Economy-2
japanned lamp. None is so poor that he need sit on a pumpkin. That
ease, and not our disease, and take care that this does not spread
nearly two years after this, rye and Indian meal without yeast,
two sides only, and the rafters and floor timbers on one side,
-------
Hair ............................. 0.31 More than I needed.
the town is extinguished. During this fast they abstain from the
faith everywhere; if he has not faith, he will continue to live like
neck -- I have pitied him, not because that was his all, but because
$ 8.40-3/4
I intend to build me a house which will surpass any on the main
certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious
unusual expenses, I planted about two acres and a half of light and
Transportation ................... 1.40 I carried a good part
it.
care how they were done by, who loved their enemies after a new
of the world -- were
sort of porch at the entrance of a burrow.
Oil, etc., eight months ................. 2.00
together, produces new fire in the public square, from whence every
an indistinct notion that if they keep up this activity of joint
dressed by the village butcher.
spot from time to time than to manure the old, and he could do all
spend yourself with it, and do not merely abandon it to them. We
Sweet potatoes ........... 0.10
place far above all the rest, as the greatest of the great. They
knowing. Rescue the drowning and tie your shoestrings. Take your
be so bold, what do you mean by a dead set?" If you are a seer,
indistinct but wholly unjust claims on the score of ground rent and
of speculation, and he employs Irishmen or other operatives actually
sun, and he is then free to devote himself to his chosen pursuit,
farm, but could follow the bent of my genius, which is a very
of a month -- the boy who had made his own jackknife from the ore
T. CAREW
I am wont to think that men are not so much the keepers of herds
inaudible to men. If a man has faith, he will co-operate with equal
came to the door and asked me to view it from the inside. The hens
alone; and to strike at the root of the matter at once -- for the
drastic philanthropy seeks out the Esquimau and the Patagonian, and
square by seven deep, to a fine sand where potatoes would not freeze
the meal into the trough, add water gradually, and knead it
Upon whose stocks fair blooming virtues flourish,
For more than five years I maintained myself thus solely by the
leaves. Those plants of whose greenness withered we make herb tea
better learn to live than by at once trying the experiment of
but they will probably have lost their elasticity and desire to
time of day, and look freshly up, unconcerned, with spring thoughts,
acquainted with it. Sometimes a rambler in the wood was attracted
is its material silver, or gold, or marble, except to a trifling
but a constant superfluity, which costs him nothing and of which he
leaven. But I did not always use this staff of life. At one time,
crudity and is once more sweet and wholesome to live. I never
saccharine.
architecture amount to in the experience of the mass of men? I
The Pretensions of Poverty
spiders web then. Even those who seem for a long while not to have
Be sure that you give the poor the aid they most need, though it
was wont to get smoked and to have a piny flavor, I tried flour
needed. Then I began to pity myself, and I saw that it would be a
period, but we would preserve the true course.
told me that he thought he should live as I did, if he had the
for the sick serve but a humble use, and are most employed by
it. Society recovers only a tenth part of the property then. Is
There is no odor so bad as that which arises from goodness
Of pumpkins and parsnips and walnut-tree chips."
or to the remissness of the officers of justice?
One thousand old brick ........... 4.00
These statistics, however accidental and therefore uninstructive
Nurses some lazy or pedantic virtue
rude occupants who really knew it better than he. What of
earning his means as he went, before the mast and behind the plow,
will start again. When a man dies he kicks the dust.
if we will live simply and wisely; as the pursuits of the simpler
a sick one to lay down his bed and run. When I have met an
"For," as the Forefathers sang,--
seriously of picking huckleberries; that surely I could do, and its
were driven in by my approach. It was dark, and had a dirt floor
one would live simply and eat only the crop which he raised, and
the glory of such with the ox and horse; does it follow that he
cottages of the poor commonly; it is the life of the inhabitants
thereafter, till I came to "good, sweet, wholesome bread," the staff
magnetic, or natural means, let us first be as simple and well as
the indweller, might build truly within and without, and let the
civilization which are barbaric and heathenish build splendid
miles; the fare ninety cents. That is almost a days wages. I
and take up a little life into our pores. Do not stay to be an
great green apple, which there is danger awful to think of that the
Nails ............................ 3.90
Rice .................... $ 1.73 1/2
universally developed, as birds universally sing when they are so
fingers?... To my astonishment I was informed on leaving college
it rained and melted the ice, and in the early part of the day,
design of doing me good, I should run for my life, as from that dry
become the devils attorney. I will endeavor to speak a good word
there a board which would not bear removal. She lighted a lamp to
Shiraz, that "they asked a wise man, saying: Of the many celebrated
put any sal-soda, or other acid or alkali, into my bread. It would
house that color. Is he thinking of his last and narrow house?
yet fairly come out of the torpid state. It appeared to me that for
rest. Some show their kindness to the poor by employing them in
cellar, a sort of dust hole two feet deep. In her own words, they
breaking of ground, for in almost all latitudes men dig into the
One says to me, "I wonder that you do not lay up money; you love
I had earned $13.34. The expense of food for eight months, namely,
satisfied that it does not agree with my constitution. Probably I
an important item in the term bill, while for the far more valuable
here in Concord, praised a fellow-townsman to me, because, as he
One early thrush gave me a note or two as I drove along the woodland
nor wines in the cellar. What if an equal ado were made about the
would not stand between any man and his genius; and to him who does
That knows nor joy nor sorrow; nor your forcd
gain is not anothers loss, and that the stable-boy has equal cause
possessed with an insane ambition to perpetuate the memory of
Collins shanty was considered an uncommonly fine one. When I
azad, or free man, like the cypress."
commemorate themselves? How much more admirable the Bhagvat-Geeta
usually carried my dinner of bread and butter, and read the
substantials. They can do without architecture who have no olives
slop-shop on him. There are a thousand hacking at the branches of
is merely to send him into the neighborhood of some professor, where
of worse mischief; to such I have at present nothing to say. Those
have to cut your acquaintance altogether.
for a thousand, as a large house is not proportionally more
indito, aquae paulatim addito, subigitoque pulchre. Ubi bene
meanwhile have earned your fare, and arrive there some time
should say rather, Set about being good. As if the sun should stop
shell: nor need the soldier be so idle as to try to paint the
nowadays to take up his bed and walk, and I should certainly advise
said, he heard the Chinese pots and kettles rattle; but I think that
woodshed adjoining, made chiefly of the stuff which was left after
deal warped and made brittle by the sun. Doorsill there was none,
dust holes, to lie there till their estates are settled, when they
circumspection -- to call in a contractor who makes this a subject
that I could easily raise my bushel or two of rye and Indian corn,
Undoubtedly, in this case, what is true for one is truer still
ingredient, and after going without it for a year am still in the
Apples ................... 0.25
That fix their seats in mediocrity,
Degradeth nature, and benumbeth sense,
tomorrow, or possibly this evening, if you are lucky enough to get a
their kitchens. Would they not be kinder if they employed
the degree to which the barn overshadows the house. This town is
bought them all, and carefully transported them to their garrets and
-----------
lark and pewee and other birds already come to commence another year
accumulate in his fathers day. Among the rest was a dried
satisfaction with the gift of life, any memorable praise of God.
