48 LIBERTY AND A LIVING. 



for rational sport ; he may, like the unfortunate 

 person of whom I spoke at the beginning of 

 this book, " die in harness " as a typical Amer- 

 ican. I believe that there is an escape from 

 the anxiety, the toil, the wear of business in 

 rational pursuits offered to us by the country, 

 and that we can abandon the town without 

 sacrificing culture, education, and intellectual 

 life. I am free to admit that I should not 

 advise any man accustomed to living in the 

 tittle-tattle of the town, accustomed to " pad- 

 dling in social slush," as Thoreau puts it, to go 

 to the country carrying nothing with him. If 

 a man has no resources of his own, if he finds 

 no pleasure in books and literature, I should 

 say beware of the country. Any such scheme 

 as I have outlined would fail ; it may be that 

 very few men are so fond of out-door life that 

 they would consider the loss of New York's 

 advantages as of small account in comparison 

 with the joys of wood-chopping and oyster- 

 dredging. In writing these pages I have had 

 no intention of tempting away the clerk from 

 his yardstick or his ledger, or the broker from 

 his office. I have simply had my say, knowing 

 that I am in an insignificant minority. I think I 



