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                             Visitors



    I think that I love society as much as most; and am ready enough

to fasten myself like a bloodsucker for the time to any full…blooded

man that comes in my way。  I am naturally no hermit; but might

possibly sit out the sturdiest frequenter of the bar…room; if my

business called me thither。

    I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude; two for

friendship; three for society。  When visitors came in larger and

unexpected numbers there was but the third chair for them all; but

they generally economized the room by standing up。  It is surprising

how many great men and women a small house will contain。  I have had

twenty…five or thirty souls; with their bodies; at once under my

roof; and yet we often parted without being aware that we had come

very near to one another。  Many of our houses; both public and

private; with their almost innumerable apartments; their huge halls

and their cellars for the storage of wines and other munitions of

peace; appear to be extravagantly large for their inhabitants。  They

are so vast and magnificent that the latter seem to be only vermin

which infest them。  I am surprised when the herald blows his summons

before some Tremont or Astor or Middlesex House; to see come

creeping out over the piazza for all inhabitants a ridiculous mouse;

which soon again slinks into some hole in the pavement。

    One inconvenience I sometimes experienced in so small a house;

the difficulty of getting to a sufficient distance from my guest

when we began to utter the big thoughts in big words。  You want room

for your thoughts to get into sailing trim and run a course or two

before they make their port。  The bullet of your thought must have

overcome its lateral and ricochet motion and fallen into its last

and steady course before it reaches the ear of the hearer; else it

may plow out again through the side of his head。  Also; our

sentences wanted room to unfold and form their columns in the

interval。  Individuals; like nations; must have suitable broad and

natural boundaries; even a considerable neutral ground; between

them。  I have found it a singular luxury to talk across the pond to

a companion on the opposite side。  In my house we were so near that

we could not begin to hear  we could not speak low enough to be

heard; as when you throw two stones into calm water so near that

they break each other's undulations。  If we are merely loquacious

and loud talkers; then we can afford to stand very near together;

cheek by jowl; and feel each other's breath; but if we speak

reservedly and thoughtfully; we want to be farther apart; that all

animal heat and moisture may have a chance to evaporate。  If we

would enjoy the most intimate society with that in each of us which

is without; or above; being spoken to; we must not only be silent;

but commonly so far apart bodily that we cannot possibly hear each

other's voice in any case。  Referred to this standard; speech is for

the convenience of those who are hard of hearing; but there are many

fine things which we cannot say if we have to shout。  As the

conversation began to assume a loftier and grander tone; we

gradually shoved our chairs farther apart till they touched the wall

in opposite corners; and then commonly there was not room enough。

    My 〃best〃 room; however; my withdrawing room; always ready for

company; on whose carpet the sun rarely fell; was the pine wood

behind my house。  Thither in summer days; when distinguished guests

came; I took them; and a priceless domestic swept the floor and

dusted the furniture and kept the things in order。

    If one guest came he sometimes partook of my frugal meal; and it

was no interruption to conversation to be stirring a hasty…pudding;

or watching the rising and maturing of a loaf of bread in the ashes;

in the meanwhile。  But if twenty came and sat in my house there was

nothing said about dinner; though there might be bread enough for

two; more than if eating were a forsaken habit; but we naturally

practised abstinence; and this was never felt to be an offence

against hospitality; but the most proper and considerate course。

The waste and decay of physical life; which so often needs repair;

seemed miraculously retarded in such a case; and the vital vigor

stood its ground。  I could entertain thus a thousand as well as

twenty; and if any ever went away disappointed or hungry from my

house when they found me at home; they may depend upon it that I

sympathized with them at least。  So easy is it; though many

housekeepers doubt it; to establish new and better customs in the

place of the old。  You need not rest your reputation on the dinners

you give。  For my own part; I was never so effectually deterred from

frequenting a man's house; by any kind of Cerberus whatever; as by

the parade one made about dining me; which I took to be a very

polite and roundabout hint never to trouble him so again。  I think I

shall never revisit those scenes。  I should be proud to have for the

motto of my cabin those lines of Spenser which one of my visitors

inscribed on a yellow walnut leaf for a card:



       〃Arrived there; the little house they fill;

           Ne looke for entertainment where none was;

        Rest is their feast; and all things at their will:

           The noblest mind the best contentment has。〃



    When Winslow; afterward governor of the Plymouth Colony; went

with a companion on a visit of ceremony to Massasoit on foot through

the woods; and arrived tired and hungry at his lodge; they were well

received by the king; but nothing was said about eating that day。

When the night arrived; to quote their own words  〃He laid us on

the bed with himself and his wife; they at the one end and we at the

other; it being only planks laid a foot from the ground and a thin

mat upon them。  Two more of his chief men; for want of room; pressed

by and upon us; so that we were worse weary of our lodging than of

our journey。〃  At one o'clock the next day Massasoit 〃brought two

fishes that he had shot;〃 about thrice as big as a bream。  〃These

being boiled; there were at least forty looked for a share in them;

the most eat of them。  This meal only we had in two nights and a

day; and had not one of us bought a partridge; we had taken our

journey fasting。〃  Fearing that they would be light…headed for want

of food and also sleep; owing to 〃the savages' barbarous singing;

(for they use to sing themselves asleep;)〃 and that they might get

home while they had strength to travel; they departed。  As for

lodging; it is true they were but poorly entertained; though what

they found an inconvenience was no doubt intended for an honor; but

as far as eating was concerned; I do not see how the Indians could

have done better。  They had nothing to eat themselves; and they were

wiser than to think that apologies could supply the place of food to

their guests; so they drew their belts tighter and said nothing

about it。  Another time when Winslow visited them; it being a season

of plenty with them; there was no deficiency in this respect。

    As for men; they will hardly fail one anywhere。  I had more

visitors while I lived in the woods than at any other period in my

life; I mean that I had some。  I met several there under more

favorable circumstances than I could anywhere else。  But fewer came

to see me on trivial business。  In this respect; my company was

winnowed by my mere distance from town。  I had withdrawn so far

within the great ocean of solitude; into which the rivers of society

empty; that for the most part; so far as my needs were concerned;

only the finest sediment was deposited around me。  Beside; there

were wafted to me evidences of unexplored and uncultivated

continents on the other side。

    Who should come to my lodge this morning but a true Homeric or

Paphlagonian man  he had so suitable and poetic a name that I am

sorry I cannot print it here  a Canadian; a woodchopper and

post…maker; who can hole fifty posts in a day; who made his last

supper on a woodchuck which his dog caught。  He; too; has heard of

Homer; and; 〃if it were not for books;〃 would 〃not know what to do

rainy days;〃 though perhaps he has not read one wholly through for

many rainy seasons。  Some priest who could pronounce the Greek

itself taught him to read his verse in the Testament in his native

parish far away; and now I must translate to him; while he holds the

book; Achilles' reproof to Patroclus for his sad countenance。 



〃Why are you in tears; Patroclus; like a young girl?〃

      〃Or have you alone heard some news from Phthia?

       They say that Menoetius lives yet; son of Actor;

       And Peleus lives; son of AEacus; among the Myrmidons;

       Either of whom having died; we should greatly grieve。〃



He says; 〃That's good。〃  He has a great bundle of white oak bark

under his arm for a sick man; gathered this Sunday morning。  〃I

suppose there's no harm in going after such a thing to…day;〃 says

he。  To him Homer was a great writer; though what his writing was

about he did not know。  A more simple and natural man it would be

hard to find。  Vice and disease; which cast such a sombre moral hue

over the world; seemed to have hardly any existance for him。  He was

about twenty…eight years old; and had left Canada and his father's

house a dozen years before to work in the States; and earn money to

buy a farm with at last; perhaps in his native country。  He was cast

in the coarsest mould; a stout but sluggish body; yet gracefully

carried; with a thick sunburnt neck; dark bushy hair; and dull

sleepy blue eyes; which were occasionally lit up with expression。

He wore a flat gray cloth cap; a dingy wool…colored greatcoat; and

cowhide boots。  He was a great consumer of meat; usually carrying

his dinner to his work a couple of miles past my house  for he

chopped all summer  in a tin pail; cold meats; often cold

woodchucks; and coffee in a stone bottle which dangled by a string

from his belt; and sometimes he offered me a drink。  He came along

early; crossing my bean…field; though without anxiety or haste to

get to his work; such as Yankees exhibit。  He wasn't a…going to hurt

himself。  He didn't care if he only earned his board。  Frequently he

would leave his dinner in the bushes; when his dog had caught a

woodchuck by the way; and go back a mile and a half to dress it and

leave it in the cellar of the house where he boarded; after

deliberating first for half an hour whether he could not sink it in

the pond safely till nightfall  loving to dwell long upon these

themes。  He would say; as he went by in the morning; 〃How thick the

pigeons are!  If working every day were not my trade; I could get

all the meat I should want by hunting…pigeons; woodchucks; rabbits;

partridges  by gosh!  I could get all I should want for a week in

one day。〃

    He was a skilful chopper; an

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