lay the foundation themselves. The student who secures his coveted
cast together into one common heap, and consume it with fire. After
found out another for myself, I desire that there may be as many
advance. The devil goes on exacting compound interest to the last
without rice and pork; and if I must have some concentrated sweet, I
to lay the foundations, while the students that are to be are said
pine boughs which I had cut off, and to my bread was imparted some
truthfulness, and nobleness, without ever a thought for the
always flourishing; and of this nature are the azads, or religious
else to be seen, the dirt being raised five feet all around as if it
call none azad, or free, excepting the cypress, which bears no
up every spring, and made the great desert of Sahara, till at length
Thank God, I can sit and I can stand without the aid of a furniture
As I preferred some things to others, and especially valued my
architectural ornaments are literally hollow, and a September gale
gilt-framed looking-glass, and a patent new coffee-mill nailed to an
into the water came to my house to warm him, and I saw him strip off
knot-hole or gateway where his sledge load of furniture cannot
"we can make liquor to sweeten our lips
precise color of his virtue on his standard. The enemy will find it
redeemers had rather consoled the fears than confirmed the hopes of
county. It should not be by their architecture, but why not even by
that I had studied navigation! -- why, if I had taken one turn down
the thing, whether they have the reality or not. Would it not be
style of architecture of his house than a tortoise with that of its
messages; he is not an evangelist, nor does he come round eating
make curious mistakes sometimes. Often the poor man is not so cold
But lo! they have taken wings --
he will appear to be harnessed to it and making what headway he can.
get. And to meet this I have for farm produce sold
of July, as soon as it was boarded and roofed, for the boards were
hand at some such pastime as that. However, when I have thought to
would rather suffer evil the natural way. A man is not a good man
labor of my hands, and I found that, by working about six weeks in a
would strip them off, like borrowed plumes, without injury to the
and mothers. I once heard a reverend lecturer on England, a man of
Brave, bounteous acts, regal magnificence,
few years of philanthropic activity, the powers in the meanwhile
who shall have earned their fare, that is, if they survive so long,
study. I have thoroughly tried school-keeping, and found that my
"On the fourth morning, the high priest, by rubbing dry wood
The dead and for the most part unmerchantable wood behind my house,
Thus I could avoid all trade and barter, so far as my food was
meats, and making darkness visible, instead of steadily increasing
We should impart our courage, and not our despair, our health and
and parching wind of the African deserts called the simoom, which
this owing to the generosity of him in whose possession it is found,
to be fitting themselves for it; and for these oversights successive
And when thou seest the new enlightened sphe九-九-藏-书-网re,
come off and I had cut a green hickory for a wedge, driving it with
obliged to straighten with a plane.
I think that the man is at a dead set who has got through a
a beauty, as if it were a revelation to him. All very well perhaps
was there to represent spectatordom, and help make this seemingly
So I went on for some days cutting and hewing timber, and also
habitation in the town is supplied with the new and pure flame."
travel by that time. This spending of the best part of ones life
children of men will nibble before it is ripe; and straightway his
refinement of this diet, and travelling gradually down in my studies
fruit; what mystery is there in this? He replied, Each has its
country, fuel is an encumbrance. As for a habitat, if I were not
the vestal fire -- some precious bottleful, I suppose, first brought
Finally, as for salt, that grossest of groceries, to obtain this
his "furniture," as whether it is insured or not. "But what shall I
Two casks of lime ................ 2.40 That was high.
rather made the most of it, my house was framed and ready for the
travelled at that rate by the week together. You will in the
whose shells they are, and not any peculiarity in their surfaces
That knows no bound, and that heroic virtue
everything it handles; and though you trade in messages from heaven,
a distinguished deaf woman, but when he was presented, and one end
road. Well, I start now on foot, and get there before night; I have
that bounds an honest mans field than a hundred-gated Thebes that
weeks nearer to the New; but perchance the first news that will leak
earth for an equable temperature. Under the most splendid house in
nations are still the sports of the more artificial. It is not
insignificant event one with the removal of the gods of Troy.
Such is the universal law, which no man can ever outwit, and
I have scarcely heard of a truer sacrament, that is, as the
the main object were to talk fast and not to talk sensibly. We are
raising. I had already bought the shanty of James Collins, an
to my senses a fragrance like that of other noble fruits, which I
given me. This never costs anything to speak of, unless you plant
of life. Leaven, which some deem the soul of bread, the spiritus
that was doing better than any farmer in Concord did that year.
hoe-cakes, which I baked before my fire out of doors on a shingle or
acres, mostly growing up to pines and hickories, and was sold the
hereabouts, and it is not behindhand in its public buildings; but
eager to tunnel under the Atlantic and bring the Old World some
under them to watch my loaf, and passed some pleasant hours in that
in this land of rye and Indian corn, and not depend on distant and
to the woods and became a wild cat, and, as I learned afterward,
Doing-good, that is one of the professions which are full.
distraction from my wonted moods, I foolishly thought. While my
the oxen will be seen to have greatly the advantage, their farm is
also dreamed that I might gather the wild herbs, or carry evergreens
means. I would not have any one adopt my mode of living on any
as agreeable to the imagination, and there is as little straining
subegeris, defingito, coquitoque sub testu." Which I take to mean,
tapeworm. And now, after lying half a century in his garret and
such questions as, if I think that I can live on vegetable food
horse trots a mile in a minute does not carry the most important
buckled to a mans belt, and he could not move over the rough
roots as of old, and long after the superstructure has disappeared
acquaintances, rather to improve so good an occasion for
cost me in money about twenty-seven cents a week. It was, for
monsters that swarm all around him, while contemplating the monsters
when I was there, I did not see any hammering stone. Nations are
trod in a trap set for woodchucks, and so became a dead cat at last.
diameter, a pair of tongs and andirons, a kettle, a skillet, and a
looks as if it contained the contents of a dozen shanties; and if
quantity of more luxurious and expensive things, he would need to
animals. True, there never was and is not likely soon to be a
Salt ..................... 0.03
each year, though the corporation had the advantage of building
the city is still to be found the cellar where they store their
in such a predicament as the man who was earnest to be introduced to
There is a certain class of unbelievers who sometimes ask me
potatoes, corn, peas, and turnips. The whole lot contains eleven
leaving the rest of the bark on, so that they were just as straight
seat of sympathy -- he forthwith sets about reforming -- the world.
owner, but merely a squatter, and not expecting to cultivate so much
God, is his private ail. Let this be righted, let the spring come
there are very few halls for free worship or free speech in this
were a compost heap. The roof was the soundest part, though a good
much that I have to say. For my part, I am glad to bear of
at the Institute in the meanwhile, and had received a Rodgers
yet. If there are any to whom it is no interruption to acquire
his contemporaries no charge is made. The mode of founding a
-------
be your example which leaves them far behind. If you give money,
knew, and never shall know, a worse man than myself.
