Light and Shade I

July 5

There is a handsome wood-path on the east side of White Pond. The shadows of the pine stems and branches fall across the path, which is perfectly red with pine-needles. 

Here is a small road running north and south along the edge of the wood, which would be a good place to walk by moonlight.


H. D. Thoreau,  Journal, July 5, 1851

A handsome wood-path perfectly red with pine-needles .See June 11, 1851 ("The woodland paths are never seen to such advantage as in a moonlight night, opening before me almost against expectation as I walk, as if it were not a path, but an open, winding passage through the bushes, which my feet find");.
July 1, 1852 ("The path by the wood-side is red with the effete staminiferous flowers of the white pine"); August 23, 1852 ("How dark the shadows of the pines and oaks fall across the woodland path! . . . It is pleasant walking in these forest paths, with heavy darkness on one side and a silvery moonlight on the oak leaves on the other, and again, when the trees meet overhead, to tread the checkered floor of finely divided light and shade.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The White Pines

Shadows of pine stems

fall across the small wood-path

red with pine-needles.

Here is a small road 

along the edge of the wood

to walk by moonlight. 

A fresh cool summer morning.

July 2.

It is a fresh, cool summer morning.

That principle which gives the air an azure color is more abundant.

From the road at N. Barrett's, on my way to P. Blood's at 8:30A.M., the Great Meadows have a slight bluish misty tinge; elsewhere a sort of hoary sheen. Miles of waving grass adorning the surface of the earth, inconceivably fine and silvery far away, - light reflects from the grass blades. 

July 2

It takes but little distance to make the hills and even the meadows look blue to-day. 

To-day the milkweed is blossoming.  Some of the raspberries are ripe, the most innocent and simple of fruits. Cherries are ripe. Strawberries in the gardens have passed their prime.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, July 2, 1851

A New England summer evening.

June 30.

Haying has commenced. 

I see the farmers in distant fields cocking their hay now at six o'clock. The day has been so oppressively warm that some workmen have lain by at noon, and the haymakers are mowing now in the early twilight.

After hoeing in a dusty garden all this warm afternoon, - so warm that the baker says he never knew the like and expects to find his horses dead in the stable when he gets home, - it is very grateful to wend one's way at evening to some pure and cool stream and bathe therein.


The blue flag (Iris versicolor) enlivens the meadow.

The lark sings a note which belongs to a New England summer evening. 

The cuckoo is faintly heard from a neighboring grove. 

Though so late, I hear the summer hum of a bee in the grass, as I am on my way to the river behind Hubbard's.

July 30, 2018

Now that it is beginning to be dark as I am crossing a pasture, I hear a happy, shrill cricket-like little lay from a sparrow either in the grass or else on that distant tree.

The tree-primrose, which was so abundant in one field last Saturday, is now all gone. The cattle on Bear Garden Hill, seen through the twilight, look monstrously large.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, June 30,1851

Haying has commenced. See June 30, 1852 ("Haying has commenced.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Haymaking

The blue flag (Iris versicolor) enlivens the meadow. See June 14, 1853 ("The blue flag (Iris versicolor) grows in this pure water, rising from the stony bottom all around the shores, and is very beautiful, — not too high-colored, — especially its reflections in the water. There was something [in] its bluish blade which harmonized with the greenish water.. . .. Instead of the white lily, which requires mud, or the sweet flag, here grows the blue flag in the water, thinly about the shore. The color of the flower harmonizes singularly with the water. . . .Large devil's-needles are buzzing back and forth. They skim along the edge of the blue flags, apparently quite round this cove or further, like hen-harriers beating the bush for game. And now comes a hummingbird humming from the woods and alights on the blossom of a blue flag. "); June 30, 1852 ("Is not this period more than any distinguished for flowers, when roses, swamp-pinks, morning-glories, arethusas, pogonias, orchises, blue flags, epilobiums, mountain laurel, and white lilies are all in blossom at once?"); See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Blue Flag Iris (Versicolor)

The lark sings a note which belongs to a New England summer evening. See July 11, 1857 ("Haying is fairly begun, and for some days I have heard the sound of the mowing-machine, and now the lark must look out for the mowers.'): July 16, 1851 ("The lark sings in the meadow; the very essence of the afternoon is in his strain. This is a New England sound")

Oppressively warm –

haymakers are mowing now

in early twilight.

