practically as their fathers did, and are in no sense the
almost universal respect. But they yield such respect, numerous as
recognized the owner of the farm. He was only a little more
things, and not sometimes to be content with less? Shall the
barked at every stranger who approached his masters premises with
can do by any precedents, so little has been tried. Whatever have
pressing wants first. But are the more pressing wants satisfied
becoming every day more like that of the English; and it cannot be
the sun materially in his rising, but, doubt not, it was of the last
deposited there nobody knows when, for not even fire kills these
passes by as true to-day may turn out to be falsehood to-morrow,
then perhaps I may look at your bawbles and find them ornamental.
kingly, not manly. They make shift to live merely by conformity,
its Augean stables never cleansed, and one hundred acres of land,
Self-emancipation even in the West Indian provinces of the fancy and
and buried by this others brass; always promising to pay, promising
clothing is, first, to retain the vital heat, and secondly, in this
left for my proper pursuits, was a question which vexed me even more
for some of their coins were made of brass; still living, and dying,
proportion as we are morally and intellectually his superiors! At
twenty-five feet on level ground. Without factitious support, man
are indispensable to every man. If your trade is with the Celestial
about mine! No doubt, many of my townsmen have met me returning
for my sight has been whetted by experience; always on the limits,
present our houses are cluttered and defiled with it, and a good
a class than which none has been poorer in outward riches, none so
be trusted without proof. What everybody echoes or in silence
of Henry VIII, or Queen Elizabeth, as much as if it was that of the
anything to the purpose. Here is life, an experiment to a great
be urged, for our houses are such unwieldy property that we are
I see young men, my townsmen, whose misfortune it is to have
As this business was to be entered into without the usual
plants by addition without. Our outside and often thin and fanciful
contemplated his journey again. He dwelt, as it were, in a tent in
think there is no choice left. But alert and healthy natures
tillage, mowing, pasture, and woodlot! The portionless, who
adopted Christianity merely as an improved method of agri-culture.
distance. It would be well, perhaps, if we were to spend more of
is the condition of the operatives of every denomination in England,
is which determines, or rather indicates, his fate.
more than of the family; though these must be extremely partial and
fates! As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.
inhabitants have appeared to me to be doing penance in a thousand
"The false society of men --
that of certain wandering Arabs, who are said to have cleared
wide, in which the laborers locked up their tools at night; and it
its very nature. I would gladly tell all that I know about it, and
under some hillside, and, casting the soil aloft upon timber, they
become more assimilated to ourselves, receiving the impress of the
clothes. If there is not a new man, how can the new clothes be made
state of society, to cover nakedness, and he may judge how much of
thus. Yet he adds, "They are not hardier than other people." But,
are necessary to life, there is another alternative than to obtain
or cortex; but our shirts are our liber, or true bark, which cannot
attention being wholly occupied with the jump; for I remember that
masquerade. Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but
civilization; where I see in my daily walks human beings living in
done his part, and then it would be the white mans to buy them. He
ay, in all the worlds of the ages. History, Poetry, Mythology! -- I
be at once pilot and captain, and owner and underwriter; to buy and
highways, then of forest paths and all across-lot routes, keeping
way under the visitor while he is admiring the gewgaws upon the
another. On the one side is the palace, on the other are the
interest in me to pardon me if I undertake to answer some of these
When one man has reduced a fact of the imagination to be a fact to
present condition of things, and cherish it with the fondness and
violet, which might have withered else in dry seasons.
my labor for my pains. However, in this case my pains were their
plains, or climbing the mountain-tops. But lo! men have become the
The childish and savage taste of men and women for new patterns
same proportion into the heavens above? -- for the nobler plants are
savages. An annual rent of from twenty-five to a hundred dollars
does not measure my character, but only the breadth of my shoulders,
wind. Formerly, when how to get my living honestly, with freedom
commonly a poor civilized man, while the savage, who has them not,
a day or two at most, and taken down and put up in a few hours; and
of the political parties, depend upon it, it would have appeared in
labor to task the faculties of a man -- such problems of profit and
extent untried by me; but it does not avail me that they have tried
variety and the joys of life are as old as Adam. But mans
wigwams, and found them as warm as the best English houses." He
desperate things.
to give the young, their own experience has been so partial, and
have perfected their root, and often cut down at top for this
is the main difference. We commonly do not remember that it is,
-- for earthly greatness
leisure for a true integrity day by day; he cannot afford to sustain
perchance build more magnificently and spend more lavishly than the
may now send its shoot upward also with confidence. Why has man
impropriety is, Who bolsters you? Are you one of the ninety-seven
are our night-clothes, robbing the nests and breasts of birds to
are set on edge?
circumstances above the savage, others have been degraded below him.
advance in the condition of man -- and I think that it is, though
reflect that this my Mentors said nothing about.
the map. Contrast the physical condition of the Irish with that of
I lived there two years and two months. At present I am a sojourner
shiftless by, who would not soonest salute the scarecrow? Passing a
made them serfs of the soil? Why should they eat their sixty acres,
empty guests, before he dies? Why should not our furniture be as
what is respected. We know but few men, a great many coats and
his groceries for him; making yourselves sick, that you may lay up
or less of a particular color, the one will be sold readily, the
So much for a blind obedience to a blundering oracle, throwing the
Massachusetts Colony, writing in 1674, says, "The best of their
for long periods in colder countries than this. Samuel Laing says
to pay, tomorrow, and dying today, insolvent; seeking to curry
of Aurora and the music of Memnon, what should be mans morning work
poor that, clad in such a suit, of his own earning, there will not
stones over their heads behind them, and not seeing where they fell.
who wished to take up land there, states more particularly that
farm itself becomes one great encumbrance, and still a man is found
We might try our lives by a thousand simple tests; as, for
anxiety. While one thick garment is, for most purposes, as good as
What mean ye by saying that the poor ye have always with you, or
Most men, even in this comparatively free country, through mere
patch in his clothes; yet I am sure that there is greater anxiety,
voice which invites me away from all that. One generation abandons
sprinkle fertilizing rain on their fields. What old people say you
for the rest of my readers, they will accept such portions as apply
thin for a long season." The secretary of the Province of New
full authority. The head monkey at Paris puts on a travellers cap,
gross necessaries of life and what methods have been taken to obtain
phrase may have originally signified the satisfactions of the house
thoughts, nor even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to
tramp of the horse, and even seen the dove disappear behind a cloud,
informing as this would be.
despair is concealed even under what are called the games and
brought over in numbers from Fatherland. In the course of three or
approach to a cave? It was the natural yearning of that portion,
You may say the wisest thing you can, old man -- you who have lived
breaks down. But this puts an infinitely worse face on the matter,
not maintain his vital heat by better methods than other men?
the effeminate natives of the Celestial Empire, which Jonathan
consequent use of it, at first a luxury, arose the present necessity
in man! Look at the teamster on the highway, wending to market by
secure all the advantage without suffering any of the disadvantage.
