I have thus a tight shingled and plastered house， ten feet wide by fifteen long， and eight-feet posts， with a garret and a closet， a large window on each side， two trap doors， one door at the end， and a brick fireplace opposite.  The exact cost of my house， paying the usual price for such materials as I used， but not counting the work，all of which was done by myself， was as follows； and I give the details because very few are able to tell exactly what their houses cost， and fewer still， if any， the separate cost of the various materials which compose them：――

　　Boards …… $ 8.03+， mostly shanty boards. Refuse shingles for roof sides ……  4.00 Laths ……  1.25 Two second-hand windows with glass ……  2.43 One thousand old brick ……  4.00 Two casks of lime ……  2.40  That was high. Hair ……  0.31  More than I needed. Mantle-tree iron ……  0.15 Nails ……  3.90 Hinges and screws ……  0.14 Latch ……  0.10 Chalk ……  0.01 Transportation ……  1.40  I carried a good part

                                      ------- on my back.

　　In all …… $28.12+

　　These are all the materials， excepting the timber， stones， and sand， which I claimed by squatter's right.  I have also a small woodshed adjoining， made chiefly of the stuff which was left after building the house.

　　I intend to build me a house which will surpass any on the main street in Concord in grandeur and luxury， as soon as it pleases me as much and will cost me no more than my present one.

　　I thus found that the student who wishes for a shelter can obtain one for a lifetime at an expense not greater than the rent which he now pays annually.  If I seem to boast more than is becoming， my excuse is that I brag for humanity rather than for myself； and my shortcomings and inconsistencies do not affect the truth of my statement.  Notwithstanding much cant and hypocrisy ――chaff which I find it difficult to separate from my wheat， but for which I am as sorry as any man ―― I will breathe freely and stretch myself in this respect， it is such a relief to both the moral and physical system； and I am resolved that I will not through humility become the devil's attorney.  I will endeavor to speak a good word for the truth.  At Cambridge College the mere rent of a student's room， which is only a little larger than my own， is thirty dollars each year， though the corporation had the advantage of building thirty-two side by side and under one roof， and the occupant suffers the inconvenience of many and noisy neighbors， and perhaps a residence in the fourth story.  I cannot but think that if we had more true wisdom in these respects， not only less education would be needed， because， forsooth， more would already have been acquired，but the pecuniary expense of getting an education would in a great measure vanish.  Those conveniences which the student requires at Cambridge or elsewhere cost him or somebody else ten times as great a sacrifice of life as they would with proper management on both sides.  Those things for which the most money is demanded are never the things which the student most wants.  Tuition， for instance， is an important item in the term bill， while for the far more valuable education which he gets by associating with the most cultivated of his contemporaries no charge is made.  The mode of founding a college is， commonly， to get up a subscription of dollars and cents，and then， following blindly the principles of a division of labor to its extreme ―― a principle which should never be followed but with circumspection ―― to call in a contractor who makes this a subject of speculation， and he employs Irishmen or other operatives actually to lay the foundations， while the students that are to be are said to be fitting themselves for it； and for these oversights successive generations have to pay.  I think that it would be better than this，for the students， or those who desire to be benefited by it， even to lay the foundation themselves.  The student who secures his coveted leisure and retirement by systematically shirking any labor necessary to man obtains but an ignoble and unprofitable leisure，defrauding himself of the experience which alone can make leisure fruitful.  "But，" says one， "you do not mean that the students should go to work with their hands instead of their heads？"  I do not mean that exactly， but I mean something which he might think a good deal like that； I mean that they should not play life， or study it merely， while the community supports them at this expensive game，but earnestly live it from beginning to end.  How could youths better learn to live than by at once trying the experiment of living？  Methinks this would exercise their minds as much as mathematics.  If I wished a boy to know something about the arts and sciences， for instance， I would not pursue the common course， which is merely to send him into the neighborhood of some professor， where anything is professed and practised but the art of life； ―― to survey the world through a telescope or a microscope， and never with his natural eye； to study chemistry， and not learn how his bread is made， or mechanics， and not learn how it is earned； to discover new satellites to Neptune， and not detect the motes in his eyes， or to what vagabond he is a satellite himself； or to be devoured by the monsters that swarm all around him， while contemplating the monsters in a drop of vinegar.  Which would have advanced the most at the end of a month ―― the boy who had made his own jackknife from the ore which he had dug and smelted， reading as much as would be necessary for this ―― or the boy who had attended the lectures on metallurgy at the Institute in the meanwhile， and had received a Rodgers' penknife from his father？  Which would be most likely to cut his fingers？……  To my astonishment I was informed on leaving college that I had studied navigation！ ―― why， if I had taken one turn down the harbor I should have known more about it.  Even the poor student studies and is taught only political economy， while that economy of living which is synonymous with philosophy is not even sincerely professed in our colleges.  The consequence is， that while he is reading Adam Smith， Ricardo， and Say， he runs his father in debt irretrievably.

