112 A GREEN MOUNTAIN CORN-FIELD. 



set forth the good points of his beast, even 

 while he confessed that the " heaves " were 

 pretty bad. I was glad, too, to find the 

 youngster in a general way something of an 

 optimist. When I asked him how long the 

 land had been cleared, he pointed to one 

 corner of it, and responded, using the pro- 

 noun with perfect naivete, " We cleared up 

 that piece last fall ; " and on my inquiring 

 whether it was not hard work, he replied, 

 in a tone of absolute satisfaction, "Oh, yes, 

 but you get your pay for it." Evidently he 

 believed in Green Mountain land, which I 

 thought a very fortunate circumstance. " Be 

 content with such things as ye have," said 

 the Apostle ; and it is certainly easier to 

 obey the precept if one looks upon his own 

 things as the best in the world. My youthful 

 philosopher seemed to consider it altogether 

 natural and reasonable that prosperity, in- 

 stead of coming of itself, should have to be 

 earned by the sweat of the brow. Perhaps 

 the crow and the cherry-tree are equally un- 

 sophisticated. Perhaps, too, men's fates are 

 less uneven than is sometimes supposed. For 

 I could not help thinking that if this boy 

 should retain his present view of things, he 