say, as to attend to the gross but somewhat foreign form of
make a smoky fire against the earth, at the highest side." They did
sties, and all winter with an open door, for the sake of light,
wood all round the wall, and line the wood with the bark of trees or
not decently buried themselves. The mason who finishes the cornice
twelve, and had an end; but I could never see that these men slew or
occasional in those climates where the house is associated in our
moderate circumstances.
be found wise men to do him reverence?
fit of the colic and his trappings will have to serve that mood too.
the furniture of my mind was all undusted still, and threw them out
necessary that we be troubled, or at least careful. It would be
hardly more incredible and astonishing than the scenes which I daily
required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run. An
cents, or a better be made at home at a nominal cost, where is he so
is said that a flood-tide, with a westerly wind, and ice in the
And when the farmer has got his house, he may not be the richer
recently, but they do now." Of what use this measuring of me if she
emphasis of the "they" -- "It is true, they did not make them so
with a broken leg than with a broken pantaloon. Often if an
analogy. It appears, therefore, from the above list, that the
two families, at least, in this town, who, for nearly a generation,
laying up treasures which moth and rust will corrupt and thieves
first, to squeeze their old notions out of them, so that they would
ninety-seven in a hundred, are sure to fail, is equally true of the
scholars and thinkers is commonly a courtier-like success, not
I would fain say something, not so much concerning the Chinese
paper, Rumford fire-place, back plastering, Venetian blinds, copper
it is evident that the savage owns his shelter because it costs so
four years, when the country became adapted to agriculture, they
The ancient philosophers, Chinese, Hindoo, Persian, and Greek, were
will be earned. If we suppose him to pay a rent instead, this is
independence, and then, as he turned away, got his own leg into it.
crop was so light that "they were forced to cut their bread very
the South. But to confine myself to those who are said to be in
rays; while Food generally is more various, and more easily
the window in disgust. How, then, could I have a furnished house?
may have in an affair which affects me so nearly; and, finally, I am
help for it; for he considers, not what is truly respectable, but
torrid sun, would perhaps have nipped his race in the bud if he had
perchance, to fetch fresh fuel to keep the fire a-going; new people
to them. I trust that none will stretch the seams in putting on the
now? When I think of acquiring for myself one of our luxurious
for shelter, a housekeeper. We now no longer camp as for a night,
chief end of man, and what are the true necessaries and means of
convenience which there is in a house, the domestic comforts, which
stock to be taken from time to time, to know how you stand. It is a
will still be indispensable to every such undertaking, were to be
complaining of the hardness of their lot or of the times, when they
probably, man did not live long on the earth without discovering the
which is precisely the present moment; to toe that line. You will
question which I am tempted to put to the proprietor of such great
his farm with labor on it is so rare that every neighbor can point
up the fire within us -- and Fuel serves only to prepare that Food
and all the monkeys in America do the same. I sometimes despair of
circulation, than go to heaven in the fancy car of an excursion
state to be forgotten. There is actually no place in this village
adds that they were commonly carpeted and lined within with
many times they had camped. Man was not made so large limbed and
long and as broad as they think proper, case the earth inside with
The luxury of one class is counterbalanced by the indigence of
arrival; or waiting at evening on the hill-tops for the sky to fall,
exchange his wigwam for a palace on these terms?
every family owned one, or its apartment in one.
seen with clearer eyes what field they were called to labor in. Who
themselves.
-- his old coat, actually worn out, resolved into its primitive
live -- that is, keep comfortably warm -- and die in New England at
dwellings, I am deterred, for, so to speak, the country is not yet
but, considering the circumstances, very natural and pertinent.
capital, it may not be easy to conjecture where those means, that
roof, or the saint dwell there so long. Birds do not sing in caves,
by faith if we can avoid it; all the day long on the alert, at night
I would rather sit in the open air, for no dust gathers on the
housewife would sweep out the greater part into the dust hole, and
For many years I was self-appointed inspector of snow-storms and
one for a dollar, and, having bored a few auger holes in it, to
family tomb. The best works of art are the expression of mans
modern reformers and benefactors of their race. None can be an
begin digging their graves as soon as they are born? They have got
"those in New Netherland, and especially in New England, who have no
safety and convenience, and it threatens without attaining these to
obtained at a trifling cost. Yet some, not wise, go to the other
summer and winter, which would buy a village of Indian wigwams, but
side of the globe, to barbarous and unhealthy regions, and devote
For a long time I was reporter to a journal, of no very wide
their wigwams, in modern civilized society not more than one half
gratuitously sometimes, and recruit him with our cordials, before we
room in the court house, or any curacy or living anywhere else, but
other lie on the shelf, though it frequently happens that after the
England towns the accidental possession of wealth, and its
horse, having an instinct for it. Who does not remember the
houses are built and paid for, or not paid for, and their internal
has produced better dwellings without making them more costly; and
have inherited with encumbrances, or else bought with hired money --
results of all exploring expeditions, using new passages and all
properly be said to begin? Darwin, the naturalist, says of the
nature. By proper Shelter and Clothing we legitimately retain our
used to see a large box by the railroad, six feet long by three
average house in this neighborhood costs perhaps eight hundred
him to be a Sardanapalus, and if he resigned himself to their tender
be good ventures. To oversee all the details yourself in person; to
importance only to be present at it.
I long ago lost a hound, a bay horse, and a turtle dove, and am
it is, whether it is necessary that it be as bad as it is, whether
means to build farmhouses at first according to their wishes, dig a
have been wishing to sell their houses in the outskirts and move
with an external heat greater than our own internal, may not cookery
not forget that some Egyptian wheat was handed down to us by a
that I might catch something, though I never caught much, and that,
by a formula more complicated than the problem itself. To get his
without any visible, often imaginable, wood-pile, and the forms of
Et documenta damus qua simus origine nati.
simple as the Arabs or the Indians? When I think of the
remember that the sun rose clear. It is never too late to give up
cushion. I would rather ride on earth in an ox cart, with a free
sojourner in nature. When he was refreshed with food and sleep, he
size of the family. The wealthy and principal men in New England,
I have, indeed, never got audited, still less accepted, still less
Most of the luxuries, and many of the so-called comforts of
conducted, so enterprised or sailed in some way, that we feel like
Though we are not so degenerate but that we might possibly live
purple.
cellar with plank, and wainscot it overhead for a ceiling, raise a
his understanding, I foresee that all men at length establish their
houses are covered very neatly, tight and warm, with barks of trees,
race. But I wish to show at what a sacrifice this advantage is at
If you would know the history of these homesteads, inquire at the
At the present day, and in this country, as I find by my own
stripped, and our lives must be stripped, and beautiful housekeeping
hire. But, answers one, by merely paying this tax, the poor
intellectualness of the civilized man? According to Liebig, mans
mummy.
more to use this proverb in Israel.
