better shot than Annie Oakley, a chef who could take baking powder, flour, and salt and out-cook Delmonico’s, and an all-knowing rustic philosopher. His proudest boast was that he could take a city man into the woods, shoot his deer for him, drag it out, cut it up, and knock down anyone who said the patron hadn’t shot it.” P. 153.

To be continued.

Adirondack Country. William Chapman White (4)

New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1954.

Why read it? The history of the Adirondacks, the names, the lakes, the peaks, the guides and impressions of the tourists and the seasons. “As a man tramps the woods to the lake…he knows he will find pines and lilies, blue heron and golden shiners, shadows on the rocks and the glint of light on the wavelets, just as they were in the summer of 1954, as they will be in 2054 and beyond; he can stand on a rock by the shore and be in a past he could not have known, in a future he will never see; he can be a part of time that was and time yet to come.”

Ideas:

“It was important to keep the fire going; matches were not invented until 1827.” P. 68. ………. “One other industry and activity, whiskey making and drinking, vividly marked life on the American frontier…a bucket of whiskey stood on the counter of every general store on a ‘help yourself’ basis… the amount of whiskey consumed in frontier social life was tremendous, a fondness for it is not unknown in the Adirondack country now, where the tavern keepers are numerous and prosperous.” P. 82. ………. “Timber was so abundant, and timber in the early days usually meant the giant white pine, that it was inconceivable to the early settlers that it could ever be exhausted..” p. 89. ………. “Joel T. Headley was one of the first to report a fact that was to draw thousands to the region in later years: many people sick with a variety of diseases seemed to improve in the woods.” P. 103. ………. S.N. Hammond: “The old woods should stand here always as God made them, growing on until the earthworm ate away their roots and the strong winds hurled them to the ground, and new woods should be permitted to supply the place of the old so long as the earth remained.” P. 110. ………. “To explain it [the stampede to the woods] fully, one must have been alive in 1869, weary of the city, beset by a threatening business panic, and moved by Rev. William Murray’s words; you choose the locality which best suits your eye and build a lodge under unscarred trees, and upon a carpet of moss, untrampled by man or beast; there you live in silence unbroken by any sound save such as yourself may make, away from all the business and cares of civilized life.” P. 113. ………. “Thus attired, Murray’s lady of 1869 was ready for the woods; the sight of her, with net over her face, man’s hat on her head, long gloves in place, and her short walking dress with Turkish drawers fastened tightly at the ankle probably sent all wild life scurrying and may explain why panther, moose and catamount disappeared forever from the woods.” P. 114.

To be continued.

Adirondack Country, William Chapman White (3)

New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1954.

Why read it? The history of the Adirondacks, the names, the lakes, the peaks, the guides and impressions of the tourists and the seasons. “As a man tramps the woods to the lake…he knows he will find pines and lilies, blue heron and golden shiners, shadows on the rocks and the glint of light on the wavelets, just as they were in the summer of 1954, as they will be in 2054 and beyond; he can stand on a rock by the shore and be in a past he could not have known, in a future he will never see; he can be a part of time that was and time yet to come.”

Ideas:

“One of the common phrases is ‘over to’ rather than ‘over at’ — ‘He lives over to Lake Clear. ’ ” P. 38. ……….. “ ‘At this point,’ guides on Lower Saranac Lake used to say, ‘An Indian maid jumped from that rock, sixty feet above the water, and killed herself all because her father would not let her marry the brave she had chosen’; …similar stories are told about other rocks on other Adirondack lakes.” P. 49. ………. “Some of the early French spoke of the mountains of at least one range as ‘the Peru Mountains,’ sure it contained the same sort of fabulous mineral wealth; a town near Lake Champlain and a bay on the lake still bear that name, which the Adirondack people pronounce ‘P’ru.’ ” P. 50. ………. “ ‘Adirondack’ was not the name of one tribe but an insult applied to various groups….” P.51. ………. “The word ‘Adirondack’ is authentic Iroquois and is supposed to have been a term of derision spat at the Algonquins, who were forced to live on tree buds and bark during severe winters.” P. 52. ………. “Kayerderosseras’ meaning ‘Lake Country’; ‘Ticonderoga,’ usually translated as ‘where the waters meet’; ‘Schroon’ River or lake, meaning ‘large lake,’ from the Indian word ‘Scaniadaroon.’” P. 52. ………. “Guide books translate ‘Saranac’ as an Indian word meaning ‘The Lake of Fallen Stars’; this is fitting, pretty and bogus…more likely the word came from an Indian term ‘S’nhals’nek,’ meaning ‘the entrance of a River into a lake’—a description of the Saranac at Plattsburgh.” P. 52. ………. Mt. Marcy named for the New York governor. The poetic Indian epithet Tahawus, ‘he splits the sky.’ ” ………. “The Iroquois generally sided with the British in the Revolution; when the Americans triumphed, the Indian land claims shifted to shaky foundations; in treaties with New York State, in 1787 and in 1795, the Iroquois ‘ceded and released to the people of New York forever all the right or title of said nation to lands within the state and claim thereto wholly and finally extinguished’; for this the Indians received sixteen hundred dollars.” P. 54.

