68 MY SUMMER IN A GARDEN. 



said, was a necessity of our civilization. 

 He did not care so much about the shoe- 

 business ; he did not think that the lit 

 tle Chinese shoes that he had seen would 

 be of service in the army : but the gar 

 den-interest was quite another affair. 

 We want to make a garden of our whole 

 country : the hoe, in the hands of a man 

 truly great, he was pleased to say, was 

 mightier than the pen. He presumed 

 that Gen. B tl r had never taken into 

 consideration the garden-question, or he 

 would not assume the position he does 

 with regard to the Chinese emigration. 

 He would let the Chinese come, even 

 if B tl r had to leave, I thought he 

 was going to say, but I changed the sub 

 ject. 



During our entire garden interview 

 (operatically speaking, the garden-scene), 

 the president was not smoking. I do not 

 know how the impression arose that he 



