By surveying, carpentry, and day-labor of various other kinds in the village in the meanwhile, for I have as many trades as fingers, I had earned $13.34. The expense of food for eight months, namely, from July 4th to March 1st, the time when these estimates were made, though I lived there more than two years — not counting potatoes, a little green corn, and some peas, which I had raised, nor considering the value of what was on hand at the last date — was
Rice ................ $1.73½
Molasses ............. 1.73 Cheapest form of the saccharine.
Rye meal ............. 1.04¾
Indian meal .......... 0.99¾ Cheaper than rye.
Pork ................. 0.22
All experiments which failed:
Flour ................ 0.88 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
$8.40¾
Oil and some household utensils ....... 2.00
So that all the pecuniary outgoes, excepting for washing and mending, which for the most part were done out of the house, and their bills have not yet been received — and these are all and more than all the ways by which money necessarily goes out in this part of the world — were
House ................................ $28.12½
Farm one year ........................ 14.72½
Food eight months .................... 8.74
Clothing, etc., eight months ......... 8.40¾
Oil, etc., eight months .............. 2.00
In all ............................... $61.99¾
I address myself now to those of my readers who have a living to get. And to meet this I have for farm produce sold
$23.44
Earned by day-labor .................. 13.34
In all ........................... $36.78,
which subtracted from the sum of the outgoes leaves a balance of $25.21¾ on the one side — this being very nearly the means with which I started, and the measure of expenses to be incurred — and on the other, beside the leisure and independence and health thus secured, a comfortable house for me as long as I choose to occupy it.
These statistics, however accidental and therefore uninstructive they may appear, as they have a certain completeness, have a certain value also. Nothing was given me of which I have not rendered some account. It appears from the above estimate, that my food alone cost me in money about twenty-seven cents a week. It was, for nearly two years after this, rye and Indian meal without yeast, potatoes, rice, a very little salt pork, molasses, and salt; and my drink, water. It was fit that I should live on rice, mainly, who love so well the philosophy of India. To meet the objections of some inveterate cavillers, I may as well state, that if I dined out occasionally, as I always had done, and I trust shall have opportunities to do again, it was frequently to the detriment of my domestic arrangements. But the dining out, being, as I have stated, a constant element, does not in the least affect a comparative statement like this.
簡單的說，梭羅在1845年7月4日到1846年3月1日，8個月的期間，共花掉了將近62美元。他的農作物賣了23.44元，作散工賺了13.34元，一共是$36.78。透支的25元，差不多是他原本預估要發生的。當時一美元相當於今日100美元，所以梭羅渡了8個月的假所花的代價為2,500美元，每個月大約新台幣壹萬元。當然這還包括他自己蓋的湖濱小屋。我因為住在父母親的房子，所以花費應該可以更省。
2008年，520的早上，外頭飄著毛毛細雨，雖是五月天，卻微有涼意。我一個人騎了我的川崎125（相當於梭羅所失去的栗色馬）來到大貝湖，真的是一時心血來潮，因為起床後無心看書。可能由於開始工作讓心變得有些散亂，不聽使喚。大貝湖其實是一個人工湖，湖面面積103公頃，由於遊客不多，非常清幽，甚至比天然的湖泊還有韻味；如果華爾騰湖是「神之滴」(God's Drop)，那大貝湖就是「人之滴」。大貝湖本只是曹公圳的一條支流，用來供應農田灌溉用水。後因太平洋戰爭爆發，日軍乃將之改為蓄水池，供應工業用水。之後又由自來水公司經營擴張，乃有今日之規模。
5月23日一早，政府又派人來對街的巷子裡敲打路面，依照我父親的說法是國民黨的白色恐怖幽靈又在蠢蠢欲動了。但這應該是綠色執政的高雄市政府幹的好事，不能把帳算在國民黨頭上。梭羅能夠把一切過手的東西都多多少少作成記錄「Nothing was given me of which I have not rendered some account.」, 他是這麼說來著。我曾經試過多次都失敗了。但是希望有一天我也能像他一樣，口袋空空一個多月，依然還能過活。莊子曾經說過這麼一個故事：
五月下旬，台灣就進入了梅雨季。六月初高雄連續下了一個禮拜的雨，雖然處於M型化社會中比較沒有多餘的那一塊，所幸我並沒有餓到肚子。雨停後，小狗卻因天氣潮濕得了皮膚病一直沒有好轉。蹓狗的同好中有人告訴我可以帶去泡泡海水自然就會好。我想這倒是去海邊一個不錯的理由，於是挑了一個早晨載著小狗到西子灣坐渡輪去旗津，一直玩到將近中午，喝了杯咖啡，學著齊天大聖在如來佛的掌中撒了泡尿，才又搭船回來。
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