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 



