Small Streams

Faith in a Seed

Have been reading H.D. Thoreau's Faith in a Seed, edited post-humously. The book reflect's Thoreau's growing interest in scientific endeavors, and the culture's growing interest in the theories of Darwin and others.

Compared to other Thoreau work, it plods. Nevertheless great nuggets await those who work their way through. Just wait till you get to the part about the squirrels. In Faith in a Seed Thoreau observes more systematically and thoroughly and, in some ways, much more explicitly demonstrates how great a teacher Nature can be.

I don't know how an acorn got into our ficus planter. It could have come from me using some compost to mulch the ficus. It could have been the acorn I brought home one day from Schenley Park, subsequently lost, and may have been planted by one of my children. It could have even have been deposited by the mouse that I have seen scurrying about the house. In any case, it is one more example of how seeds and trees have an inexorable will toward covering our planet. Thoreau would have been pleased, I think. I'm not sure he would have had the same designs on the mouse that I do.

Posted by mastr at March 21, 2006 11:30 AM