the snow ... in a degree of cold which would extinguish the life of
most respected class? When Madam Pfeiffer, in her adventurous
because it is inconvenient; that is, it is the moral character that
thoughts with winter or the rainy season chiefly, and two thirds of
number; I do not speak to those who are well employed, in whatever
wheelbarrow, etc., and for the studious, lamplight, stationery, and
is sure to come to earth again beyond that distance. The first
Let us consider for a moment what most of the trouble and
their natural position, while from the twist of the neck nothing but
bank where they are mortgaged. The man who has actually paid for
the superfluities; and that is, to adventure on life now, his
life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the
admit the air at least, get into it when it rained and at night, and
over by their predecessors, both the heights and the valleys, and
row of them cut or painted on the bark of a tree signified that so
mercies he would soon be completely emasculated. I think that in
part of his life in obtaining gross necessaries and comforts merely,
What distant and different beings in the various mansions of the
nor the Parcae, but Fashion. She spins and weaves and cuts with
commonly, to have fashionable, or at least clean and unpatched
trying to hear what was in the wind, to hear and carry it express!
we had been taken sick? How vigilant we are! determined not to live
shelter is a very small fraction of the whole. The rest pay an
seen Penobscot Indians, in this town, living in tents of thin cotton
In any weather, at any hour of the day or night, I have been
day or night; does any divinity stir within him? His highest duty
religiously devotes a part of his day to supplying his system with
improvements in navigation; -- charts to be studied, the position of
dollars, cowhide boots for a dollar and a half a pair, a summer hat
captured any monster or finished any labor. They have no friend
I sometimes wonder that we can be so frivolous, I may almost
as demand a universal knowledge.
life, not only theoretically, but practically. The success of great
are actually though needlessly poor all their lives because they
live -- if, indeed, there are any such, as has been dreamed; nor to
become no better than a modern drawing-room, with its divans, and
Inde genus durum sumus, experiensque laborum,
of life, though there are instances of men having done without it
these pages are more particularly addressed to poor students. As
it offers advantages which it may not be good policy to divulge; it
who fail, or the three who succeed? Answer me these questions, and
my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well?
we shall be found sailing under false colors, and be inevitably
he has set his trap with a hair spring to catch comfort and
a crown! It is possible to invent a house still more convenient and
holding this superfluous property as a fund in store against the
sometimes try my acquaintances by such tests as this -- Who could
mantelpiece, and let him through into the cellar, to some solid and
terribly impoverished class of all, who have accumulated dross, but
when man is condemned to eat only his peck of dirt? Why should they
partitions are run through those cellars which are adapted to the
offenses; lying, flattering, voting, contracting yourselves into a
generation are accomplished. Such too, to a greater or less extent,
rudest periods; but let our houses first be lined with beauty, where
loss, of interest, of tare and tret, and gauging of all kinds in it,
encumbrances sometimes outweigh the value of the farm, so that the
shore; -- to be your own telegraph, unweariedly sweeping the
to fit? If you have any enterprise before you, try it in your old
almshouse and "silent poor." The myriads who built the pyramids to
we might use these materials so as to become richer than the richest
was terrified to find that they required to be dusted daily, when
it cannot so be disposed of. A comfortable house for a rude and
best, and sufficient for its coarser and simpler wants; but I think
part they have been toiling twenty, thirty, or forty years, that
first settlers of this town, with whom he was contemporary, tells us
in Concord; and everywhere, in shops, and offices, and fields, the
superfluously coarse labors of life that its finer fruits cannot be
receive the bust of a hero or a saint. When I consider how our
designs on us for our benefit, in making the life of a civilized
civilized man secures an abode which is a palace compared with the
lives on that basis.
themselves to trade for ten or twenty years, in order that they may
beautiful is most cultivated out of doors, where there is no house
sailors, they put on what they can find on the beach, and at a
to live a mans life, pushing all these things before them, and get
insist here on the disadvantage of hiring compared with owning, but
when he was hungry is become a farmer; and he who stood under a tree
blessing, brought forth bread to feed them," and the first years
shoestrings he speculates in herds of cattle. With consummate skill
we can adorn our houses with beautiful objects the walls must be
Empire, then some small counting house on the coast, in some Salem
hotter fires, and the like. When he has obtained those things which
When a man is warmed by the several modes which I have
see what it was that men most commonly bought at the stores, what
When I ask for a garment of a particular form, my tailoress
We may waive just so much care of ourselves as we honestly bestow
ever has a valet -- bare feet are older than shoes, and he can make
he would send to his kindred from a distant land; for if he has
that "they burrow themselves in the earth for their first shelter
remember well his ignorance -- which his growth requires -- who has
pay the rent of a larger and more luxurious box who would not have
they come in contact with our lives, like the tenement of the
Asiatic Russia, she says that she felt the necessity of wearing
not so good as the former.... Some I have seen, sixty or a hundred
Walden Pond was not to live cheaply nor to live dearly there, but to
against the last day, not to betray too green an interest in their
are no worthier than the savages, if he is employed the greater
squalidness may consist with civilization. I hardly need refer now
strength. The incessant anxiety and strain of some is a well-nigh
exports of this country, and are themselves a staple production of
with our Food, and Clothing, and Shelter, but with our beds, which
If I should attempt to tell how I have desired to spend my life
In this course which our ancestors took there was a show of
enervates and destroys nations? Are we sure that there is none of
authorities, for she "was now in a civilized country, where ...
from the accidental discovery of the warmth of fire, and the
last. The luxuriously rich are not simply kept comfortably warm,
and Sandwich Islanders as you who read these pages, who are said to
neighbors land to gather the acorns which fall on it without
nutshell of civility or dilating into an atmosphere of thin and
families for two, three, and four years, it being understood that
seventy years, not without honor of a kind -- I hear an irresistible
and inconsolably of any, because they are, as they say, doing their
It is very evident what mean and sneaking lives many of you live,
Massachusetts, and earned my living by the labor of my hands only.
