xt7jh98zct60_6 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7jh98zct60/data/mets.xml https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7jh98zct60/data/2015ms086.dao.xml Bevins, Martha 0.05 Cubic Feet 55 items archival material 2015ms086 English University of Kentucky The physical rights to the materials in this collection are held by the University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.  Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Martha Bevins letters to Tom McCarthy Radio broadcasting. Agriculture -- Kentucky. Birds Women air pilots. 1956 April 20 text 1956 April 20 2016 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7jh98zct60/data/2015ms086/Box_ms_42/Folder_1/Item_6/1956_4_20_Bevins_Thoreau_Walden_Pond_p1.pdf 1956 April 20 1956 1956 April 20 section false xt7jh98zct60_6 xt7jh98zct60 ' ask a
Morning View Kentucky
20 April 1956

Sorry, Mr. McCarthy,
to bother you with another letter, but I must thank you for
Thoreau. It is indeed a rich reward for three or four letters,
which I enjoyed writing, and which took So little of my time.
I Was the more delighted because my Thoreau -- two weary little
student volumes, relics of Mother's college days -— had
accidentally gone into the Give-away box instead of the Keeper
box in my last book weed-out. I cannot resist books, being
forever lured into the purchase of ones I neither Want nor like,
or others which are not worth a second reading, consequently must
occasionally sort through them and disencumber myself of the
unwanted. I read the average book in about an hour, and, more
often than not, wonder why I wasted the hour. Keep a few strangely
assorted treasures for repeat reading -- Aing Lear apt to be

. found nestling beside Balchen's "er Below Zero. Thoreau is a keeper.
Only a few days ago, when the icy wind and wet, pelting snow had
driven the silent birds into the shelter of scrubby hollows, I
retreated indoors and thaWed out with hot coffee and such splinters
of Walden as I could unearth in anthologies and such.
I like Walden best, but read it in a most irreverent fashion that
would infuriate the true Thoreau devotee. I skip. It annoys me
that, in the midst of describing the pond at twilight, or the early
morning birds, he plunges headelong into the Hate-EVerybody
campaign he was waging at the time. Shamelessly, I turn to the
next bit of description.
Personally, I believe Thoreau's bitter condemnation of his fellow
man during the Walden period was due to a protein and vitamin
deficiency in the wild diet he maintained while there. He mellowed
considerably after leaving. How amiable could you be on a daily
fare that apparently consisted largely of bread, potatoes, melons,
a few beans, and an infrequent fish?
Upon first reading ‘horeau, I adopted one of his statements as my
favorite quote. I have forgotten the exact wording, its general
effect being, "If I do not march in step with other people, it is
because I hear different drums." I like that. /

 rillllaw
-2 .-

Years ago, having delivered a plane nearby, I spent most of
one day around Walden 30nd. Much of the forest seemed to have
been cut over and cleared, then allowed to grow up again, and
much was gone entirely. The pond, because of its size, would
have been called a lake in this area, being a good sized sheet
of water. Some youngsters who were fishing in a tired little
boat, and Who kindly rowed me around the pond, told me they
understood from their elders that it had been much bigger at
one time.
At that time they had not yet dug down and discovered the hearth
stones and chimney base and so located the cabin, thus settling
the dispute which placed it on two different little shoulders
back from the pond. Despite tradfic noise, and the howl of a
diesel, touches remained of the peacefulness Thoreau had found

‘ there.
Thank you again, and best wishes,

;j M/(J Ame/Q,