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"As the afternoons grow shorter, and the early evening drives us home to complete our chores, we are reminded of the shortness of life, and become more pensive. . . . I seemed to recognize the November evening as a familiar thing come round again. . . . It appeared like a part of a panorama at which I sat spectator, a part with which I was perfectly familiar just coming into view, and I foresaw how it would look, and prepared to be pleased. . . . What new sweet was I to extract from it?. . .
"It was as if I was promised the greatest novelty the world has ever seen or shall see, though the utmost possible novelty would be the difference between me and myself a year ago. This alone encouraged me, and was my fuel for the approaching winter. That we may behold the panorama with this slight improvement or change, this is what we sustain life for with so much effort from year to year.
". . . There is no more tempting novelty than this new November."
Henry David Thoreau
Journal, November 1, 1858
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