1884.] VARIOUS VIEWS OF FARMING. 213 



fruits in the cool shade, have "been almost criminally negligent of 

 the duties we owe to posterity. 



And yet I would not look wholly upon the dark side of the 

 picture. Nature erects no fences for the purpose of keeping men 

 forever on the same spot where they were born. On the contrary, 

 Nature's methods rather invite exploration and the occupation by 

 her children of new territory, whether these children be weeds, 

 fruits, animals, or man; and it is in violation of no natural law 

 that each seeks for the most desirable location within his knowl- 

 edge or power of attainment. 



It is true, I was once inclined to criticise the method by which 

 this country has been peopled and its resources developed. I 

 thought I would have had the land along the Atlantic coast, 

 which was first settled by our forefathers, all made perfect in its 

 way, like the new town of Pullman — the swamps all drained, the 

 rocks all crushed, or buried, or put where they would have been 

 of the most use, and every acre and every rod run by a' "garden 

 of Eden " model — every acre being as good as the best, clear to 

 the border-line of civilization ; which line should have been pushed 

 back only so fast and so far as an increasing population of good 

 citizens might require. 



You must see that this would have been very nice, to have had 

 every acre of land, every rod of public road, and every grove of 

 trees, between the coast line and the most distant back lot, as per- 

 fect in its way as are the public grounds and streets around your 

 State capitol at Hartford. I would have had, too, every man tem- 

 perate, healthy, industrious, and self-supporting. I would have 

 had no fences bordering the highway, maintained at public expense 

 for the convenience of the few; for I would have had every ani- 

 mal-owner take care of his own, and I would have provided for no 

 army of soldiers, nor any policemen, except a few to guard the 

 line along the frontier to keep Indians and woodchucks from our 

 homes and gardens. 



But I have come to suspect later that the power which brought 

 this world and all the beings upon it into existence can be trusted 

 to manage its development after nature's own methods, and taking 

 this view I am forced to admit that every step in the world's 

 progress has been taken in conformity to law, and that every 

 apparent obstacle or loss has its use, and that every influence has 

 been in the line of public good. 