To be continued.

Adirondack Country. William Chapman White (2)

New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1954.

Why read it? The history of the Adirondacks, the names, the lakes, the peaks, the guides and impressions of the tourists and the seasons. “As a man tramps the woods to the lake…he knows he will find pines and lilies, blue heron and golden shiners, shadows on the rocks and the glint of light on the wavelets, just as they were in the summer of 1954, as they will be in 2054 and beyond; he can stand on a rock by the shore and be in a past he could not have known, in a future he will never see; he can be a part of time that was and time yet to come.”

Ideas:

“The largest lake in the Adirondacks is Lake George, thirty miles long; next in order are Long Lake and Indian Lake.” P. 15. ………. “The word ‘pond’ is used as often as ‘lake’; no one knows at what point of decreasing size a lake becomes a pond.” P. 16. ………. “Lake Placid is a lovely lake but the village of Lake Placid is on Mirror Lake.” P. 16. ………. “Sixty years ago a state forester once estimated that a typical Adirondack acre had on it one hundred and ninety-three trees over eight inches in diameter—which would put the total number of trees in the forest preserve somewhere above a quarter of a billion.” P. 21. ………. “After fires, inferior trees such as cherry and poplar are the first to come back and thrive; birches appear next, and beech, but other trees may not show for decades.” P. 22. ……….. “One Adirondack researcher has discovered that a bear runs twenty miles an hour, a fact established by chasing one down a highway at that speed in an automobile.” P. 30. ………. “The chief nuisance of the Adirondacks is not reptile or beast but the notorious black fly…appear about the middle of May and stay around for six weeks…at their worst on a hot windless afternoon.” P. 31. ………. One view of an Adirondack native by the Rev. John P. Lundy: “Brag, bluster, drunken brawl, and bloody fight, licentious revel and dance, rape, incest, and bastardy were about the only pastimes and enjoyments of which he was capable.” P. 35. ………. “The Adirondack people have produced no writers, no painters, no sculptors; outsiders have done the painting, the writing and even pottery making.” P. 27. ………. “The Adirondack county has many hunting and fishing stories, but too often they turn out to be only the hunting and fishing stories of all America, adapted to the Adirondacks.” P. 38. ………. “A trapper will speak of catching ‘mushrats’…..”

To be continued.

Adirondack Country. William Chapman White (1).

New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1954.

Why read it? The history of the Adirondacks, the names, the lakes, the peaks, the guides and impressions of the tourists and the seasons. “As a man tramps the woods to the lake…he knows he will find pines and lilies, blue heron and golden shiners, shadows on the rocks and the glint of light on the wavelets, just as they were in the summer of 1954, as they will be in 2054 and beyond; he can stand on a rock by the shore and be in a past he could not have known, in a future he will never see; he can be a part of time that was and time yet to come.”

