经典英语散文赏析

英语 散文 以优美的语言美丽，给人以独特的阅读享受，是放松我们心情的阅读伴侣。下面我为大家带来英语散文经典名篇欣赏，欢迎大家阅读!英语散文经典名篇：海边的生活 在繁忙的生活中，不要忘记适时地停下脚步，闻一闻玫瑰花的香气，感受一下雨后空气的清新。生命短暂，时光流逝如白驹过隙一般。我们应该尽情地享受这美好的时光。 I have grown up and lived near water my entire life and l have witnessed the ocean's power in all forms. It can bring the simplest beauty in the gift of a shell or the harshest danger from the pull of a rip tide. 我生长在海边，一生都在海边度过，因此，我见证了大海各种各样的力量。大海可以通过贝壳展现最纯朴的美，也能够用惊涛骇浪带来最严酷的危害。 The waves, currents, and tides of the sea are much the same as the ups, downs and precariousness of life itself. Just as the ocean can be a mix of tranquility and disturbance so can life be a mix of calm and duress. 大海的波涛、水流与潮汐，与人生的跌宕起伏非常相似。大海可以风平浪静也可以波涛汹涌，人生也是如此，可以容纳平静与束缚。 The lessons of the sea, both good and bad, have followed me through my personal and professional life. And I have learned that I can often reflect on these and lead a more meaningful life of inner peace. 在我的个人生活与职业生涯中，大海教会我的东西很多，有好的也有坏的。而且我还发现，如果自己能经常仔细思考这些，就会过上内心平静、更具意义的生活。 It is about accepting life's balance of nature as reflected in the waters of the ocean. Facing challenges will always be a part of life, but I have learned from the sea how to face them with calm. As seaman and divers have discovered,many essential skills at sea run parallel to lessons for living a meaningful, peaceful life. 通过对海浪的思考，我学习接受生活的本质——平衡。生活中，人们总是需要面临各种各样的挑战，但是我从大海中学习到怎样才能平静地面对挑战。水手和 潜水 者们都发现，许多从海洋中学到的 经验 在把生活过得平静且充满意义这一过程中同样适用。 Sometimes body surfing can turn into an all-out knockdown fest from the ocean. Wave after wave seems to come quicker before you can catch a good one. And dodging, diving and coming up for air before the next one strikes can send you swimming for shore. 有时，人体冲浪会演变成全力以赴对抗大海的狂欢。在你捕捉到适宜的海浪之前，浪潮一浪又一浪地涌向你，越来越快。在海浪把你冲到岸边之前，要注意躲闪、潜伏、抬头换气。 Challenges in life seem to come in waves and we can find our dexterity for handling tough situations waning.Face those waves head on just like a boat, or else you'll capsize. If you procrastinate. whine, and complain about the hard situations in life, the waves of difficulties will roll you upside down. Be proactive when facing down a challenge.Be determined to solve your problems, or life will be determined to knock you down like a rogue wave. 生活中的挑战似乎也是一波一波到来的，而且我们会发现自己处理棘手情况的能力正在减弱。面对挫折就好比迎着海浪前进的航船，一不小心就会倾覆。如果你犹豫不决、悲悲戚戚、牢骚满腹地抱怨生活的艰难，那么一浪又一浪的困境将会让你摔个底朝天。在面临挑战的时候，你要主动出击。你必须下定决心去解决自己的问题，否则生活将会像滔天的巨浪一样把你击倒。 英语散文经典名篇：阳光下的时光 "...I was rich, if not in money, in sunny hours and summer days."-Henry David Thoreau. “……我虽然不是富甲天下，却拥有无数个艳阳天和夏日。”——亨利·大卫·梭罗 When Thoreau wrote that line, he was thinking of the Walden Pond he knew as a boy. 写这句话时，梭罗想起了孩提时代的瓦尔登湖。 Woodchoppers and the iron horse had not yet greatly damaged the beauty of its setting. A boy could go to the pond and lie on his back against the seat of a boat, lazily drifting from shore to shore while the loons dived and the swallows dipped around him. Thoreau loved to recall such sunny hours and summer days "when idleness was the most attractive and productive business." 那时候，伐木者和火车尚未严重破坏湖畔的美丽景致。小男孩可以走向湖中，背靠小舟，自一岸缓缓漂向另一岸，周围有鸟儿戏水，燕子翻飞。梭罗喜欢回忆这样的艳阳天和夏日，“慵懒是最迷人也是最具吸引力的事情!” I too was a boy in love with a pond, rich in sunny hours and summer days. Sun and summer are still what they always were, but the boy and the pond changed. The boy, who is now a man, no longer finds much time for idle drifting. The pond has been annexed by a great city. 我曾经也是热爱池塘的小男孩，拥有无数个艳阳天与夏日。如今阳光、夏日依旧，但男孩和池塘却已改变。男孩已经长大成人，不再有那么多时间泛舟湖上，而池塘也为大城市结合。 The swamps where herons once hunted are now drained and filled with houses. The bay where water lilies quietly floated is now a harbor for motor boats. In short,everything that the boy loved no longer exists - except in the man's memory of it. 曾有苍鹭觅食的沼泽，现如今已枯竭殆尽，上面盖满了房舍。曾有睡莲静静漂浮的湖面，现如今已成了摩托艇的避风港。总之，男孩所爱的一切都已不复存在——只留在人们的回忆中。 