were Penn, Howard, and Mrs. Fry. Every one must feel the falsehood
But all this is very selfish, I have heard some of my townsmen
oak sapling, all told. The bargain was soon concluded, for James
which was very foggy, I heard a stray goose groping about over the
never raising any superstructure until we found a better reason for
out that way lately. There was a stove, a bed, and a place to sit,
some excuse for them and him, but I have no time for it. As for the
spikes to his pocket, and then stood when I came back to pass the
so much as the fact that so many men could be found degraded enough
pine tree, though I had cut down some of them, having become better
semblance of casting their slough annually; they have the idea of
might be a fit occasion for a visit to the seashore, or, if I did
enterprise to improve the style of cottage architecture! When you
the tenant, it is of a piece with constructing his own coffin -- the
path, and for the most part wholly unintended. Men say,
a brick fireplace opposite. The exact cost of my house, paying the
in his six weeks of haying, and it is no boys play. Certainly no
At length, in the beginning of May, with the help of some of my
cooking in the meanwhile out of doors on the ground, early in the
The philanthropist too often surrounds mankind with the remembrance
residence in the fourth story. I cannot but think that if we had
as herds are the keepers of men, the former are so much the freer.
profitably imitated by us, for they at least go through the
tainted. It is human, it is divine, carrion. If I knew for a
earning money in order to enjoy a questionable liberty during the
not learn that the Indians ever troubled themselves to go after it.
the village, till at length one morning I forgot the rules, and
show me the inside of the roof and the walls, and also that the
to love labor for its own sake, or perhaps because it keeps them out
fashionable garments, till, one bitter cold day, one who had slipped
not require the best, and grind them in a hand-mill, and so do
the pond was not yet dissolved, though there were some open spaces,
fitness in a mans building his own house that there is in a birds
for all mortar. The squirrel tribe tried the same and succeeded.
has wandered farther from the true end of life. The religion and
and much stronger than sawed ones. Each stick was carefully
The wind that blows
had in the meanwhile returned. I to pay four dollars and
and left small circles of virgin mould, easily distinguishable
squirrels on." I put no manure whatever on this land, not being the
redeem? If anything ail a man, so that he does not perform his
springs arousing them, they would of necessity rise to a higher and
do we move ever but to get rid of our furniture, our exuvioe: at
see that they could not long be companions or co-operate, since one
called to see it he was not at home. I walked about the outside, at
all summer to pick the berries which came in my way, and thereafter
of her ear trumpet was put into his hand, had nothing to say. As if
scalded my yeast; by which accident I discovered that even this was
eating green apples; to his eyes, in fact, the globe itself is a
provided, than to add a single item to the details of housekeeping.
-- "Make kneaded bread thus. Wash your hands and trough well. Put
Thou dost presume too much, poor needy wretch,
and blackberry roots, and the lowest stain of vegetation, six feet
house your own complexion; let it turn pale or blush for you. An
Not long since I was present at the auction of a deacons
spade up that than to use oxen to plow it, and to select a fresh
living? Methinks this would exercise their minds as much as
which I started, and the measure of expenses to be incurred -- and
respectable to omit it. Man is an animal who more than any other
$25.21 3/4 on the one side -- this being very nearly the means with
more than enough. I got twelve bushels of beans, and eighteen
These are all the materials, excepting the timber, stones, and
to him, the morning rise over his couch, and he will forsake his
It is best to avoid the beginnings of evil.
furniture and all the trumpery which he saves and will not burn, and
morning: which mode I still think is in some respects more
depot, and the conductor shouts "All aboard!" when the smoke is
those days did not build them -- who were above such trifling. But
equally guilty with myself, and that their deeds would look no
and yet retain health and strength. I have made a satisfactory
for my dinner, and once I went so far as to slaughter a woodchuck
considered, that is, considering the importance of a mans soul and
satellites to Neptune, and not detect the motes in his eyes, or to
India to make a fortune first, in order that he might return to
all of which was done by myself, was as follows; and I give the
which it is fresh and blooming, and during their absence dry and
Irish laborers who cut ice on the pond, in such mean and ragged
more true wisdom in these respects, not only less education would be
which ravaged my bean-field -- effect his transmigration, as a
winters, as well as most of my summers, I had free and clear for
account. It appears from the above estimate, that my food alone
his way, and has his reward; but, comparatively speaking, what are a
it merely, while the community supports them at this expensive game,
A lady once offered me a mat, but as I had no room to spare within
of the beaten track, he burned several blocks of houses in the lower
publish my guilt, if I did not know that most of my readers were
accumulated from long housekeeping, which he has not the courage to
by contagion. From what southern plains comes up the voice of
architectural beauty I now see, I know has gradually grown from
in the summer; and thus he would not be tied to an ox, or horse, or
clothing and fuel. The pantaloons which I now wear were woven in a
Flour .................... 0.88 Costs more than Indian meal,
persuasiveness on the ears of those who, for their part, did not
living, some sad experience in conforming to the wishes of friends
through that accidental souring of the dough which, it is supposed,
that he pretends to disown, behind him, even to his kitchen
also; but have at last found a mixture of rye and Indian meal most
pay for themselves, and get their free papers. For myself I found
discovery, and he is the man to make it -- that the world has been
One pumpkin .............. 0.06
under a cover," that is, in a baking kettle. Not a word about
to spend my time in earning rich carpets or other fine furniture, or
survey the world throug九_九_藏_书_网h a telescope or a microscope, and never with
country where our lines are cast without dragging them -- dragging
made of the value of $4.50 -- the amount on hand much more than
Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate. Either is
repair. The only co-operation which is commonly possible is
plates, one cup, one spoon, a jug for oil, a jug for molasses, and a
over in the Mayflower, did the business for America, and its
but for the most part when I came out on to the railroad, on my way
should probably be on my way to the devil. I was actually afraid
are concerned about the monuments of the West and the East -- to
from July 4th to March 1st, the time when these estimates were made,
philanthropy, but merely demand justice for all who by their lives
value also. Nothing was given me of which I have not rendered some
get off.
Balcom, a promising young architect, designs it on the back of his
do, in the common sense of that word, must be aside from my main
impervious to rain, but before boarding I laid the foundation of a
looking like an enormous wen which had grown out of the nape of his
better in print. The next year I sometimes caught a mess of fish
with his master to be satisfied? Granted that some public works
should become a horseman or a herdsman merely; and if society seems
at the stake, suggested new modes of torture to their tormentors.
are most wholesome without the sugar -- and not how the inhabitant,
religion and love of art of the builders, it is much the same all
him, he had so many intra ones. This ducking was the very thing he
nay, partly even because of its transient character, I believe that
better economy to retreat behind some curtain which nature has
not therefore desirable that he should do so to the exclusion of my
I have thus a tight shingled and plastered house, ten feet wide
musky flavor, I saw that the longest use would not make that a good
all our life. We may not arrive at our port within a calculable
$ 23.44
a stone, and had placed the whole to soak in a pond-hole in order to
mainly to become of more worth, and with kindness aforethought go
than I did, considering, for instance, what foundation a door, a
his necessary farm work as it were with his left hand at odd hours
Bread I at first made of pure Indian meal and salt, genuine
the other carrying a bill of exchange in his pocket. It was easy to
in a drop of vinegar. Which would have advanced the most at the end
piece of good sense would be more memorable than a monument as high
which subtracted from the sum of the outgoes leaves a balance of
though I held the plow myself. My farm outgoes for the first season
Two second-hand windows
window" -- of two whole squares originally, only the cat had passed
of today, notwithstanding the short time occupied by my experiment,
Or that unnatural stupidity
which with all the remaining grain and other old provisions they
fuel. This he assured me was the only encumbrance. At six I passed
raise no more than he ate, and not exchange it for an insufficient
Achilles, Theseus. Back to thy loathd cell;
leisure and retirement by systematically shirking any labor
account; for, beside that before he has fairly learned it I may have
Boards .......................... $ 8.03+, mostly shanty boards.
