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What is it that makes it so hard

sometimes to determine whither wewill walk? I believe that there is a

subtitle magnetism in Nature, which,if we unconsciously yield to it, willdirect us aright. It is not indifferent

to us, which way we walk. There isa right way; but we are very liablefrom heedlessness and stupidity to

take the wrong one. We would faintake that walk, never yet taken by

us through this actual world, whichis perfectly symbolical of the path,which we love to travel in the inte-

rior and ideal world; and sometimes,no doubt, we nd it difcult to choose

our direction, because it does not yetexist distinctly in our idea.

When I go out of the house for a

walk, uncertain as yet whither I willbend my steps, and submit myself 

to my instinct to decide for me, Ind, strange and whimsical as it mayseem, that I nally and inevitably

settle south-west, toward some par-ticular wood or meadow or desertedpasture or hill in that direction. My

needle is slow to settle — varies afew degrees, and does not alwayspoint due southwest, it is true, and it

has good authority for this variation,but it always settles between west

and south-south-west. The future lies

that way to me, and the earth seemsmore unexhausted and richer on that

side. The outline which would boundmy walks, would be, not a circle, buta parabola, or rather like one of those

commentary orbits, which have beenthought to be non-returning curves,in this case opening westward, in

which my house occupies the place

of the sun. I turn round and round

irresolute sometimes for a quarter of an hour, until I decide for the thou-

sandth time, that I will walk intothe southwest or west. Eastward Igo only by force; but westward I go

free. Thither no business leads me.It is hard for me to believe that Ishall nd fair landscapes, or sufcient

Wildness and Freedom behind theeastern horizon. I am not excited

by the prospect of a walkthither; but I believe thatthe forest which I see

in the western horizonstretches uninterrupt-

edly towards the settingsun, and that there areno towns nor cities in itof enough consequence to disturb

me. Let me live where I will, on thisside is the city, on that the wilder-

ness, and ever I am leaving the citymore and more, and withdrawinginto the wilderness. I should not lay

so much stress on this fact, if I didnot believe that something like thisis the prevailing tendency of my

countrymen. I must walk towardOregon, and not toward Europe. Andthat way the nation is moving, and I

may say that mankind progress fromeast to west. Within a few years we

have witnessed the phenomenon of a

southeastward migration, in the set-tlement of Australia; but this affects

us as a retrograde movement, and, judging from the moral and physi-cal character of the rst generation

of Australians, has not yet proved asuccessful experiment. The easternTartars think that there is nothing

west beyond Tibet. “The World ends

“The average slumdweller

consumes less and has a much

smaller global footprint than theaverage suburbanite.”

1 dwell / OCT 09 dwell / OCT 09

At home in the poorest urban areas around the worldWEET

Photos from left: a man

at home in Jakarta; thedirty feet of a young

Kenyan slumdweller.

there”, say they, “beyond there is

nothing but a shore less sea.” It isunmitigated east where they live.

We go eastward to realize history,and study the works of art and lit-

erature, retracing the steps of therace, — we go westward as into thefuture, with a spirit of enterprise and

adventure. The Atlantic is a Letheanstream, in our passage over which we

have had an opportunity to forget the

old world and its institutions. If wedo not succeed this time, there is per-

haps one more chan for the race leftbefore it arrives on the banks of theStyx; and that is in the Lethe of the

Pacic, which is three times as wide.

I know not how signicant it is, or

how far it is an evidence of singular-ity, that an individual should thusconsent in his pettiest walk, with the

general movement of the race; but Iknow that something akin to the mi-

gratory instinct in birds and quadru-

peds, — which, in some instances, isknown to have affected the squirrel

tribe, impelling them to a general andmysterious movement, in which theywere seen, say some, crossing the

broadest rivers, each on its particularchip, with its tail raised for a sail, andbridging narrower streams with their

dead, — that something like the furor

by Henry Thoreau

SLUM The word ‘slum’ holds a

negative implication in

our society, but many

vigorously oppose this

description of their

communities. Whatcan we learn from the

way others live?

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which affects the domestic cattle inthe spring, and which is referred to aworm in their tails, — Not a ock of 

wild geese cackles over our town butit to some extent unsettles the value

of real estate here, and if I were abroker I should probably take thatdisturbance into account.

Every sunset, which I witness,inspires me with the desire to go toa west as distant and as fair as that

into which the Sun goes down. Heappears to migrate westward dailyand tempt us to follow him. He is the

Great Western Pioneer whom thenations follow. We dream all night of those mountain ridges in the horizon,

though they may be of vapor only,

which were last gilded by his rays.The island of Atlantis, and the is-lands and gardens of the Hesperides,

a sort of terrestrial paradise, appearto have been the Great West of the

ancients, enveloped in mystery andpoetry. Who has not seen in imagina-tion, when looking into the sunset

sky, the gardensof the Hesper-ides, and the

foundation of allthose fables?