　　這樣我有了一個密不通風，釘上木片，抹以泥灰的房屋，十英尺寬，十五英尺長，木拄高八英尺，還有一個閣樓，一個小間每一邊一扇大窗，兩個活板門，尾端有一個大門，正對大門有個磚砌的火爐。我的房子的支出，只是我所用的這些材料的一般價格，人工不算在內，因為都是我自己動手的，總數(shù)我寫在下面：我抄寫得這樣的詳細，因為很少數(shù)人能夠精確他說出來，他們的房子終究花了多少錢，而能夠把組成這一些房子的各式各樣的材料和各別的價格說出來的人，如果有的活，也是更加少了：――木板……八。０三五元（多數(shù)系舊板）

　　屋頂及墻板用的舊木片……四。０００元板條……一。二五０元兩扇舊窗及玻璃……二。四三０元一千塊舊磚……四。０００元兩箱石灰……二。四００元――買貴了頭發(fā)……０。三一０元――買多了壁爐用鐵片……０。一五０元釘……三。九００元鉸鏈及螺絲釘……０。一四０元閂子……０。一００元粉筆……０。０一０元搬運費……一。四００元――大多自己背共計……二八。一二五元所有材料都在這里了，除了木料，石頭，沙子，后面這些材料我是用在公地上占地蓋屋的人應該享受的特權取來的。我另外還搭了一個披屋，大都是用造了房子之后留下來的材料蓋的。

　　我本想給我造一座房子，論宏偉與華麗，要超過康科德大街上任何一座房子的，只要它能夠像目前的這間使我這樣高興，而且花費也不更多的話。

　　這樣我發(fā)現(xiàn)，只想住宿舍的學生完全能夠得到一座終身受用的房子，所花的費用還不比他現(xiàn)在每年付的住宿費大呢，如果說，我似乎夸大得有點過甚其辭，那未我的解釋是我并非為自己，是為人類而夸大；我的短處和前后不一致并不能影響我言論的真實性，盡管我有不少虛假和偽善的地方――那好像是難于從麥子上打掉的糠秕，我也跟任何人一樣為此感到遺憾，――我還是要自由地呼吸，在這件事上挺起我的腰桿子來，這對于品德和身體都是一個極大的快樂；而且我決定，決不屈辱地變成魔鬼的代言人，我要試著為真理說一句好話。在劍橋學院，一個學生住比我那房稍大一點兒的房間，光住宿費就是每年三十元，那家公司卻在一個屋頂下造了毗連的三十二個房間，占盡了便宜，房客卻因鄰居眾多而嘈雜，也許還不得不住在四層樓上，因而深感不便。我就不得不想著，如果我們在這些方面有更多的真知的見，不僅教育的需要可以減少，因為更多的教育工作早就可以完成了，而且為了受教育而必需有錢交費那樣的事情一定已經(jīng)大部分都消滅掉了。學生在劍橋或別的學校為了必需有的便利，花掉了他或別人的很大的生命代價，如果雙方都合理地處置這一類事情，那只消花十分之一就夠了。要收費的東西，決不是學生最需要的東西。例如，學費在這一學期的賬目中是一筆大的支出，而他和同時代人中最有教養(yǎng)的人往來，并從中得到更有價值得多的教育，這卻不需要付費。成立一個學院的方式，通常是弄到一批捐款的人，捐來大洋和角子，然后盲目地遵從分工的原則，分工分得到了家，這個原則實在是非得審慎從事不可的，――于是招攬了一個承辦大工程的包工來，他又雇用了愛爾蘭人或別的什么工人，而后果真奠基開工了，然后，學生們得適應在這里面住；而為了這一個失策，一代代的予弟就得付出學費。我想，學生或那些想從學校中得益的人，如果能自己來奠基動工，事情就會好得多。學生得到了他貪求的空閑與休息，他們根據(jù)制度，逃避了人類必需的任何勞動，得到的只是可恥的、無益的空閑，而能使這種空閑變?yōu)樨S富收獲的那種經(jīng)驗，他們卻全沒有學到。“可是，”

　　有人說，“你總不是主張學生不該用腦，而是應該用手去學習吧？”我不完全是這樣的主張，我主張的東西他應該多想一想；我主張他們不應該以生活為游戲，或僅僅以生活作研究，還要人類社會花高代價供養(yǎng)他們，他們應該自始至終，熱忱地生活。除非青年人立刻進行生活的實踐，他們怎能有更好方法來學習生活呢？我想這樣做才可以像數(shù)學一樣訓練他們的心智。舉例以明之。如果我希望一個孩子懂得一些科學文化，我就不愿意走老路子，那不過是把他送到附近的教授那兒去，那里什么都教，什么都練習，只是不教生活的藝術也不練習生活的藝術；――只是從望遠鏡或顯微鏡中考察世界，卻從不教授他用肉眼來觀看；研究了化學，卻不去學習他的面包如何做成，或者什么工藝，也不學如何掙來這一切的，雖然發(fā)現(xiàn)了海王星的衛(wèi)星，卻沒有發(fā)現(xiàn)自己眼睛里的微塵，更沒有發(fā)現(xiàn)自己成了哪一個流浪漢的衛(wèi)星；他在一滴醋里觀察怪物，卻要被他四周那些怪物吞噬。一個孩子要是自己開挖出鐵礦石來，自己熔煉它們，把他所需要知道的都從書本上找出來，然后他做成了一把他自己的折刀――另一個孩子則一方面在冶金學院里聽講冶煉的技術課，一方面收到他父親給他的一把洛杰斯牌子的折刀，――試想過一個月之后，哪一個孩子進步得更快？又是哪一個孩子會給折刀割破了手的呢？……真叫我吃驚，我離開大學的時候，說是我已經(jīng)學過航海學了！――其實，只要我到港口去打一個轉身，我就會學到更多這方面的知識。甚至貧困的學生也學了，并且只被教授以政治經(jīng)濟學，而生活的經(jīng)濟學，那是哲學的同義語，甚至沒有在我們的學院中認真地教授過。

　　結果弄成了這個局面，因兒子在研究亞當。斯密，李嘉圖和薩伊，父親卻陷入了無法擺脫的債務中。

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