Some people insist that only today and tomorrow matter. But how much poorer we would be if we really lived by that rule! So much of what we do today is frivolous and futile and soon forgotten. So much of what we hope to do tomorrow never happens. 有些人坚持认为只有今日和明日才是重要的，可是如果真的照此生活，我们将是何其可怜!许多我们今日做的事都是琐碎无聊的，而且很快就会被忘记。许多我们期待明日要做的事却从来没有发生过。 The past is the bank in which we store our most valuable possession: the memories that give meaning and depth to our lives. 过去是一所银行，我们将最宝贵的财富——回忆珍藏其中，回忆赋予我们生命的意义和深度。 Those who truly treasure the past will not bemoan the passing of the good old days, because days enshrined in memory are never lost. 那些真正珍惜过去的人，不会惋惜旧日美好时光的逝去，因为珍藏于记忆深处的时光永不流失。 Death itself is powerless to still a remembered voice or erase a remembered smile. And for one boy who is now a man, there is a pond which neither time nor tide can change, where he can still spend a quiet hour in the sun. 死亡本身无力止住一个记亿中的声音，或抹掉一个记忆中的微笑。对现已长大成人的那个男孩来说，有一个池塘不会因时间和潮汐而改变，在那里，他可以继续享受阳光下的安静时光。 英语散文经典名篇：人生如旅程 Life comes in a package. This package includes happiness and sorrow, failure and success, hope and despair. Life is a learning process. Experiences in life teach us new lessons and make us a better person. With each passing day we learn to handle various situations. 人生好似一个包裹,这个包裹里藏着快乐与悲伤、成功与失败,希望与绝望。人生也是一个学习的过程。那些经历给我们上了全新的课,让我们变得更好。随着每一天的过去,我们学会了处理各种各样的问题。 Love 爱 Love plays a pivotal role in our life. Love makes you feel wanted. Without love a person could go haywire and also become cruel and ferocious. In the early stage of our life, our parents are the ones who showed us with unconditional love and care, they teach us about what is right and wrong, good and bad. But we always tend to take this for granted.It is only after marriage and having kids that a person understands and becomes sensitive to others feelings. Kids make a person responsible and mature and help us to understand life better. 爱在生活之外扮演了一个关键的角色。爱使你想要得到些什么。没有爱,一个人将走向不归路,变得凶暴、残忍。在我们最初的人生道路上,我们的父母给予了我们无条件的关爱,他们教会我们判断正确与错误、好与坏。然而我们常常把这想当然了,只有等到我们结了婚并且有了孩子之后,一个人才会懂得并注意别人的感受。 孩子让我们变得富有责任心、变得成熟稳重,并且更好的理解人生。 Happiness and Sorrow 快乐与悲伤 Materialistic happiness is short-lived, but happiness achieved by bringing a smile on others face gives a certain level of fulfillment. Peace of mind is the main link to happiness. No mind is happy without peace. We realize the true worth of happiness when we are in sorrow. Sorrow is basically due to death of a loved one, failure and despair. But these things are temporary and pass away. 物质上的快乐往往是短暂的,然而,当你给予他人一个微笑的时候,那种满足却是无与伦比的。心灵的平静往往是快乐的源泉。没有平和的心态就没有快乐的心情。 在伤心的时候,我们往往能够体会到快乐的真谛。悲伤基本都来自于一个爱人的去世、失败还有绝望,但是这样的事情都是暂时的,总会过去的。 Failure and Success 失败与成功 Failure is the path to success. It helps us to touch the sky, teaches us to survive and shows us a specific way. Success brings in money, fame, pride and self-respect. Here it becomes very important to keep our head on our shoulder. The only way to show our gratitude to God for bestowing success on us is by being humble, modest, courteous and respectful to the less fortunate ones. 失败是成功之母。它让我们触及蓝天,它教会我们如何生存,它给予我们一条特殊的路。成功给予我们金钱、名誉、骄傲和自尊。这里,保持头脑清醒便显得尤为重要。唯一能让我们感激上帝给予的成功便是始终卑微、谦虚、礼貌并且尊重没有我们幸运的人们。 Hope and Despair 希望与绝望 Hope is what keeps life going. Parents always hope their children will do well. Hope makes us dream. Hope builds in patience. Life teaches us not to despair even in the darkest hour, because after every night there is a day. Nothing remains the same we have only one choice - keep moving on in life and be hopeful. 希望是人生动力之源。父母总是希望自己的孩子能够做得很好。希望使我们有梦想。希望使我们变得有耐心。人生教会我们即使是在最困难的时候都不要绝望,因为黑暗之后终将是黎明。没有什么事一成不变的,我们惟有充满希望地继续生活。 Life teaches us not to regret over yesterday, for it has passed and is beyond our control. Tomorrow is unknown, for it could either be bright or dull. So the only alternative is work hard today, so that we will enjoy a better tomorrow.

