142 CHRONICLES OF A CLAY FARM. 



To those complicate relations of life in which 

 there is at once antagonism of interest yet mutu- 

 ality of object ; to that relation (for present in- 

 stance) implied by the words " Landlord and 

 Tenant," how close, how admirably apposite seems 

 the quaint rule laid down by the good old church- 

 man ! " Place yourself in your neighbor's position," 

 he seems to say (though indeed his language needs 

 no paraphase,) " and look back upon yourself from 

 that point: the thing is difficult, and there is little 

 danger of your getting too perfect in the art of 

 looking on your own interest with your neighbor's 

 eyes. Let the Antagonism between your interest 

 and his be for the time imaginary, the Mutuality 

 real. So will you see your own best interest and 

 happiness in truer light and leisure, by taking 

 your neighbor's judgment, even for his own ends, 

 into council with your own." 



The too frequent practice is to do the exact 

 reverse : to realize the antagonism, and make the 

 mutuality a fiction and a humbug. What the 

 effect is first upon the soil, secondly upon the 

 laborer, and thirdly on the public wealth, wherever 

 this mistaken system has been long in operation, 

 let him say who has seen a country, a district, or 

 even a single acre which has been the arena of 