The lark sings a note 

which belongs to New England

summer evenings.

A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau,  A New England Summer Evening

A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau,

 "A book, each page written in its own season,

out-of-doors, in its own locality."

 ~edited, assembled and rewritten by zphx ©  2009-2024

tinyurl.com/hdt-510630

Transcript of a letter dated 28 July 1802, Tangier, from U.S. Counsel James Simpson to Thomas Buckley Esq., shortly after Morocco declared war on the United States

In May of 1801, the Bashaw of Tripoli declared war on the United States by cutting down the flagstaff in front of the U.S. Consulate. In response, Jefferson sent a group of frigates to defend American interests in the Mediterranean and to blockade Tripoli. As part of the blockade, , Simpson refused to issue passports requested by Sultan Moulay Suliman of Morocco for two vessels to carry wheat from Gibraltar to Tripoli. 

On June 22, 1802, the Sultan Moulay Suliman responded by  expelling Simpson from Tangier and declaring war on the United States, but on July 26, 1802, invited Simpson to return.  This letter is dated July 28, 1802, shortly after Simpson’s return to Tangier in “furtherance of reconciliation.” 

The letter describes the readiness of Moroccan vessels and warns that Moroccans are preparing “to Capture American Vessels.”  The letter encloses a “Dispatch for the Secretary of State.”

Tangier 28 July 1802

Dear Sir

          I have to thank you for a letter received this day week at Gibraltar, and for these it covered. ~ I landed here Monday running under a Flag of Truce from the Enterprise Schooner,[1] for purposes of making certain Communications from the President to the Imperial Majesty[2], towards the furtherance of reconciliation; ~ The issue I will be careful to acquaint you. ~

          In the meantime I avail of this opportunity, to advise a Frigate of 22 Guns of 100 Men[3] lays purposely ready at Larach, to put to Sea first Levanter[4], provided with full authority to Capture American Vessels, which beg you will make known. ~ At Tetuan they have two half Gallies of two Guns each, & about fifty men nearly ready. ~ Enclosed is a Dispatch for the Secretary of State which request you will forward by first opportunity. ~

          I am with regard

               Dear Sir 
Your Most Obedient Servant


s/ James Simpson

---

[1] Enterprise was a 12 gun schooner, in 1801-02 under the command of Lieutenant Andrew Sterett

[2] Sultan Moulay Suliman. Morocco was the first nation to recognize the fledgling United States as an independent nation in 1777. The Moroccan-American Treaty of Friendship of 1786 is the first treaty between the United States and any Arab, Muslim or African country, and stands as the U.S.'s oldest non-broken friendship treaty. Sultan Moulay Suliman, had reaffirmed the Treaty in 1795

The Treaty provides for the protection of American shipping along the Moroccan coast and for commerce between the two nations on the basis of most favored nation. The treaty, binding for 50 years, was sealed by the Sultan Sidi Mohamed on June 28, 1786 and an additional article was added July 6th. Signed and sealed by Ministers Plenipotentiary of the United States, Thomas Jefferson in Paris on January 1, 1787, and John Adams in London on January 25th, it was ratified by Congress and entered into force on July 18, 1787.

  

[3]           This could refer to the Meshboha [a/k/a Mirboho or Mirboka], a 22-gun Moroccan Frigate with a crew of 120 men. The Meshboha, carrying orders of the Governor of Tangiers to cruise for American vessels and an American prize, was captured a year later, in August 1803, by the Philadelphia.   Preble and Rodgers blockaded the Moroccan coast and in October entered the Bay of Tangiers with the American Squadron (Constitution, New York, John Adams, and Nautilus) in full battle array.  
            After preliminary negotiation conducted by consul James Simpson, Sultan Moulay Suliman disavowed the act of the Governor of Tangiers, expressed a desire to remain at peace with the United States, and sent presents of cattle, sheep and fowl.  He again signed the treaty of 1786.

