THE LIFE WORTH LIVING HENRY 

 DAVID THOREAU 



IT has often been urged that such a scheme as 

 mine would be all very well for a man with 

 even a small income, say sufficient to insure 

 him and his family against starvation at any 

 time, and to give him the few luxuries which 

 with most people of refinement have become 

 almost necessary. For instance, even an in- 

 come of five hundred dollars a year might war- 

 rant a person of very simple tastes in making 

 such an experiment as I have outlined ; such a 

 sum would, at least, provide oatmeal and milk, 

 bread and coffee. It would be largely a return 

 to first principles in household economy, but 

 there are people who would not grumble could 

 they exchange a life of intellectual plenty even 

 at this cost of superfluities. So modest a sum 

 as five hundred dollars a year, if used with skill, 

 might provide a glimpse of such dissipation 

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