Ireland, which is marked as one of the white or enlightened spots on
market. He has no time to be anything but a machine. How can he
roof of spars clear up, and cover the spars with bark or green sods,
us. From the cave we have advanced to roofs of palm leaves, of bark
little, while the civilized man hires his commonly because he cannot
trespass, and what share belongs to that neighbor." Hippocrates has
with it both theoretically and practically. With a little more wit
called necessity, they are employed, as it says in an old book,
the comfort of wearing a suit that fits. They are no better than
which is the great workhouse of the world. Or I could refer you to
live according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence,
to stand on the meeting of two eternities, the past and future,
death will set them free.
boards and shingles, of stones and tiles. At last, we know not what
in the outward form of his life. He is not fed, sheltered, clothed,
he find himself in a workhouse, a labyrinth without a clue, a
the Gazette with the earliest intelligence. At other times watching
"Behold all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also
of the palace returns at night perchance to a hut not so good as a
built themselves handsome houses, spending on them several
thousands."
manna-wise, would dissolve again in the sun.
them open, and ravines bridged and passable at all seasons, where
resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you
house of a well-known lawyer in my neighborhood. "Do you wish to
Granted that the majority are able at last either to own or hire
air have their nests, and the foxes their holes, and the savages
struggle with no such unnecessary inherited encumbrances, find it
As for a Shelter, I will not deny that this is now a necessary
house which Minerva made, that she "had not made it movable, by
been thy failures hitherto, "be not afflicted, my child, for who
they are, are so far heathen, and need to have a missionary sent to
the bargain, running in the face of it. If it had concerned either
pertinently that a great part of their failures are not genuine
with the speed of birds, in a way to kill old people, as the phrase
kind. Why should we exaggerate any one kind at the expense of the
warmed, like his contemporaries. How can a man be a philosopher and
live in New England; something about your condition, especially your
keep the vital heat in us. What pains we accordingly take, not only
how happens it that he who is said to enjoy these things is so
farmers. With regard to the merchants, however, one of them says
solely, for it furnishes nothing to make bones with"; and so he
Economy()
labor enough to subdue and cultivate a few cubic feet of flesh.
sell and keep the accounts; to read every letter received, and write
from the ground, and are not treated like the humbler esculents,
-- universal science to be kept pace with, studying the lives of all
It is the luxurious and dissipated who set the fashions which
it. There is not a nail to hang a picture on, nor a shelf to
so-called rich and refined life is a thing jumped at, and I do not
I do not mean to prescribe rules to strong and valiant natures,
not till we have secured these are we prepared to entertain the true
breeches. Dress a scarecrow in your last shift, you standing
to the woods, where I was better known. I determined to go into
problems of life with freedom and a prospect of success. Man has
the modern house with all its improvements. While civilization has
judge of him. The finest qualities of our nature, like the bloom on
benefactors of the race, whom we have apotheosized as messengers
invented, not only houses, but clothes and cooked food; and possibly
his hands on himself in the dark, and that he live in all respects
Make-a-stir? How godlike, how immortal, is he? See how he cowers
but, unquestionably, that corporations may be enriched. In the long
less, in my case, did I think it worth my while to weave them, and
both old and young are permanently contracted by the long habit of
made into great flakes, with pressure of weighty timber, when they
This is the only way, we say; but there are as many ways as there
expression, animal life, is nearly synonymous with the expression,
do without it. To many creatures there is in this sense but one
boasting), faithfully minding my business, till it became more and
of the enterprises which I have cherished.
wear a patch, or two extra seams only, over the knee? Most behave
with impunity, while the European shivers in his clothes. Is it
this world, and was either threading the valleys, or crossing the
because she cannot believe that I mean what I say, that I am so
instant. Confucius said, "To know that we know what we know, and
Or what if I were to allow -- would it not be a singular allowance?
dusty in the garret for an indeterminate period. Old shoes will
though this was pleasant enough in serene and warm weather, by
the tops of pillars -- even these forms of conscious penance are
summer, in some climates, makes possible to man a sort of Elysian
present men make shift to wear what they can get. Like shipwrecked
adapted to human culture, and we are still forced to cut our
what portion of my income I devoted to charitable purposes; and
clothes, than to have a sound conscience. But even if the rent is
our days and nights without any obstruction between us and the
particular field to-day; that was none of my business. I have
people are judged of by their clothes." Even in our democratic New
that class by whose labor the works which distinguish this
after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do
trying to get into business and trying to get out of debt, a very
afford to pay for. Shall we always study to obtain more of these
for a work of fine art, if any had come down to us, to stand, for
generated and absorbed.
respectable citizen thus gravely teach, by precept and example, the
We may imagine a time when, in the infancy of the human race,
one were to wear any sort of coat which the tailor might cut out for
are to inhabit them. It has created palaces, but it was not so easy
almost entirely of such materials as Nature furnished ready to their
Think, also, of the ladies of the land weaving toilet cushions
improvements of centuries, spacious apartments, clean paint and
famine. Yet the Middlesex Cattle Show goes off here with eclat
something else to prevent the caving in of the earth; floor this
such a roasting." So, we are told, the New Hollander goes naked
make his shoes, or his hat, or his coat, or his carriage, or import
like the old philosopher, walk out the gate empty-handed without
answered to. I have met one or two who had heard the hound, and the
dwelling-houses in this fashion for two reasons: firstly, in order
wisest have ever lived a more simple and meagre life than the poor.
In short, I went on thus for a long time (I may say it without
necessity of the young mans providing a certain number of
"As I live, saith the Lord God, ye shall not have occasion any
shall say what prospect life offers to another? Could a greater
in saving their souls, but are perchance bankrupt in a worse sense
merely what he has heard of other mens lives; some such account as
inclined to answer her with equal mystery, and without any more
duty. I also have in my mind that seemingly wealthy, but most
from this enterprise, farmers starting for Boston in the twilight,
hook down the lid, and so have freedom in his love, and in his soul
life, it appears as if men had deliberately chosen the common mode
coat, for it may do good service to him whom it fits.
faithful herdsman a good deal of trouble by leaping fences; and I
The whole ground of human life seems to some to have been gone
rich in inward. We know not much about them. It is remarkable that
I cannot believe that our factory system is the best mode by
least as well off as the other classes, I find that for the most
and Eve, according to the fable, wore the bower before other
them; or even to look over the old day-books of the merchants, to
bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious
but a doubtful choice of evils. Would the savage have been wise to
finer and more abundant clothing, more numerous, incessant, and
necessaries of life in some circles, the most helpless and diseased,
for clothes are but our outmost cuticle and mortal coil. Otherwise
so well off -- that the lawyer had only to weave arguments, and, by
interesting question how far men would retain their relative rank if
know not how to use it, or get rid of it, and thus have forged their
life, and may be stripped off here and there without fatal injury;
help of men. They would have to be passed through a powerful press
time -- often the richest freight will be discharged upon a Jersey
than they who fail honestly. Bankruptcy and repudiation are the
reached a friendly pier -- there is the untold fate of La Prouse;
can be drawn radii from one centre. All change is a miracle to
to his wardrobe. Kings and queens who wear a suit but once, though
which I had built myself, on the shore of Walden Pond, in Concord,
a little enterprise and business talent, appeared not so sad as
miracle take place than for us to look through each others eyes for
is suited to the seed, for it has sent its radicle downward, and it
great surprise, "to be streaming with perspiration at undergoing
though I did not always know whether Jonas or Solomon worked in a
The farmer is endeavoring to solve the problem of a livelihood
hands. Gookin, who was superintendent of the Indians subject to the
they were divested of their clothes. Could you, in such a case,
spend borrowed or stolen time, robbing your creditors of an hour.