As President Jefferson informed the Congress, “All difficulties in consequence therof have been amicably adjusted… each party restoring to the other what had been detained or taken.”  (Special Message of December 5, 1803). See Charles Oscar Paullin, Diplomatic Negotiations of American Naval Officers, 1778-1883 (1912);   Charles Oscar Paullin, Commodore John Rodgers (1909).  The Emperor proclaimed, “The American nation are still, as they were, in peace and friendship with our person, exalted of God.” Eugene Schuyler, American Diplomacy and the Furtherance of Commerce (1895)

The National Intelligencer reported that Jefferson “had commanded peace” with Morocco “on his own terms” without blood or tribute.  Jefferson in turn praised the “temperate and correct course pursued by our consul, Mr. Simpson.” (Special Message to Congress of December 5, 1803)
James Simpson was U.S. Consul to Morocco at Tangier from 1796-1820.

[4] The Levanter is an easterly wind that blows in the Western Mediterranean, reaching its greatest intensity through the Strait of Gibraltar. The Levanter winds can occur at any time in the year, but are most common from July to October.

Red-top

June 26

The slight reddish-topped grass now gives a reddish tinge to some fields.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, June 26, 1851

See June 19, 1859 ("Is that red-top, nearly out on railroad bank?");  July 6, 1851 ("The red-topped grass is in its prime, tingeing the fields with red."); July 13, 1860 ("I especially notice some very red fields where the red-top grass grows luxuriantly and is now in full bloom, - a red purple, passing into brown. First we had the June grass reddish-brown, and the sorrel red, of June; now the red-top red of July."); July 15, 1860 ("Looking down on a field of red-top now in full bloom, at 2.30 P.M. in a blazing sun I am surprised to see a very distinct white vapor like a low cloud drifting along close over the moist coolness of that dense grass-field. Field after field, densely packed like the squares of a checker-board, all through and about the villages, paint the earth")

June 26. Thursday . The slight reddish-topped grass (red - top?) now gives a reddish tinge to some fields, like sorrel. 

Visited a menagerie this afternoon. 

I am always surprised to see the same spots and stripes on wild beasts from Africa and Asia and also from South America  — on the Brazilian tiger and the African leopard, - and their general similarity. All these wild animals lions, tigers chetas, leopards , etc. - have one hue, - tawny and commonly spotted or striped , what you may call pard-color, a color and marking which I had not associated with America. These are wild beasts. 

What constitutes the difference between a wild beast and a tame one? How much more human the one than the other! Growling, scratching, roaring, with whatever beauty and gracefulness, still untamable, this royal Bengal tiger or this leopard. They have the character and the importance of another order of men. The majestic lion, the king of beasts, he must retain his title. 

I was struck by the gem-like, changeable, greenish reflections from the eyes of the grizzly bear, so glassy that you never saw the surface of the eye. They [were] quite demonic. Its claws, though extremely large and long, look weak and made for digging or pawing the earth and leaves. 

It is unavoidable, the idea of trans-migration; not merely a fancy of the poets, but an instinct of the race. 

Bipolar walk for the cure

Bipolar illness is fun but no fun.  If I could end it by walking around the world, I would.  Why not? Will you help me in raising awareness and helping to end this devastating illness?  I need your support for a circumpolar walk around the world. Myrtle Beach, Coral Beach, Key West, St Bart's, Rio, Buenos Aires, Terra del Fuego. You see the fun. I need some money. Pledge a little, or pledge to come along. Little America, the South Pole. How fun could that be? if you join me we can stop this thing. Bipolar illness is the monkey on the backs of Millions round the world. Yet few dare speak its name. Yes you gave to stop breast cancer. Maybe even walked a mile in a pink shirt. Who wouldn't? But how bad is the breast cancer?  Would you rather walk into a McDonald's with a guy with manic depression and an Uzi?  No? Now its the  time to say "Yes" to bipolar. If the economy can have irrational exuberance so can we. Lets go. New Zealand, the Great Barrier Reef, Bora Bora. You see where this is headed. Pledge more money. We'll sail to Hawaii and just think about the North Pole.  Every pledge counts.  It's cold up there. And lonely.

Zphx, 20110625

I feel my Maker blessing me.

