I have just read, for at least the fourth time, “The Outermost House,” by Henry Beston, published first in 1928. For me at least, it stands beside Thoreau’s “Walden” as a loving testament to what we can learn by living, simply as we can, in one place for a long time, watching and listening to what that place and its creatures and weather can teach us.
Beston decided he would build a little house close to the Great Beach on outer Cape Cod, and live there a month, watching, listening, and writing. His month became a year, and his journal a book that David Attenborough on his best day would find it hard to improve.
Both men have noticed that Creation continues, all around us day and night, and will keep doing so far beyond our own time of observation. For me at least, Beston writes best about night, day, birds, fish, Coast Guardsmen, outer-coastal ocean weather (I enjoyed the 1938 hurricane while enduring kindergarten in New Bedford, whose fishing fleet barely survived the terrible losses it took while sea water thundered up the Acushnet River and the wind took down century-old elm and oak and maple).
Maybe Beston impresses me because I did not come across his little book (in paperback) until I had gray hair. He was/is a fine observer and recorder. His words are true today as when he wrote them.
We could all do worse than spend a couple of days with Henry. What he has to say can help put in perspective our present clashes of opinion — military, political and increasingly less than civil — on our daily news programs and in our streets.
Take a breather. Read Henry. Smile at your neighbor, even if he has a different opinion.
John Holt Willey
Waterville
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