In this course which our ancestors took there was a show of prudence at least， as if their principle were to satisfy the more pressing wants first.  But are the more pressing wants satisfied now？  When I think of acquiring for myself one of our luxurious dwellings， I am deterred， for， so to speak， the country is not yet adapted to human culture， and we are still forced to cut our spiritual bread far thinner than our forefathers did their wheaten. Not that all architectural ornament is to be neglected even in the rudest periods； but let our houses first be lined with beauty， where they come in contact with our lives， like the tenement of the shellfish， and not overlaid with it.  But， alas！ I have been inside one or two of them， and know what they are lined with.

　　Though we are not so degenerate but that we might possibly live in a cave or a wigwam or wear skins today， it certainly is better to accept the advantages， though so dearly bought， which the invention and industry of mankind offer.  In such a neighborhood as this，boards and shingles， lime and bricks， are cheaper and more easily obtained than suitable caves， or whole logs， or bark in sufficient quantities， or even well-tempered clay or flat stones.  I speak understandingly on this subject， for I have made myself acquainted with it both theoretically and practically.  With a little more wit we might use these materials so as to become richer than the richest now are， and make our civilization a blessing.  The civilized man is a more experienced and wiser savage.  But to make haste to my own experiment.

　　Near the end of March， 1845， I borrowed an axe and went down to the woods by Walden Pond， nearest to where I intended to build my house， and began to cut down some tall， arrowy white pines， still in their youth， for timber.  It is difficult to begin without borrowing， but perhaps it is the most generous course thus to permit your fellow-men to have an interest in your enterprise.  The owner of the axe， as he released his hold on it， said that it was the apple of his eye； but I returned it sharper than I received it.  It was a pleasant hillside where I worked， covered with pine woods，through which I looked out on the pond， and a small open field in the woods where pines and hickories were springing up.  The ice in the pond was not yet dissolved， though there were some open spaces，and it was all dark-colored and saturated with water.  There were some slight flurries of snow during the days that I worked there；but for the most part when I came out on to the railroad， on my way home， its yellow sand heap stretched away gleaming in the hazy atmosphere， and the rails shone in the spring sun， and I heard the lark and pewee and other birds already come to commence another year with us.  They were pleasant spring days， in which the winter of man's discontent was thawing as well as the earth， and the life that had lain torpid began to stretch itself.  One day， when my axe had come off and I had cut a green hickory for a wedge， driving it with a stone， and had placed the whole to soak in a pond-hole in order to swell the wood， I saw a striped snake run into the water， and he lay on the bottom， apparently without inconvenience， as long as I stayed there， or more than a quarter of an hour； perhaps because he had not yet fairly come out of the torpid state.  It appeared to me that for a like reason men remain in their present low and primitive condition； but if they should feel the influence of the spring of springs arousing them， they would of necessity rise to a higher and more ethereal life.  I had previously seen the snakes in frosty mornings in my path with portions of their bodies still numb and inflexible， waiting for the sun to thaw them.  On the 1st of April it rained and melted the ice， and in the early part of the day，which was very foggy， I heard a stray goose groping about over the pond and cackling as if lost， or like the spirit of the fog.

　　我們的祖先采取這個做法，可以看出，他們至少是非常小心的，他們的原則似乎以滿足最緊迫的急需為第一。而現在，我們最緊迫的急需滿足了沒有呢？想到要給我自己置備一幢奢華的廣廈，我就垂頭喪氣了，因為看來這一片土地上還沒有相應的人類文化，我們至今還不得不減少我們精神的口糧，減得比我們的祖先節省面粉還要多。這倒不是說一切建筑的裝飾甚至可以在最初的階段里完全忽略掉；而是說可以把我們房屋里和我們生活有聯系的部分搞得美一點，就像貝殼的內壁那樣，但千萬不能搞得過分的美。可是，唉！我曾經走進過一兩座房屋，從而知道它們的內部是如何布置的呵！

　　當然我們沒有退化到今天住窯洞，住尖屋，或穿獸皮的程度，自然羅，那付出了高價換來的便利人類的發明與工業的貢獻也還是應該接受的。在我們這一帶，木板、屋面板、石灰、磚頭總比可以住人的洞窟，原根的圓木，大量的樹皮，或粘土或平坦的石片更容易得到，也更便宜。我說得相當內行吧，因為我在理論和實際上都熟悉這一些事。

　　只要再聰明一點兒，我們就可以用這些材料，使我們比今天最富有的人還更加富有，使我們的文明成為一種祝福。文明人不過是更有經驗、更為聰明一些的野蠻人，可是，讓我趕緊來敘述我自己的實驗吧。

　　一八四五年三月尾，我借來一柄斧頭，走到瓦爾登湖邊的森林里，到達我預備造房子的地點附近，就開始砍伐一些箭矢似的高聳入云的還年幼的白松來做我的木材。開始時要不東借西借，總是很難的，但這也許還是唯一的妙法，讓你的朋友們對你的事業發生興趣。斧頭的主人，在他出手借給我的時候，說它是他掌中的珍珠；可是我歸還他時，斧頭是愈加鋒利了。我工作的地點是一個怡悅的山側，滿山松樹，穿過松林我望見了湖水，還望見林中一塊小小空地，小松樹和山核桃樹叢生著。湖水凝結成冰，沒有完全融化，只化了幾處地方，全是黝黑的顏色，而且滲透著水。我在那里工作的幾天之內，還飄過幾陣小雪：但當我回家去的途中，出來走到鐵道上的時候，在大部分的地方，它那黃沙地一直延伸過去，閃爍在蒙蒙的大氣中，而鐵軌也在春天的陽光下發光了，我聽到云雀、小鵝和別的鳥雀都到了，來和我們一塊兒開始過這新的一年。那是愉快的春日，人們感到不滿的冬日正跟凍上一樣地消溶，而蟄伏的生命開始舒伸了。有一天，我的斧頭柄掉了，我伐下一段青青的山核桃木來做成一個楔子，用一塊石頭敲緊了它，就把整個斧頭浸在湖水中，好讓那木楔子漲大一些，這時我看到一條赤練蛇竄入水中，顯然毫不覺得不方便，它躺在湖水底，何止一刻鐘，竟跟我在那兒的時間一樣長久；也許它還沒有從蟄伏的狀態中完全蘇醒過來。照我看，人類之還殘留在目前的原始的低級狀態中，也是同樣的原因；可是人類如果感到萬春之春的影響把他們喚醒了起來，他們必然要上升到更高級、更升華的生命中去。以前，我在降霜的清晨看到過路上一些蛇，它們的身子還有一部分麻木不靈活，還在等待太陽出來喚醒它們。四月一日下了雨，冰溶了，這天的大半個早晨是霧蒙蒙的，我聽到一只失群的孤鵝摸索在湖上，迷途似的哀鳴著，像是霧的精靈一樣。

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