June 22 

The world is a musical instrument. The very touch affords an exquisite pleasure. I awake to its music with the calmness of a lake when there is not a breath of wind. Whom shall I thank for it? 

To be calm, to be serene! 

Are our serene moments mere foretastes of heaven,  – or a transient realization of what might be the whole tenor of our lives? 

June 22, 2016

Sometimes we are clarified and calmed healthily, as never before in our lives. We become like a still lake of purest crystal. All the world goes by us and is reflected in our deeps. 

And without effort our depths are revealed to ourselves. Such clarity obtained by such pure means! -- by simple living, by honesty of purpose.

So is it with us.

We live and rejoice.

I feel my Maker blessing me. 

H.D. Thoreau, Journal, June 22, 1851

All the world goes by us and is reflected in our deeps. See Walden ("A lake . . . is earth's eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature.")

There is the calmness of the lake when there is not a breath of wind; See Day would not dawn if it were not for the inward Morning.("Waves of serener life pass over us from time to time, like flakes of sunlight over the fields in cloudy weather"); August 31, 1852 ("The wind is gone down; the water is smooth; a serene evening is approaching; the clouds are dispersing. . . .The reflections are the more perfect for the blackness of the water. This is the most glorious part of this day, the serenest, warmest, brightest part, and the most suggestive."); July 21, 1853 ("He who passes over a lake at noon, when the waves run, little imagines its serene and placid beauty at evening, as little as he anticipates his own serenity."). June 16, 1854 ("We walk to lakes to see our serenity reflected in them. When we are not serene, we go not to them."); Walden ("By a conscious effort of the mind we can stand aloof from actions and their consequences; and all things, good and bad, go by us like a torrent . . . I may be either the driftwood in the stream, or Indra in the sky looking down on it")

The unclouded mind,

serene, pure, ineffable

like the western sky.

January 17, 1852

Serene as the sky,

emulating nature with

calm and peaceful lives.

October 3, 1859

So perfectly calm,

yet no man but myself sees

the Pond this morning.

April 14, 1852

See  also  Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Serene as the Sky and  Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, A body awake in the world.

Sometimes we are calmed

like a still lake when there is

not a breath of wind.

All the world goes by

 and without effort our depths 

revealed to ourselves.

We touch the world and

feel our Maker blessing us.

June 22, 1851

A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, I feel my Maker blessing me.

 A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau

"A book, each page written in its own season,

out-of-doors, in its own locality."

~edited, assembled and rewritten by zphx ©  2009-2025

My pulse must beat with Nature. After a hard day's work without a thought, turning my very brain into a mere tool, only in the quiet of evening do I so far recover my senses as to hear the cricket, which in fact has been chirping all day.

In my better hours I am conscious of the influx of a serene and unquestionable wisdom ... What is that other kind of life to which I am thus continually allured ? which alone I love ? Is it a life for this world? ... Are our serene moments mere foretastes of heaven, — joys gratuitously vouchsafed to us as a consolation, — or simply a transient realization of what might be the whole tenor of our lives? 

To be calm, to be serene! There is the calmness of the lake when there is not a breath of wind; there is the calmness of a stagnant ditch. So is it with us. 

Sometimes we are clarified and calmed healthily, as we never were before in our lives, not by an opiate, but by some unconscious obedience to the all-just laws, so that we become like a still lake of purest crystal and without an effort our depths are revealed to our selves. All the world goes by us and is reflected in our deeps. 

Such clarity! obtained by such pure means! by simple living, by honesty of purpose. We live and rejoice. I awoke into a music which no one about me heard. Whom shall I thank for it ? 

The luxury of wisdom! the luxury of virtue! Are there any intemperate in these things ? I feel my Maker blessing me. To the sane man the world is a musical instrument. The very touch affords an exquisite pleasure.

And I hear around me, but never in sight, the many wood thrushes whetting their steel-like notes. Such keen singers ! It takes a fiery heat, many dry pine leaves added to the furnace of the sun, to temper their strains! Always they are either rising or falling to a new strain. After what a moderate pause they deliver themselves again ! saying ever a new thing, avoiding repetition, methinks answering one another. While most other birds take their siesta, the wood thrush discharges his song. It is delivered like a bolas, or a piece of jingling steel.