"FALLOWS" AND WHAT FOLLOWS. 85 



for which halfway houses, real as well as metaphor- 

 ical, are not uncelebrated in fact and fiction. We 

 are told by the oldest of profane historians, that it 

 was the national practice of the ancient Persians to 

 think over every important plan twice : first, in the 

 morning when they were sober, and again in the 

 evening when they were making speeches ; and 

 vice versa: and as decision and steady purpose, in 

 the field, when the work is once begun, is as useful, 

 and almost as necessary, to the Farmer, as to the 

 Field-marshal ; and as that exacting and important 

 branch of the community your neighbors don't 

 usually approve of your doings until they under- 

 stand them or, in other words, laugh at you, till 

 you begin (or might begin) to laugh at them ; it is 

 eminently advisable, at least I found it so, to call a 

 pretty frequent meeting of that privy-council which 

 every man is Chairman of, who has got Daylight 

 and Eyes, Candlelight and Brains, a Farm and a 

 good Map of it. And if. O ardent and yet perhaps 

 sensitive Beginner, you will take one word of advice 

 from an " old file " if you once have come to a de- 

 termined vote and conclusion, after full deliberation 

 with these fellow-councilors, and after hearing all 

 tJiey have got to urge pro and con, don't let any 

 tiling or any body divert or modify your plan. 



