GROUND FOR A GARDEN. 1 29 



for masculine energy, and surely there is a 

 keen satisfaction in taking a rough field, a 

 tangled thorny thicket, a jumble of rocks and 

 stumps, and by the dint of honest toil, like a 

 hard-fought battle, changing all into smooth, 

 yielding fertility. 



I fear most of my readers are saying that 

 it would be a greater satisfaction to find such a 

 smooth piece of ground to begin with. Well, 

 that is not unwise, considering that the subdu- 

 ing process is a very expensive luxury. But 

 remember that even smooth land with an invit- 

 ing surface is not always the best. There is 

 just as much difference in the character of 

 ground as in that of people, and before enter- 

 ing into intimate relations with either, some 

 little investigation is necessary. It is said of 

 some persons that the more you do for them 

 the worse they treat you. There is the same 

 grain of truth in this remark when applied to 



