Henry David Thoreau: Walden

1. Economy (continued)

     House ................................. $ 28.12+
     Farm one year ........................... 14.72+
     Food eight months .......................  8.74
     Clothing, etc., eight months ............  8.40-3/4
     Oil, etc., eight months .................  2.00
                                             -----------
         In all ............................ $ 61.99-3/4

I address myself now to those of my readers who have a living to get. And to meet this I have for farm produce sold

                                             $ 23.44
     Earned by day-labor ....................  13.34
                                             -------
         In all ............................ $ 36.78,

which subtracted from the sum of the outgoes leaves a balance of $25.21 3/4 on the one side -- this being very nearly the means with which I started, and the measure of expenses to be incurred -- and on the other, beside the leisure and independence and health thus secured, a comfortable house for me as long as I choose to occupy it.

These statistics, however accidental and therefore uninstructive they may appear, as they have a certain completeness, have a certain value also. Nothing was given me of which I have not rendered some account. It appears from the above estimate, that my food alone cost me in money about twenty-seven cents a week. It was, for nearly two years after this, rye and Indian meal without yeast, potatoes, rice, a very little salt pork, molasses, and salt; and my drink, water. It was fit that I should live on rice, mainly, who love so well the philosophy of India. To meet the objections of some inveterate cavillers, I may as well state, that if I dined out occasionally, as I always had done, and I trust shall have opportunities to do again, it was frequently to the detriment of my domestic arrangements. But the dining out, being, as I have stated, a constant element, does not in the least affect a comparative statement like this.