On pg$.183$ of "Walking", Thoreau argues, $"$If you would get exercise, go in search of the springs of life. Think of a man swinging dumb$-$bells for his health, when those springs are bubbling up in far$-$off pastures unsought by him! $...$ what would become of us$,$ if we walked only in a garden or a mall?"

We are a campus of active people. How do we respond to Thoreau here? Should we view this argument as literal or aspirational? Is he limiting what counts a$]$; "nature" and restorative "exercise" or is he merely trying to nudge people past the restrictions imposed by the "actual world" $(187)?$