Reading Writing Connection
Read this paragraph from "A Life in the Woods." Underline
the exclamation. Then explain why you think the author
used an exclamation in the paragraph.
Thoreau's move to the woods indicated that he
liked to be alone, But Thoreau did not feel that way,
"I have a great deal of company in my house," he
wrote. Red squirrels awoke him by running up and
down the sheer sides of his cabin. A snowshoe hare
lived in the debris under his cabin, thumping against
the floorboards. A sparrow once perched on his
shoulder. Thoreau recorded these experiences in his
journal. How easily writing came to him with the
beauty of nature!