p1-2
ECONOMY
When I wrote the following pages, or rather the bulk of them,
I lived alone, in the woods, a mile from any neighbor, in a
house which I had built myself, on the shore of Walden Pond,
in Concord, Massachusetts, and earned my living by the labor
of my hands only. I lived there two years and two mouths. At
present I am a sojourner in civilized life again.
I should not obtrude my affairs so much on the notice of my
readers if very particular inquiries had not been made by my
townsmen concerning my mode of my life, which some would call
impertinent, though they do not appear to me at all impertinent,
but, considering the circumstances, very natural and impertinent.
Some have asked what I got to eat; if I did not feel lonesome; if
I was not afraid; and the like. Others have been curious to learn
what portion of my income I devoted to charitable purpose;
and some, who have large families, how many poor children
I maintained. I will therefore ask those of my readers who feel
no particular interest in me to pardon me if I undertake to
answer some of these questions in this book. In most books,
the I, or thee first person, is omitted; in this it will be retained; that,
in respect to egotism, is the main difference. We commonly do
not remember that it is, after all, always the first person that
is speaking. I should not talk so much about myself if there
were anybody else whom I knew as well. Unfortunately, I am
confined to this theme by the narrowness of my experience.
Moreover, I, on my side, require of every writer, first or last,
a simple and sincere account of his own life, and not merely
what he has heard of other men's lives; some such account
as he would send to his kindred from a distant land; for if he
has lived sincerely, it must have been in a distant land to me.