Far in the night, as we were falling asleep on the bank of the Merrimack, we heard some tyro beating a drum incessantly, in prepar...ation for a country muster, as we learned, and we thought of the line,-- "When the drum beat at dead of night." We could have assured him that his beat would be answered, and the forces be mustered. Fear not, thou drummer of the night; we too will be there. And still he drummed on in the silence and the dark. This stray sound from a far-off sphere came to our ears from time to time, far, sweet, and significant, and we listened with such an unprejudiced sense as if for the first time we heard at all. No doubt he was an insignificant drummer enough, but his music afforded us a prime and leisure hour, and we felt that we were in season wholly. These simple sounds related us to the stars.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
For the most part, there was no recognition of human life in the night; no human breathing was heard, only the breathing of the wi...nd. As we sat up, kept awake by the novelty of our situation, we heard at intervals foxes stepping about over the dead leaves, and brushing the dewy grass close to our tent, and once a musquash fumbling among the potatoes and melons in our boat; but when we hastened to the shore we could detect only a ripple in the water ruffling the disk of a star. At intervals we were serenaded by the song of a dreaming sparrow or the throttled cry of an owl; but after each sound which near at hand broke the stillness of the night, each crackling of the twigs, or rustling among the leaves, there was a sudden pause, and deeper and more conscious silence, as if the intruder were aware that no life was rightfully abroad at that hour.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Whenever we awoke in the night, still eking out our dreams with half-awakened thoughts, it was not till after an interval, when th...e wind breathed harder than usual, flapping the curtains of the tent, and causing its cords to vibrate, that we remembered that we lay on the bank of the Merrimack, and not in our chamber at home. With our heads so low in the grass, we heard the river whirling and sucking, and lapsing downward, kissing the shore as it went, sometimes rippling louder than usual, and again its mighty current making only a slight limpid, trickling sound, as if our water-pail had sprung a leak, and the water were flowing into the grass by our side. The wind, rustling the oaks and hazels, impressed us like a wakeful and inconsiderate person up at midnight, moving about, and putting things to rights, occasionally stirring up whole drawers full of leaves at a puff. There seemed to be a great haste and preparation throughout Nature, as for a distinguished visitor.... And then the wind would lull and die away, and we like it fell asleep again.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
It was worth the while to lie down in a country where you could afford such great fires; that was one whole side, and the bright s...ide, of our world.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
It was very agreeable, as well as independent, thus lying in the open air, and the fire kept our uncovered extremities warm enough.... The Jesuit missionaries used to say, that, in their journeys with the Indians in Canada, they lay on a bed which had never been shaken up since creation, unless by earthquakes.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
It is surprising with what impunity and comfort one who has always lain in a warm bed in a close apartment, and studiously avoided... drafts of air, can lie down on the ground without a shelter, roll himself in a blanket, and sleep before a fire, in a frosty autumn night, just after a long rain-storm, and even come soon to enjoy and value the fresh air.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
At first I was nearly roasted out, for I lay against one side of the camp, and felt the heat reflected not only from the birch-bar...k above, but from the side; and again I remembered the sufferings of the Jesuit missionaries, and what extremes of heat and cold the Indians were said to endure. I struggled long between my desire to remain and talk with them and my impulse to rush out and stretch myself on the cool grass; and when I was about to take the last step, Joe, hearing my murmurs, or else being uncomfortable himself, got up and partially dispersed the fire. I suppose that that is Indian manners,--to defend yourself.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
It was interesting, when awakened at midnight, to watch the grotesque and fiend-like forms and motions of some one of the party, w...ho, not being able to sleep, had got up silently to arouse the fire.... Thus aroused, I, too, brought fresh fuel to the fire, and then rambled along the sandy shore in the moonlight, hoping to meet a moose come down to drink, or else a wolf. The little rill tinkled the louder, and peopled all the wilderness for me; and the glassy smoothness of the sleeping lake, laving the shores of a new world, with the dark, fantastic rocks rising here and there from its surface, made a scene not easily described. It has left such an impression of stern, yet gentle, wildness on my memory as will not be soon effaced.... When next we awoke, the moon and the stars were shining again, and there were signs of dawn in the east.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
But the place which you have selected for your camp, though never so rough and grim, begins at once to have its attractions, and b...ecomes a very centre of civilization to you: "Home is home, be it never so homely."LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
You can much sooner dry you by such a fire as you can make in the woods than in anybody's kitchen, the fireplace is so much larger..., and wood so much more abundant.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »