2 MY SUMMER IN A GARDEN. 



the ground, and stay there. To own a 

 bit of ground, to scratch it with a hoe, 

 to plant seeds, and watch their renewal 

 of life, this is the commonest delight 

 of the race, the most satisfactory thing a 

 man can do. When Cicero writes of the 

 pleasures of old age, that of agriculture 

 is chief among them : &quot; Venio nunc ad 

 voluptates agricolarum, quibus ego in- 

 credibiliter detector: quce nee ulla im- 

 pediunter senectute, et mihi ad sapientis 

 vitam proxime videntur accedere&quot; (I 

 am driven to Latin because New- York 

 editors have exhausted the English lan 

 guage in the praising of spring, and es 

 pecially of the month of May.) 



Let us celebrate the soil. Most men 

 toil that they may own a piece of it ; 

 they measure their success in life by their 

 ability to buy it. It is alike the passion 

 of the parvenu and the pride of the 

 aristocrat. Broad acres are a patent of 