animal heat; for while Food may be regarded as the Fuel which keeps
though you must everywhere build on piles of your own driving. It
which, though they may be biennials, are cultivated only till they
dollars, which will last as many years, thick pantaloons for two
getting anything quite simple and honest done in this world by the
called. It is not barbarous merely because the printing is
something against a sick day, something to be tucked away in an old
harbor, will be fixture enough. You will export such articles as
tell surely of any company of civilized men which belonged to the
four fires and looking in the face of the sun; or hanging suspended,
We don garment after garment, as if we grew like exogenous
others?
valued for the fruit they bear at last in the air and light, far
questions in this book. In most books, the I, or first person, is
serve a hero longer than they have served his valet -- if a hero
necessary of life, Food. To the bison of the prairie it is a few
vacation from humbler toil having commenced. The soil, it appears,
or art. There are nowadays professors of philosophy, but not
The cart before the horse is neither beautiful nor useful. Before
laws of mans existence; as our skeletons, probably, are not to be
Some of you, we all know, are poor, find it hard to live, are
we are taking west with us, invented for the ladies of the harem and
from some defect in the draught, the fire goes out. Of course the
feet long and thirty feet broad.... I have often lodged in their
so compactly and preparedly that, if an enemy take the town, he can,
break through and steal. It is a fools life, as they will find
daylight, the rainy season and the winter, to say nothing of the
civilization especially prevails, the number of those who own a
magnanimity, and trust. It is to solve some of the problems of
of what we should call voluntary poverty. Of a life of luxury the
prepare this shelter within a shelter, as the mole has its bed of
under the several heads of Food, Shelter, Clothing, and Fuel; for
the manliest relations to men; his labor would be depreciated in the
the public heel had testified to their utility.
the enterprises of another like stranded vessels.
this I should not need to look farther than to the shanties which
capacities have never been measured; nor are we to judge of what he
and they seemed as anxious to recover them as if they had lost them
impossible to combine the hardiness of these savages with the
I well-nigh sunk all my capital in it, and lost my own breath into
Solomon prescribed ordinances for the very distances of trees; and
one exposed to it in any woollen clothing." He had seen them asleep
than social, we refer directly a great part of our ails. The
purpose, so that most would not know them in their flowering season.
can do. Thinking that when he had made the baskets he would have
to create noblemen and kings. And if the civilized mans pursuits
spiritual bread far thinner than our forefathers did their wheaten.
fast wearing or are already worn out, and have come to this page to
run men hit only what they aim at. Therefore, though they should
the ends of the fingers, neither shorter nor longer. Undoubtedly
tools of their tools. The man who independently plucked the fruits
the Roman praetors have decided how often you may go into your
understand it, that was a valid objection urged by Momus against the
still on their trail. Many are the travellers I have spoken
with our own private opinion. What a man thinks of himself, that it
list of town officers, nor make my place a sinecure with a moderate
a la mode.
access to a few books, rank next to necessaries, and can all be
own reward.
shellfish, and not overlaid with it. But, alas! I have been inside
that just in proportion as some have been placed in outward
today. The manufacturers have learned that this taste is merely
as it were a peg to bang the coat on? We worship not the Graces,
one or two of them, and know what they are lined with.
senses than we think. From the hearth the field is a great
springboards from which much of our civilization vaults and turns
of consanguinity They are related to me, and what authority they
whimsical. Of two patterns which differ only by a few threads more
wooden horses to hang the clean clothes on. Every day our garments
now are, and make our civilization a blessing. The civilized man is
not leave her mornings work undone. Morning work! By the blushes
-- but commonly they have not paid for them yet. It is true, the
some enterprising mortal crept into a hollow in a rock for shelter.
present obtained, and to suggest that we may possibly so live as to
entirely unknown.
which belies that experience, and they are only less young than they
do not treat ourselves nor one another thus tenderly.
the North American Indian, or the South Sea Islander, or any other
liquids can pass into the stomach"; or dwelling, chained for life,
more evident that my townsmen would not after all admit me into the
new suit, however ragged or dirty the old, until we have so
has in this or any country risen to the dignity of an art. At
have prevented some mistakes. This was not the light in which I
and, whenever you got up, go abroad without any landlord or
omitted; in this it will be retained; that, in respect to egotism,
The greater part of what my neighbors call good I believe in my
the greatest genuine leap, due to human muscles alone, on record, is
in most mens, and yet not voluntarily kept, but inseparable from
servitude called Negro Slavery, there are so many keen and subtle
horizon, speaking all passing vessels bound coastwise; to keep up a
hoed them. The stars are the apexes of what wonderful triangles!
clothes. All men want, not something to do with, but something to
or woodchoppers going to their work. It is true, Inever assisted
(these are the country rates) entitles him to the benefit of the
It may be guessed that I reduce almost the whole advantage of
boards and shingles, lime and bricks, are cheaper and more easily
travels round the world, from east to west, had got so near home as
which in others are luxuries merely, and in others still are
from Hanno and the Phoenicians down to our day; in fine, account of
our lives, our houses and streets, furnish no proper pedestal for
Every child begins the world again, to some extent, and loves to
might improve them. There are some who complain most energetically
some of you who read this book are unable to pay for all the dinners
little distance, whether of space or time, laugh at each others
was so, or to make something else which it would be worth his while
cornfield the other day, close by a hat and coat on a stake, I
puts over his head and shoulders, will sleep night after night on
The grand necessity, then, for our bodies, is to keep warm, to
is a good port and a good foundation. No Neva marshes to be filled;
why should he have a better dwelling than the former?
stay outdoors, even in wet and cold. It plays house, as well as
"From thence our kind hard-hearted is, enduring pain and care,
universe are contemplating the same one at the same moment! Nature
estimating the pecuniary value of every mans labor at one dollar a
in the beginning of the colonies, commenced their first
by a string. Such a lodge was in the first instance constructed in
of my experience. Moreover, I, on my side, require of every writer,
of the wind by a mat suspended over the hole in the roof and moved
born in the open pasture and suckled by a wolf, that they might have
which you have actually eaten, or for the coats and shoes which are
and beautiful living be laid for a foundation: now, a taste for the
great extent absorbed, in order to preserve and perfect that of the
prudence at least, as if their principle were to satisfy the more
over their shoulders "until it becomes impossible for them to resume
annually, as if all the joints of the agricultural machine were
incurable form of disease. We are made to exaggerate the importance
reefs and new lights and buoys to be ascertained, and ever, and
I have looked after the wild stock of the town, which give a
who will mind their own affairs whether in heaven or hell, and
and we may regard one third of that toil as the cost of their houses
pumpkin and have it all to myself than be crowded on a velvet
Deucalion and Pyrrha created men by throwing stones over their heads
so that they can live dry and warm in these houses with their entire
of living because they preferred it to any other. Yet they honestly
wine in old bottles. Our moulting season, like that of the fowls,
to buy. I too had woven a kind of basket of a delicate texture, but
the question, perhaps we are led oftener by the love of novelty and
Not that all architectural ornament is to be neglected even in the
at once name a dozen in the town who own their farms free and clear.
