Economy()

    e them, I

    lived alone, in the woods, a mile from any neighbor, in a house

    he shore of alden Pond, in Concord,

    Massacts, and earned my living by the labor of my hands only.

    I lived t present I am a sojourner

    in civilized life again.

    I s obtrude my affairs so mucice of my

    readers if very particular inquiries  been made by my

    townsmen concerning my mode of life, which some would call

    impertinent, t appear to me at all impertinent,

    but, considering tances, very natural and pertinent.

    Some  I got to eat; if I did not feel lonesome; if I

    afraid; and to learn

    ion of my income I devoted to cable purposes; and

    some, wained.

    I icular

    interest in me to pardon me if I undertake to anshese

    questions in t books, t person, is

    omitted; in t ained; t, in respect to egotism,

    is t remember t it is,

    after all, al person t is speaking.  I s

    talk so muc myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as

    unately, I am confined to the narrowness

    of my experience.  Moreover, I, on my side, require of every er,

    first or last, a simple and sincere account of

    merely w  as

    o ant land; for if he has

    lived sincerely, it must ant land to me.  Perhaps

    ticularly addressed to poor students.  As

    for t of my readers, t sucions as apply

    to trust t none retcting on the

    coat, for it may do good service to  fits.

    I  so muche Chinese

    and Sandwico

    live in Ne your condition, especially your

    oution or circumstances in town, w

    it is,  it be as bad as it is, wher

    it cannot be improved as .  I ravelled a good deal

    in Concord; and everywhe

    inants o me to be doing penance in a thousand

    remarkable ing exposed to

    four fires and looking in the sun; or hanging suspended,

    the heavens

    over t;until it becomes impossible for to resume

    tural position,  of t

    liquids can pass into tomac;; or dwelling, chained for life,

    at t of a tree; or measuring heir bodies, like

    caterpillars, t empires; or standing on one leg on

    tops of pillars -- even these forms of conscious penance are

    onishe scenes which I daily

    ness.  twelve labors of rifling in comparison

    aken; for they were only

    t these men slew or

    captured any monster or finishey have no friend

    Iolaus to burn  iron t of t as

    soon as one wo spring up.

    I see young men, my to is to have

    ined farms, tle, and farming tools; for these

    are more easily acquired t rid of.  Better if they had been

    born in ture and suckled by a  t have

    seen  field to labor in.  ho

    made t ty acres,

    only ?  hey

    begin digging t

    to live a mans life, pus

    on as al soul

    he

    road of life, pus a barn seventy-five feet by forty,

    its Augean stables never cleansed, and one hundred acres of land,

    tillage, moure, and !  tionless, who

    struggle ed encumbrances, find it

    labor enougo subdue and cultivate a fe of flesh.

    But men labor under a mistake.  tter part of the man is

    soon ploo t.  By a seeming fate, commonly

    called necessity, t says in an old book,

    laying up treasures  and thieves

    break teal.  It is a fools life, as they will find

    o t, if not before.  It is said t

    Deucalion and Pyrred men by tones over their heads

    behem:--

    Inde genus durum sumus, experiensque laborum,

    Et documenta damus qua simus origine nati.

    Or, as Raleig in his sonorous way,--

    quot;From ted is, enduring pain and care,

    Approving t our bodies of a stony nature are.quot;

    So muco a blundering oracle, the

    stones over t seeing whey fell.

    Most men, even in tively free country, through mere

    ignorance and mistake, are so occupied itious cares and

    superfluously coarse labors of life t its finer fruits cannot be

    plucked by toil, are too clumsy

    and tremble too muc.  Actually, t

    leisure for a true integrity day by day;  afford to sustain

    t relations to men; ed in the

    market.  ime to be anyt a machine.  how can he

    remember well h requires -- who has

    so often to use he him

    gratuitously sometimes, and recruit h our cordials, before we

    judge of  qualities of our nature, like the bloom on

    fruits, can be preserved only by t delicate  we

    do not treat ourselves nor one anotenderly.

    Some of you,  o live, are

    sometimes, as it  t

    some of you he dinners

    en, or for ts and shoes which are

    fast , and o to

    spend borroolen time, robbing your creditors of an hour.

    It is very evident w mean and sneaking lives many of you live,

    for my sigted by experience; als,

    trying to get into business and trying to get out of debt, a very

    ancient slougins aes alienum, anothers brass,

    for some of till living, and dying,

    and buried by to pay, promising

    to pay, tomorrooday, insolvent; seeking to curry

    favor, to get custom, by  state-prison

    offenses; lying, flattering, voting, contracting yourselves into a

    nutsy or dilating into an atmosphin and

    vaporous generosity, t you may persuade your neigo let you

    make , or , or

    you may lay up

    somet a sick day, someto be tucked away in an old

    c, or in a stocking beering, or, more safely, in

    tter le.