Occasionally, life can be undeniably, impossibly difficult. We are faced with challenges and events that can seem overwhelming, life-destroying to the point where it may be hard to decide whether to keep going. But you always have a choice. Jessica Heslop shares her powerful, inspiring journey from the worst times in her life to the new life she has created for herself:

生活有时候困难得难以置信，但又不容置疑。我们面临的挑战与困境似乎无法抵御，试图毁灭我们生活，甚至使你犹疑是否继续走下去。但是你总有选择的余地。从人生低谷走向新生活的杰西卡·赫斯乐普，在这里与我们分享她启迪心灵、充满震撼力的生活之旅。

In 2012 I had the worst year of my life.

2012年是我生活中最艰难的一年。

I worked in a finance job that I hated and I lived in a concrete jungle city with little greenery. I occupied my time with meaningless relationships and spent copious quantities of money on superficialities. I was searching for happiness and had no idea where to find it.

我做着讨厌的财务工作，住在难寻绿色的高楼林立的城市。我忙于无意义的交往，在一些肤浅表面的东西上大笔开销。我寻找快乐，却又不知道它在哪里。

Then I fell ill with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and became virtually bed bound. I had to quit my job and subsequently was left with no income. I lived with my boyfriend of then only 3 months who financially supported me and our relationship was put under great pressure. I eventually regained my physical health, but not long after that I got a call from my family at home to say that my father’s cancer had fiercely progressed and that he had been admitted to a hospice.

