As I came home through the woods with my string of fish，trailing my pole， it being now quite dark， I caught a glimpse of a woodchuck stealing across my path， and felt a strange thrill of savage delight， and was strongly tempted to seize and devour him raw； not that I was hungry then， except for that wildness which he represented.  Once or twice， however， while I lived at the pond， I found myself ranging the woods， like a half-starved hound， with a strange abandonment， seeking some kind of venison which I might devour， and no morsel could have been too savage for me.  The wildest scenes had become unaccountably familiar.  I found in myself， and still find， an instinct toward a higher， or， as it is named， spiritual life， as do most men， and another toward a primitive rank and savage one， and I reverence them both.  I love the wild not less than the good.  The wildness and adventure that are in fishing still recommended it to me.  I like sometimes to take rank hold on life and spend my day more as the animals do.  Perhaps I have owed to this employment and to hunting， when quite young， my closest acquaintance with Nature.  They early introduce us to and detain us in scenery with which otherwise， at that age， we should have little acquaintance.  Fishermen， hunters， woodchoppers， and others， spending their lives in the fields and woods， in a peculiar sense a part of Nature themselves， are often in a more favorable mood for observing her， in the intervals of their pursuits， than philosophers or poets even， who approach her with expectation.  She is not afraid to exhibit herself to them.  The traveller on the prairie is naturally a hunter， on the head waters of the Missouri and Columbia a trapper， and at the Falls of St. Mary a fisherman. He who is only a traveller learns things at second-hand and by the halves， and is poor authority.  We are most interested when science reports what those men already know practically or instinctively，for that alone is a true humanity， or account of human experience. They mistake who assert that the Yankee has few amusements，because he has not so many public holidays， and men and boys do not play so many games as they do in England， for here the more primitive but solitary amusements of hunting， fishing， and the like have not yet given place to the former.  Almost every New England boy among my contemporaries shouldered a fowling-piece between the ages of ten and fourteen； and his hunting and fishing grounds were not limited， like the preserves of an English nobleman， but were more boundless even than those of a savage.  No wonder， then， that he did not oftener stay to play on the common.  But already a change is taking place， owing， not to an increased humanity， but to an increased scarcity of game， for perhaps the hunter is the greatest friend of the animals hunted， not excepting the Humane Society.

　　Moreover， when at the pond， I wished sometimes to add fish to my fare for variety.  I have actually fished from the same kind of necessity that the first fishers did.  Whatever humanity I might conjure up against it was all factitious， and concerned my philosophy more than my feelings.  I speak of fishing only now， for I had long felt differently about fowling， and sold my gun before I went to the woods.  Not that I am less humane than others， but I did not perceive that my feelings were much affected.  I did not pity the fishes nor the worms.  This was habit.  As for fowling， during the last years that I carried a gun my excuse was that I was studying ornithology， and sought only new or rare birds.  But I confess that I am now inclined to think that there is a finer way of studying ornithology than this.  It requires so much closer attention to the habits of the birds， that， if for that reason only，I have been willing to omit the gun.  Yet notwithstanding the objection on the score of humanity， I am compelled to doubt if equally valuable sports are ever substituted for these； and when some of my friends have asked me anxiously about their boys， whether they should let them hunt， I have answered， yes ―― remembering that it was one of the best parts of my education ―― make them hunters，though sportsmen only at first， if possible， mighty hunters at last，so that they shall not find game large enough for them in this or any vegetable wilderness ―― hunters as well as fishers of men.  Thus far I am of the opinion of Chaucer's nun， who

　　"yave not of the text a pulled hen That saith that hunters ben not holy men."

　　There is a period in the history of the individual， as of the race，when the hunters are the "best men，" as the Algonquins called them. We cannot but pity the boy who has never fired a gun； he is no more humane， while his education has been sadly neglected.  This was my answer with respect to those youths who were bent on this pursuit，trusting that they would soon outgrow it.  No humane being， past the thoughtless age of boyhood， will wantonly murder any creature which holds its life by the same tenure that he does.  The hare in its extremity cries like a child.  I warn you， mothers， that my sympathies do not always make the usual philanthropic distinctions.

　　當(dāng)我提著一串魚(yú)，拖著釣竿穿過(guò)樹(shù)林回家的時(shí)候，天色已經(jīng)完全黑了下來(lái)，我瞥見(jiàn)一只土撥鼠偷偷地橫穿過(guò)我的小徑，就感到了一陣奇怪的野性喜悅的顫抖，我被強(qiáng)烈地引誘了，只想把它抓住，活活吞下肚去，倒不是因?yàn)槲夷菚r(shí)肚子餓了，而只是因?yàn)樗淼氖且靶浴Ｎ以诤仙畹臅r(shí)候，有過(guò)一兩次發(fā)現(xiàn)自己在林中奔跑，像一條半饑餓的獵犬，以奇怪的恣肆的心情，想要覓取一些可以吞食的獸肉，任何獸肉我都能吞下去。

