ABSTRACT
WitnessingafloodoftheMusketaquidRiverinspiredThoreauto composeanodetoitsbeauty."Theriverswellethmoreandmore," hebegan"Likesomesweetinfluencestealingo'er."Andafter twenty-sixlinesofinterveningbutsimilarlyadulatoryverse, Thoreauconcludeswiththefollowingmeditation:
Nowitwouldbefollytodisparagetheinspirationbehindthese pleasinglines,fornaturecanbeasourceofexquisitebeauty.Still, suchlinesdoprodtheimpulsetosarcasmwhenitisremembered thatonAugust1,1976,thissamemistressspawnedaflashflood inColorado'sBigThompsonCanyonthatkilled139campersand hikerswhohadbeenluredtothespotbynature'sgreatbeauty.Itis hardnottowonderwhetheritwasperhapsThoreau,andnotthe landscape,thatwasbeingstolenoverbysomesweetinfluence.It ishardnottoextendtoThoreauthesamepatronizingconcernthat heextended"ToaStrayFowl"whenhemusesthat"Ifearimprisonmenthasdulledthywit,IOringrainedservitudeextinguished it."AndthoughIhavenodesiretodisputeThoreau'ssuggestion thatthebeautyofworkwroughtbyhumanartistsandartisansis hard-pressedtorivalthegrandeurthatnaturecanmanifest,the needforbalancedemandsthatwealsonotethatthehorrorsnature visitsuponusgiveusreasontowonderwhetherhumansavagery canrivalthatmanifestedbythenaturalorder.Nowgivenhowbad humanbeingscanbetooneanother,youmightbetemptedto writethislastclaimoffastooextravagant,andyoumightberight todoso.Beforedoingso,however,yououghttoconsultamedi-
cal dictionary and look up Lesch-Nyhan syndrome. Here, nature's art has made human beings who have a compulsive tendency to self-mutilation. As soon as a Lesch-Nyhan baby's teeth grow, those teeth must be pulled; otherwise the baby will begin to eat away its lips and fingers and any other part of its body that can reach its mouth.
