- Occasionally Thoreau has visitors. If they arrive while he's out, they usually leave a walnut leaf or chip as a sign that they've been there. Natch.
- Thoreau isn't sad all on his own. He finds Nature a continuous source of friendliness and cheer.
- Besides, he finds that he has a kind of split personality, where one side of him is a spectator observing what the other side of him is doing. So, he's not really alone – a little crazy, but not alone.
- Our man thinks people are actually more alone in the company of others since, usually, our contact with the people around us is so superficial.
- He explains that he is only alone in the sense that a flower or a fly or a bee is alone in a pasture.
- There are a couple of neighbors who Thoreau chats with: an old settler of the woods, as well as an old woman who has a nice herb garden.