body of the inhabitants may not be as degraded as that of savages.
be the tombs of the Pharaohs were fed on garlic, and it may be were
celestial bodies, if the poet did not speak so much from under a
that "the Laplander in his skin dress, and in a skin bag which he
before yet any neighbor was stirring about his business, have I been
enthusiasm of lovers -- and, to some extent, I reckon myself in this
chest, or in a stocking behind the plastering, or, more safely, in
progenitors of a noble race of men. But why do men degenerate ever?
skin-deep and unalterable.
made by some tailor or dressmaker to their majesties, cannot know
as youth, for it has not profited so much as it has lost. One may
But if my jacket and trousers, my hat and shoes, are fit to worship
fail immediately, they had better aim at something high.
now helps to keep them poor as long as they live. I do not mean to
been improving our houses, it has not equally improved the men who
Southern overseer; it is worse to have a Northern one; but worst of
clothes on, but was easily quieted by a naked thief. It is an
Consider first how slight a shelter is absolutely necessary. I have
bury himself. Nevertheless this points to an important distinction
them do. Only they who go to soires and legislative balls must
the "They" at all, as if she quoted an authority as impersonal as
enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of
new men in the old, and that to retain it would be like keeping new
rain-storms, and did my duty faithfully; surveyor, if not of
When I consider my neighbors, the farmers of Concord, who are at
markets, prospects of war and peace everywhere, and anticipate the
soon as one head is crushed, two spring up.
frozen to death in such a box as this. I am far from jesting.
Most men appear never to have considered what a house is, and
to spend it. Thus also the snake casts its slough, and the
any retinue at their heels, any carload of fashionable furniture.
uncertainties. So thoroughly and sincerely are we compelled to
accept the advantages, though so dearly bought, which the invention
robust but that he must seek to narrow his world and wall in a space
the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die."
impertinent, though they do not appear to me at all impertinent,
as if they believed that their prospects for life would be ruined if
vital heat is not to be confounded with fire; but so much for
the raw material of bones; walking all the while he talks behind his
plucked by them. Their fingers, from excessive toil, are too clumsy
King and Queen of the Cannibal Islands. All costume off a man is
a system of earths like ours. If I had remembered this it would
allowance. My accounts, which I can swear to have kept faithfully,
accident happens to a gentlemans legs, they can be mended; but if a
midst of an outward civilization, if only to learn what are the
and tremble too much for that. Actually, the laboring man has not
soon plowed into the soil for compost. By a seeming fate, commonly
you mean to starve us?" Having seen his industrious white neighbors
is rich as a savage? If it is asserted that civilization is a real
art is merely to make this low state comfortable and that higher
However, if one designs to construct a dwelling-house, it
on as well as they can. How many a poor immortal soul have I met
with their heads downward, over flames; or looking at the heavens
rooted himself thus firmly in the earth, but that he may rise in the
own internal heat; but with an excess of these, or of Fuel, that is,
shirt. It is desirable that a man be clad so simply that he can lay
exorbitant market; to keep yourself informed of the state of the
houses, so called, soon discovers this, for the publicans presume
all when you are the slave-driver of yourself. Talk of a divinity
a more experienced and wiser savage. But to make haste to my own
The animal heat is the result of a slow combustion, and disease and
poor boy, by him perchance to be bestowed on some poorer still, or
slipped from their bodies at those seasons when the sap is up, and
an instant? We should live in all the ages of the world in an hour;
and human life are as various as our several constitutions. Who
been said of the merchants, that a very large majority, even
and boughs, of linen woven and stretched, of grass and straw, of
anxiety which I have referred to is about, and how much it is
to the laborers in our Southern States who produce the staple
amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes
utility. Let him who has work to do recollect that the object of
luxuries. As Chapman sings,
so often to use his knowledge? We should feed and clothe him
and suggests, beside, that probably not even the other three succeed
despicable alternative. You could sit up as late as you pleased,
What makes families run out? What is the nature of the luxury which
such slender means as I had already got. My purpose in going to
the Fates, and I find it difficult to get made what I want, simply
with the shipping interests? Does not he drive for Squire
obtained than suitable caves, or whole logs, or bark in sufficient
not soon get upon their legs again; and then there would be some one
and no housekeeper.
One farmer says to me, "You cannot live on vegetable food
often imprisoned rather than housed in them; and the bad
but the poorer for it, and it be the house that has got him. As I
it is to live in the open air, and our lives are domestic in more
ancient slough, called by the Latins aes alienum, anothers brass,
hardy race, that lived mostly out of doors, was once made here
By the words, necessary of life, I mean whatever, of all that
such as fitted him. He was at first bare and out of doors; but
lapse of a season the latter becomes the most fashionable.
follows religiously the new. We are amused at beholding the costume
know of no reading of anothers experience so startling and
-- but mainly to the mass of men who are discontented, and idly
creation requires more than Food and Shelter. The necessaries of
elsewhere. Nature is as well adapted to our weakness as to our
But men labor under a mistake. The better part of the man is
shrinking from cold and misery, and the development of all their
we know so much of them as we do. The same is true of the more
almost doubt if the wisest man has learned anything of absolute
experience, a few implements, a knife, an axe, a spade, a
instance, that the same sun which ripens my beans illumines at once
caterpillar its wormy coat, by an internal industry and expansion;
must be a crisis in our lives. The loon retires to solitary ponds
-- that our furniture should be more complex than the Arabs, in
day, for if some receive more, others receive less; -- so that he
whether from savageness, or poverty, or philosophy, ever attempt to
Netherland, writing in Dutch, in 1650, for the information of those
ever, the logarithmic tables to be corrected, for by the error of
in this world? I had three pieces of limestone on my desk, but I
the red pine and the black ash, the white grape and the yellow
mere smoke of opinion, which some had trusted for a cloud that would
admirable to live. To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle
impartial or wise observer of human life but from the vantage ground
any necessary or important work may be accomplished without adding
transact some private business with the fewest obstacles; to be
the railroad car we are inclined to spend more on luxury than on
square pit in the ground, cellar fashion, six or seven feet deep, as
put a little dry wood under a pot, and are whirled round the globe
I should not obtrude my affairs so much on the notice of my
caterpillars, the breadth of vast empires; or standing on one leg on
I will therefore ask those of my readers who feel no particular
than it does now, for unfortunately I am become somewhat callous, I
secondly, in order not to discourage poor laboring people whom they
baskets, I studied rather how to avoid the necessity of selling
understandingly on this subject, for I have made myself acquainted
plow along in spite of every obstacle. Some things are really
everywhere border our railroads, that last improvement in
The very simplicity and nakedness of mans life in the primitive
to hear the first syllable of valuable or even earnest advice from
similar accident happens to the legs of his pantaloons, there is no
I must shift for myself, I turned my face more exclusively than ever
those who find their encouragement and inspiration in precisely the
suggested to me that every man who was hard pushed might get such a
anxious to improve the nick of time, and notch it on my stick too;
man. Yet I have no doubt that that peoples rulers are as wise as
these naked savages, who were farther off, were observed, to his
that I speak within bounds when I say that, though the birds of the
to suit customers; while a thick coat can be bought for five
are somewhat acquainted with its actual history; it would certainly
well-nigh crushed and smothered under its load, creeping down the
museum, an almshouse, a prison, or a splendid mausoleum instead.
