John and Henry took a week to build a sailboat. I wonder how many people could do that type of thing today. On August 1839, after a melon party, John and Henry left Concord Massachusetts for Hooksett, New Hampshire. While on Walden Pond Thoreau would write a book about the experience, in part as a tribute to his brother, even though he doesn't say so in the book. McPhee complains about some of the style of the book, which seems appropriate. There's something off about the writing to my mind too, because it's not easy or pleasant to read at times. But he likes this bit of writing:
"The bass, Tilia Americana, also called the lime or linden, which was a new tree to us, overhung the water with its broad and rounded leaf, interspersed with clusters of small hard berries now nearly ripe, and made an agreeable shade for us sailors. The inner bark of this genus is the bast, the material of the fisherman’s matting, and the ropes and peasant’s shoes of which the Russians make so much use, and also of nets and a coarse cloth in some places. According to poets, this was once Philyra, one of the Oceanides. The ancients are said to have used its bark for the roofs of cottages, for baskets, and for a kind of paper called Philyra. They also made bucklers of its wood, “on account of its flexibility, lightness, and resiliency.” It was once much used for carving, and is still in demand for sounding-boards of piano-fortes and panels of carriages, and for various uses for which toughness and flexibility are required. Baskets and cradles are made of the twigs. Its sap affords sugar, and the honey made from its flowers is said to be preferred to any other. Its leaves are in some countries given to cattle, a kind of chocolate has been made of its fruit, a medicine has been prepared from an infusion of its flowers, and finally, the charcoal made of its wood is greatly valued for gunpowder."
I’ve been thinking about common birds. Found this list on Google.
Links:
John McPhee "Paddling After Henry David Thoreau" New Yorker, December 7th, 2003.
A Week On The Concord and Merrimack Rivers (Wikipedia)
Online version (Guttenberg)
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