COMMUTER'S THANKSGIVING 231 



the greatest is the shaping of life to fit the flat, 

 conforming, and sharing one's personality, losing 

 it indeed! I'll commute first! The only thing 

 I possess that distinguishes me from a factory 

 shoe-last or an angel of heaven is my personality. 

 Shoe-lasts are known by sizes and styles, angels 

 by ranks ; but a man is known by what he is n't, 

 and by what he has n't, in common with anybody 

 else. 



One must commute, if one would live in a 

 house, and have a home of one's own, and a per- 

 sonality of one's own, provided, of course, that 

 one works in New York City or in Boston or 

 Chicago; and provided, further, that one is as 

 poor as one ought to be. And most city workers 

 are as poor as they ought to be as poor, in 

 other words, as I am. 



Poor ! Where is the man rich enough to buy 

 Central Park or Boston Common ? For that he 

 must needs do who would make a city home with 

 anything like my dooryard and sky and quiet. 

 A whole house, after all, is only the beginning of 

 a home ; the rest of it is dooryard and situation. 

 A house is for the body ; a home for body and 

 soul; and the soul needs as much room outside 



