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apter 8
The Village
 fter hoeing��or perhaps reading and writing��in
 the  forenoon��  I  usually  bathed  again  in  the
 pond��SWimming across one ofits coves for a
stiht��and washed the dust of labor from my person��or
smoothed OUt the 1ast wrinkle which studV had made��
and for the anernoon was abs01utely free��Every day or
two I str011ed to the viilage to hear some of t'he gOSSip
which is incessantly going on there��ciFCalating either
from mouth to mouth,or from newspaper to newspaper
 and which��taken in homoeopathic doses��was really as re—
freshing in its way as the rustle of leaves and the peeping
 of froffs��As 1 walked in the WOOds to see the birds and
 souirrels��SO 1 walked in the viilage to see the men and
 bovs��instead of the wind among the pines I heard the
 carts rattle��In one direction from mV house l��here was a
 COlonv of muskrats in the rivet meadows;under the grove
 of elms and buttonwoods in the other horizon was a Vil—
lage of busy men,as curious to me as if they had been
 prairie—dogs��each sitting at the mouth of its burrow��or
 runnѪg over to a neighbor's to gOSSip��1 went there fre-
cluentlV to observe their habits��The village appeared to
   
    me a great news room��and on one side��to suppOrt it��as
    once at Redding&Company’s on State Street��they kept
    nuts and raisins��or salt and meal and other groceries��

Some have SUCh a vast appetite for the former commodity,
that is��the news,and SUCh SOURd digestiVe orgars,that
they can sit forever in public avenues without stirring
and let it simmer and whisper through them 1ike the
Etesian winds��or as if inhaling ether,it only PrOducing
numbness and insensibility to pain—otherwise it WOUld
often be painfulto bear—without affecting the consciOUS—
ness��I hardly ever failed��when I rambled throu gh the Vil—
lage��to see a row of SUCh worthies,e׌her sitting on a lad—
der sunning themselVes��with their bodies inclined for-
ward and their eyes glarcing along the 1ine this way and
that��from time to time,with a V01uptuOUS expression,or
else leaning against a bam with their hands in their pock-
ets,1ike caryatides,as if to proP it up��They��beѪg com—
monly OUt of doors,heard whatever was in the wind��
These are the coarsest mills��in which aU goss��is first
 rudely digested or cracked up before it is emptied into
finer and more delicate hoppers wit��n doors��I observed
that the Vitals of the viilage were the grocerY,the bar-
room,the post-office,and the bark��and��as a necessary
 part of the mac��nerY,they kept a bell��a big gunI and a
fire-eRgine,at convenient places��and the houses were so
 arranged as to make the most of mankind��in lares and
fronting one another,so that every traveller had to run the
 gauntlet��and every man,woman,and child might get a
1ick at him��Of course,those who were stationed nearest
to the head of the line,where they conld most see and be
 seen,and have the first blOW at him��paid the highest
 prices for their places��and the few straggling inhabitants
in the outskirts��where long gapsѪthe line began to oc—
cur,and the traveUer COUld get over walls or tum aside in—
to cow-paths��and so escape��paid a Very slight grOURd or
 windOW tax��Signs were hung ont on aU sides to allure
him;some tO catch him by the appetite��as me tavern and

Victualling cellar��some by the fancy��as the dry goods
store and the jeweller's��and others by the hair or the feet
Or the skirts��as the barber��the shoemaker��Or the tailOr��
Besides��there was a still more terrible standing invitation
to call at every one of these house and company expect—
ed about these times��For the most part I escaped wonder—
fully from these dangers��either by proceeding at once
b01dly and withOUt deliberation to the goaL as is recom—
mended tO those who run the gauntlet��or by keeping my
thoughts on high things��1ike Orpheus��  who��  “loudly
singing the praises of the gods to his 1yre��drowned the
VOices of the Sirens��and kept OUt of danger��”Sometimes I
bolted SUddenly��and nobody COUld te��my whereabouts��
fOr I did not stand much about gracefuLness,and never
hesitated at a gap in a fence��1 was even aCCUStomed to
make an irmption into some hoases��where 1 was weU
 entertained��and after 1eamѪg the kernels and very last
 sieveful Of news—what had subsided��the prosPects of
 war and peace��and whether the world was 1ikelV tO hold
together mHCh longer—1 was let out through the rear
 avenues��and sO escaped to the woods again��
    It was very pleasant��when I stayed 1ate in town��tO
1aunch myself into the night,especiaUy if it was dark and
tempestuous��and set sail from some bright viilage parlOr
 or lecture room��with a bag of rye or Indian meal upon my
 shoulder��for my snug harbor in the woods��having made
 aU tight without and withdFawn under hatches with a
 merry crew ofthoughts��leaving only my OUter man at the
 helmi or even tying uP the helm when it was plain sailing��
I had many a genial thOUght by the cabin fire“as I sailed��”
1 was never cast away nor distressed in any weather��
thOugh I encountered some severe storms��It is darker in
the WOOds��evenѪcommon��ghts��than most sappose��