the still tolerable, straight, and drivable nails, staples, and
but though it afforded me a momentary enjoyment, notwithstanding a
it than our temporal necessities even. There is some of the same
education which he gets by associating with the most cultivated of
churches do? So are made the belles-lettres and the beaux-arts and
through the summer by the greater luxuriance of the beans there.
case? When men begin to do, not merely unnecessary or artistic, but
though I lived there more than two years -- not counting potatoes, a
influence is still rising, swelling, spreading, in cerealian billows
truth of my statement. Notwithstanding much cant and hypocrisy --
point only that we are wise, as the sailor or the fugitive slave
pumpkins or beets, and I knew that I needed only to set out a few
discharge its contents to my discomfiture. It is simpler and more
luxuries; and I know a good woman who thinks that her son lost his
In all ............................ $ 61.99-3/4
man; it is as much the preacher, and the merchant, and the farmer.
the country." But I am wiser than that. I have learned that the
with their chattering and unmusical notes. Shall we forever resign
should be. However, I should never have broken a horse or bull and
city, by hay-cart loads. But I have since learned that trade curses
eggs. They were a real cereal fruit which I ripened, and they had
condition; but if they should feel the influence of the spring of
remember when wages were sixty cents a day for laborers on this very
women who are incapacitated for them, or who own their thirds in
saints. Our hymn-books resound with a melodious cursing of God and
I should be freezing, or pull me out of a ditch if I should ever
every fifty-two years, in the belief that it was time for the world
were superior to any consolation which the missionaries could offer;
tending and turning them as carefully as an Egyptian his hatching
on the bottom, apparently without inconvenience, as long as I stayed
somebodys barn. I look upon England today as an old gentleman who
proceeds of every tenth slave to buy a Sundays liberty for the
opportunities to do again, it was frequently to the detriment of my
Lard ..................... 0.65
some slight flurries of snow during the days that I worked there;
In short, I am convinced, both by faith and experience, that to
Irishman who worked on the Fitchburg Railroad, for boards. James
and it was all dark-colored and saturated with water. There were
uprightness and benevolence, which are, as it were, his stem and
as much and will cost me no more than my present one.
consulting such authorities as offered, going back to the primitive
newspaper in which it was wrapped, at noon, sitting amid the green
Mucclasse Indians? "When a town celebrates the busk," says he,
his natural eye; to study chemistry, and not learn how his bread is
common partition, to be much cheaper, must be a thin one, and that
potatoes, rice, a very little salt pork, molasses, and salt; and my
than all the ways by which money necessarily goes out in this part
And, Gorgon-like, turns active men to stone.
boiled and salted. I give the Latin on account of the savoriness of
To claim a station in the firmament
ears of green sweet corn boiled, with the addition of salt? Even
for the animal within him, but, for a symbol of this, he works for
literary, and political worthies, Shakespeare, Bacon, Cromwell,
it would take ten years to get under way in that, and that then I
our living together. I heard it proposed lately that two young men
other.
I might advise to work twice as hard as they do -- work till they
to such villagers as loved to be reminded of the woods, even to the
cow, or pig, as at present. I desire to speak impartially on this
Philanthropy is almost the only virtue which is sufficiently
sides. Those things for which the most money is demanded are never
sandy soil near it chiefly with beans, but also a small part with
but the pecuniary expense of getting an education would in a great
And a thousand appliances;
holder, or tablecloth, afforded me as much entertainment, in fact
spiritual grace," than this, and I have no doubt that they were
with us. They were pleasant spring days, in which the winter of
defrauding himself of the experience which alone can make leisure
house, which were already impervious to rain, with imperfect and
experiments of this kind being tried; as that a young man tried for
other may prove a bad neighbor, and also not keep his side in
brick or stone, the prosperity of the farmer is still measured by
amusement to bake several small loaves of this in succession,
Chalk ............................ 0.01
cheeks, as if it were beginning to be ripe, and life loses its
Vitruvius, with hard pencil and ruler, and the job is let out to
generous companions without apology. My excuse for not lecturing
enhanced the value of the land by squatting on it.
though little can be inferred from this item, amounted to
underlie, and one wall separate several apartments. But for my
were "good boards overhead, good boards all around, and a good
bidding of any prince. Genius is not a retainer to any emperor, nor
path. I was informed treacherously by a young Patrick that neighbor
wildness of nuts and meats men first reached the mildness and
bed, coffee-mill, looking-glass, hens -- all but the cat; she took
board floor extended under the bed, warning me not to step into the
becoming, my excuse is that I brag for humanity rather than for
domestic arrangements. But the dining out, being, as I have stated,
suffocated, for fear that I should get some of his good done to me
mortised or tenoned by its stump, for I had borrowed other tools by
greater charity to bestow on me a flannel shirt than a whole
a fortnight to live on hard, raw corn on the ear, using his teeth
about doing good. If I were to preach at all in this strain, I
generations have to pay. I think that it would be better than this,
Cato gave about two centuries before Christ. "Panem depsticium sic
job in season. Instead of going to Fitchburg, you will be working
necessary to man obtains but an ignoble and unprofitable leisure,
I believe that what so saddens the reformer is not his sympathy
amnesty is proclaimed; all malefactors may return to their town."
the inconvenience of many and noisy neighbors, and perhaps a
look down on it, mankind begin to look up at it. As for your high
comfortably as I maintain myself, and have even ventured so far as
philosophers, would commit so great a blunder as to use the labor of
carelessly dispose of them; so, to keep the flocks of Admetus. I
at the devastation; there being a dearth of work, as he said. He
way. In those days, when my hands were much employed, I read but
after effect in the style of his dwelling. A great proportion of
out. He may turn pale when the trial comes. This man seemed to me
with regard to the railroad even we may say it is as broad as it is
clothes, while I shivered in my more tidy and somewhat more
from the farm was
the more you have of such things the poorer you are. Each load
originally inspired directly from Heaven to do thus, though they
obligation by maintaining certain poor persons in all respects as
Food eight months ....................... 8.74
All experiments which failed:
this time. My days in the woods were not very long ones; yet I
his genial heat and beneficence till he is of such brightness that
the end of a stick of timber sawed off in building my house; but it
Milton, Newton, and others, speak next of her Christian heroes,
crisis in their adventures. Above all, as I have implied, the man
There are left .................. $ 8.71+
well-stocked larder.
would not have been constructed without this aid, and let man share
The reader will perceive that I am treating the subject rather
building its own nest. Who knows but if men constructed their
Molasses ................. 1.73 Cheapest form of the
being fresh in my mind to tax my ingenuity, I thought often and
the whole curse of trade attaches to the business.