Where on theGlobe can there

be found an area of equal extentwith that occupied by the bulk of our states, so fertile and so rich and

varied in its productions, and atthe same time so habitable by theEuropean, as this is? Michaux who

knew but part of them, says that“the species of large trees are muchmore numerous in North America

than in Europe: in the United States

there are more than 140 species thatexceed thirty feet in height; in France

there are but thirty that attain thissize.” Later botanists more than

conrm his observations. Humboldtcame to America to realize his youth-ful dreams of tropical vegetation, and

he beheld it in its greatest perfectionin the primitive forests of the Ama-zon, the most gigantic wilderness on

the earth, which he has so eloquentlydescribed. The geographer Guyot,

himself a European, goes farther —farther than I am ready to follow him,yet not when he says, “As the plant is

made for the as the vegetable world ismade for the animal world, America ismade for the man of the Old World.”

“The man of the Old World sets outupon his way. Leaving the highlandsof Asia, he descends from station to

station, towards Europe. Each of hissteps is marked by a new civilizationsuperior to the preceding, by a great-

er power of development. Arrived at

“People living in such close quarters

have built strong and lasting

community bonds with neighborsand extended family members.”

DWELL

3 dwell / OCT 09 dwell / OCT 09

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Photos from left:children at home in a

Burmese slum; Mum-bai rooftops; the over

stacked slum housingof Venezuela.

the Atlantic, he pauses on the shoreof this unknown Ocean, the bounds of which he knows not, and turns upon

his foot prints for an instant.” Whenhe has exhau I know not what there

is of joyous and smooth in the aspectof Amercian plants sted the rich soil

of Europe and reinvigorated himself — “Then recommences his adventur-ous career westward as in the earli-

est ages.” — So far Guyot.

From this western impulse comingin contact with the barrier of theAtlantic sprang the commerce and

enterprise of modern times. The

younger Michaux, in his I know notwhat there is of joyous and smooth inthe aspect of Amercian plants “Trav-els West of the Alleghanies in 1802,”

says that the common inquiry in thenewly settled West was — “’Fromwhat part of the world have you

come?’ As if these vast and fertileregions would naturally be the placeof meeting and common country of all

the inhabitants of the globe.”

Sir Francis Head, an Englishtraveler, and a Governor-General

of Canada, tells us that “in boththe northern and southern hemi-

spheres of the new world, Naturehas not only outlined her workson a larger scale, but has painted

the whole picture withbrighter and morecostly colors than she

used in delineatingand in beautifying the

old world.” Linnæussaid long ago Nescioquæ facies læta, glabra

plantis Americanis. Iknow not what there isof joyous and smooth in

the aspect of Amercianplants; and I think thatin this country there

are no, or at most, veryfew, Africanæ bestiæ, Africanbeasts, as the Romans called them,

and that in this respect also it ispeculiarly tted for the habitation

of man. We are told that withinthree miles of the center of theEast Indian city of Singapore

some of the in are annually carriedoff by tigers; — but the traveler

can lie down in the woods at nightalmost anywhere in North Ameri-ca without fear of wild beasts.

Linnæus said long ago Nescio quæfacies læta, glabra plantis Ameri-canis. I know not what there is of 

 joyous and smooth in the aspect of Amercian plants; and I think thatin this country there are no, or at

most, very few, Africanæ bestiæ,

African beasts, as the Romans calledthem, and that in this respect also itis peculiarly tted for the habitation

of man. We are told that within threemiles of the center of the East Indian

city of Singapore some of the inhabit-ants are annually carried off by tigers;— but the traveler can lie down in the

woods at night al anywhere in NorthAmerica without fear of wild beasts.

These are encouraging testimonies.If the moon looks larger here than inEurope, probably the sun looks larger

also. If the heavens of America appearinnitely higher, the stars brighter, I

trust that these facts are symbolicalof the height to which the philosophyand poetry and religion of her inhab-

itants may one day soar. At lengthperchance the immaterial heavenwill appear as much higher to the

American min scale, like our thunderand lightning, d, and the intimationsthat star it as much brighter. Will not

man grow to greater perfection intel-lectually as well as physically under

these inuences? Or is it unimportanthow many foggy days scale, like ourthunder and lightning, there are in

his life? I trust that we shall be more

imaginative; that our thoughts will beclearer, more ethereal, as our sky —

our understanding more comprehen-sive and broader, like our plains — ourintellect generally on a grander scale,

like our thunder and lightning, ourriver Linnæus said long ago Nescio

quæ , glabra plantis Americanis.