    I sometimes

    say, as to attend to t somew foreign form of

    servitude called Negro Slavery, tle

    masters t enslave bot is o have a

    Sout is o   of

    all y

    in man!  Look at teamster on to market by

    day or nigy stir  duty

    to fodder and er  is iny to him compared

    erests?  Does not he drive for Squire

    Make-a-stir?  al, is he?  See how he cowers

    and sneaks,  being immortal nor

    divine, but the slave and prisoner of his own opinion of himself, a

    fame  compared

    e opinion.   a man t it

    is es, e.

    Self-emancipation even in t Indian provinces of the fancy and

    imagination -- o bring t about?

    toilet cushions

    against t day, not to betray too green an interest in their

    fates!  As if you could kill time  injuring eternity.

    t desperation.   is called

    resignation is confirmed desperation.  From te city you

    go into te country, and o console yourself he

    bravery of minks and muskrats.  A stereotyped but unconscious

    despair is concealed even under he games and

    amusements of mankind.  this comes

    after  it is a ceristic of  to do

    desperate things.

    , to use teche

    c are true necessaries and means of

    life, it appears as if men ely che common mode

    of living because t to any ot tly

    t.  But alert and ures

    remember t t is never too late to give up

    our prejudices.  No , can

    be trusted  proof.   everybody echoes or in silence

    passes by as true to-day may turn out to be falseo-morrow,

    mere smoke of opinion, ed for a cloud t would

    sprinkle fertilizing rain on t old people say you

    cannot do, you try and find t you can.  Old deeds for old people,

    and ne know enough once,

    perco fetco keep the fire a-going; new people

    put a little dry , and are whe globe

    o kill old people, as the phrase

    is.  Age is no better, ructor

    as yout  profited so muc .  One may

    almost doubt if t man e

    value by living.  Practically, tant advice

    to give tial, and

    te reasons,

    as t believe; and it may be t t

    hey

    , and I

    to  syllable of valuable or even earnest advice from

    my seniors.  told me not tell me

    anyto t to a great

    extent untried by me; but it does not avail me t tried

    it.  If I o

    reflect t tors said not.

    One farmer says to me, quot;You cannot live on vegetable food

    solely, for it furniso make bones ;; and so he

    religiously devotes a part of o supplying em h

    terial of bones; alks behind his

    oxen, wable-made bones, jerk him and his lumbering

    ploe of every obstacle.  Some things are really

    necessaries of life in some circles, t helpless and diseased,

    will are

    entirely unknown.

    to some to have been gone

    over by ts and the valleys, and

    all to o Evelyn, quot;the wise

    Solomon prescribed ordinances for tances of trees; and

    tors en you may go into your

    neigo gat

    trespass, and  neig;  es has

    even left directions  our nails; t is, even h

    ter nor longer.  Undoubtedly

    tedium and ennui he

    variety and t mans

    capacities o judge of w he

    can do by any precedents, so little ried.  ever have

    been to, quot;be not afflicted, my child, for who

    so t t left undone?quot;

    e migry our lives by a tests; as, for

    instance, t t once

    a system of eart would

    ed some mistakes.  t t in which I

    ars are t riangles!

    distant and different beings in the

    universe are contemplating t t!  Nature

    and itutions.  ho

    s prospect life offers to anoter

    miracle take place to look thers eyes for

    an instant?  e she world in an hour;

    ay, in all tory, Poetry, Mythology! -- I

    knoartling and

    informing as this would be.

    ter part of w my neighbors call good I believe in my

    soul to be bad, and if I repent of anyt is very likely to be

    my good be demon possessed me t I behaved so well?

    You may say t thing you can, old man -- you who have lived

    seventy years, not  ible

    voice .  One generation abandons

    terprises of anotranded vessels.

    I t rust a good deal more than we do.

    e may  so mucly bestow

    elseed to our o our

    strengt anxiety and strain of some is a well-nigh

    incurable form of disease.  e are made to exaggerate tance

    of   done by us! or, w if

    ermined not to live

    by fait; all t, at night

    ourselves to

    uncertainties.  So to

    live, reverencing our life, and denying ty of change.

    t there

    can be drare.  All co

    contemplate; but it is a miracle waking place every

    instant.  Confucius said, quot;to kno we know w we know, and

    t  kno kno is true kno;

    of tion to be a fact to

    anding, I foresee t all men at lengtablisheir

    lives on t basis.

    Let us consider for a moment  of trouble and

    anxiety , and  is

    necessary t roubled, or at least careful.  It would be

    some advantage to live a primitive and frontier life, the

    midst of an oution, if only to learn he

    gross necessaries of life and aken to obtain

    to look over ts, to

    see   men most commonly boug tores, w

    tored, t is,  groceries.  For the

    improvements of ages  little influence on tial

    laence; as our skeletons, probably, are not to be

    distinguisors.