must have! Why do you take up a handful of dirt? Better paint your
blown away and the vapor condensed, it will be perceived that a few
not teach for the good of my fellow-men, but simply for a
one shanty is poor, this is a dozen times as poor. Pray, for what
attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an
Sugar .................... 0.80
equal pains were taken to smooth and polish their manners? One
many of my readers would make a similar defence. At doing something
man; for I think the fall from the farmer to the ope藏书网rative as great
root is faith -- I am accustomed to answer such, that I can live on
indulge myself in this respect, and lay their Heaven under an
which he tells me he would like to do. It is by a mathematical
board nails. If they cannot understand that, they cannot understand
be wafted over from him to me, and some ripeness flavor our
who would not know what to do with more leisure than they now enjoy,
practice, however it might seem to have your woodchucks ready
Tearing those humane passions from the mind,
small profits might suffice -- for my greatest skill has been to
should go to work with their hands instead of their heads?" I do
me nothing of which I have not rendered an account -- consisted of a
were well, he said, to be there early, and anticipate certain
should not consciously and deliberately forsake my particular
point, and as one not interested in the success or failure of the
already, if my house had been burned or my crops had failed, I
part, I preferred the solitary dwelling. Moreover, it will commonly
build or plant or sail, only let him not be hindered from doing that
their bills have not yet been received -- and these are all and more
street in Concord in grandeur and luxury, as soon as it pleases me
living which is synonymous with philosophy is not even sincerely
by fifteen long, and eight-feet posts, with a garret and a closet, a
in any winter. The sides were left shelving, and not stoned; but
chimney at one end, bringing two cartloads of stones up the hill
venture to put my abstemiousness to the test unless he has a
warehouse. What man but a philosopher would not be ashamed to see
within outward, out of the necessities and character of the
through which I looked out on the pond, and a small open field in
land of the living; and I am glad to escape the trivialness of
architectural ornaments have a core of truth, a necessity, and hence
the trivial name. And pray what more can a reasonable man desire,
they frequently starve, not for want of necessaries, but for want of
no mortal can look him in the face, and then, and in the meanwhile
aunts of the race are more esteemed than its true spiritual fathers
All health and success does me good, however far off and withdrawn
could not have accomplished works yet more worthy of himself in that
Near the end of March, 1845, I borrowed an axe and went down to
crooked one, every moment. Beside being better off than they
physical system; and I am resolved that I will not through humility
a sacrifice of life as they would with proper management on both
Oil and some household utensils ........ 2.00
usual price for such materials as I used, but not counting the work,
I hewed the main timbers six inches square, most of the studs on
Mantle-tree iron ................. 0.15
incredibly little trouble to obtain ones necessary food, even in
have no Biblical record of the revelation.
Because thy humble cottage, or thy tub,
taken him to board for any work he might do for me, for fear I
he slanted them and daubed it; but the spirit having departed out of
peck of corn to mill.
eggs in nests which other birds have built, and cheer no traveller
sticks are slanted over him or under him, and what colors are daubed
to be produced will be preceded by a like unconscious beauty of
peeping in at every cottage window, inspiring lunatics, and tainting
Clothing, etc., eight months ............ 8.40-3/4
for three days, "and the four following days they receive visits and
follow him. I cannot but feel compassion when I hear some trig,
swell the wood, I saw a striped snake run into the water, and he lay
and removed it to the pond-side by small cartloads, spreading the
for his early share and numerous succeeding investments in them.
chaff which I find it difficult to separate from my wheat, but for
needed, because, forsooth, more would already have been acquired,
long. To make a railroad round the world available to all mankind
exceedingly partial and superficial; and what little true
thirty-two side by side and under one roof, and the occupant suffers
to me because he will feed me if I should be starving, or warm me if
I read in the Gulistan, or Flower Garden, of Sheik Sadi of
year, I could meet all the expenses of living. The whole of my
by his beneficence, had the suns chariot but one day, and drove out
Men say they know many things;
in vain to relieve. It is the pious slave-breeder devoting the
I am willing that they should look in. The moon will not sour milk
myself; and my shortcomings and inconsistencies do not affect the
little, but the least scraps of paper which lay on the ground, my
well if we were to celebrate such a "busk," or "feast of first
families simply and honestly enough, the poetic faculty would be
at; as railroads lead to Boston or New York. We are in great haste
community. It is not the tailor alone who is the ninth part of a
penknife from his father? Which would be most likely to cut his
house, and began to cut down some tall, arrowy white pines, still in
dreamed of any enormity greater than I have committed. I never
to spend their lives constructing a tomb for some ambitious booby,
him getting good. When Phaeton, wishing to prove his heavenly birth
his furniture packed in a cart and going up country exposed to the
there, or more than a quarter of an hour; perhaps because he had not
If, then, we would indeed restore mankind by truly Indian, botanic,
I learned from my two years experience that it would cost
With roots and pot-herbs; where thy right hand,
were, for implements, seed, work, etc., $14.72+. The seed corn was
said to have the largest houses for oxen, cows, and horses
least no more wholesome, at a greater cost, at the store. I saw
"coffin-maker." One man says, in his despair or indifference to
As usual, a great proportion was trumpery which had begun to
frying-pan, a dipper, a wash-bowl, two knives and forks, three
towers and monuments, there was a crazy fellow once in this town who
drink, water. It was fit that I should live on rice, mainly, who
of stumps in plowing, which supplied me with fuel for a long time,
For which antiquity hath left no name,
where a woodchuck had formerly dug his burrow, down through sumach
spent as much time about their cornices as the architects of our
present economical and social arrangements. I was more independent
that I might by that time be doing what is called a good business.
kept in as long as possible by wrapping them in cloths. I made a
posterity remark its dent in the earth. The house is still but a
Study to know but what those worthies were.
details because very few are able to tell exactly what their houses
the house, nor time to spare within or without to shake it, I
locusts and wild honey. I doubt if Flying Childers ever carried a
independence that, in Concord, fresh and sweet meal is rarely sold
alive. As for the Pyramids, there is nothing to wonder at in them
the world.
was a pleasant hillside where I worked, covered with pine woods,
stone a nation hammers goes toward its tomb only. It buries itself
Being a microcosm himself, he discovers -- and it is a true
cost, and fewer still, if any, the separate cost of the various
to come to an end.
dilettantism. A sentimental reformer in architecture, he began at
effects, for his life had not been ineffectual:--
The human race is interested in these experiments, though a few old
dollars and eight cents. But as it was, I considered that I
Thebes was a vulgar grandeur. More sensible is a rod of stone wall
I am far from supposing that my case is a peculiar one; no doubt
England and live the life of a poet. He should have gone up garret
to support one. The laborers day ends with the going down of the
might have done worse; but I wish, as you are brothers of mine, that
is shiftlessness. There is a plenty of such chairs as I like best
the world over, whether the building be an Egyptian temple or the
their professors. Much it concerns a man, forsooth, how a few
which I required, about a third of an acre, and I learned from the
be cheaper to build the whole yourself than to convince another of
which I am as sorry as any man -- I will breathe freely and stretch
preferred to remain poor. While my townsmen and women are devoted
dictionary defines it, "outward and visible sign of an inward and
corn and turnips were too late to come to anything. My whole income
delicate cookery, or a house in the Grecian or the Gothic style just
burn; great trunk, little trunk, bandbox, and bundle. Throw away
building the house.
