MY SUMMER IN A GARDEN. 137 



and begin ; but I feel that I am warring 

 against something whose roots take hold 

 onll. 



By the time a man gets to be eighty, 

 he learns that he is compassed by limi 

 tations, and that there has been a 

 natural boundary set to his individual 

 powers. As he goes on in life, he begins 

 to doubt his ability to destroy all evil 

 and to reform all abuses, and to suspect 

 that there will be much left to do after 

 he has done. I stepped into my garden 

 in the spring, not doubting that I should 

 be easily master of the weeds. I have 

 simply learned that an institution which 

 is at least six thousand years old, and I 

 believe six millions, is not to be put 

 down in one season. 



I have been digging my potatoes, if 

 anybody cares to know it. I planted 

 them in what are called &quot; Early Kose,&quot; 

 the rows a little less than three feet 



