Thoreau's essay "Walking" is a brilliant introduction to this salutary activity. One can walk anywhere, but the environs around Williamstown are perfect for this activity. During this Winter Study period, spending an hour a day in an alfresco activity would be an anodyne for the body and the soul.
"When he came to grene wode,
In a mery mornynge,
There he herde the notes small
Of byrdes mery syngynge"
I think that I cannot preserve my health and spirits, unless I spend
four hours a day at least--and it is commonly more than that--sauntering
through the woods and over the hills and fields, absolutely free from
all worldly engagements.
I, who cannot stay in my chamber for a single day without acquiring some
rust, and when sometimes I have stolen forth for a walk at the eleventh
hour, or four o'clock in the afternoon, too late to redeem the day,
when the shades of night were already beginning to be mingled with the
daylight, have felt as if I had committed some sin to be atoned for,--I
confess that I am astonished at the power of endurance, to say nothing
of the moral insensibility, of my neighbors who confine themselves to
shops and offices the whole day for weeks and months, aye, and years
almost together. I know not what manner of stuff they are of--sitting
there now at three o'clock in the afternoon, as if it were three o'clock
in the morning.
Full Text of Thoreau's essay: Walking Download WALKING
John Keats (1795–1821) expresses a similar sentiment in just 14 lines!
To one who has been long in city pent,
’Tis very sweet to look into the fair
And open face of heaven,—to breathe a prayer
Full in the smile of the blue firmament.
Who is more happy, when, with hearts content,
Fatigued he sinks into some pleasant lair
Of wavy grass, and reads a debonair
And gentle tale of love and languishment?
Returning home at evening, with an ear
Catching the notes of Philomel,—an eye
Watching the sailing cloudlet’s bright career,
He mourns that day so soon has glided by:
E’en like the passage of an angel’s tear
That falls through the clear ether silently.
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