penalty which reformed tobacco-chewers have to pay; though there are
fluctuating markets for them. Yet so far are we from simplicity and
whenever you meet a man you will see all that he owns, ay, and much
COMPLEMENTAL VERSES
apple of his eye; but I returned it sharper than I received it. It
Falsely exalted passive fortitude
experience of both years, not being in the least awed by many
large window on each side, two trap doors, one door at the end, and
independents. -- Fix not thy heart on that which is transitory; for
It was but two hours work. I took particular pleasure in this
maples to obtain it more easily still, and while these were growing
Princess Adelaide has the whooping cough. After all, the man whose
is travelling with a great deal of baggage, trumpery which has
man. There is nowhere recorded a simple and irrepressible
balancing a little grass which I did not raise. All things
finally serve? No doubt another may also think for me; but it is
have a genius for charity as well as for anything else. As for
for the students, or those who desire to be benefited by it, even to
functions, if he have a pain in his bowels even -- for that is the
curtains, for I have no gazers to shut out but the sun and moon, and
manner purified and prepared themselves."
used by any. For the most part the farmer gives to his cattle and
of his own castoff griefs as an atmosphere, and calls it sympathy.
want but little -- so little capital it required, so little
secured, a comfortable house for me as long as I choose to occupy
do -- for the devil finds employment for the idle -- I might try my
I would not subtract anything from the praise that is due to
The customs of some savage nations might, perchance, be
which he had dug and smelted, reading as much as would be necessary
ornaments take care of themselves. What reasonable man ever
college is, commonly, to get up a subscription of dollars and cents,
your left hand know what your right hand does, for it is not worth
concerned, and having a shelter already, it would only remain to get
Before winter I built a chimney, and shingled the sides of my
and hungry as he is dirty and ragged and gross. It is partly his
know who built them. For my part, I should like to know who in
you could have spent your time better than digging in this dirt.
reading Adam Smith, Ricardo, and Say, he runs his father in debt
measure vanish. Those conveniences which the student requires at
month to month, has no respite from one end of the year to the
or a poor one; the owner always seemed poverty-stricken. Indeed,
calling to do the good which society demands of me, to save the
for the former will grow on the poorest land, and the latter does
selfishness which overrates it. A robust poor man, one sunny day
in so many ways to the good of their fellows, I trust that one at
convenient and agreeable than the usual one. When it stormed before
to make them the offer, they have one and all unhesitatingly
carefully feather-edged and lapped, so that it was perfectly
I shall not go out of my way to admire the hole which he made. Many
which he now pays annually. If I seem to boast more than is
In all ............................ $ 36.78,
with his fellows in distress, but, though he be the holiest son of
boards on the grass there to bleach and warp back again in the sun.
my carpet; and99lib•net if he is sometimes too warm a friend, I find it still
and the law to do as you would be done by fell with less
celebrated works on husbandry, Arthur Young among the rest, that if
that a few do all the exchange work with the oxen, or, in other
against the use of tobacco is, that I never chewed it, that is a
decay of the vital forces. Yet I find it not to be an essential
the rest of the world, whatever company he is joined to. To
Refuse shingles for roof sides ... 4.00
of duty, and among others have sacrificed this pleasure also. There
brow, unless he sweats easier than I do.
to lean over the cornice, and timidly whisper his half truth to the
"The evil that men do lives after them."
compact-looking man, seemingly free, all girded and ready, speak of
three pairs of pants and two pairs of stockings ere he got down to
owing to the emptiness of my purse, I saw none of it for more than a
here the greater part of the day. And so, if the railroad reached
the fall, before a fire became necessary for warmth, doing my
this latitude; that a man may use as simple a diet as the animals,
appropriate produce, and appointed season, during the continuance of
again, and I did not quite hoe it all once. I got out several cords
Farm one year ........................... 14.72+
are those who have used all their arts to persuade me to undertake
and the driftwood from the pond, have supplied the remainder of my
dollars by some honest and agreeable method, in order to meet my
themselves by the amount of hammered stone they leave. What if
the harbor I should have known more about it. Even the poor student
next to no time, and for nothing; but though a crowd rushes to the
livelihood, this was a failure. I have tried trade but I found that
co-operation there is, is as if it were not, being a harmony
nor taint meat of mine, nor will the sun injure my furniture or fade
Men and oxen exchange work; but if we consider necessary work only,
will be, "A melancholy accident." No doubt they can ride at last
It would be worth the while to build still more deliberately
Earned by day-labor .................... 13.34
window, a cellar, a garret, have in the nature of man, and perchance
evil to one who is striking at the root, and it may be that he who
dyspepsia, the globe acquires a faint blush on one or both of its
fashion, and came very near freely forgiving them all they did.
send light? Who is that intemperate and brutal man whom we would
sand, which I claimed by squatters right. I have also a small
is vanity, assisted by the love of garlic and bread and butter. Mr.
is unconscious. This is a charity that hides a multitude of sins.
muskrat will gnaw his third leg off to be free. No wonder man has
farmer said that it was "good for nothing but to raise cheeping
neighborliness than from any necessity, I set up the frame of my
but a perennial passage for the hens under the door board. Mrs. C.
stocks and spades long enough all will at length ride somewhere, in
Indian meal .............. 0.99 3/4 Cheaper than rye.
practically, Begin where you are and such as you are, without aiming
borrowing, but perhaps it is the most generous course thus to permit
They then feast on the new corn and fruits, and dance and sing
Broadway their Trinity Church? But a man has no more to do with the
made, or mechanics, and not learn how it is earned; to discover new
twenty-five cents tonight, he to vacate at five tomorrow morning,
had lain torpid began to stretch itself. One day, when my axe had
there is an illusion about them; there is not always a positive
appetite, and not of health. Yet men have come to such a pass that
We not require the dull society
Pork ..................... 0.22
natural an occupation as building his house. We belong to the
-- I will not engage that my neighbors shall pronounce it good -- I
permitted still to squat, I might purchase one acre at the same
Hinges and screws ................ 0.14
swiftest traveller is he that goes afoot. I say to my friend,
-- some of its virus mingled with my blood. No -- in this case I
and then, following blindly the principles of a division of labor to
necessary that a man should earn his living by the sweat of his
round the world, I think that I should keep ahead of you; and as for
from his point of view, but only a little better than the common
than I. They are destined, I trust, to assist at the raising of
irretrievably.
sun, through grief at his death, did not shine for a year.
over the land -- this seed I regularly and faithfully procured from
farmers family -- thank Heaven there is so much virtue still in
a like reason men remain in their present low and primitive
this work, which I decline, with his whole heart and soul and life,
pond and cackling as if lost, or like the spirit of the fog.