然后我患上了慢性疲劳综合症，几乎到了卧床不起的地步。我不得不辞掉工作，同时也就断了财源。我和那时仅相处了3个月的男友住在一起，经济上完全依赖于他，我们的关系承受着巨大压力。终于我恢复健康，但不久，我接到家里的电话，父亲的癌症急剧恶化，已经住进了临终关怀中心。

I left the city and I went home to be with him.

我离开了城市，回家陪父亲。

He died 6 months later.

6个月之后，他去世了。

My father was a complete inspiration to me. He was always so strong that, for a minute after he drew his last breath, I honestly thought he would come back to life. I couldn’t believe I would never again cuddle into his big warm chest and feel safe no matter what.

父亲的事让我彻底清醒。他一直很强壮，在他咽气之后一分钟里，我真的认为，他会活过来。我不能相信，我再也不能依偎在他温暖的怀抱里，享受他宽大的胸怀带给我的安全感。

The grief that followed was intense for all of us 5 children and our mother, but we had each other.

母亲和我们5个兄弟姐妹极为难过，但至少我们还拥有彼此。

But my oldest sister at that time complained of a bad back. It got so bad after 2 months that she too was admitted to hospital.

但是，那时我大姐开始抱怨着背痛，2个月后，因疼痛加剧也住进了医院。

They discovered that she had highly advanced cancer in her bones and that there was nothing that they could do.

医生们检查发现，她已是骨癌晚期，对此他们已无能为力。

She died 1 month later.

1个月之后，她也走了。

I could never put into words the loss of my sister in my life.

大姐的逝去让我陷入难以形容的痛苦之中。

She was a walking, talking angel and my favourite person in the whole world. If someone could have asked me the worst thing that could ever happen, it would have been losing her.

在这个世界上，她是一个能走路、会说话的天使，我最喜欢的人。如果有人问我，世界上发生的最坏的事情是什么，那就是失去她。

She was my soul-mate and I never thought I would journey this lifetime without her.

她是我的灵魂伴侣，我从来没有想过，我会走过没有她陪伴的生命旅程。

The Moment Of Deliberate Choice

抉择时刻

The shock and extreme heart break brought me to my knees. The pain was so great and my world just looked desolate. I had no real home, no money, no job, and no friends that cared. Not one person had even sent me a sympathy card for my loss.

我被打击和极度的心痛击挎了。强烈的痛苦使世界在我眼中变得如此凄凉。我没有真正意义上的家，没有钱，没有工作，也没有关心我的朋友。没有一个人因我失去亲人而寄给我慰问卡。

I made an attempt of my own life and I ended up in hospital.

我尝试着活下去，结果住进了医院。

I remember lying in the hospital bed, looking up at the ceiling and seeing my sister’s beautiful face. She stayed with me all night long.

我记得，躺在病床上，看着天花板，看到姐姐美丽的面庞。她整夜守候着我。

I realised during that night that I had a choice. I could choose to end my life or I could choose to live it.

那天晚上，我意识到我可以选择。要么结束生命，要么活下去。

I looked in my sister’s eyes and I made a decision not to go with her just yet. That I would stay and complete my journey here.

望着姐姐的眼睛，我决定不跟她走。我要留下来，走完我的生命旅程。

I also made the decision that, I wouldn’t just live any life. I would live the life that I absolutely LOVE and nothing less.

同时，我还决定，不只为生活而生活，我要完全以自己想要的方式生活。

In that moment, the clarity that descended around me was like a light shining in a dark room for the first time. As if the earth’s plates had shifted under my feet and everything suddenly looked real for the first time.

在那一刻，这一想法第一次清晰得如同一盏在黑暗闪烁的明灯。好像脚下的地球版块变换了，每一样东西在我眼前都真实得前所未有。

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Colleagues:

Because I am the Vice-Chancellor of the oldest of the foreign universities represented here today, I have been chosen to speak on their behalf. I am pleased to be their voice in presenting our heartfelt congratulations to the professors, teachers, researchers and students of Peking University on the 100th anniversary of its foundation.

