100 THE TIM BUNKEK PAPERS. 



&quot; It beats my muskrat swamp all hollow, where I got 

 two tun to the acre the first year after seeding down, and 

 I thought that was enough to keep an extra thanksgiving 

 on,&quot; chimed in Uncle Jotham Sparrowgrass. 



Eleven tun on four acres of barren salt mash, wliere 

 grass tried to grow and couldn t three years ago, is a 

 leetle miraculus, ain t it, Mr. Spooner ?&quot; asked Jake Frink, 

 looking over to the minister, with as much deference as if 

 he was a professor. 



&quot; The Bible says we are to have a new heavens and a 

 new earth, and I think Esq. Bunker is probably fulfilling 

 the latter part of the prophecy,&quot; replied the minister with 

 a quiet sort of smile, that left one in doubt whether he was 

 in earnest or not. 



These remarks of my neighbors on my reclaimed salt 

 marsh are a great contrast to the talk three years ago, 

 when I first undertook that job. I have not said anything 

 about this improvement yet, because I did not know 

 exactly how it was coining out. You know the tide flows 

 a long way up our great river, and all along the brinks, at 

 the mouth of creeks emptying into it, and along the Sound, 

 we have marshes bearing a great abundance of salt hay 

 a poor article for fodder, but very good for litter, mulch 

 ing, and manure. I had a few acres lying just below the 

 lot I bought of Jake Frink, where I cured the horse-pond. 

 There was not much to be done to it, but to put in a tide 

 gate at the culvert, and to do some ditching, to shut off 

 the sea-water. I thought if I could do this, I could bring 

 it into good meadow with very little expense. 



I talked the matter over with some of my neighbors, 

 and they all said it was of no use. But I hold that man 

 was born in the image of his Maker, and has a natural pas 

 sion for creating new things. This shows itself in all chil 

 dren, as soon as they get out of the cradle. They begin 

 to mnke hills in the dirt, to dig out small pond holes, and 

 fill them with water, to build houses and mud forts, to 