Jupiter hurled him headlong to the earth with a thunderbolt, and the
Clothing and some incidental expenses within the same dates,
and memorable as that from the man to the farmer; -- and in a new
fall into one. I can find you a Newfoundland dog that will do as
do with my furniture?" -- My gay butterfly is entangled in a
fills the mouth and nose and ears and eyes with dust till you are
income, for I was obliged to dress and train, not to say think and
sciences, for instance, I would not pursue the common course, which
is most likely they will.
relinquish to them the pursuit. Some are "industrious," and appear
In the cheap sunshine or by shady springs,
as the date tree; but if it affords nothing to give away, be an
The Jesuits were quite balked by those Indians who, being burned
good to me, or the like of me.
wailing? Under what latitudes reside the heathen to whom we would
rather, as a truer philosophy has discovered, the world going about
fathers or his mothers or his neighbors instead. The youth may
but analytic process -- and I have gladly omitted it since, though
so much the larger. Man does some of his part of the exchange work
Our manners have been corrupted by communication with the
nation of philosophers, nor am I certain it is desirable that there
hundred Howards to us, if their philanthropy do not help us in our
by the sound of my axe, and we chatted pleasantly over the chips
As with our colleges, so with a hundred "modern improvements";
as the moon. I love better to see stones in place. The grandeur of
selling to nobody else meanwhile: I to take possession at six. It
materials which compose them:--
I would say, Persevere, even if the world call it doing evil, as it
whom it would have been wiser and manlier to have drowned in the
maintain ones self on this earth is not a hardship but a pastime,
indweller, who is the only builder -- out of some unconscious
inspecting such a load whether it belonged to a so-called rich man
and cant of this. The last were not Englands best men and women;
trees which the Most High God has created lofty and umbrageous, they
using him for their own ends, no doubt, he cures himself of his
to be the gainer by so doing, are we certain that what is one mans
occasionally, as I always had done, and I trust shall have
life. The most interesting dwellings in this country, as the
My furniture, part of which I made myself -- and the rest cost
mills, may be alarmed.
contemplated this occupation as most like theirs; ranging the hills
whom, as if his profession required it of him, he elevated to a
mathematics. If I wished a boy to know something about the arts and
The Mexicans also practised a similar purification at the end of
the skin, though they were dirty and ragged enough, it is true, and
One watermelon ........... 0.02
what vagabond he is a satellite himself; or to be devoured by the
Moreover, I have tried it fairly, and, strange as it may seem, am
merely, which makes them picturesque; and equally interesting will
expensive than a small one, since one roof may cover, one cellar
first unobserved from within, the window was so deep and high. It
from the pond in my arms. I built the chimney after my hoeing in
The next year I did better still, for I spaded up all the land
overseer of the poor, but endeavor to become one of the worthies of
the support of some poor family in the town; and if I had nothing to
will perhaps buy more rags with it. I was wont to pity the clumsy
the animal without him. Though we have many substantial houses of
the shanties in the land, "is not this railroad which we have built
least may be spared to other and less humane pursuits. You must
month.
By the middle of April, for I made no haste in my work, but
All-seeing prudence, magnanimity
have an almond or caraway seed in it -- though I hold that almonds
have got my ornaments ready, I will wear them.
But patterns only, such as Hercules,
do not hesitate to say that I should be a capital fellow to hire;
things enough I have chewed which I could lecture against. If you
bonfire, or purifying destruction of them, there was an auction, or
with glass .................... 2.43
answered the same purpose as the Iliad.
enduring Him forever. One would say that even the prophets and
inflexible, waiting for the sun to thaw them. On the 1st of April
carrying a bottleful in my pocket, which would sometimes pop and
taste, and not merely his misfortune. If you give him money, he
to proceed with my statistics.
loftier structures one day. I began to occupy my house on the 4th
Suppose we try who will get there first. The distance is thirty
having taken medicine, and fasted for three days, all the fire in
in the shops, and hominy and corn in a still coarser form are hardly
was of small dimensions, with a peaked cottage roof, and not much
the woods by Walden Pond, nearest to where I intended to build my
Seeley, an Irishman, in the intervals of the carting, transferred
the Dijlah, or Tigris, will continue to flow through Bagdad after
most housewives earnestly assured me that safe and wholesome bread
fuel. I was obliged to hire a team and a man for the plowing,
days and first invention of the unleavened kind, when from the
painter knows, are the most unpretending, humble log huts and
boxes? That is Spauldings furniture. I could never tell from
to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and
wait till that other is ready, and it may be a long time before they
undertook to dig through to China, and he got so far that, as he
I would observe, by the way, that it costs me nothing for
love so well the philosophy of India. To meet the objections of
bed, a table, a desk, three chairs, a looking-glass three inches in
temples; but what you might call Christianity does not. Most of the
it may appear; all disease and failure helps to make me sad and does
engaged? But alas! we do like cowbirds and cuckoos, which lay their
little green corn, and some peas, which I had raised, nor
are riding, but the rest are run over -- and it will be called, and
architecture of the grave -- and "carpenter" is but another name for
$ 23.44
I could use various substitutes beside those which I have named.
than any farmer in Concord, for I was not anchored to a house or
Yes, I did eat $8.74, all told; but I should not thus unblushingly
quacks. I want the flower and fruit of a man; that some fragrance
can adapt himself to all climates and circumstances. Neither did I
least valuable part of it reminds me of the Englishman who went to
fruitful. "But," says one, "you do not mean that the students
believe, accordingly, and I lost my time into the bargain. As I did
Above the active. This low abject brood,
studs and rafters, all with my narrow axe, not having many
its extreme -- a principle which should never be followed but with
which fills its cellular tissue, which is religiously preserved like
unimproved end, an end which it was already but too easy to arrive
luxurious and idle work, with their assistance, it is inevitable
intercourse. His goo九*九*藏*书*网dness must not be a partial and transitory act,
not mean that exactly, but I mean something which he might think a
Toss up a copper for it as well. What an abundance of leisure be
me evil, however much sympathy it may have with me or I with it.
the village in the meanwhile, for I have as many trades as fingers,
Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our
any, if you inquire more narrowly you will find have some stored in
the things which the student most wants. Tuition, for instance, is
considering the value of what was on hand at the last date -- was
they may appear, as they have a certain completeness, have a certain
greater steadfastness elsewhere is all that now preserves it. But I
thoroughly. When you have kneaded it well, mould it, and bake it
co-operate in the highest as well as the lowest sense, means to get
the sun having never shone on them, the sand still keeps its place.
facito. Manus mortariumque bene lavato. Farinam in mortarium
this to be burned? It is the same as if all these traps were
acquaintances went unhesitatingly into trade or the professions, I
seeing the country and getting experience of that kind, I should
the first three at least. It would surpass the powers of a well man
heard of one at least possessed with the idea of making
more ethereal life. I had previously seen the snakes in frosty
only, perhaps, her best philanthropists.
But perchance it would be wisest never to put ones paw into it.
bestows the largest amount of time and money on the needy is doing
Become your servile minds; but we advance
universe from annihilation; and I believe that a like but infinitely
hogs the grain of his own producing, and buys flour, which is at
their worn out clothes and other despicable things, sweep and
the woods where pines and hickories were springing up. The ice in
communicable or scholar-like thoughts, singing to myself, --
obtain one for a lifetime at an expense not greater than the rent
Deducting the outgoes ............ 14.72+
he had all that to carry. If I have got to drag my trap, I will
independent of his labor; but his employer, who speculates from
should have been nearly as well off as before.
Latch ............................ 0.10
pans, and other household utensils and furniture, they collect all
supposed that ornaments were something outward and in the skin
learning and intelligence, after enumerating her scientific,
these things, and who know how to use them when acquired, I
Every New Englander might easily raise all his own breadstuffs
freedom, as I could fare hard and yet succeed well, I did not wish
of the axe, as he released his hold on it, said that it was the
merely -- that the tortoise got his spotted shell, or the shell-fish
In all ...................... $28.12+
good deal like that; I mean that they should not play life, or study
much. Philanthropy is not love for ones fellow-man in the broadest
price for which the land I cultivated was sold -- namely, eight
through into the broad, flapping American ear will be that the
in charity; maybe you should spend the nine tenths so, and done with
a good thing?" Yes, I answer, comparatively good, that is, you
immigrant tottering under a bundle which contained his all --
------- on my back.
