WALDEN AND ON THE DUTY OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE. Henry David Thoreau

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ at present nothing to say. Those who would not know what to do

      with more leisure than they now enjoy, I might advise to work twice as

      hard as they do,—work till they pay for themselves, and get their free

      papers. For myself I found that the occupation of a day-laborer was the

      most independent of any, especially as it required only thirty or forty

      days in a year to support one. The laborer’s day ends with the going

      down of the sun, and he is then free to devote himself to his chosen

      pursuit, independent of his labor; but his employer, who speculates

      from month to month, has no respite from one end of the year to the

      other.

      In short, I am convinced, both by faith and experience, that to

      maintain one’s self on this earth is not a hardship but a pastime, if

      we will live simply and wisely; as the pursuits of the simpler nations

      are still the sports of the more artificial. It is not necessary that a

      man should earn his living by the sweat of his brow, unless he sweats

      easier than I do.

      One young man of my acquaintance, who has inherited some acres, told me

      that he thought he should live as I did, _if he had the means_. I would

      not have any one adopt _my_ mode of living on any account; for, beside

      that before he has fairly learned it I may have found out another for

      myself, I desire that there may be as many different persons in the

      world as possible; but I would have each one be very careful to find

      out and pursue _his own_ way, and not his father’s or his mother’s or

      his neighbor’s instead. The youth may build or plant or sail, only let

      him not be hindered from doing that which he tells me he would like to

      do. It is by a mathematical point only that we are wise, as the sailor

      or the fugitive slave keeps the polestar in his eye; but that is

      sufficient guidance for all our life. We may not arrive at our port

      within a calculable period, but we would preserve the true course.

      Undoubtedly, in this case, what is true for one is truer still for a

      thousand, as a large house is not proportionally more expensive than a

      small one, since one roof may cover, one cellar underlie, and one wall

      separate several apartments. But for my part, I preferred the solitary

      dwelling. Moreover, it will commonly be cheaper to build the whole

      yourself than to convince another of the advantage of the common wall;

      and when you have done this, the common partition, to be much cheaper,

      must be a thin one, and that other may prove a bad neighbor, and also

      not keep his side in repair. The only coöperation which is commonly

      possible is exceedingly partial and superficial; and what little true

      coöperation there is, is as if it were not, being a harmony inaudible

      to men. If a man has faith, he will coöperate with equal faith

      everywhere; if he has not faith, he will continue to live like the rest

      of the world, whatever company he is joined to. To coöperate, in the

      highest as well as the lowest sense, means _to get our living

      together_. I heard it proposed lately that two young men should travel

      together over the world, the one without money, earning his means as he

      went, before the mast and behind the plow, the other carrying a bill of

      exchange in his pocket. It was easy to see that they could not long be

      companions or coöperate, since one would not _operate_ at all. They

      would part at the first interesting crisis in their adventures. Above

      all, as I have implied, the man who goes alone can start to-day; but he

      who travels with another must wait till that other is ready, and it may

      be a long time before they get off.

      But all this is very selfish, I have heard some of my townsmen say. I

      confess that I have hitherto indulged very little in philanthropic

      enterprises. I have made some sacrifices to a sense of duty, and among

      others have sacrificed this pleasure also. There are those who have

      used all their arts to persuade me to undertake the support of some

      poor family in the town; and if I had nothing to do,—for the devil

      finds employment for the idle,—I might try my hand at some such pastime

      as that. However, when I have thought to indulge myself in this

      respect, and lay their Heaven under an obligation by maintaining

      certain poor persons in all respects as comfortably as I maintain

      myself, and have even ventured so far as to make them the offer, they

      have one and all unhesitatingly preferred to remain poor. While my

      townsmen and women are devoted in so many ways to the good of their

      fellows, I trust that one at least may be spared to other and less

      humane pursuits. You must have a genius for charity as well as for any

      thing else. As for Doing-good, that is one of the professions which are

      full. Moreover, I have tried it fairly, and, strange as it may seem, am

      satisfied that it does not agree with my constitution. Probably I

      should not consciously and deliberately forsake my particular calling

      to СКАЧАТЬ