The Rustic: a Protest. 219 



meet the requirements of his supposed inferi- 

 ority. And, to be less serious, how effectually 

 he silences many a college-bred theorist who 

 applies his knowledge of Nature to the rustic's 

 farm. 



"There ought to be clay near the surface 

 here and rock cropping out over yonder, and 

 your soil is better adapted to grass than grain," 

 the rustic is informed. 



" Ought to be, did you say, sir ? Well, per- 

 haps ; only it ain't so. There's no clay nor 

 rocks within sight, and I grow better wheat than 

 hay. ' ' 



The college man is not silenced. How could 

 a rustic accomplish that ? Perhaps he thinks 

 the man is lying, and he continues, patroniz- 

 ingly, "Your brook is too small for anything 

 but minnows, and all the game's killed off, of 

 course." 



" Good-sized minnies, sir, in that ditch in the 

 pastur' meadow ; big enough for pan fish, so 

 the folks say, when I bring up a mess of pike, 

 a pound a-piece or more ; but you're right about 

 game. There's no deer nor bears, but when 

 the season comes in, I look a bit after the quail 