Of your necessitated temperance,
Such virtues only as admit excess,
take care that it be a light one and do not nip me in a vital part.
of the sixth magnitude, and go about like a Robin Goodfellow,
seem that I made it according to the recipe which Marcus Porcius
So that all the pecuniary outgoes, excepting for washing and
statement like this.
room, which is only a little larger than my own, is thirty dollars
Before I finished my house, wishing to earn ten or twelve
Being superior to physical suffering, it sometimes chanced that they
both money and trouble.
for the most part, dank, clammy, and aguish, only here a board and
Cambridge or elsewhere cost him or somebody else ten times as great
but what that is, it is for my employer to find out. What good I
streets of heaven, and scorched the surface of the earth, and dried
By surveying, carpentry, and day-labor of various other kinds in
their power of abstract thought, that nations should seek to
the race of caliphs is extinct: if thy hand has plenty, be liberal
United States Bank. It costs more than it comes to. The mainspring
convenient and agreeable. In cold weather it was no little
Nature ourselves, dispel the clouds which hang over our own brows,
withered; to neither of which states is the cypress exposed, being
I address myself now to those of my readers who have a living to
best estate, when we are most worthy to be helped? I never heard of
mans discontent was thawing as well as the earth, and the life that
for this -- or the boy who had attended the lectures on metallurgy
life because he took to drinking water only.
his trap. He was a lucky fox that left his tail in the trap. The
on the other, beside the leisure and independence and health thus
the cornice, not at the foundation. It was only how to put a core
Dobson & Sons, stonecutters. When the thirty centuries begin to
philanthropic enterprises. I have made some sacrifices to a sense
sense. Howard was no doubt an exceedingly kind and worthy man in
life, take up a handful of the earth at your feet, and paint your
is equivalent to grading the whole surface of the planet. Men have
preceding season for eight dollars and eight cents an acre. One
of truth within the ornaments, that every sugarplum, in fact, might
not indispensable -- for my discoveries were not by the synthetic
declined it, preferring to wipe my feet on the sod before my door.
professed in our colleges. The consequence is, that while he is
last to go from this world to another newly furnished, and leave
study of the ancient and indispensable art of bread-making,
my bread was baked, I fixed a few boards over the fire, and sat
gratification of every appetite and passion whatever. A general
extent. To what end, pray, is so much stone hammered? In Arcadia,
I took down this dwelling the same morning, drawing the nails,
atmosphere, and the rails shone in the spring sun, and I heard the
would not operate at all. They would part at the first interesting
never in all my walks came across a man engaged in so simple and
anything is professed and practised but the art of life; -- to
of their fragrance, for my hands were covered with a thick coat of
fruits," as Bartram describes to have been the custom of the
appearance and whatever additional beauty of this kind is destined
I thus found that the student who wishes for a shelter can
at once. "What!" exclaim a million Irishmen starting up from all
studies and is taught only political economy, while that economy of
cleanse their houses, squares, and the whole town of their filth,
nation that lived simply in all respects, that is, no nation of
embraces the populous Indian and Chinese villages; and thus, by a
in the village garrets to be had for taking them away. Furniture!
Laths ............................ 1.25
but earnestly live it from beginning to end. How could youths
House ................................. $ 28.12+
purslane (Portulaca oleracea) which I gathered in my cornfield,
Is all that any body knows.
"having previously provided themselves with new clothes, new pots,
without it altogether, I should probably drink the less water. I do
say. I confess that I have hitherto indulged very little in
a philanthropic meeting in which it was sincerely proposed to do any
the pleasure of construction to the carpenter? What does
be the citizens suburban box, when his life shall be as simple and
that he could afford to refuse the extra garments which I offered
dwellings with their own hands, and provided food for themselves and
The arts and sciences,
rejoice with their friends from neighboring towns who have in like
without yeast might not be, and elderly people prophesied a speedy
themselves there? You boast of spending a tenth part of your income
other dust holes, these things were not burned; instead of a
one be very careful to find out and pursue his own way, and not his
cultivate only a few rods of ground, and that it would be cheaper to
house. No man was ever more honored in the character of his raisers
different persons in the world as possible; but I would have each
beside produce consumed and on hand at the time this estimate was
when he had kindled his fires up to the splendor of a moon or a star
Dried apple .............. 0.22
appreciated by mankind. Nay, it is greatly overrated; and it is our
him and his family on the road. One large bundle held their all --
an infant in the house where it was born, a silk parasol,
sappy shingles made of the first slice of the log, whose edges I was
said, he was kind to the poor; meaning himself. The kind uncles and
True, there are architects so called in this country, and I have
light of heaven and the eyes of men, a beggarly account of empty
myself in this respect, it is such a relief to both the moral and
any, especially as it required only thirty or forty days in a year
the most by his mode of life to produce that misery which he strives
upon his box. It would signify somewhat, if, in any earnest sense,
who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must
Tartar would say -- and devour him, partly for experiments sake;
lost his elasticity. How often he is at a dead set! "Sir, if I may
time, and set about some free labor.
your fellow-men to have an interest in your enterprise. The owner
Where is this division of labor to end? and what object does it
ornaments of style in literature, and the architects of our bibles
dinner, satisfactory on several accounts, simply off a dish of
I dug my cellar in the side of a hill sloping to the south,
mornings in my path with portions of their bodies still numb and
One young man of my acquaintance, who has inherited some acres,
in peaceful times, in ordinary noons, than a sufficient number of
found by experiment that I could make a very good molasses either of
their youth, for timber. It is difficult to begin without
home, its yellow sand heap stretched away gleaming in the hazy
for the truth. At Cambridge College the mere rent of a students
to travel; you might take the cars and go to Fitchburg today and see
Nile, and then given his body to the dogs. I might possibly invent
keeps the polestar in his eye; but that is sufficient guidance for
words, become the slaves of the strongest. Man thus not only works
expenses were in proportion, or rather out of proportion, to my
thinking for myself.
and works are a blessing to mankind. I do not value chiefly a mans
from an economic than a dietetic point of view, and he will not
increasing of them. The neighbors eagerly collected to view them,
bushels of potatoes, beside some peas and sweet corn. The yellow
When formerly I was looking about to see what I could do for a
which I had made.
should ever be betrayed into any of these philanthropies, do not let
of princes. A simple and independent mind does not toil at the
some inveterate cavillers, I may as well state, that if I dined out
too, going about the world in his own orbit, doing it good, or
mending, which for the most part were done out of the house, and
a constant element, does not in the least affect a comparative
should travel together over the world, the one without money,
Rye meal ................. 1.04 3/4
pitch. Before I had done I was more the friend than the foe of the
its mother-o-pearl tints, by such a contract as the inhabitants of
that the occupation of a day-laborer was the most independent of
taught the leavening process, and through the various fermentations
than all the ruins of the East! Towers and temples are the luxury
the advantage of the common wall; and when you have done this, the
the little variety which I used was a yielding to the demands of