90 THE LURE OF THE LAND 



Street synonymous with robbery; but that is not the 

 kind of agriculture that I have in view. On the farm 

 alone a human unit can come into real communion with 

 nature. In the fields he sees illustrated better than 

 anywhere else the unalterable laws of nature working 

 for the benefit of humanity. In the forest he can sit 

 with the trees and God as his auditors and discourse 

 upon life as he can in no other environment. The ris- 

 ing of the sun inspires him, the gathering of the storm 

 awes him, the beauty of nature charms him, the joy of 

 life consoles him. I cannot get it out of my mind that 

 the natural must in all cases be superior to the artifi- 

 cial. I cannot escape from the belief that the man 

 who lives in closest touch with nature, other things being 

 equal, will be the best man and have the broadest view 

 of human life, human activity and human destiny. 



THE FAEMEB, OF THE FUTURE. 



The farmer of the future, if he develops in accord- 

 ance with the views which I have tried to express, will 

 be the leader of thought, the expounder of the true phi- 

 losophy, and the conserver of wholesome politics for the 

 nation. When I go on the East Side of New York 

 and look upon human life as it exists in those crowded 

 tenements, and upon human activity as it goes from the 

 dingy rooms of the tenement house to the seething heat 

 of the factory, without a glimpse of the sky or a patch 

 of green, I despair of the country. I cannot conceive 

 of this country prospering and growing and leading 

 nations when peopled by those who live in such an en- 

 vironment. On the contrary, when I go into the peace- 

 ful regions of country life and look upon the farmer 

 at the plow, or in the garden, or in the forest, when I 

 see nature springing into bounteous life in May and 



