ii8 Frederick Law Olmsted 



both while you or I might have been blubbering over the 

 ruins of the first." 



And in the Life and Letters of Charles Loring Brace, ' there 

 is a letter probably late in 1848: 



"I must say Fred is getting to argue with the utmost 

 keenness, — a regular Dr. Taylor mind in its analytic power! 

 But what is queerest, never able to exercise that power ex- 

 cept in discussion! He is another Taylorite in his virtue 

 theory. I shouldn't be surprised if he turned out something 

 rather remarkable among men yet. ..." 



Although he had not had a chance to prove his executive 

 ability in any public capacity, he was known as a capable 

 manager in the handling of farm labor. Very early in his 

 agricultural career, there is an evidence of this in a letter 

 (1848) to his brother: 



I finally got things fixed so I could leave without much 

 anxiety. Robert returned, pretty well recovered; and work 

 cut out, with written directions, for every man of such sort 

 that they will be profitably and seasonably employed 'til I 

 return, without much need of judgment. 



His democratic ideals in general were well understood 

 from his writings. There are some passages from letters 

 written early in his career as a landscape architect which 

 further interpret these with special regard to his chosen 

 profession. 



The letter of i860, addressed to a subordinate who had 

 referred to the difference in their "stations in life," contains 

 the following : 



The phrase "stations in life" is ordinarily used with a 

 meaning the propriety of which I am not accustomed to 

 recognize. That I have enjoyed greater advantages of 

 education in some respects than most of the keepers is true, 

 but so far as this means book-education, there is no man 

 among you who has it not in his power to obtain a better 

 education than mine, during the ordinary period of reserve 

 duty, within a very few years. As for my education in other 



' Published 1894, p. 61-62. 



