On Walden Pond, then and now

Dear Editor,

Concord, Mass., is famous for its Minute Man statue, honoring the volunteer army of the American Revolution.

It is also the home of Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), a naturalist, philosopher and political activist. A replica of his cabin is built there.

When spring comes, tourists visit the site. Meticulous notes on flowers, native to the Concord area, were kept by Thoreau. His book, Walden, describes them. Modern-day scientists have carefully studied them.

Back in the 1850s, Thoreau's neighbors worked from dawn until dusk in their fields. Thoreau spent hours exploring Concord's meadows and woods looking at the flowers. Ralph Waldo Emerson, a friend of Thoreau's, felt that he was wasting his Harvard education studying nature full time.

Today, modern econologists are busy extracting important data left by Thoreau. They are looking at the Concord area, about 30 miles from Boston. They have discovered that migratory birds are arriving earlier and flowers are blooming weeks earlier than they did in Thoreau's lifetime. It is theorized that this might be a result of global warming.

Unlike those who criticized Thoreau more than 150 years ago, they are glad he took time to smell the flowers and write about them.

For more information, read Smithsonian Magazine October 2007 and World Book Encyclopedia Vol. 19.

Helen Ruth Arnold,

McCook