68 In Touch with Nature. 



berries I gather, as if God labelled them, ' These 

 berries grew for John,' and so James must not 

 touch them, not even if John is disposed to let 

 them rot. And if I make cloth out of birch-bark 

 and am suited, why not ? But if I do, I am landed 

 in the mad-house." 



" I cannot see why you blame your ill luck on 

 Thoreau ; the fact is, you've been too lazy to 

 work." 



" You simply talk like all the rest," he replied, 

 with no trace of ill humor. " I have had only 

 myself to consult, and tried the Walden plan, 

 with improvements, and the result was, as you see, 

 a failure. I was told I must do as the world was 

 doing ; must drift with the human tide or strand 

 and rot. The world was right, and yet is not 

 right. Should there not be a little more personal 

 liberty? Why cannot a man break away from 

 this tyranny of established custom ? Of course, it 

 is useless to try ; but then comes up the old ques- 

 tion, Where's the hitch in independent philosophy, 

 as I call it ?" 



" It lies in the fact, perhaps, that man is a social 

 and gregarious animal, and in communities the 