Our universities form a great intellectual community round the world. Science has no nationality; knowledge belongs to everyone.

Our universities creat new knowledge. They teah this knowledge, together with that of other universities and also the best of the great storehouse of knowledge, which those who came before us have uncovered, tested and accumulated.

All universities contibute to the prosperity and success of their country. They also conserve the culture and inheritance specific to their country's civization. But, they do more. Knowledge is secure only when it is hard won by the independent tests of accuracy, rational explanation and ture. So, when we teach our students skills, we also give them values. On the one side, these are values for personal and civic conduct. On the other side, these values underwrite the personal need for independent understanding which is the source of human creativity.

These duties give universities a high responsibility. They are rooted in a great and fine tradition of honesty. university is a beacon of light in its own society and, by its association with its sisters, its knowledge and its values are spread wide.

A tradition is not built easily ir quickly. During one hundred years, Peking University has been fashioning its tradition. Present and future members of the University! We hope to see you elaborate and consolidate your tradition. We hope to see you become a keystone of the intellectual community. In your next century, we hope to see you contribute to the international academic movement as a whole, as more and more of you numbers come to paticipate in the activities of your sister universities.

Congratulations, Peking University on your first century of achievement

”Your money or your life.” The choice traditionally presented by the highwayman is supposed to have only one sensible answer. Money is, after all, no use to a corpse. Yet economists often study something rather like the highwayman‘s offer in an attempt to uncover the answer to an important question: how much is your life actually worth?

Like many awkward questions, this is one that has to be answered. Safety regulations save lives but also raise the cost of doing business, a cost we all pay through higher prices. Are they worth it? Our taxes pay for life-saving spending on road safety and fire fighting. Are they high enough, or too high?

So how much are we willing to spend to save a life? A traditional planner‘s approach used to be to measure the value of wages lost due to death or injury. That‘s dreadful: it confuses what I think my life is worth with what my boss thinks my life is worth.

So an alternative is to ask people how much they would pay for a safer car or kitchen cleaner. But such surveys do not always produce sensible results. Our answers depend on whether we‘re being offered a safer ?10 household cleaner and then asked if we want the more dangerous ?5 version, or whether we‘re offered the ?5 brand and then asked if we‘ll pay ?10 for the safer product. People often answer ”no” to both questions, contradicting themselves. These inconsistencies mean that we‘re either irrational or lying to pollsters, and perhaps both.

Economists therefore tend to prefer observing real choices. If you‘re willing to cross a busy street to pick up a ?20 note, the economist who put it there can infer something about your willingness to accept risk. More orthodox approaches look at career choices: if you‘re willing to be a lumberjack, part of that decision is to accept risk in exchange for financial reward.

Being a soldier is risky; so is being a drug-dealer or prostitute. The difficulty, evidently, is to disentangle the health risk and the financial reward from all the other motivations to choose a particular way of life. That isn‘t easy but economists try.

World Bank economist Paul Gertler and his colleagues reckoned that Mexican prostitutes valued their lives at about $50,000 per year, based on willingness to take money not to use condoms. At five times their annual earnings, that‘s a similar figure to workers accepting risky jobs in rich countries.

There are anomalies. Steve Freakonomics Levitt and sociologist Sudhir Venkatesh calculated that Chicago drug dealers seemed to value their entire lives at $50,000 to $100,000 - low indeed, even for poor young men whose career choice indicates a taste for risks.

Whatever the frailties of these calculations, they are the best we have. And far from cheapening life, this sort of research often highlights just how valuable our safer, healthier modern lives really are. Kevin Murphy of the Chicago Graduate School of Business recently visited London to present his research on the value of health improvements in the US since 1970. They‘re vast - about $10 trillion in today‘s money. Looking further back, if you had to choose between the material progress of the 20th century and the improvements in health, it would be a toss-up. The health gains are as valuable as everything else put together. Encouragingly, health in most developing countries has improved faster than in rich ones, suggesting that global inequality is falling.

