crux of the whole problem was economic, I knew that I was not the
gainer by a larger income, if I could buy a more real satisfaction on
less income. I saw that it was the artificial needs of life that made
me a slave; the real needs of life were few. A cottage and a hundred
pounds a year in a village meant happiness and independence; but dared
I sacrifice twice or thrice the income to secure it? The debate went
on for years, and it was ended only when I applied to it one fixed and
reasoned principle. That principle was that my first business as a
rational creature was _not to get a living but to live_; and that I was
a fool to sacrifice the power of living in securing the means of life.




CHAPTER IV

EARTH-HUNGER

Like Charles II., who apologised for being so unconscionably long in
dying, I must apologise for being so long in coming to my point, which
is the possibility of buying happiness at a cheaper rate than London
offers it. As it took me twenty years of experience to make my
discovery, I may claim, however, that three chapters is no immoderate
amount of matter in which to describe it. My chief occupation through
these years was to keep my discontent alive. Satisfaction is the death
of progress, and I knew well that if I once acquiesced entirely in the
conditions of my life, my fate was sealed.

I did not acquiesce, though the temper of my revolt was by no means
steady. There were times when--to reverse an ancient saying--the muddy