My house was on the side of a hill， immediately on the edge of the larger wood， in the midst of a young forest of pitch pines and hickories， and half a dozen rods from the pond， to which a narrow footpath led down the hill.  In my front yard grew the strawberry，blackberry， and life-everlasting， johnswort and goldenrod， shrub oaks and sand cherry， blueberry and groundnut.  Near the end of May，the sand cherry （Cerasus pumila） adorned the sides of the path with its delicate flowers arranged in umbels cylindrically about its short stems， which last， in the fall， weighed down with goodsized and handsome cherries， fell over in wreaths like rays on every side. I tasted them out of compliment to Nature， though they were scarcely palatable.  The sumach （Rhus glabra） grew luxuriantly about the house， pushing up through the embankment which I had made， and growing five or six feet the first season.  Its broad pinnate tropical leaf was pleasant though strange to look on.  The large buds， suddenly pushing out late in the spring from dry sticks which had seemed to be dead， developed themselves as by magic into graceful green and tender boughs， an inch in diameter； and sometimes， as I sat at my window， so heedlessly did they grow and tax their weak joints， I heard a fresh and tender bough suddenly fall like a fan to the ground， when there was not a breath of air stirring， broken off by its own weight.  In August， the large masses of berries， which， when in flower， had attracted many wild bees，gradually assumed their bright velvety crimson hue， and by their weight again bent down and broke the tender limbs.

　　As I sit at my window this summer afternoon， hawks are circling about my clearing； the tantivy of wild pigeons， flying by two and threes athwart my view， or perching restless on the white pine boughs behind my house， gives a voice to the air； a fish hawk dimples the glassy surface of the pond and brings up a fish； a mink steals out of the marsh before my door and seizes a frog by the shore； the sedge is bending under the weight of the reed-birds flitting hither and thither； and for the last half-hour I have heard the rattle of railroad cars， now dying away and then reviving like the beat of a partridge， conveying travellers from Boston to the country.  For I did not live so out of the world as that boy who， as I hear， was put out to a farmer in the east part of the town， but ere long ran away and came home again， quite down at the heel and homesick.  He had never seen such a dull and out-of-the-way place；the folks were all gone off； why， you couldn't even hear the whistle！  I doubt if there is such a place in Massachusetts now：――

　　"In truth， our village has become a butt For one of those fleet railroad shafts， and o'er Our peaceful plain its soothing sound is ―― Concord."

　　The Fitchburg Railroad touches the pond about a hundred rods south of where I dwell.  I usually go to the village along its causeway， and am， as it were， related to society by this link.  The men on the freight trains， who go over the whole length of the road，bow to me as to an old acquaintance， they pass me so often， and apparently they take me for an employee； and so I am.  I too would fain be a track-repairer somewhere in the orbit of the earth.

　　我的房子是在一個小山的山腰，恰恰在一個較大的森林的邊緣，在一個蒼松和山核桃的小林子的中央，離開湖邊六桿之遠，有一條狹窄的小路從山腰通到湖邊去。在我前面的院子里，生長著草莓，黑莓，還有長生草，狗尾草，黃花紫菀，矮橡樹和野櫻桃樹，越橘和落花生。五月尾，野櫻桃（學名Cerasus pumila）在小路兩側裝點了精細的花朵，短短的花梗周圍是形成傘狀的花叢，到秋天里就掛起了大大的漂亮的野櫻桃，一球球地垂下，像朝四面射去的光芒。它們并不好吃，但為了感謝大自然的緣故，我嘗了嘗它們。

　　黃櫨樹（學名Rhus glabra）在屋子四周異常茂盛地生長，把我建筑的一道矮墻掀了起來，第一季就看它長了五六英尺。它的闊大的、羽狀的、熱帶的葉子，看起來很奇怪，卻很愉快。在晚春中，巨大的蓓蕾突然從仿佛已經死去的枯枝上跳了出來，魔術似的變得花枝招展了，成了溫柔的青色而柔軟的枝條，直徑也有一英寸；有時，正當我坐在窗口，它們如此任性地生長，壓彎了它們自己的脆弱的關節，我聽到一枝新鮮的柔枝忽然折斷了，雖然沒有一絲兒風，它卻給自己的重量壓倒，而像一把羽扇似的落下來。在八月中，大量的漿果，曾經在開花的時候誘惑過許多野蜜蜂，也漸漸地穿上了它們的光耀的天鵝絨的彩色，也是給自己的重量壓倒，終于折斷了它們的柔弱的肢體。

　　在這一個夏天的下午，當我坐在窗口，鷹在我的林中空地盤旋，野鴿子在疾飛，三三兩兩地飛入我的眼簾，或者不安地棲息在我屋后的白皮松枝頭，向著天空發出一個呼聲；一只魚鷹在水面上啄出一個酒渦，便叼走了一尾魚；一只水貂偷偷地爬出了我門前的沼澤，在岸邊捉到了一只青蛙；蘆葦鳥在這里那里掠過，隰地莎草在它們的重壓下彎倒；一連半小時，我聽到鐵路車輛的軋軋之聲，一忽兒輕下去了，一忽兒又響起來了，像鷓鴣在撲翅膀，把旅客從波士頓裝運到這鄉間來。我也并沒有生活在世界之外，不像那個孩子，我聽說他被送到了本市東部的一個農民那里去，但待了不多久，他就逃走了，回到家里，鞋跟都磨破了，他實在想家。他從來沒有見過那么沉悶和偏僻的地方；那里的人全走光了；你甚至于聽不見他們的口笛聲！我很懷疑，現在在馬薩諸塞州不知還有沒有這樣的所在：真的啊，我們的村莊變成了一個靶子，給一支飛箭似的鐵路射中，在和平的原野上，它是康科德――協和之音。

　　菲茨堡鐵路在我的住處之南約一百桿的地方接觸到這個湖。我時常沿著它的堤路走到村里去，好像我是由這個鏈索和社會相聯絡的。貨車上的人，是在全線上來回跑的，跟我打招呼，把我當作老朋友，過往次數多了，他們以為我是個雇工，我的確是個雇工。

　　我極愿意做那地球軌道上的某一段路軌的養路工。

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