And What We Gain 217 



tempt to get a great deal of life out of com- 

 paratively few dollars, the result will be rags 

 for the family. Thoreau is eloquent upon the 

 subject of patches, and could see nothing to be 

 ashamed of in them. Since his day the matter 

 has been largely simplified for the weaklings 

 who do not like to excite comment even of 

 people who have never pondered upon the 

 beauty of patches. Clothing, and every other 

 commodity which is largely made by machinery, 

 has been cheapened in proportion to the part 

 of the work performed by machinery, and every 

 year this part grows larger and larger. Conse- 

 quently, the amount of clothing which can be 

 bought for a day's labor is six or seven times 

 as great as it was one hundred years ago, and 

 three or four times as great as when the hermit 

 of Walden jotted down sarcastic notes about 

 the man who was not ashamed of going around 

 with a broken leg, but very much ashamed of a 

 broken pair of trousers. This process is going 

 on so steadily that it is easy to foresee the day 

 when a few days' work upon the part of the 

 laborer or mechanic will be sufficient to pro- 

 vide himself and his family with unpatched and 



