66 
WALDEN. 
a living to get. And to meet this I have for farm 
produce sold 
$23 44 
Earned by day-labor, . . . . . 13 34 
In all, ........ $36 78, 
which subtracted from the sum of the outgoes leaves a 
balance of $25 21f on the one side, — this being very 
nearly the means with which I started, and the meas¬ 
ure of expenses to be incurred, — and on the other, 
beside the leisure and independence and health thus 
secured, a comfortable house for me as long as I choose 
to occupy it. 
These statistics, however accidental and therefore 
uninstructive they may appear, as they have a certain 
completeness, have a certain value also. Nothing was 
given me of which I have not rendered some account. 
It appears from the above estimate, that my food alone 
cost me in money about twenty-seven cents a week. It 
was, for nearly two years after this, rye and Indian 
meal without yeast, potatoes, rice, a very little salt pork, 
molasses, and salt, and my drink water. It was fit that 
I should live on rice, mainly, who loved so well the 
philosophy of India. To meet the objections of some 
inveterate cavillers, I may as well state, that if I dined 
out occasionally, as I always had done, and I trust shall 
have opportunities to do again, it was frequently to the 
detriment of my domestic arrangements. But the din¬ 
ing out, being, as I have stated, a constant element, 
does not in the least affect a comparative statement like 
this. 
I learned from my two years’ experience that it would 
cost incredibly little trouble to obtain one’s necessary food, 
