THE FREEDOM WAY
(Page 7 of 26)
"Most of the luxuries, and many of the so-called
comforts, of life are . . . positive hindrances.
"
RELATED CONTENT
-Thoreau
Your first requirement, of course, in leading the simple
life, in going back to it, is to have something to live the
simple life in. In other words, shelter. You have been used,
maybe for your entire life, to apartments, hotel rooms, city
dwellings, so you know what rent means. Budget experts figure
on 25 per cent of the income for this one item of shelter
alone. So if you have been earning $400 a month, you have
been accustomed to laying $100 a month at least on the line
for rent. Chances are, what with rents inflated like
everything else, you have been paying out more than a fourth
of your income for the mere sake of a roof between you and
the stars.
You are concerned about going back to the simple life for
fear you can't afford what it costs, if you cut yourself
loose from your income.
Is that one of your misgivings?
Forget your past conceptions of what it costs for shelter,
because the simple life implies that you can get along with
a different kind of shelter; one which is just as good but
which costs you just a fraction.
Part of the fun of the simple life is cutting yourself
clear away from old ideas. Instead, for example, of living
in a city apartment, at $125 per month, with its varnished
floors, steam radiators, and janitor service, you get as
far away from that as you can, and live in the simplest
shelter imagimable.
Why, you might even live in a cave! It sounds preposterous
at first, but many persons have done and do it. Pat Lynch,
born into an aristocratic Irish family, ran away from home,
sailed the seven seas, then settled down in an isolated
valley in the Rocky Mountains, still named Pat's Hole in
his honor. He couldn't be bothered about building a house,
so he cleaned out and patched up a natural cave just above
the river. Here he lived in blissful comfort for 50 years.
During his latter dayshe died at the age of 98 just a few
years ago, hale and hearty to the end-some of his neighbors
"took pity on the poor old man", built him a tidy log
cabin, and moved Pat and his effects into it. But he didn't
like it. He went back to his hole in the cliff. Those who
visited him there found it neat as a pin, clean, sunny, and
bright; as good a home as any human being could want.
It shows one thing, what can be done. Chances are you will
want a different kind of shelter, and no reason why you
cannot have one for little or no cost.
For example, the market abounds with U.S. Army tents,
sixteen feet square, made of the best canvas procurable.
With sidewalls of lumber and lumber flooring, these
pyramidal tents of the Army are as good a home for a simple
liver as anyone could want, light, airy, wind-resistant,
warm.
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