And a more personal piece of good news: Murphy reckons the delicious cheeseburger I ate before interviewing him only cost me ?1 worth of health. Talk about a good deal.

我们常常把精力放在一些并不重要的事情上，把昨天难过的情绪带到今天，把明天未知的恐惧留给今天；可今天，我们本应该做的事情却完成不了。时间在不经意间悄悄流逝。所以，请记住，把握今天~今天才是最重要的。昨天的已经过去，明天的还未到来，过好今天的每一分钟，充实自己的现在时。

活得轻松--在现实中生活

To a large degree，the measure of our peace of mind is determined by how much we are able to live in the present moment．Irrespective of what happened yesterday or last year，and what may or may not happen tomorrow，the present moment is where you are －－always．

我们内心是否平和在很大程度上是由我们是否能生活在现实之中所决定的。不管昨天或去年发生了什么，不管明天可能发生或不发生什么，现实才是你时时刻刻所在之处。

Without question，many of us have mastered the neurotic1) art of spending much of our lives worrying about a variety of things －－all at once．We allow past problems and future concerns to dominate our present moments，so much so that we end up anxious，frustrated，depressed，and hopeless．On the flip side，we also postpone our gratification，our stated priorities2)，and our happiness，often convincing ourselves that ‘someday’ will be better than today．Unfortunately，the same mental dynamics3) that tell us to look toward the future will only repeat themselves so that ‘someday ’never actually arrives．John Lennon once said，‘Life is what’s happening while we’re busy making other plans．’When we’re busy making ‘other plans’，our children are busy growing up，the people we love are moving away and dying，our bodies are getting out of shape，and our dreams are slipping away．In short，we miss out4) on life．

毫无疑问，我们很多人掌握了一种神经兮兮的艺术，即把生活中的大部分时间花在为种种事情担心忧虑上---而且常常是同时忧虑许多事情。我们听凭过去的麻烦和未来的担心控制我们此时此刻的生活，以致我们整日焦虑不安，萎靡不振，甚至沮丧绝望。而另一方面我们又推迟我们的满足感，推迟我们应优先考虑的事情，推迟我们的幸福感，常常说服自己“有朝一日”会比今天更好。不幸的是，如此告诫我们朝前看的大脑动力只能重复来重复去，以致“有朝一日”永远不会真正来临。约翰·列农曾经说过：“生活就是当我们忙于制定别的计划时发生的事。”当我们忙于制定种种“别的计划”时，我们的孩子在忙于长大，我们挚爱的人离去了甚至快去世了，我们的体型变样了，而我们的梦想也在悄然溜走了。一句话，我们错过了生活。

Many people live as if life were a dress rehearsal5) for some later date．It isn’t．In fact，no one has a guarantee that he or she will be here tomorrow．Now is the only time we have，and the only time that we have any control over．When our attention is in the present moment，we push fear from our minds．Fear is the concern over events that might happen in the future－－we won’ t have enough money，our children will get into trouble，we will get old and die，whatever．

许多人的生活好像是某个未来日子的彩排。并非如此。事实上，没人能保证他或她明天肯定还活着。现在是我们所拥有的惟一时间，现在也是我们能控制的惟一时间。当我们将注意力放在此时此刻时，我们就将恐惧置于脑后。恐惧就是我们担忧某些事情会在未来发生---我们不会有足够的钱，我们的孩子会惹上麻烦，我们会变老，会死去，诸如此类。

To combat fear，the best strategy6) is to learn to bring your attention back to the present．Mark Twain said，‘I have been through some terrible things in my life，some of which actually happened．I don’t think I can say it any better．Practice keeping your attention on the here and now．Your efforts will pay great dividends7)．

若要克服恐惧心理，最佳策略便是学会将你的注意力拉回此时此刻。马克·吐温说过：“我经历过生活中一些可怕的事情，有些的确发生过。”我想我说不出比这更具内涵的`话。经常将注意力集中于此情此景、此时此刻，你的努力终会有丰厚的报偿。

I have had so many teachers in my life, but those I have valued most are the teachers who taught me about love.www.xiao84.com

一生中,我有许多的老师,但最让我敬重的是那些教我懂得爱的老师。

The person who smiles happily when they drop money in a charity box is a teacher of love.

