Henry David Thoreau 1 73 



much the year around, and this rule obtains all 

 the more strictly with subordinates. 



Therefore the problem becomes in the case 

 of ninety-nine men out of a hundred : Either 

 to give up one or the other. I have listened 

 to scores of persons to whom I have submitted 

 this problem, who are very certain that no 

 man, especially if bred in a large city, would 

 consent to forsake the pleasures of the town 

 for the quiet of the country. I took the trouble 

 once to find out, as nearly as possible, exactly 

 what the average business man means by the 

 word "pleasure." It seems that in the opinion 

 of the typical young man of business, pleasure 

 means going to the theatre once or twice a 

 week, meeting large numbers of other young 

 men and young women in the shops, or 

 in the streets, or in their homes, or at church. 

 The essence of this pleasure is the crowd, 

 largely of inane people characterized by unrest, 

 hurry, or idle curiosity. This same love of 

 the crowd characterizes many strata of society 

 in cities, and the disease seems to thrive by 

 what it feeds upon. As an illustration, take 

 the history of the efforts made by one of our 



