4 MY SUMMER IN A GARDEN. 



land. The Teutonic races all love turf: 

 they emigrate in the line of its growth. 

 To dig in the mellow soil to dig 

 moderately, for all pleasure should be 

 taken sparingly is a great thing. One 

 gets strength out of the ground as often 

 as one really touches it with a hoe. 

 Antceus (this is a classical article) was no 

 doubt an agriculturist ; and such a prize 

 fighter as Hercules couldn t do any thing 

 with him till he got him to lay down his 

 spade, and quit the soil. It is not simply 

 beets and potatoes and corn and string- 

 beans that one raises in his well-hoed 

 garden : it is the average of human life. 

 There is life in the ground ; it goes into 

 the seeds ; and it also, when it is stirred 

 up, goes into the man who stirs it. The 

 hot sun on his back as he bends to 

 his shovel and hoe, or contemplatively 

 rakes the warm and fragrant loam, is 

 better than much medicine. The buds 



