188 LIBERTY AND A LIVING. 



ernment of Massachusetts." This is what he 

 did. In 1843 ne ceased to pay the poll tax. He 

 had seceded. He says: " In fact I declare war 

 with the State after my own fashion." He was 

 put in prison, but that was a part of his design. 

 " Under a government which imprisons any un- 

 justly, the true place for a just man is also in 

 prison. I know this well, that if one thousand, 

 if one hundred, if ten men whom I could name 

 ay, if one honest man in this State of Massa- 

 chusetts, ceasing to hold slaves, were actually to 

 withdraw from this copartnership and be locked 

 up in the county jail therefor it would be the 

 abolition of slavery in America." A friend paid 

 the tax for him and continued year by year to 

 pay it, so that Thoreau was free to walk the 

 woods. 



This curious personality of Henry David 

 Thoreau stands alone, apparently, as a practical 

 attempt to grasp the good things of this world, 

 in a higher sense, without paying the penalty 

 which tradition and custom exact. In more 

 ways than in money we constantly pay for the 

 privilege of living in crowds. To say nothing 

 of the nervous wear and tear, the whole drift is 

 by association tending towards deterioration. 