tendencies of trade and civilization -- taking advantage of the
not "provide them houses," says he, "till the earth, by the Lords
we unwillingly say our prayers and commit ourselves to
were. I have lived some thirty years on this planet, and I have yet
have new coats, coats to change as often as the man changes in them.
in years past, it would probably surprise those of my readers who
afford to own it; nor can he, in the long run, any better afford to
road of life, pushing before it a barn seventy-five feet by forty,
I have always endeavored to acquire strict business habits; they
annual tax for this outside garment of all, become indispensable
and industry of mankind offer. In such a neighborhood as this,
the year, except for a parasol, is unnecessary. In our climate, in
possible, Nature herself! How many mornings, summer and winter,
Neva, would sweep St. Petersburg from the face of the earth.
warmth, then the warmth of the affections.
instead of studying how to make it worth mens while to buy my
readers if very particular inquiries had not been made by my
usual evidences of civilization exist, the condition of a very large
delay and medical appliances and some such solemnity even as our
at the foot of a tree; or measuring with their bodies, like
but unnaturally hot; as I implied before, they are cooked, of course
interest with which, when young, he looked at shelving rocks, or any
All heavenly comforts rarefies to air."
inherited farms, houses, barns, cattle, and farming tools; for these
even left directions how we should cut our nails; that is, even with
This is the reason he is poor; and for a similar reason we are all
behooves him to exercise a little Yankee shrewdness, lest after all
defraying of funeral expenses. But perhaps a man is not required to
complain that this is a cold world; and to cold, no less physical
had not discovered that it was necessary for him to make it worth
any portion of our most primitive ancestor which still survived in
body is a stove, and food the fuel which keeps up the internal
ottomans, and sun-shades, and a hundred other oriental things, which
get on in the enjoyment of the fine arts which adorn it, my
hindered from accomplishing which for want of a little common sense,
do, or rather something to be. Perhaps we should never procure a
remarkable ways. What I have heard of Bramins sitting exposed to
things, and you would have lost your labor. Nevertheless, we will
On the whole, I think that it cannot be maintained that dressing
superfluous glow-shoes, and umbrellas, and empty guest chambers for
or read every letter sent; to superintend the discharge of imports
fame won by his own deeds. Public opinion is a weak tyrant compared
When I wrote the following pages, or rather the bulk of them, I
train and breathe a malaria all the way.
life for man in this climate may, accurately enough, be distributed
after all, always the first person that is speaking. I should not
talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as
I will go into business; I will weave baskets; it is a thing which I
its somersets, but the savage stands on the unelastic plank of
Iolaus to burn with a hot iron the root of the hydras head, but as
in the company with a maggot in his head, hatched from an egg
Old Johnson, in his "Wonder-Working Providence," speaking of the
divine, but the slave and prisoner of his own opinion of himself, a
foolish.
obtained, and Clothing and Shelter are wholly or half unnecessary.
not mended, perhaps the worst vice betrayed is improvidence. I
behind them:--
lived sincerely, it must have been in a distant land to me. Perhaps
described, what does he want next? Surely not more warmth of the
the brick bank; no matter where, no matter how much or how little.
some, who have large families, how many poor children I maintained.
is his fire, and many of the fruits are sufficiently cooked by its
applying to the assessors, I am surprised to learn that they cannot
to sit by it. We observe cats and dogs acquiring the same second
tells me gravely, "They do not make them so now," not emphasizing
the Indian gazettes a wigwam was the symbol of a days march, and a
the others while to buy them, or at least make him think that it
some magic, wealth and standing followed -- he had said to himself:
get a new suit to do it in; for him the old will do, that has lain
well clothed and sitting close to a fire, were far from too warm,
I have thought that Walden Pond would be a good place for
it cannot be improved as well as not. I have travelled a good deal
I think that we may safely trust a good deal more than we do.
concerning them, describing their tracks and what calls they
of the laborers life, even if he is not encumbered with a family --
utensils. The Indians had advanced so far as to regulate the effect
in civilized life again.
which means a bad neighborhood might be avoided"; and it may still
Some have asked what I got to eat; if I did not feel lonesome; if I
when they get to the end of it, if not before. It is said that
as they must believe; and it may be that they have some faith left
ages imply this advantage, at least, that they left him still but a
cannot do, you try and find that you can. Old deeds for old people,
imagination -- what Wilberforce is there to bring that about?
other than a travelling dress, when she went to meet the
astonish those who know nothing about it. I will only hint at some
from the observatory of some cliff or tree, to telegraph any new
wearers character, until we hesitate to lay them aside without such
rash. When I hear this oracular sentence, I am for a moment
cloth, while the snow was nearly a foot deep around them, and I
our prejudices. No way of thinking or doing, however ancient, can
manifestation in dress and equipage alone, obtain for the possessor
is. Age is no better, hardly so well, qualified for an instructor
inches of palatable grass, with water to drink; unless he seeks the
go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the
philosophers. Yet it is admirable to profess because it was once
keeps how many shaking and squinting through kaleidoscopes that they
economy managed and sustained, I wonder that the floor does not give
of my contributions, and, as is too common with writers, I got only
that all races at some seasons wear something equivalent to the
I had not made it worth any ones while to buy them. Yet not the
their lives have been such miserable failures, for private reasons,
bodies. No man ever stood the lower in my estimation for having a
night and day; to be upon many parts of the coast almost at the same
a regard for the opinions of men, in procuring it, than by a true
to fodder and water his horses! What is his destiny to him compared
or to increase the warmth of our bodies by addition from without --
shall assign to thee what thou hast left undone?"
Economy is a subject which admits of being treated with levity, but
own golden or silver fetters.
three thin ones, and cheap clothing can be obtained at prices really
to inherit it, being well acquainted with it, as he says. On
grass and leaves at the end of its burrow! The poor man is wont to
soul to be bad, and if I repent of anything, it is very likely to be
live, reverencing our life, and denying the possibility of change.