　　最狂野的一些景象都莫名其妙地變得熟悉了。我在我內(nèi)心發(fā)現(xiàn)，而且還繼續(xù)發(fā)現(xiàn)，我有一種追求更高的生活，或者說(shuō)探索精神生活的本能，對(duì)此許多人也都有過(guò)同感，但我另外還有一種追求原始的行列和野性生活的本能，這兩者我都很尊敬。我之愛(ài)野性，不下于我之愛(ài)善良。釣魚(yú)有一種野性和冒險(xiǎn)性，這使我喜歡釣魚(yú)。有時(shí)候我愿意粗野地生活，更像野獸似的度過(guò)我的歲月。也許正因?yàn)槲以谀昙o(jì)非常輕的時(shí)候就釣過(guò)魚(yú)打過(guò)獵，所以我和大自然有親密的往還。漁獵很早就把我們介紹給野外風(fēng)景，將我們安置在那里，不然的話，在那樣的年齡，是無(wú)法熟悉野外風(fēng)景的。漁夫，獵戶，樵夫等人，終身在原野山林中度過(guò)，就一個(gè)特殊意義來(lái)說(shuō)，他們已是大自然的一部分，他們?cè)诠ぷ鞯拈g歇里比詩(shī)人和哲學(xué)家都更適宜于觀察大自然，因?yàn)楹笳呖偸菐е欢ǖ哪康那叭ビ^察的。大自然不怕向他們展覽她自己。旅行家在草原上自然而然地成了獵手，在密蘇里和哥倫比亞上游卻成了捕獸者，而在圣瑪麗大瀑布那兒，就成了漁夫。但僅僅是一個(gè)旅行家的那種人得到的只是第二手的不完備的知識(shí)，是一個(gè)可憐的權(quán)威。我們最發(fā)生興趣的是，當(dāng)科學(xué)論文給我們報(bào)告，已經(jīng)通過(guò)實(shí)踐或者出于本能而發(fā)現(xiàn)了一些什么，只有這樣的報(bào)告才真正屬于人類，或者說(shuō)記錄了人類的經(jīng)驗(yàn)。

　　有些人說(shuō)北方佬很少娛樂(lè)，因?yàn)樗麄児偃占壬?，男人和小孩玩的游戲又沒(méi)有像英國(guó)的那樣多。這話錯(cuò)了，因?yàn)樵谖覀冞@里，更原始、更寂寞的漁獵之類的消遣還沒(méi)有讓位給那些游戲呢。幾乎每一個(gè)跟我同時(shí)代的新英格蘭兒童，在十歲到十四歲中間都掮過(guò)獵槍，而他的漁獵之地也不像英國(guó)貴族那樣地劃定了界限，甚至還比野蠻人的都廣大得多。所以，他不常到公共場(chǎng)所游戲是不足為奇的。現(xiàn)在的情形卻已經(jīng)在起著變化，并不是因?yàn)槿丝谠黾?，而是因?yàn)楂C物漸漸減少，也許獵者反而成了被獵的禽獸的好朋友，保護(hù)動(dòng)物協(xié)會(huì)也不例外。

　　況且，我在湖邊時(shí)，有時(shí)捕魚(yú)，只是想換換我的口味。我確實(shí)像第一個(gè)捕魚(yú)人一樣，是由于需要的緣故才捕魚(yú)的。盡管我以人道的名義反對(duì)捕魚(yú)，那全是假話，其屬于我的哲學(xué)的范疇，更甚于我的感情的范疇。這里我只說(shuō)到捕魚(yú)，因?yàn)楹芫靡詠?lái)，我對(duì)于打鳥(niǎo)有不同的看法，還在我到林中來(lái)之前，已賣(mài)掉了我的獵槍。倒不是因?yàn)槲覟槿吮葎e人殘忍，而是因?yàn)槲乙稽c(diǎn)感覺(jué)不到我有什么惻隱之心。我既不可憐魚(yú)，也不可憐餌蟲(chóng)。這已成了習(xí)慣。至于打鳥(niǎo)，在我那背獵槍的最后幾年里，我的借口是我在研究飛鳥(niǎo)學(xué)，我找的只是罕見(jiàn)或新奇之鳥(niǎo)?？墒俏页姓J(rèn)，現(xiàn)在我有比這更好的一種研究飛鳥(niǎo)學(xué)的方式了。

　　你得這樣嚴(yán)密仔細(xì)地觀察飛鳥(niǎo)的習(xí)慣啊，就憑這樣一個(gè)理由，已經(jīng)可以讓我取消獵槍了。

　　然而，不管人們?cè)鯓痈鶕?jù)人道來(lái)反對(duì)，我還是不得不懷疑，是否有同樣有價(jià)值的娛樂(lè)，來(lái)代替打獵的；當(dāng)一些朋友們不安地探問(wèn)我的意見(jiàn)，應(yīng)不應(yīng)該讓孩子們?nèi)ゴ颢C，我總是回答，應(yīng)該，――因?yàn)槲蚁肫疬@是我所受教育中最好的一部分，――讓他們成為獵者吧，雖然起先他們只是運(yùn)動(dòng)員，最后，如果可能的話，他們才成為好獵手，這樣他們將來(lái)就會(huì)曉得，在這里或任何地方的莽原里并沒(méi)有足夠的鳥(niǎo)獸，來(lái)供給他們打獵的了。迄今為止，我還是同意喬臾寫(xiě)的那個(gè)尼姑的意見(jiàn)，她說(shuō)：“沒(méi)有聽(tīng)到老母雞說(shuō)過(guò)獵者并不是圣潔的人?！痹趥€(gè)人的和種族的歷史中還都曾經(jīng)有過(guò)一個(gè)時(shí)期，那時(shí)獵者被稱頌為“最好的人”，而阿爾貢金族的印第安人就曾這樣稱呼過(guò)他們。我們不能不替一個(gè)沒(méi)有放過(guò)一槍的孩子可憐，可憐他的教育被忽視，他不再是有人情的了。對(duì)那些沉湎在打獵上面的少年，我也說(shuō)過(guò)這樣的活，我相信他們將來(lái)是會(huì)超越過(guò)這個(gè)階段的。

　　還沒(méi)有一個(gè)人在無(wú)思無(wú)慮地過(guò)完了他的童年之后，還會(huì)隨便殺死任何生物，因?yàn)樯锔粯佑猩娴臋?quán)利。兔子到了末路，呼喊得真像一個(gè)小孩。我警告你們，母親們，我的同情并不總是作出通常的那種愛(ài)人類的區(qū)別的。

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