PHASES OF FARM LIFE 245 



He alone, strictly speaking, has a home. How can 

 a man take root and thrive without land? He 

 writes his history upon his field. How many ties, 

 how many resources, he has, — his friendships with 

 his cattle, his team, his dog, his trees, the satisfac- 

 tion in his growing crops, in his improved fields; 

 his intimacy with nature, with bird and beast, and 

 with the quickening elemental forces; his coopera- 

 tions with the cloud, the sun, the seasons, heat, 

 wind, rain, frost! Nothing will take the various 

 social distempers which the city and artificial life 

 breed out of a man like farming, like direct and lov- 

 ing contact with the soil. It draws out the poison. 

 It humbles him, teaches him patience and reverence, 

 and restores the proper tone to his system. 



Cling to the farm, make much of it, put yourself 

 into it, bestow your heart and your brain upon it, 

 so that it shall savor of you and radiate your virtue 

 after your day's work is done! 



" Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, 

 and look well to thy herds. 



"For riches are not forever; and doth the crown 

 endure to every generation? 



"The hay appeareth, and the tender grass show- 

 eth itself, and herbs of the mountains are gathered. 



"The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats 

 are the price of the field. 



"And thou shalt have goat's milk enough for 

 thy food, for the food of thy household, and for 

 the maintenance for thy maidens." 



