Page:The writings of Henry David Thoreau, v2.djvu/107

 Costs more than Indian meal, both money and trouble. Sugar .................... 0.80 Lard ..................... 0.65 Apples ................... 0.25 Dried apple .............. 0.22 Sweet potatoes ........... 0.10 One pumpkin .............. 0.06 One watermelon ........... 0.02 Salt ..................... 0.03

Yes, I did eat $8.74, all told; but I should not thus unblushingly publish my guilt, if I did not know that most of my readers were equally guilty with myself, and that their deeds would look no better in print. The next year I sometimes caught a mess of fish for my dinner, and once I went so far as to slaughter a woodchuck which ravaged my bean-field- effect his transmigration, as a Tartar would say- and devour him, partly for experiment's sake; but though it afforded me a momentary enjoyment, notwithstanding a musky flavor, I saw that the longest use would not make that a good practice, however it might seem to have your woodchucks ready dressed by the village butcher.

Clothing and some incidental expenses within the same dates, though little can be inferred from this item, amounted to