Ideas:

“Almost all the Adirondack peaks have those rounded tops, worn by storm and time.” P. 11. ………. “The belief that between two mountains there must be a valley is not always true in the Adirondacks; likely as not, a lake is there instead.” P. 11. ………. “Two ambitions have marked Adirondack climbing: the first was to climb every one of the forty-six peaks over four thousand feet; a second ambition, popular twenty years ago, was to start as early in the morning as a man could wake, and by going in marathon fashion see how many peaks, what total elevation, and what mileage could be made in one day.” P. 13. ………. “Men have tried to describe mountain scenery and mountain views; it is futile.” P. 13. ………. John Cheney, mountain guide, 1837: “It makes a man feel what it is to have all creation under his feet.” P. 14. ………. “The Adirondack country has more than 1345 lakes named, and more nameless.” P. 14. ………. “Lake Champlain is not usually counted as an Adirondack lake; if it were it would far surpass all of them in size and depth, for it is 107 miles long and 12 miles wide at its widest, with a depth of four hundred feet at one place.” P. 15.

To be continued.

Watchers at the Pond. Franklin Russell (5).

New York: Time Incorporated. 1961.

Why read it? Nature. A study of what happens within the setting of a pond as the seasons evolve. Ponds are teeming with life, much of it hidden from most people unless observed by a naturalist. The reader will discover the unseen world of the pond in winter, spring, summer, fall and back to winter again.

Ideas:

“The forest, cleansed of its old and sick, preserved an ordered and stately aspect, which was a perfect expression of life and continuous death.” P. 225. ………. “On gusty days…the ducks banked against the marsh wind and made their approaches over the western end of the pond, precise and graceful, coming in very fast and ricking in a gust of wind, then suddenly beating back, dropping their legs, and hissing into the water in one smooth motion.” P. 227. ………. “In the final cycle of the year, ineffable melancholy, created by the contrast between life and lifelessness, spread over the pond.” P. 232. ………. “Dead nests straggled in their branches as silent manifestants of a surge of life now gone forever.” P. 232. ………. “The pond had burst open like an expansive blossom and had seeded and died and was now settling and rotting back into itself.” P. 232. ………. “Many stars were starkly white now, shining instead of twinkling, and they sparkled in the cold water.” P. 234. ………. “A wind came over the deepening ice, so cold it drove most living things into hiding.” P. 240.

The end. Next: Adirondack Country by William Chapman White.

Watchers at the Pond. Frankliln Russell (4).

New York: Time Incorporated. 1961.

Why read it? Nature. A study of what happens within the setting of a pond as the seasons evolve. Ponds are teeming with life, much of it hidden from most people unless observed by a naturalist. The reader will discover the unseen world of the pond in winter, spring, summer, fall and back to winter again.

Ideas:

“The lightning burned through the air and created a huge vacuum, into which the vapor-packed air hurtled…created an explosion that rocked the earth, and the concussion fled along the line of the lightning strike and ended with a crackle far beyond the marsh.” p. 179. ………. “Death was a process of reduction, and bacteria were the prime reducers.” P. 193. ………. “The blue sky was not caused by clarity but by turbidity, or countless dust particles.” P. 200. ………. “Each space of air the size of a robin’s egg contained more than a million of these particles, and they were filters that reduced the sun’s heat and cut out the reds, violets, and greens of light from space, allowing only the dominant color of blue to reach the pond.” P. 201. ………. “Later that day…male [flying] ants fell steadily from the sky, dying and dead…their lives…ended the moment they mated with the flying females….” P. 203. ………. “…more than ten thousand blue jays flooded past the pond: their massed flight…overwhelming, as though a single creature of unbelievable size had exploded into sight.” P. 209. ………. “The next day, another twenty thousand crows passed, and forty thousand the next day, and twenty thousand the next day, and then fifteen thousand and thirty thousand and fifty thousand, and black columns of birds stretched almost unbroken from horizon to horizon.” P. 210.

To be concluded.

Watchers at the Pond. Franklin Russell (3).

New York: Time Incorporated. 1961.

Why read it? Nature. A study of what happens within the setting of a pond as the seasons evolve. Ponds are teeming with life, much of it hidden from most people unless observed by a naturalist. The reader will discover the unseen world of the pond in winter, spring, summer, fall and back to winter again.

