Walden

than from any necessity, I set up the frame of my house. No man was
ever more honored in the character of his raisers than I. They are
destined, I trust, to assist at the raising of loftier structures one
day. I began to occupy my house on the 4th of July, as soon as it was
boarded and roofed, for the boards were carefully feather-edged and
lapped, so that it was perfectly impervious to rain; but before
boarding I laid the foundation of a chimney at one end, bringing two
cartloads of stones up the hill from the pond in my arms. I built the
chimney after my hoeing in the fall, before a fire became necessary for
warmth, doing my cooking in the mean while out of doors on the ground,
early in the morning: which mode I still think is in some respects more
convenient and agreeable than the usual one. When it stormed before my
bread was baked, I fixed a few boards over the fire, and sat under them
to watch my loaf, and passed some pleasant hours in that way. In those
days, when my hands were much employed, I read but little, but the
least scraps of paper which lay on the ground, my holder, or
tablecloth, afforded me as much entertainment, in fact answered the
same purpose as the Iliad.