Summary

Woolf begins her essay by announcing that "no one perhaps has ever felt passionately towards a lead pencil. But there are circumstances in which it can become supremely desirable to possess one" (1). One of these circumstances, she explains, occurs when we wish to explore life outside. We make the excuse of having to buy a pencil so that "we could indulge safely in the greatest pleasure of town life in winter – rambling the streets of London" (1).

She goes on to say that, when walking through London, it is best to do it in the evening during the winter. This timing is important because the streets are more "sociable" and we are not tempted to retreat indoors for cool air as we would be in the summer (2). When one leaves the house, Woolf argues, the self disappears and one joins "that vast republican army of...