Not long since, a strolling Indian went to sell baskets at the
they may become the real owners of their farms, which commonly they
house-lord dogging you for rent. Many a man is harassed to death to
first or last, a simple and sincere account of his own life, and not
masters that enslave both North and South. It is hard to have a
clothes. Man wanted a home, a place of warmth, or comfort, first of
Finding that my fellow-citizens were not likely to offer me any
it in our own lives? The philosopher is in advance of his age even
The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called
be free. This did not appear the worst, nor by any means a
of a kind of bulrush, and are also indifferently tight and warm, but
man obtains by his own exertions, has been from the first, or from
may discover the particular figure which this generation requires
circulation, whose editor has never yet seen fit to print the bulk
Approving that our bodies of a stony nature are."
sometimes, as it were, gasping for breath. I have no doubt that
I refer to the degraded poor, not now to the degraded rich. To know
experiment.
neighborhood to be avoided is our own scurvy selves. I know one or
vaporous generosity, that you may persuade your neighbor to let you
poor in respect to a thousand savage comforts, though surrounded by
and new deeds for new. Old people did not know enough once,
never paint "No Admittance" on my gate.
not made haste to clothe himself with the shelter of a house. Adam
them. Beside, clothes introduced sewing, a kind of work which you
improvements of ages have had but little influence on the essential
When we consider what, to use the words of the catechism, is the
well-wrought embroidered mats, and were furnished with various
pitiful or grotesque. It is only the serious eye peering from and
in a cave or a wigwam or wear skins today, it certainly is better to
future, so far as the individual is concerned, mainly to the
to him. I doubt if there are three such men in Concord. What has
our thicker garments, constantly worn, are our cellular integument,
quantities, or even well-tempered clay or flat stones. I speak
limbs and faculties is checked. It certainly is fair to look at
I may come at the meaning of it, that I may find out by what degree
value by living. Practically, the old have no very important advice
luxurious than we have, which yet all would admit that man could not
Shelter of the forest or the mountains shadow. None of the brute
same kind, as more and richer food, larger and more splendid houses,
In the savage state every family owns a shelter as good as the
them. The life which men praise and regard as successful is but one
business at once, and not wait to acquire the usual capital, using
the summer, it was formerly almost solely a covering at night. In
be removed without girdling and so destroying the man. I believe
combustion in the lungs. In cold weather we eat more, in warm less.
obtained. As for Clothing, to come at once to the practical part of
between the civilized man and the savage; and, no doubt, they have
life. Fuel, except to cook his Food, is then unnecessary; the sun
When the soldier is hit by a cannonball, rags are as becoming as
that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge."
Or, as Raleigh rhymes it in his sonorous way,--
townsmen concerning my mode of life, which some would call
with those which my neighbors have undertaken; for they were only
inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego, that while his own party, who were
We have built for this world a family mansion, and for the next a
the sincere life passed within it which restrain laughter and
some calculator the vessel often splits upon a rock that should have
the families own a shelter. In the large towns and cities, where
into the village, but have not been able to accomplish it, and only
and sneaks, how vaguely all the day he fears, not being immortal nor
watered the red huckleberry, the sand cherry and the nettle-tree,
fruit is luxury, whether in agriculture, or commerce, or literature,
nor do doves cherish their innocence in dovecots.
was not afraid; and the like. Others have been curious to learn
A man who has at length found something to do will not need to
honest though earthy foundation. I cannot but perceive that this
are more easily acquired than got rid of. Better if they had been
for a quarter of a dollar, and a winter cap for sixty-two and a half
of what work we do; and yet how much is not done by us! or, what if
are green.... The meaner sort are covered with mats which they make
all things to have been cared for. According to Evelyn, "the wise
business, not solely on account of the railroad and the ice trade;
the herd so diligently follow. The traveller who stops at the best
must have spent more than half his life commonly before his wigwam
death take place when this is too rapid; or for want of fuel, or
Shelter and Clothing also serve only to retain the heat thus
To anticipate, not the sunrise and the dawn merely, but, if
consecrate the costume of any people. Let Harlequin be taken with a
wondered at, since, as far as I have heard or observed, the
contemplate; but it is a miracle which is taking place every
pump, spring lock, a commodious cellar, and many other things. But
skin, complain of hard times because he could not afford to buy him
elements, so that it was not a deed of charity to bestow it on some
they stored, that is, what are the grossest groceries. For the
clothes are our epidermis, or false skin, which partakes not of our
paid and settled. However, I have not set my heart on that.
the cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is
So many autumn, ay, and winter days, spent outside the town,
steady despatch of commodities, for the supply of such a distant and
savage race before it was degraded by contact with the civilized
some advantage to live a primitive and frontier life, though in the
the country affords, purely native products, much ice and pine
from heaven, bearers of divine gifts to man, I do not see in my mind
may call endless; a womans dress, at least, is never done.
oxen, which, with vegetable-made bones, jerk him and his lumbering
outward condition or circumstances in this world, in this town, what
my seniors. They have told me nothing, and probably cannot tell me
principal object is, not that mankind may be well and honestly clad,
which men may get clothing. The condition of the operatives is
ignorance and mistake, are so occupied with the factitious cares and
long use has become, so important to human life that few, if any,
grass, unless where man has broken ground.
reply. "What!" exclaimed the Indian as he went out the gate, "do
struggle to free himself from this condition, but the effect of our
should be ashamed to know the names of. I would rather sit on a
the very tedium and ennui which presume to have exhausted the
the average of civilized rulers. Their condition only proves what
well. Unfortunately, I am confined to this theme by the narrowness
it. If I have any experience which I think valuable, I am sure to
people an institution, in which the life of the individual is to a
distinguished from those of our ancestors.
only the wise improve their advantages -- it must be shown that it
favor, to get custom, by how many modes, only not state-prison
they should do it. It would be easier for them to hobble to town
pardon some obscurities, for there are more secrets in my trade than
God in, they will do; will they not? Who ever saw his old clothes
Comparatively, tattooing is not the hideous custom which it is
wigwam. It is a mistake to suppose that, in a country where the
think that they must have such a one as their neighbors have. As if
suent.
thought that they would be glad to have it deeper to keep out the
pecuniary failures, but merely failures to fulfil their engagements,
that the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the childrens teeth
lived alone, in the woods, a mile from any neighbor, in a house
not to waste time in building, and not to want food the next season;
him, or, gradually leaving off palm-leaf hat or cap of woodchuck
circumstances, and they know whether they are well employed or not;
absorbed in thought, emphasizing to myself each word separately that
great discoverers and navigators, great adventurers and merchants,
elevation of mankind. With respect to luxuries and comforts, the
But how do the poor minority fare? Perhaps it will be found
richest, without ever impoverishing themselves, not knowing how they
cashiered at last by our own opinion, as well as that of mankind.
shall we say richer, who could do with less? I say, beware of all
dollars, and to lay up this sum will take from ten to fifteen years
buy any baskets?" he asked. "No, we do not want any," was the
witness. The twelve labors of Hercules were trifling in comparison
timber and a little granite, always in native bottoms. These will
fruits, can be preserved only by the most delicate handling. Yet we
have had an eye to the unfrequented nooks and corners of the farm;
weather-beaten than when I saw him last. I have heard of a dog that
but have settled down on earth and forgotten heaven. We have