Ideas:

“The bursting green volvox, the budding youngsters of the hydras, the endless division of amoebae and  paramecia, all produced uncountable millions of new lives each day.” P. 162. ………. “The forest hummed softly with a legion of wings.” P. 169. ………. “The lungs of the pond were the leaves.” P. 170. ………. “Billions of leaves hung, rustled, whispered, gleamed, and flickered.” P. 170. ………. “…thousands of breathing valves, or stomata, through which the leaf inhaled carbon dioxide and exhaled oxygen.” P. 171. ………. “The unwanted substance of this activity, oxygen, flooded over the pond and into the lungs and lives of all creatures in an invisible shower of water expelled by the leaves.” P. 171. ………. “In one summer, the trees would release more water than was contained in the pond.” P. 171. ………. “The pond’s surface was flatly gray, and its trees were stilled, waiting for the rain…no bird called; no life stirred.” P. 175.

To be continued.

Watchers at the Pond. Franklin Russell (2)

 New York: Time Incorporated. 1961.

Why read it? Nature. A study of what happens within the setting of a pond as the seasons evolve. Ponds are teeming with life, much of it hidden from most people unless observed by a naturalist. The reader will discover the unseen world of the pond in winter, spring, summer, fall and back to winter again.

Ideas:

“The differences between plant and animal among this microlife were incomprehensible and contradictory and seemed to indicate only one fact: the origins of this life went back to a creature that was neither plant or animal.” P. 85. ………. The red-tailed hawk: His scream in the hot sky griped the senses, and the vertical fall of his body terrified the forest.” P. 87. ………. “…size was no criterion of the hunter’s skill and  power.” P. 88. ………. “All pond creatures had particular enemies who perpetually haunted their lives.” P. 103. ………. “In an hour, one bladdewort caught five hundred thousand creatures.” P. 111. ………. “The worm gulped down the rotifer, and the frog swallowed the worm; the kingfisher killed the frog, and the hunt passed endlessly from creature to creature.” P. 114. ………. “In death there was life.” P. 116. ……….. “The unknowing eye saw the stillness and missed the vortex of life within.” P. 154. ………. “The bat calls bounded off all flying insects, and the reflected sounds informed the bats of distance, directions, and speeds.” P. 156. ………. “Their [the bats’] crazy zigzagging flight branched from mosquito to moth in blind destruction of flying life.” P. 156. ………. “The bats lived in an almost completely dark world of echo.” P. 156.

To be continued. 

Watchers at the Pond. Franklin Russell (1).

 New York: Time Incorporated. 1961.

Why read it? Nature. A study of what happens within the setting of a pond as the seasons evolve. Ponds are teeming with life, much of it hidden from most people unless observed by a naturalist. The reader will discover the unseen world of the pond in winter, spring, summer, fall and back to winter again.

Ideas:

“These creatures had neither the time nor the instinct to know all the incredible pond.” P. 11. ………. “About five hundred million earthworms were asleep around the pond.” P. 15. ………. “Dense masses of ants: their metabolism was so low that their hearts were motionless, and they lived in a secret suspension puzzlingly remote form the hot activity of their waking lives.” P. 16. ………. “When the flies began emerging from their sleep, the pond would sound to the roar, rasp, whine, screech, drone and rumble of their wings.” P. 21. ………. “Nowhere did the snow disclose its real structure, which was founded on one constant mathematical fact: every particle of it was formed on some variation of six…and whatever the complexity of a flake, each was a perfectly symmetrical unit.” P. 39. ………. “In a hollow tree filled with rotten wood, thirty-eight thousand drowsy fertilized mosquitoes began stirring.” P. 55. ………. “The diversity of life in this miniature universe seemed infinite.” P. 61.

To be continued. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson: Essays and Lectures. Book Two (10).

1803 -1882. New York: Literary Classics of the United States. 1983.

Why read it? Emerson’s unit of thought is the epigrammatic sentence. Emerson writes a poetic prose. Emerson’s beliefs—that each man shares in the Over-Soul, or God, that man possesses, within himself, the means to all knowledge—expressed in his memorable sentences, are of central importance in the history of American culture. The only trouble is most of his ideas are half-truths.