把钱放入慈善箱时露出幸福微笑的人是爱的老师。

The child who offers laughter and hugs more freely than an adult is a teacher of love. The person who gives corn to starving deer and feeds hungry birds with seeds in winter is a teacher of love. The big dog who shares half of its food and place in the doghouse with a little puppy on a cold night is a teacher of love. Everyone who spends their lives sharing great love through countless acts of kindness is a teacher of love.

慷慨地给予他人微笑和拥抱的孩子是爱的老师。给冬季里挨饿的鹿和饥饿的鸟食物的人是爱的老师。一只能在寒冷的夜晚与小狗分享食物和住处的大狗也是爱的老师。每一个通过友善行为分享爱的人都是爱的老师。

You can be a teacher of love too. You can be a person who gives encouragement and joy to soul in need. You can be a person who cares for a sick friend, comforts a hurting heart and shares cheer fullness and kindness with everyone everywhere. You can be what life wants you to be—a teacher of beauty, glory and unconditional love.

你也可以成为一名爱的老师。你可以给处于困境中的人鼓舞和快乐。你可以照顾生病的朋友、安慰受伤的心灵并与大家分享快乐与友善。你可以顺应天意,成为一名美丽、光荣、能无私奉献爱的老师.

I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time. To be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating. I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude. We are for the most part more lonely when we go abroad among men than when we stay in our chambers. A man thinking or working is always alone, let him be where he will. Solitude is not measured by the miles of space that intervene between a man and his fellows. The really diligent student in one of the crowded hives of Cambridge College is as solitary as a dervish in the desert. The farmer can work alone in the field or the woods all day, hoeing or chopping, and not feel lonesome, because he is employed; but when he comes home at night he cannot sit down in a room alone, at the mercy of his thoughts, but must be where he can :see the folks,:” and recreate, and, as he thinks, remunerate himself for his day’s solitude; and hence he wonders how the student can sit alone in the house all night and most of the day without ennui and :the blues:; but he does not realize that the student, though in the house, is still at work in his field, and chopping in his woods, as the farmer in his, and in turn seeks the same recreation and society that the latter does, though it may be a more condensed form of it.

Society is commonly too cheap. We meet at very short intervals, not having had time to acquire any new value for each other. We meet at meals three times a day, and give each other a new taste of that old musty cheese that we are. We have had to agree on a certain set of rules, called etiquette and politeness, to make this frequent meeting tolerable and that we need not come to open war. We meet at the post-office, and at the sociable, and about the fireside every night; we live thick and are in each other’s way, and stumble over one another, and I think that we thus lose some respect for one another. Certainly less frequency would suffice for all important and hearty communications. Consider the girls in a factory---never alone, hardly in their dreams. It would be better if there were but one inhabitant to a square mile, as where I live. The value of a man is not in his skin, that we should touch him.

I have a great deal of company in my house; especially in the morning, when nobody calls. Let me suggest a few comparisons, that some one may convey an idea of my situation. I am no more lonely than the loon in the pond that laughs so loud, or than Walden Pond itself. What company has that lonely lake, I pray?

And yet it has not the blue devils, but the blue angels in it, in the azure tint of its waters. The sun is alone, except in thick weather, when there sometimes appear to be two, but one is a mock sun. god is alone---but the devil, he is far from being alone; he sees a great deal of company; he is legion. I am no more lonely than a single mullein or dandelion in a pasture, or a bean leaf, or sorrel, or a horse-fly, or a bumblebee. I am no more lonely than the Millbrook, or a weathercock, or the north star, or the south wind, or an April shower, or a January thaw, or the first spider in a new house.