OUR UNUSED CAPITAL. 367 



and He will show them His covenant." Beyond your most san- 

 guine hopes you have moved the fruit belt northward hundreds 

 of miles, to the amazement of the skeptical. Now there are 

 other victories to be achieved. The very air above you is thick 

 with gifts hovering like flocks ready to alight and glorify your 

 home. Lined up against the horizons all around are vast armies 

 ready to enter your gates and stand sentinel around you, and 

 you haven't yet opened the gates. 



It is astonishing what immense fortunes lie in a man's hands 

 and brain if he will only think and work. You yourselves can 

 be creators. '"I said ye are Gods, and all of you children of the 

 Most High." You enter His great fields, and you are in a land 

 of astonishments. I little knew what was in store for me when 

 eight years ago, broken in health and the wolf at the door, 

 going to work without money save $200, I drew on the exhaust- 

 less supplies of nature, which brought to my door health, beauty 

 and comfort. When I entered this happy land, which is not 

 "far away," I left the door ajar, and you can come in too. It's 

 wonderful ! Trees of various forms and hues of beauty stand 

 sentinel about me, some in garments of silver and sapphire. 

 Flowers are everywhere, thousands upon thousands. They 

 make their toilets in my presence and vie with each other to 

 please me, and in June I am in the midst of a sea of glory. I 

 am no visionary — not a parlor knight with theories. I have 

 fought the battle and won the victory. I have found so much 

 I want you to have a share. 



You owe a great debt to Minnesota — land of the sky-tinted 

 water! In 1857, when I came here, I thought it the most beau- 

 tiful land on which the sun ever shone. I used to drive through 

 thousands of acres of wild flowers overhung with billows of 

 fragrance. There were grand forests and beautiful wild parks. 

 The flower gardens have been turned into wheat fields, the beau- 

 tiful forests have been cut away and where years ago stood 

 lordly trees you now see houses as if planted on the lonely 

 prairies, without a bush or tree around them. This departed 

 beauty should be restored, and Minnesota should be the most 

 beautiful land on earth, with her murmuring streams and her lakes 

 flashing like diamonds on the bosom of Mother Earth. 



On almost every farm there are two neglected gold mines, 

 one in the front yard, and the other where the garden ought to 

 be. Fix up that front yard ! Plant a few fine trees, and they 

 will grow in value, and for some of them in after years you 

 would not take $100. Plant perennials that stay planted. 



