THE FREEDOM WAY
(Page 5 of 26)
"If one advances confidently in the direction of his
dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has
imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected..."
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- Thoreau
Next to the question of deciding that you are going to lead
the simple life, come what will, is that of deciding just
where you will live it. The very phrase simple life
connotes getting away from it all, up into the fastness of
the mountains or on the far-flung desert, and you are
wondering, with your slim resources and dependence upon
being where you can sell your skill, whether you're quite
ready to make drastic breaks such as this would entail.
You needn't worry about that part of it, because the fact
is that the important thing is to want to lead this sort of
life. Given that, places where you can live it abound.
Near large cities? Within twenty, thirty minutes of the
largest cities you will find men and women living it. In
any state?
Why not? One state is as good as another, although in the
West, where there are vast areas of public domain in the
form of national forests, it is easier to find land, and
cheaper, because, as you will read in due time, you can
lease from the Government sufficient land for simple living
for as little as $5 a year - but that isn't the only kind
of land on which you can live this simple life.
For instance, as long ago as ten years, there was a young
Englishman working as a clerk in a London bank. If you
think the city in which you live is crowded, try living and
making your way in London once. And if you think the
countryside around where you live is settled up, try
finding a place without people near London; almost anywhere
in Europe, for that matter.
But this young chap was determined he was going to get away
from the city. He managed it easily enough; he merely
rented enough room for his tent from a friendly farmer,
paid him a few pennies a day rent is all. "It is a
delightful country, beautiful and quiet."
From this beautiful and quiet countryside the clerk
commutes to crowded, dirty London every day. When he's done
with work, he hies back to his simple life-his quarters,
winter and summer, consist of a tent 7x10 feet in size. It
is furnished with a bunk along one side, a small trunk and
a converted sugar box which he uses as a larder and
kitchenette. Living thus simply, he has reduced expenses to
a minimum-and raised satisfaction in living to a maximum.
And all within 20 miles of the world's largest city.
Or New York City. It would be pretty hard to find a place
close to that city where this sort of life could be lived,
you would think, wouldn't you? But two girls, secretaries
in downtown offices, have managed it. They, too, rent from
a friendly farmer, live ecstatically and very economically
in a small cabin, built with their own hands. George Baker,
whose story you have partially learned in Section I, the
64-year-old man who found ease and peace and satisfaction
in the simple life, chose a spot in the mountains forty
miles west of Denver, Colorado. He didn't buy his 14 acres.
He leased it from the Forest Service at $1 per month.
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