At present,
in this vicinity, the best part of the land is not private property; the
landscape is not owned, and the walker enjoys comparative freedom. But possibly
the day will come when it will be partitioned off into so-called pleasure
grounds, in which a few will take a narrow and exclusive pleasure only, — when
fences shall be multiplied, and man traps and other engines invented to confine
men to the public
road; and walking over the surface of God’s earth, shall be construed to mean
trespassing on some gentleman’s grounds. To enjoy a thing exclusively is
commonly to exclude yourself from the true enjoyment of it. Let us improve our
opportunities then before the evil days come.
From “Walking”
Henry
David Thoreau 1862
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