Thursday, February 18, 2010

Essay: "A Life of Fear." John Burroughs

One-minute review: “As I sat looking from my window the other morning upon a red squirrel gathering hickory nuts from a small hickory and storing them up in his den in the bank, I was forcibly reminded of the state of constant fear and apprehension in which the wild creatures live, and I tried to picture to myself what life would be to me, or to any of us, hedged about by so many dangers, real or imaginary.”


Ideas:

“Eternal vigilance is the price of life with most of the wild creatures.”


“Or when a flock of birds is in flight, it is still one body, one will: it will rise, or circle, or swoop with a unity that is truly astonishing…. Without a word or signal, how is it done?”


American Essays. Ed. Charles B. Shaw. A Pelican Mentor Book. New York: The New American Library. 1948.

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