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第8章

01-economy-第8章

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bank where they are mortgaged。  The man who has actually paid for

his farm with labor on it is so rare that every neighbor can point

to him。  I doubt if there are three such men in Concord。  What has

been said of the merchants; that a very large majority; even

ninety…seven in a hundred; are sure to fail; is equally true of the

farmers。  With regard to the merchants; however; one of them says

pertinently that a great part of their failures are not genuine

pecuniary failures; but merely failures to fulfil their engagements;

because it is inconvenient; that is; it is the moral character that

breaks down。  But this puts an infinitely worse face on the matter;

and suggests; beside; that probably not even the other three succeed

in saving their souls; but are perchance bankrupt in a worse sense

than they who fail honestly。  Bankruptcy and repudiation are the

springboards from which much of our civilization vaults and turns

its somersets; but the savage stands on the unelastic plank of

famine。  Yet the Middlesex Cattle Show goes off here with eclat

annually; as if all the joints of the agricultural machine were

suent。

    The farmer is endeavoring to solve the problem of a livelihood

by a formula more complicated than the problem itself。  To get his

shoestrings he speculates in herds of cattle。  With consummate skill

he has set his trap with a hair spring to catch comfort and

independence; and then; as he turned away; got his own leg into it。

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

poor in respect to a thousand savage comforts; though surrounded by

luxuries。  As Chapman sings;



             〃The false society of men 

                   for earthly greatness

              All heavenly comforts rarefies to air。〃



    And when the farmer has got his house; he may not be the richer

but the poorer for it; and it be the house that has got him。  As I

understand it; that was a valid objection urged by Momus against the

house which Minerva made; that she 〃had not made it movable; by

which means a bad neighborhood might be avoided〃; and it may still

be urged; for our houses are such unwieldy property that we are

often imprisoned rather than housed in them; and the bad

neighborhood to be avoided is our own scurvy selves。  I know one or

two families; at least; in this town; who; for nearly a generation;

have been wishing to sell their houses in the outskirts and move

into the village; but have not been able to accomplish it; and only

death will set them free。

    Granted that the majority are able at last either to own or hire

the modern house with all its improvements。  While civilization has

been improving our houses; it has not equally improved the men who

are to inhabit them。  It has created palaces; but it was not so easy

to create noblemen and kings。  And if the civilized man's pursuits

are no worthier than the savage's; if he is employed the greater

part of his life in obtaining gross necessaries and comforts merely;

why should he have a better dwelling than the former?

    But how do the poor minority fare?  Perhaps it will be found

that just in proportion as some have been placed in outward

circumstances above the savage; others have been degraded below him。

The luxury of one class is counterbalanced by the indigence of

another。  On the one side is the palace; on the other are the

almshouse and 〃silent poor。〃  The myriads who built the pyramids to

be the tombs of the Pharaohs were fed on garlic; and it may be were

not decently buried themselves。  The mason who finishes the cornice

of the palace returns at night perchance to a hut not so good as a

wigwam。  It is a mistake to suppose that; in a country where the

usual evidences of civilization exist; the condition of a very large

body of the inhabitants may not be as degraded as that of savages。

I refer to the degraded poor; not now to the degraded rich。  To know

this I should not need to look farther than to the shanties which

everywhere border our railroads; that last improvement in

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

sties; and all winter with an open door; for the sake of light;

without any visible; often imaginable; wood…pile; and the forms of

both old and young are permanently contracted by the long habit of

shrinking from cold and misery; and the development of all their

limbs and faculties is checked。  It certainly is fair to look at

that class by whose labor the works which distinguish this

generation are accomplished。  Such too; to a greater or less extent;

is the condition of the operatives of every denomination in England;

which is the great workhouse of the world。  Or I could refer you to

Ireland; which is marked as one of the white or enlightened spots on

the map。  Contrast the physical condition of the Irish with that of

the North American Indian; or the South Sea Islander; or any other

savage race before it was degraded by contact with the civilized

man。  Yet I have no doubt that that people's rulers are as wise as

the average of civilized rulers。  Their condition only proves what

squalidness may consist with civilization。  I hardly need refer now

to the laborers in our Southern States who produce the staple

exports of this country; and are themselves a staple production of

the South。  But to confine myself to those who are said to be in

moderate circumstances。

    Most men appear never to have considered what a house is; and

are actually though needlessly poor all their lives because they

think that they must have such a one as their neighbors have。  As if

one were to wear any sort of coat which the tailor might cut out for

him; or; gradually leaving off palm…leaf hat or cap of woodchuck

skin; complain of hard times because he could not afford to buy him

a crown!  It is possible to invent a house still more convenient and

luxurious than we have; which yet all would admit that man could not

afford to pay for。  Shall we always study to obtain more of these

things; and not sometimes to be content with less?  Shall the

respectable citizen thus gravely teach; by precept and example; the

necessity of the young man's providing a certain number of

superfluous glow…shoes; and umbrellas; and empty guest chambers for

empty guests; before he dies?  Why should not our furniture be as

simple as the Arab's or the Indian's?  When I think of the

benefactors of the race; whom we have apotheosized as messengers

from heaven; bearers of divine gifts to man; I do not see in my mind

any retinue at their heels; any carload of fashionable furniture。

Or what if I were to allow  would it not be a singular allowance?

 that our furniture should be more complex than the Arab's; in

proportion as we are morally and intellectually his superiors!  At

present our houses are cluttered and defiled with it; and a good

housewife would sweep out the greater part into the dust hole; and

not leave her morning's work undone。  Morning work!  By the blushes

of Aurora and the music of Memnon; what should be man's morning work

in this world?  I had three pieces of limestone on my desk; but I

was terrified to find that they required to be dusted daily; when

the furniture of my mind was all undusted still; and threw them out

the window in disgust。  How; then; could I have a furnished house?

I would rather sit in the open air; for no dust gathers on the

grass; unless where man has broken ground。

    It is the luxurious and dissipated who set the fashions which

the herd so diligently follow。  The traveller who stops at the best

houses; so called; soon discovers this; for the publicans presume

him to be a Sardanapalus; and if he resigned himself to their tender

mercies he would soon be completely emasculated。  I think that in

the railroad car we are inclined to spend more on luxury than on

safety and convenience; and it threatens without attaining these to

become no better than a modern drawing…room; wit

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