    By tever, of all t

    man obtains by ions, , or from

    long use ant to  few, if any,

    empt to

    do  it.  to many creatures t one

    necessary of life, Food.  to t is a few

    incable grass, er to drink; unless he

    Ser of t or tains se

    creation requires more ter.  the necessaries of

    life for man in te may, accurately enougributed

    under ter, Clothing, and Fuel; for

    not till ertain true

    problems of life  of success.  Man has

    invented, not only  clothes and cooked food; and possibly

    from tal discovery of the

    consequent use of it, at first a luxury, arose t necessity

    to sit by it.  e observe cats and dogs acquiring the same second

    nature.  By proper Ser and Clotimately retain our

    oernal ; but  is,

    ernal  greater ternal, may not cookery

    properly be said to begin?  Daruralist, says of the

    inants of tierra del Fuego, t wy, who were

    ting close to a fire, oo warm,

    to his

    great surprise, quot;to be streaming ion at undergoing

    sucing.quot;  So, old, the New hollander goes naked

    y, w

    impossible to combine the

    intellectualness of to Liebig, mans

    body is a stove, and food ternal

    combustion in t more, in warm less.

    t is t of a sloion, and disease and

    deatake place  of fuel, or

    from some defect in t, t.  Of course the

    vital  is not to be confounded  so much for

    analogy.  It appears, t, t the

    expression, animal life, is nearly synonymous he expression,

    animal ; for whe Fuel which keeps

    up to prepare t Food

    or to increase tion from  --

    Ser and Cloto retain t thus

    generated and absorbed.

    ty, to keep o

    keep tal  in us.   pains ake, not only

    er, but h our beds, which

    are our nigs and breasts of birds to

    prepare ter er, as ts bed of

    grass and leaves at ts burro to

    complain t to cold, no less physical

    tly a great part of our ails.  the

    summer, in some climates, makes possible to man a sort of Elysian

    life.  Fuel, except to cook he sun

    is s are sufficiently cooked by its

    rays; while Food generally is more various, and more easily

    obtained, and Cloter are wholly or half unnecessary.

    At t day, and in try, as I find by my own

    experience, a fes, a knife, an axe, a spade, a

    udious, lampligationery, and

    access to a fe to necessaries, and can all be

    obtained at a trifling cost.  Yet some, not o ther

    side of to barbarous and une

    to trade for ten or ty years, in order t they may

    live -- t is, keep comfortably

    last.  t simply kept comfortably warm,

    but unnaturally ; as I implied before, they are cooked, of course

    a la mode.

    Most of ts of

    life, are not only not indispensable, but positive o the

    elevation of mankind.  it to luxuries and comforts, the

    he poor.

    t philosophers, Chinese, hindoo, Persian, and Greek, were

    a class tward riches, none so

    ric muc t is remarkable t

    he more

    modern reformers and benefactors of their race.  None can be an

    impartial or age ground

    of y.  Of a life of luxury the

    fruit is luxury, erature,

    or art.  t not

    p it is admirable to profess because it was once

    admirable to live.  to be a p merely to le

    ts, nor even to found a sc so to love o

    live according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence,

    magnanimity, and trust.  It is to solve some of the problems of

    life, not only tically, but practically.  t

    scier-like success, not

    kingly, not manly.  t to live merely by conformity,

    practically as the

    progenitors of a noble race of men.  But we ever?

    makes families run out?   is ture of the luxury which

    enervates and destroys nations?  Are  there is none of

    it in our ohe philosopher is in advance of his age even

    in thed,

    warmed, like emporaries.  how can a man be a philosopher and

    not maintain al  by better mether men?

    he several modes which I have

    described, ?  Surely not more he

    same kind, as more and richer food, larger and more splendid houses,

    finer and more abundant clot, and

    ter fires, and tained things which

    are necessary to life, ternative to obtain

    ties; and t is, to adventure on life now, his

    vacation from oil  appears,

    is suited to t  its radicle do

    may nos s uph confidence.  hy has man

    rooted  t he

    same proportion into ts are

    valued for t t last in t, far

    from t treated like ts,

    ed only till they

    ed t, and often cut do top for this

    purpose, so t most  knoheir flowering season.

    I do not mean to prescribe rules to strong and valiant natures,

    wher in heaven or hell, and

    percly and spend more lavishe

    ric,  ever impoveris knowing hey

    live -- if, indeed, to

    t and inspiration in precisely the

    present condition of t he fondness and

    ento some extent, I reckon myself in this

    number; I do not speak to tever

    circumstances, and t;

    -- but mainly to tented, and idly

    complaining of t or of times, whey

    mig energetically

    and inconsolably of any, because their

    duty.  I also  seemingly  most

    terribly impoverised dross, but

    kno o use it, or get rid of it, and their

    oters.

    If I stempt to tell o spend my life

    in years past, it hose of my readers who

    are someed s actual ory; it ainly

    astonis it.  I  some

    of terprises which I have cherished.

    In any  any , I have been

    anxious to improve time, and notc on my stick too;

    to stand on ting of ternities, t and future,

    ; to toe t line.  You will

    pardon some obscurities, for ts in my trade than

    in most mens, and yet not voluntarily kept, but inseparable from

    its very nature.  I ell all t I kno it, and

    never paint quot;No Admittancequot; on my gate.

    I long ago lost a urtle dove, and am

    still on trail.  Many are travellers I have spoken

    concerning tracks and hey

    anso.  I  one or two whe

    tramp of the dove disappear behind a cloud,

    and to recover t them

    themselves.

    to anticipate, not t, if

    possible, Nature er,

    before yet any neigirring about his business, have I been

    about mine!  No doubt, many of my tourning

    from terprise, farmers starting for Boston in t,

    or  is true, I never assisted

    terially in , doubt not, it

    importance only to be present at it.

    So many autumn, ay, and er days, spent outside town,

    trying to  o  express!

    I , and lost my oo

    t.  If it her

    of tical parties, depend upon it, it would have appeared in

    tte  intelligence.  At otimes ching

    from tory of some cliff or tree, to telegraph any new

    arrival; or ing at evening on tops for to fall,

    t I migc muc,

    manna-he sun.

    For a long time I er to a journal, of no very wide

    circulation,  to print the bulk

    of my contributions, and, as is too common ers, I got only

    my labor for my pains.  heir

    own reward.

    For many years I ed inspector of snoorms and

    rain-storms, and did my duty fait of

    pat routes, keeping

    t all seasons, where

    testified to tility.

    I er tock of town, which give a

    faitrouble by leaping fences; and I

    o ted nooks and corners of the farm;

    t always know wher Jonas or Solomon worked in a

    particular field to-day; t was none of my business.  I have

    ered ttle-tree,

    te grape and the yellow

    violet, w hered else in dry seasons.

    In s, I  on time (I may say it

    boasting), faitill it became more and

    more evident t my to after all admit me into the

    list of toe

    allos, hfully,

    I  audited, still less accepted, still less

    paid and settled.   set my  on t.

    Not long since, a strolling Indian  to sell baskets at the

    ;Do you wiso

    buy any baskets?quot; ;No,   any,quot; he

    reply.  quot;!quot; exclaimed t out te, quot;do

    you mean to starve us?quot;  rious we neighbors

    so  to s, and, by

    some magic, anding followed -- o himself:

    I o business; I s; it is a thing which I

    can do.  t ws he would have

    done , and t e mans to buy them.  he

    discovered t it  h

    to buy t least make  it

    o make somet h his while

    to buy.  I too  of a delicate texture, but

    I  made it o buy t not the

    less, in my case, did I t o hem, and

    instead of studying o make it o buy my

    baskets, I studied rato avoid ty of selling

    t one

    kind.  e any one kind at the

    others?

    Finding t my felloizens  likely to offer me any

    room in t

    I must s for myself, I turned my face more exclusively than ever

    to tter knoermined to go into

    business at once, and not  to acquire tal, using

    suc.  My purpose in going to

    alden Pond  to live co live dearly t to

    transact some private business  obstacles; to be

    of a little common sense,

    a little enterprise and business talent, appeared not so sad as

    foolish.

    I o acquire strict business s; they

    are indispensable to every man.  If your trade is ial

    Empire, ting , in some Salem

    ure enoug sucicles as

    try affords, purely native products, much ice and pine

    timber and a little granite, alive bottoms.  these will

    be good ventures.  to oversee all tails yourself in person; to

    be at once pilot and captain, and oer; to buy and

    sell and keep ts; to read every letter received, and e

    or read every letter sent; to superintend ts

    nigo be upon many parts of t almost at the same

    time -- often t freight will be discharged upon a Jersey

    so be your oelegraphe

    o keep up a

    steady despatcies, for tant and

    exorbitant market; to keep yourself informed of tate of the

    markets, prospects of e the

    tendencies of trade and civilization -- taking advantage of the

    results of all exploring expeditions, using new passages and all

    improvements in navigation; -- cs to be studied, tion of

    reefs and neained, and ever, and

    ever, tables to be corrected, for by the error of

    some calculator ten splits upon a rock t should have

    reacold fate of La Prouse;

    -- universal science to be kept pace udying the lives of all

    great discoverers and navigators, great adventurers and mercs,

    from o our day; in fine, account of

    stock to be taken from time to time, to kno is a

    labor to task ties of a man -- suc and

    loss, of interest, of tare and tret, and gauging of all kinds in it,

    as demand a universal knowledge.

    I  t alden Pond would be a good place for

    business, not solely on account of trade;

    it offers advantages  be good policy to divulge; it

    is a good port and a good foundation.  No Neva marso be filled;

    t everyw

    is said t a flood-tide, erly he

    Neva, . Petersburg from th.

    As to be entered into  the usual

    capital, it may not be easy to conjecture w

    ill be indispensable to every sucaking, o be

    obtained.  As for Cloto come at once to tical part of

    tion, perener by ty and

    a regard for t, true

    utility.  Let o do recollect t t of

    clot, to retain tal , and secondly, in this

    state of society, to cover nakedness, and he may judge how much of

    any necessary or important work may be accomplis adding

    to  but once, though

    made by some tailor or dressmaker to ties, cannot know

    t of  t fits.  tter than

    wooden o s

    become more assimilated to ourselves, receiving the

    il e to lay t such

    delay and medical appliances and some sucy even as our

    bodies.  No man ever stood timation for having a

    patc I am sure t ter anxiety,

    commonly, to  least clean and unpatched

    cloto  even if t is

    not mended, per vice betrayed is improvidence.  I

    sometimes try my acquaintances by sucests as this -- ho could

    cra seams only, over t behave

    as if t ts for life would be ruined if

    t.  It o o town

    aloon.  Often if an

    accident o a gentlemans legs, t if a

    similar accident o taloons, there is no

    ; for  ruly respectable, but

    ed.  e kno fe many coats and

    breec s, you standing

    sless by,  salute the scarecrow?  Passing a

    cornfield t and coat on a stake, I

    recognized ttle more

    en t.  I

    barked at every stranger h

    clot ed by a naked t is an

    interesting question ain tive rank if

    ted of thes.  Could you, in such a case,

    tell surely of any company of civilized men he

    most respected class?  urous

    travels round t to ,  so near home as

    Asiatic Russia, s s ty of wearing

    otravelling dress, o meet the

    auties, for s;ry, where ...

    people are judged of by t;  Even in our democratic New

    England toal possession of s

    manifestation in dress and equipage alone, obtain for the possessor

    almost universal respect.  But t, numerous as

    to  to

    troduced sewing, a kind of work which you

    may call endless; a  least, is never done.

    A man o do  need to

    get a ne to do it in; for  has lain

    dusty in t for an indeterminate period.  Old shoes will

    serve a  -- if a hero

    ever  -- bare feet are older than shoes, and he can make

    to soires and legislative balls must

    s, coats to cen as them.

    But if my jacket and trousers, my  and s to worship

    God in, t?  hes

    -- , actually , resolved into its primitive

    elements, so t it  a deed of cy to besto on some

    poor boy, by o be bestoill, or

    sh less?  I say, beware of all

    enterprises t require ne rather a new wearer of

    clot a new man, hes be made

    to fit?  If you erprise before you, try it in your old

    clot, not someto do  someto

    do, or rato be.  Perhaps we should never procure a

    ne, y til we have so

    conducted, so enterprised or sailed in some  we feel like

    ne to retain it would be like keeping new

    tles.  Our moulting season, like t of the fowls,

    must be a crisis in our lives.  tires to solitary ponds

    to spend it.  ts its sloughe

    caterpillar its , by an internal industry and expansion;

    for clot our outmost cuticle and mortal coil.  Otherwise

    we sably

    cas last by our o of mankind.

    e don garment after garment, as if we grew like exogenous

    plants by addition .  Our outside and often thin and fanciful

    clotakes not of our

    life, and may be stripped off  fatal injury;

    our ts, constantly egument,

    or cortex; but our ss are our liber, or true bark, w

    be removed  girdling and so destroying the man.  I believe

    t all races at some seasons  to the

    s.  It is desirable t a man be clad so simply t he can lay

    s

    so compactly and preparedly t, if an enemy take town, he can,

    like t te empty-

    anxiety.   is, for most purposes, as good as

    tained at prices really

    to suit customers;  for five

    dollars, aloons for two

    dollars, cows for a dollar and a

    for a quarter of a dollar, and a er cap for sixty-two and a half

    cents, or a better be made at  a nominal cost, where is he so

    poor t, clad in suc, of

    be found o do him reverence?

    of a particular form, my tailoress

    tells me gravely, quot;t make t; not emphasizing

    t;t; at all, as if sed an auty as impersonal as

    tes, and I find it difficult to get made , simply

    because s believe t I mean  I am so

    rasence, I am for a moment

    absorbed in t, empo myself eacely t

    I may come at t, t I may find out by w degree

    of consanguinity ted to me, and y they

    may s me so nearly; and, finally, I am

    inclined to ans any more

    emp;t; -- quot;It is true, t make them so

    recently, but t;  Of his measuring of me if she

    does not measure my cer, but only th of my shoulders,

    as it o bang t on?  e he Graces,

    nor t Fass h

    full auty.  t Paris puts on a travellers cap,

    and all times despair of

    getting anyte simple and  done in the

    o be passed through a powerful press

    first, to squeeze tions out of t they would

    not soon get upon there would be some one

    in t in ched from an egg

    deposited t even fire kills these

    t your labor.  Nevertheless, we will

    not forget t some Egyptian w was o us by a

    mummy.

    On t it cannot be maintained t dressing

    ry risen to ty of an art.  At

    present men make s to .  Like shipwrecked

    sailors, t on  a

    little distance, wime, laug eachers

    masquerade.  Every generation laug t

    follo beume

    of   of the

    King and Queen of tume off a man is

    pitiful or grotesque.  It is only the serious eye peering from and

    t er and

    consecrate tume of any people.  Let aken h a

    fit of trappings  mood too.

    by a cannonball, rags are as becoming as

    purple.

    taste of men and terns

    keeps ing t they

    may discover ticular figure wion requires

    today.  turers  taste is merely

    terns whreads more

    or less of a particular color, the

    ot frequently  after the

    lapse of a season tter becomes t fashionable.

    Comparatively, tattooing is not tom w is

    called.  It is not barbarous merely because ting is

    skin-deep and unalterable.

    I cannot believe t our factory system is t mode by

    ion of tives is

    becoming every day more like t of t cannot be

    , since, as far as I he

    principal object is, not t mankind may be well and ly clad,

    but, unquestionably, t corporations may be enriche long

    run men  only .  they should

    fail immediately, tter aim at something high.

    As for a Ser, I  deny t this is now a necessary

    of life, tances of men  it

    for long periods in colder countries this.  Samuel Laing says

    t quot;the Laplander in his skin dress, and in a skin bag which he

    puts over  after night on

    tinguishe life of

    one exposed to it in any ;  hem asleep

    t ;t ;  But,

    probably, man did not live long on t discovering the

    convenience s, which

    pisfactions of the house

    more t be extremely partial and

    occasional in tes wed in our

    ts er or thirds of

    t for a parasol, is unnecessary.  In our climate, in

    t  solely a covering at night.  In

    ttes a he symbol of a days march, and a

    ro or painted on tree signified t so

    many times t made so large limbed and

    robust but t  seek to narrow his world and wall in a space

    sucted  first bare and out of doors; but

    t enougher, by

    dayliger, to say nothe

    torrid sun, would perhe bud if he had

    not made e to cloter of a house.  Adam

    and Eve, according to ther

    cloted a , first of

    ions.

    e may imagine a time whe human race,

    some enterprising mortal crept into a er.

    Every co some extent, and loves to

    stay outdoors, even in  and cold.  It plays house, as well as

    inct for it.   remember the

    interest  shelving rocks, or any

    approaco a cave?  It ural yearning of t portion,

    any portion of our most primitive ancestor will survived in

    us.  From to roofs of palm leaves, of bark

    and bougretcraw, of

    boards and sones and tiles.  At last,  w

    it is to live in tic in more

    senses t

    distance.  It would be well, pero spend more of

    our days and nig any obstruction bethe

    celestial bodies, if t did not speak so much from under a

    roof, or t d sing in caves,

    nor do doves cs.

    o construct a dwelling-

    beo exercise a little Yankee s after all

    a clue, a

    museum, an almsead.

    Consider first  a ser is absolutely necessary.  I have

    seen Penobscot Indians, in toents of tton

    clot deep around them, and I

    t t to  deeper to keep out the

    my living ly, h freedom

    left for my proper pursuits, ion which vexed me even more

    t does nounately I am become somew callous, I

    used to see a large box by t long by three

    nig

    suggested to me t every man  such a

    one for a dollar, and, , to

    admit t least, get into it  night, and

    he lid, and so have freedom in his love, and in his soul

    be free.  t appear t, nor by any means a

    despicable alternative.  You could sit up as late as you pleased,

    and,  any landlord or

    .  Many a man is o deato

    pay t of a larger and more luxurious box w have

    frozen to deating.

    Economy is a subject reated y, but

    it cannot so be disposed of.  A comfortable house for a rude and

    lived mostly out of doors, was once made here

    almost entirely of sucerials as Nature furniso their

    endent of t to the

    Massacts Colony, ing in 1674, says, quot;t of their

    ly, tigrees,

    slipped from t the sap is up, and

    made into great flakes, y timber, whey

    are green....  t are covered s whey make

    of a kind of bulrusly tig

    not so good as ty or a hundred

    feet long and ty feet broad....  I en lodged in their

    Englis;  he

    adds t ted and lined h

    well-wrougs, and were furnish various

    utensils.  to regulate t

    of t suspended over the roof and moved

    by a string.  Suc instance constructed in

    a day or t most, and taken do up in a few hours; and

    every family os apartment in one.

    In tate every family ohe

    best, and sufficient for its coarser and simpler s; but I think

    t I speak , the

    air s, and the savages

    ty not more than one half

    ter.  In toies, where

    civilization especially prevails, those who own a

    ser is a very small fraction of t pay an

    annual tax for tside garment of all, become indispensable

    summer and er, w

    no mean to

    insist age of

    it is evident t ter because it costs so

    little, w

    afford to o; nor can ter afford to

    , ansax, the poor

    civilized man secures an abode whe

    savages.  An annual rent of from ty-five to a hundred dollars

    (try rates) entitles o t of the

    improvements of centuries, spacious apartments, clean paint and

    paper, Rumford fire-place, back plastering, Venetian blinds, copper

    pump, spring lock, a commodious cellar, and many ot

    t o enjoy things is so

    commonly a poor civilized man, w,

    is ric is asserted t civilization is a real

    advance in tion of man -- and I t it is, though

    only tages -- it must be s it

    ter d making tly; and

    t of a t of w I will call life which is

    required to be exc, immediately or in the long run.  An

    average s per hundred

    dollars, and to lay up take from ten to fifteen years

    of t encumbered h a family --

    estimating t one dollar a

    day, for if some receive more, ot he

    must  more than half his life commonly before his wigwam

    instead, this is

    but a doubtful co

    excerms?

    It may be guessed t I reduce almost tage of

    y as a fund in store against the

    future, so far as to the

    defraying of funeral expenses.  But per required to

    bury s to an important distinction

    bet, they have

    designs on us for our benefit, in making the life of a civilized

    people an institution, in wo a

    great extent absorbed, in order to preserve and perfect t of the

    race.  But I age is at

    present obtained, and to suggest t o

    secure all tage  suffering any of tage.

    mean ye by saying t th you, or

    t ten sour grapes, and teeth

    are set on edge?

    quot;As I live, sait have occasion any

    more to use this proverb in Israel.

    quot;Beher, so also

    t sinnet s;

    least as  for t

    part toiling ty, ty, or forty years, t

    they

    ed  h hired money --

    and  toil as t of their houses

    -- but commonly t paid for t.  It is true, the

    encumbrances sometimes outhe

    farm itself becomes one great encumbrance, and still a man is found

    to in it, being ed , as he says.  On

    applying to to learn t t

    at once name a dozen in town wheir farms free and clear.

    If you ory of teads, inquire at the

    bank ually paid for

    is so rare t every neig

    to  if t has

    been said of ts, t a very large majority, even

    ninety-seven in a o fail, is equally true of the

    farmers.  ito ts, hem says

    pertinently t a great part of t genuine

    pecuniary failures, but merely failures to fulfil ts,

    because it is inconvenient; t is, it is ter t

    breaks do ts an infinitely ter,

    and suggests, beside, t probably not even three succeed

    in saving t are perc in a worse sense

    tly.  Bankruptcy and repudiation are the

    springboards from s and turns

    its somersets, but tands on tic plank of

    famine.  Yet ttle S

    annually, as if all ts of tural machine were

    suent.

    to solve the problem of a livelihood

    by a formula more complicated tself.  to get his

    srings es in tle.  ite skill

    rap o catc and

    independence, and turned a o it.

    the reason he is poor; and for a similar reason we are all

    poor in respect to a ts, though surrounded by

    luxuries.  As Chapman sings,

    quot;ty of men --

    -- for eartness

    All s rarefies to air.quot;

    And he richer

    but t, and it be t  him.  As I

    understand it, t ion urged by Momus against the

    s; made it movable, by

    ;; and it may still

    be urged, for our y t we are

    often imprisoned rathe bad

    neigo be avoided is our own scurvy selves.  I know one or

    t least, in town, wion,

    o sell tskirts and move

    into t  been able to accomplis, and only

    deat them free.

    Granted t ty are able at last eito own or hire

    ts improvements.  ion has

    been improving our   equally improved the men who

    are to in t ed palaces, but it  so easy

    to create noblemen and kings.  And if ts

    are no er

    part of aining gross necessaries and comforts merely,

    he former?

    But y fare?  Per will be found

    t just in proportion as some ward

    circumstances above thers have been degraded below him.

    terbalanced by the indigence of

    anothe

    alms;silent poor.quot;  t to

    be tombs of t may be were

    not decently buried the cornice

    of turns at nigo a  not so good as a

    is a mistake to suppose t, in a country whe

    usual evidences of civilization exist, tion of a very large

    body of tants may not be as degraded as t of savages.

    I refer to t noo to know

    t need to look farto ties which

    every improvement in

    civilization; where I see in my daily walks human beings living in

    sties, and all er ,

    any visible, often imaginable, he forms of

    botly contracted by t of

    s of all their

    limbs and faculties is c certainly is fair to look at

    t class by winguishis

    generation are accomplisoo, to a greater or less extent,

    is tion of tives of every denomination in England,

    w worko

    Ireland, we or enligs on

    trast tion of t of

    ther

    savage race before it act he civilized

    man.  Yet I  t t peoples rulers are as wise as

    tion only proves w

    squalidness may consist ion.  I hardly need refer now

    to tates waple

    exports of try, and are taple production of

    t to confine myself to to be in

    moderate circumstances.

    Most men appear never to  a house is, and

    are actually they

    t t heir neighbors have.  As if

    one o  of coat  for

    or cap of woodchuck

    skin, complain of imes because  afford to buy him

    a cro is possible to invent a ill more convenient and

    luxurious t all  t man could not

    afford to pay for.  Sudy to obtain more of these

    t sometimes to be content he

    respectable citizen teac and example, the

    necessity of tain number of

    superfluous glo chambers for

    empty guests, before  our furniture be as

    simple as the

    benefactors of theosized as messengers

    from s to man, I do not see in my mind

    any retinue at ture.

    Or o allo not be a singular allowance?

    -- t our furniture she Arabs, in

    proportion as ellectually

    present our tered and defiled , and a good

    ter part into t hole, and

    not leave he blushes

    of Aurora and t should be mans morning work

    in tone on my desk, but I

    errified to find t to be dusted daily, when

    ture of my mind ed still, and t

    t.  hen, could I have a furnished house?

    I  in t gathe

    grass, unless where man has broken ground.

    It is ted he fashions which

    tly folloraveller  t

    he publicans presume

    o be a Sardanapalus, and if o tender

    mercies ely emasculated.  I t in

    to spend more on luxury than on

    safety and convenience, and it tens  attaining to

    become no better ts divans, and

    ottomans, and sun-sal things, which

    aking  ed for the harem and

    te natives of tial Empire, whan

    so kno on a

    pumpkin and  all to myself t

    cus, h a free

    circulation, to he fancy car of an excursion

    train and breathe way.

    ty and nakedness of mans life in tive

    ages imply tage, at least, t t ill but a

    sojourner in nature.  h food and sleep, he

    contemplated , as it ent in

    the

    plains, or climbing tain-tops.  But lo! men he

    tools of tools.  tly plucked ts

    ree

    for ser, a ,

    but tled doten heaven.  e have

    adopted Cianity merely as an improved meture.

    e  for t a

    family tomb.  t  are the expression of mans

    struggle to free ion, but t of our

    art is merely to make tate comfortable and t higher

    state to be forgotten.  tually no place in this village

    for a , if any o us, to stand, for

    our lives, our reets, furnisal for

    it.  t a nail to ure on, nor a so

    receive t of a .  hen I consider how our

    and paid for, or not paid for, and ternal

    economy managed and sustained, I  t give

    or whe

    mantelpiece, and let o to some solid and

    tion.  I cannot but perceive t this

    so-called ric, and I do not

    get on in t of ts w, my

    attention being w

    test genuine leap, due to human muscles alone, on record, is

    t of certain wandering Arabs, wo have cleared

    ty-five feet on level ground.  it factitious support, man

    is sure to come to eart distance.  t

    question ed to put to tor of suc

    impropriety is, ers you?  Are you one of ty-seven

    wions, and

    t your baal.

    t before tiful nor useful.  Before

    s t be

    stripped, and our lives must be stripped, and beautiful housekeeping

    and beautiful living be laid for a foundation: noaste for the

    beautiful is most cultivated out of doors, where is no house

    and no housekeeper.

    Old Jo;onder-orking Providence,quot; speaking of the

    first settlers of toemporary, tells us

    t quot;t ser

    under some ing t upon timber, they

    make a smoky fire against t t side.quot;  they did

    not quot;provide t; says ;till the Lords

    blessing, brougo feed t; and t years

    crop ;to cut their bread very

    t;  tary of the Province of New

    Neting in Dutcion of those

    ake up land tates more particularly t

    quot;therland, and especially in New England, who have no

    means to build farm first according to their wishes, dig a

    square pit in t deep, as

    long and as broad as th

    rees or

    someto prevent this

    cellar  it overhead for a ceiling, raise a

    roof of spars clear up, and cover th bark or green sods,

    so t tire

    families for t being understood t

    partitions are run ted to the

    size of thy and principal men in New England,

    in t

    dly, in order

    not to e time in building, and not to  food t season;

    secondly, in order not to discourage poor laboring people whey

    broughree or

    four years, ed to agriculture, they

    built them several

    t;

    In tors took there was a show of

    prudence at least, as if to satisfy the more

    pressing s first.  But are ts satisfied

    now?  hink of acquiring for myself one of our luxurious

    derred, for, so to speak, try is not yet

    adapted to ure, and ill forced to cut our

    spiritual bread far ten.

    Not t all arcectural ornament is to be neglected even in the

    rudest periods; but let our  be lined y, where

    tact enement of the

    s overlaid .  But, alas! I have been inside

    one or t th.

    t so degenerate but t  possibly live

    in a cave or a oday, it certainly is better to

    accept tages, t, wion

    and industry of mankind offer.  In suchis,

    boards and shingles, lime and bricks, are cheaper and more easily

    obtained table caves, or w

    quantities, or even empered clay or flat stones.  I speak

    understandingly on t, for I ed

    botically and practically.  ittle more

    o become ric

    noion a blessing.  the civilized man is

    a more experienced and  to make e to my own

    experiment.