Refuge Notebook • Vol. 6, No. 46 • November 26, 2004

Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden” still relevant after 150 years by Ted Bailey

I recently purchased a 150th anniversary edition life by taking walks and observing nature while others of Henry David Thoreau’s book Walden, an edition worked hard to make a “decent” living. And to further claimed to be “the most beautiful edition ever pub- convince them of their doubts he left his hometown, lished of Thoreau’s masterpiece,” with color pho- built a small cabin on a nearby Walden Pond and lived tographs of Walden Pond, trees, leaves and even there alone two years reading, writing and carefully tiny mosses interspersed throughout its 275 pages. observing and documenting the natural world around The publisher pointed out that the price of the book him and his observations of humanity. ($28.12) was only a half a cent less than what Thoreau Thoreau was an exceptional observer of nature. Bi- spent to build his cabin on Walden Pond in 1845. ographers have noted that in his later years he spent Thoreau lived alone in this small cabin as an exper- much of his time documenting the natural history of iment: “I went to the woods because I wished to live the world around him. Few of nature’s creatures es- deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and caped Thoreau’s attention. Since I had studied lynx,I see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, was especially interested about his observations when when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” He a farmer shot a lynx near his hometown of Concord, lived there from July 4, 1845 to September 7, 1847 and Massachusetts (“An Estabrook Lynx”) on September 9, then wrote Walden, which describes not only his expe- 1860. Thoreau was apparently fascinated that a lynx riences but perhaps more significantly his philosophy had been killed nearby because lynx were then already of life. First published in 1854, Walden has never been rare near Concord. He wrote “I have heard of two or out of print since 1862, the year of Thoreau’s untimely three such within a year, and of half a dozen within death from tuberculosis at the age of 44 years. fifteen years.” Dismayed at its death and byaman’s I first read Thoreau’s Walden over 40 years ago. question about whether he had gotten the State’s ten- I had then recently returned to the United States af- dollar award [for a dead lynx], he said “You might have ter serving three years overseas in the military and inferred ten dollars was something rarer in his neigh- was struggling to find my place in civilian life ina borhood than a lynx….” I also obtained a copy of his country that seemed different from the one I had ear- hand-written letter about the lynx that he wrote tothe lier left behind. I still remember finding the small, Boston Society of Natural History; it would be the only green hardback book—a 1950 edition—with most of lynx Thoreau would see in his lifetime. Thoreau’s writings, including Walden, in a bookstore. There are numerous thought-provoking passages Its dustcover—a silhouette of a lone man looking out in Walden. One of my favorites is: “Our village life over a peaceful country landscape—caught my eye. I would stagnate if it were not for the unexplored forests did not know about Thoreau’s writings at the time. and meadows which surround it. We need the tonic But after reading Walden I was inspired, along with of wildness—to wade sometimes in marshes where the my love of the outdoors and an intense curiosity about bittern and meadow-hen lurk, and hear the booming of the natural world, to pursue a career dedicated to bet- the snipe; to smell the whispering sedge where only ter understanding and conserving our natural world. some wilder and more solitary fowl builds her nest, I still have that worn book but the dustcover that first and the mink crawls with its belly close to the ground.” attracted me is long gone after years of handling and There are many more. numerous moves about the country. Thoreau lived during the Industrial Revolution in Now recognized as one of America’s greatest writ- America. The building of factories and a railroad in ers, Thoreau was not so admired or recognized inhis his hometown and the increasing emphasis on “human own time. Some neighbors considered him strange, productivity” were already changing the landscape, an unusual person wasting a potentially “productive” society, and the lives of people in ways he thought

USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge 79 Refuge Notebook • Vol. 6, No. 46 • November 26, 2004 were detrimental to the human spirit and to the dig- cial world. nity of individuals. These observations led to perhaps Ted Bailey is a retired Kenai National Wildlife his most remembered quote that, “The mass of men Refuge wildlife biologist who has lived on the Kenai lead lives of quiet desperation.” In part it was an obser- Peninsula for over 28 years. He is an adjunct instructor vation of those who he thought were sacrificing their at the Kenai Peninsula College and maintains a keen in- lives merely for material gain. Perhaps that is why terest in the Kenai Peninsula’s wildlife and natural his- some readers still find relevant Thoreau’s thoughts ex- tory. Previous Refuge Notebook columns can be viewed pressed in Walden and elsewhere in his writings in to- on the Web at http://www.fws.gov/refuge/kenai/. day’s increasingly consumption-dominated and artifi-

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