The Stranger in the Woods_ The - Michael Finkel

the sorts of places where it’s nearly impossible to generate all your own food.
To feed themselves, several Desert Fathers wove reed baskets, which their assistants sold in town, using
the proceeds to buy rations. In ancient China, hermits were shamans and herbalists and diviners. English
hermits took jobs as toll collectors, beekeepers, woodcutters, and bookbinders. Many were beggars.
In eighteenth-century England, a fad swept the upper class. Several families felt their estate needed a
hermit, and advertisements were placed in newspapers for “ornamental hermits” who were slack in
grooming and willing to sleep in a cave. The job paid well, and hundreds of hermits were hired, typically on
seven-year contracts, with one meal a day included. Some would emerge at dinner parties and greet guests.
The English aristocracy of this period believed hermits radiated kindness and thoughtfulness, and for a
couple of decades it was deemed worthy to keep one around.
Knight, of course, felt that anyone’s willing assistance tainted the whole thing. Either you are hidden or
you’re not, no middle ground. He wished to be unconditionally alone, exiled to an island of his own creation,
an uncontacted tribe of one. A single phone call letting his parents know he was okay and suddenly there
would be a connection.
The cabins around the ponds, Knight noted, had minimal security measures. Windows were often left
open, even when the owners were away. The woods offered excellent cover, and with few permanent
residents, the area would soon be empty for the off-season. A summer camp with a big pantry was nearby.
The easiest way to become a hunter-gatherer here was obvious.
And so Knight came to a conclusion. He decided to steal.