Ideas:

“The English…do not respect power, but only performance; value ideas only for an economic result.” P. 887. ………. “The gospel it [English church] preaches is, ‘By taste are ye saved.’ ” P. 888. ………. “The bias of Englishmen to practical skill….” P. 903. ………. Its [The Times’] existence honors the people who dare to print all they know, dare to know all the facts, and do not wish to be flattered by hiding the extent of the public disaster.” P. 913. ………. “…England, an old land and exhausted land, must one day be contented, like other parents, to be strong only in her children.” P. 916. ………. “An Englishman shows no mercy to those below him in the social scale, as he looks for none from those above him: any forbearance from his superiors surprises him, and they suffer in his good opinion.” P. 932. ………. “…by this sacredness of individual, they [the English] have in seven hundred years evolved the principles of freedom.” P. 933.

The end of this book of essays and lectures by Emerson. Next: Watchers at the Pond by Franklin Russell.

Ralph Waldo Emerson: Essays and Lectures. Book Two (9).

1803 -1882. New York: Literary Classics of the United States. 1983.

Why read it? Emerson’s unit of thought is the epigrammatic sentence. Emerson writes a poetic prose. Emerson’s beliefs—that each man shares in the Over-Soul, or God, that man possesses, within himself, the means to all knowledge—expressed in his memorable sentences, are of central importance in the history of American culture. The only trouble is most of his ideas are half-truths.

Ideas:

“The reputation for taciturnity they [the English] have enjoyed for six or seven hundred years.” P. 837. ………. “The [English] have a great range of scale, from ferocity to exquisite refinement.” P. 841. ………. Of Baron Vere: “Had one seen him returning from a victory, he would by his silence have suspected that he had lost the day; and had he beheld him in retreat, he would have [thought] him a conqueror by the cheerfulness of his spirit.” P. 842. ………. “They [the English] wish neither to command or obey, but to be kings in their own houses.” P. 844. ………. “The English are a nation of humorists.” P. 845. ………. There is this benefit in brag, that the speaker is unconsciously expressing his own ideal.” P. 847. ………. “But a man must keep an eye on his servants, if he would not have them rule him.” P. 857. ………. “Man is a shrewd inventor, and is ever taking the hint of a new machine from his own structure, and adapting some secret of his own anatomy in iron, wood, and leather, to some required function in the work of the world.” P. 857. ………. “…the machine unmans the user.” P.  857. ………. “The new age brings new qualities into request….” P. 862. ………. “This long descent of families and this cleaving through the ages to the same spot of ground captivates the imagination.” P. 863. ………. “The upper classes have only birth, say the people here, and not thoughts.” P. 867.

To be continued.

Ralph Waldo Emerson: Essays and Lectures. Book Two (8).

1803 -1882. New York: Literary Classics of the United States. 1983.

Why read it? Emerson’s unit of thought is the epigrammatic sentence. Emerson writes a poetic prose. Emerson’s beliefs—that each man shares in the Over-Soul, or God, that man possesses, within himself, the means to all knowledge—expressed in his memorable sentences, are of central importance in the history of American culture. The only trouble is most of his ideas are half-truths.

Ideas:

“Everything English is a fusion of distant and antagonistic elements.” P. 793. ………. “[The Saxons] have the taste for toil, a distaste for pleasure or repose and the telescopic appreciation for distant gain.” P. 807. ………. “The bias of the nation [England] is a passion for utility.” P. 811. ………. “The nearer we look, the more artificial is their [the British] social system.” P. 818. ………. “The laborer is a possible lord; the lord is a possible basket-maker.” P. 820. ……… “Machinery has been applied to all work, and carried to such perfection, that little is left for the men but to mind the engines and feed the furnaces.” P. 822. ……….. “In short, every one of these islanders [the English] is an island himself, safe, tranquil, incommunicable.” P. 823. ………. “[The English]…inexorable on points of form.” P. 824. ………. “The English power resides also in their dislike of change.” P. 826. ………. “An Englishman understates, avoids the superlative, checks himself in compliments….” P. 831. ………. “The Englishman who visits Mount Etna will carry his tea kettle to the top.” P. 834. ………. “[The English]…believe that where there is no enjoyment of life, there can be no vigor and art in speech or thought: that your merry heart goes all the way, your sad one tires in a mile.” P. 836.

To be continued.