Chapter 31 Section 31: 1854, "Walden" is published

1854 The most significant event of the year was undoubtedly the August 9th publication at the risk of Boston Tickner and Fields.2000 copies of this edition were printed.received attention from critics.Other important events included Thoreau's increased involvement in the fight against slavery. On July 4, he delivered a speech entitled "Slavery in Massachusetts," which was subsequently reprinted by The Liberator and a New York newspaper edited by Horace Greeley.During the year, he gave five public lectures at the academy.In personal life, Thoreau made two new friends during the year, both of whom became his loyal friends thereafter.One is the Quakers from New Bedford Quakers: also known as "Quakers" or "Quakers", a sect of Protestant Christianity. Founded by the Englishman Fox in the middle of the 17th century, it is mainly distributed in Britain, the United States and other countries.Christian Daniel Rickison, the other is the British traveler and writer Thomas Chomley.1854 is probably one of the best years as far as diaries are concerned, and several aspects of what his diaries usually contain are well considered.This year's diary can be described as beautiful.

On January 13th... In a deep hole on the side of Britton's camp, I heard a strange humming sound from the ground, like the sound of a large fly or bee struggling in a spider's web.I got down on my knees and traced with difficulty to a bare spot in the snow the size of my hand, where I searched in the stubble for several minutes, pushing the grass away with my fingers, until I was very close to it, because Not sure if he would get stung, he used a stick.The sound was incessant, like a great struggling fly, and though it only hurt my ears, I poked my stick straight into the spot, but found neither prey nor perpetrator.At last I found that my stick disturbed or changed the tone, so I traced again to a few stalks of dead grass occupying a site about a quarter of an inch in diameter, standing upright in the melted snow.When I bend them to the side it produces a duller and lower tone.It was a sound from the earth, and as I stooped, it occurred to me that it might be the childish cry of an earthquake that would soon swallowed me up.There are no bubbles in the water.Perhaps the gas was trapped beneath the permafrost, now expanded by melting snow, and escaped through a hollow grass stalk.I walked away ten minutes later, when the buzz was just as loud as it was when it started.It could be heard five or six yards away.

January 27th... The greatest appreciation I have ever won in my life is when someone asks me what I am thinking and listens to my answer. March 31st... trust your sharp instincts when judging what you write yourself.There are many things that we come so close to questioning that we don't.When I handed over the manuscript to the publisher, certain sentences or expressions which would attract criticism, although I had never had any doubts about them before, came to my attention.My critical instinct immediately broke through the ice and surfaced. At 5:30 am on May 17, go to the island.

It may have been a day or two, and the water feels warm to the hands in the morning.At this point I touched the water with my hand while paddling.Here the woodcock croaks, the sound of warm weather.When I got back to the grass on this side of the island, I saw a turtle with its nose sticking out of the water—a point about an inch in size—and it was swimming toward the island.As it moves slowly across the water, the emerging shell and head look like the scalloped edges of several large floating leaves against the water.I paddled over and found a large snapping turtle down there.It was a taupe, very close to the color of the river bottom today.With its head the size of a baby's head and alert eyes (as if it were swimming at the bottom of the river to escape), its appearance is not only repulsive, it's even a little scary, like a crocodile.I stretched my arms several times and tried my best to reach the bottom of the river, and finally managed to catch it into the boat.I got it under the seat with the help of a stick.To get it from where the boat was docked to my house, I had to turn it over and drag its tail, its hard spine suitable for grasping.Because it was so heavy, I couldn't keep a distance from it while dragging it, and it suddenly bit my leg.It weighs 30.5 pounds.

May 28th... When I was urged to kill a rare snake in order to find out its species, I was disturbed by the cruelty of science.I feel that this is not a means to gain real knowledge. June 16th... I smelled the fragrance of white water lilies again, and the season I was waiting for came.How indispensable are the experiences that make up summer!It is a sign of purity, and its aroma evokes purity.Growing in stagnant muddy water, it blooms so purely and gracefully before our eyes, and smells so fragrant, as if to show us the characteristics of purity and fragrance, and that purity and fragrance can emerge from the slimy and filthy things of the earth. extract.I think I picked the first one that was at least a mile away.In the scent of water lilies, our hopes are confirmed!Notwithstanding slavery and the cowardice and unprincipledness of the North, I will not be so quick to despair of the world for it.It hints at a time when people's behavior will be better.Who can doubt the youth and vigor of nature when the plants around us are so fragrant?As nature still yearly concocts such perfumes, we shall still believe in her vigor, and in man the virtues which he knows and loves.It was as if all the purity, fragrance, and virtue had been extracted from the muck and rot of the earth, and embodied in a single flower.This is the resurrection of virtue!It occurred to me that nature would not approve of the Missouri Compromise: the final agreement in Congress between the North and South of the United States in 1820 to admit Missouri as the 24th state.The bill admitted Missouri as a slave state, allowing the state to join the Union without restrictions on slavery.something like this.I smell no compromise in the fresh scent of white water lily.In this fragrance, fragrance, purity and honesty are completely separated from obscenity and perniciousness.I don't smell in it the unscrupulous indecision of the governor of Massachusetts or the mayor of Boston.All righteous behavior exudes such a fragrance.Therefore your doing those scented deeds will add to the general scent in the air, and when I see or smell the scent of a flower, I shall not remember how inconsistent your deeds were; for all the scents It all boils down to a form of displaying moral character.Without noble deeds, the water lily would have no fragrance.Dirty sludge represents man's laziness and wickedness; fragrant flowers grow from it, as from it comes purity and courage.These sights and sounds and aromas come together to convince us of our immortality.No one disputes all this evidence.Our outer feelings are in harmony with our inner feelings.This scent convinced me that if others fell, one would rise quickly; that if a plague swept across the land, at least one would remain unharmed.Natural creativity is not diminished.Her flowers were as beautiful and fragrant as ever.

August 2nd... Fields sent my sample book today.Its publication date is the 12th of this month.