Return to Concord—An Ill-managed Menagerie—A Summer Evening—A Musical Performer—The Moon and the Clouds—The Nearness of the Wild—Travelling—Profitable Interest—The Spread of Inventions—The Inspiring Melodies—An Unheeded Warning—Sounds of a Summer Night—The Moon’s War with the Clouds—First Signs of Morning—The Dawn—Thistle and Bee—Cool Weather—Delight in Nature—The Snake in the Stomach—The Haying—Dogs and Cows—British Soldiers in Canada—Liberty in Canada—Canadian Fortifications—Prehensile Intellects—The Poet and his Moods—Knowing one’s Subject—The Revolution of the Seasons—Rattlesnake-Plantain—The Creak of the Crickets—Botanical Terms—The Cardinal-Flower—The Canadian Feudal System—Government—The Flowering of the Vervain—The Conspicuous Flowers of the Season—The Visit to Canada—De Quincey’s Style—Charity and Almshouses—Men observed as Animals—The Price Farm Road—Snake and Toad—An August Wind—Cutting Turf—Burning Brush—The Telegraph—The Fortress of Quebec—A Faithful Flower—Potato Balls—The Seal of Evening—Solitude in Concord—The Names of Plants. CHAPTER VIII. September, 1851 (ÆT. 34) 440 Disease the Rule of Existence—Finding one’s Faculties—Telegraphs—Moose-lipped Words—Cato’s De Re Rustica—The Horse and Man—Health and Disease—The Telegraph Harp—Walking in England—A Walk to Boon’s Pond in Stow—The Farmer and His Oxen—Tempe and Arcadia—Footpaths for Poets—Writing on Many Subjects—Dammed Streams—The Dog of the Woods—J. J. G. Wilkinson—Fastidiousness—A Lake by Moonlight—A Formalist—The Fullness of Life—Creatures of Institutions—Moments of Inspiration—Gladness—A September Evening—Singing heard at Night—Moonlight on the River—Fair Haven by Moonlight—Northern Lights—Soaring Hawks—The Grass and the Year—The Sky at Night—A Factory-Bell—Sunrise—The Color of the Poke—The Stone-mason’s Craft—Moral Effort—Benvenuto Cellini—An Endymion Sleep—The Mountains in the Horizon—The Telegraph Harp—Perambulating the Bounds—A Pigeon-Place—An Elusive Scent—The Cross-leaved Polygala. ILLUSTRATIONS STAR-FLOWERS (TRIENTALIS) Frontispiece Carbon photograph (page 266) FAIR HAVEN POND FROM THE CLIFFS Colored plate FAIR HAVEN POND FROM THE CLIFFS 10 NOVEMBER WOODS 86 FIRST SNOW 122 MIDWINTER 150 TOWN BROOK, PLYMOUTH 364 THE JOURNAL OF HENRY DAVID THOREAU VOLUME II I 1850 (ÆT. 32-33)[1]