190 CHRONICLES OF A CLAY FAKM. 



called it intensely ugly, and would have preferred 

 the previous smooth surface of the field, dank, cold, 

 and intractable as it was before. What a pleasant 

 effect upon the broad field of society it would have, 

 if a few furrow-tiles could undermine some of the 

 cold, stiff surfaces one meets with here and there, 

 through which nothing penetrates in which no 

 gentle plant takes root while the lighter and bet- 

 ter particles Nature originally gave, keep silting 

 away, as life advances, leaving nothing but a hard 

 and chilly surface growing colder and more im- 

 passive every day to all the genial influences which 

 shower warmth upon the heart that will but expand 

 to and accept them. 



" Well ! You are a-going deep to be sure ! " 

 said Mr. Greening, following the fresh-turned fur- 

 row, and picking up an antediluvian lump of sub- 

 soil now and then, and crushing it between his 

 fingers. " Why there 's plenty of sand here : this '11 

 be mild enough for any thing presently ; you do n't 

 call this a stiff soil?"* 



* How many stiff, dead and stubborn "clays" have we 

 passed of this same description, repulsive and apparently 

 worthless, which the drain tile would change into a beautiful 

 permeable soil, open to the kindliest cultivation ! There can 

 scarcely be found a more lucrative investment of capital in 



