huckleberries; that surely I could do, and its small profits might
suffice--for my greatest skill has been to want but little--so little
capital it required, so little distraction from my wonted moods, I
foolishly thought. While my acquaintances went unhesitatingly into trade
or the professions, I contemplated this occupation as most like theirs;
ranging the hills all summer to pick the berries which came in my way,
and thereafter carelessly dispose of them; so, to keep the flocks of
Admetus. I also dreamed that I might gather the wild herbs, or carry
evergreens to such villagers as loved to be reminded of the woods, even
to the city, by hay-cart loads. But I have since learned that trade
curses everything it handles; and though you trade in messages from
heaven, the whole curse of trade attaches to the business.

As I preferred some things to others, and especially valued my freedom,
as I could fare hard and yet succeed well, I did not wish to spend
my time in earning rich carpets or other fine furniture, or delicate
cookery, or a house in the Grecian or the Gothic style just yet. If
there are any to whom it is no interruption to acquire these things,
and who know how to use them when acquired, I relinquish to them the
pursuit. Some are "industrious," and appear to love labor for its own
sake, or perhaps because it keeps them out of worse mischief; to such I
have at present nothing to say. Those who would not know what to do with
more leisure than they now enjoy, I might advise to work twice as
hard as they do--work till they pay for themselves, and get their free
papers. For myself I found that the occupation of a day-laborer was the
most independent of any, especially as it required only thirty or forty
days in a year to support one. The laborer's day ends with the going
down of the sun, and he is then free to devote himself to his chosen
pursuit, independent of his labor; but his employer, who speculates from
month to month, has no respite from one end of the year to the other.

In short, I am convinced, both by faith and experience, that to maintain
one's self on this earth is not a hardship but a pastime, if we will
live simply and wisely; as the pursuits of the simpler nations are still
the sports of the more artificial. It is not necessary that a man should
earn his living by the sweat of his brow, unless he sweats easier than I
do.

One young man of my acquaintance, who has inherited some acres, told me
that