If you would know the flavor of huckleberries, ask the cow-boy or the partridge.

There is but one way to obtain it, yet few take that way. The fruits do not yield their true flavor to the purchaser of them, nor to him who raises them for the market. Sometimes, having had a surfeit of human society and gossip, and worn out all my village friends, I rambled still farther westward than I habitually dwell, into yet more unfrequented parts of the town, 'to fresh woods and pastures new,' or, while the sun was setting, made my supper of huckleberries and blueberries on Fair Haven Hill, and laid up a store for several days. He sees the pond as having the characteristics of its creator, and he feels he can get no closer to heaven than by being part of Walden.Ĭomments | SECTIONS: | Writing | Thoreau | Home | Bike Pages | Beyond seeing beauty in the pond, he sees purity, which he identifies with its lonely existence. Thoreau shows a fascination with every aspect of the pond, from the temperature of the water, to the way it appears when looking upside down. The historical tales look back further still. Much of this chapter is nostalgic, looking backwards from a later period of time to when he lived beside Walden and, even more, looking backwards to when he was a boy first visiting and exploring the pond. In 'The Ponds,' Thoreau shares the knowledge and lore which he has acquired about Walden and the other nearby lakes. The Ponds - from Walden, by Henry Thoreau, with notes and analysis The Ponds

Good by S. Walden