to the morning its light, and to the violet its blue, and to the golden-rod 

 its gold, and to the whip-poor-will his dolorous cry, and to the rose its 

 blushes, and to the stars their light; and after he has given to all he 

 h23 not yet begun. He is the affluent God and his resources are past 

 all possibility of exhaustion. 



There is a patch of plum-trees fringing the edges of the cloverfield, 

 thick-sown they are God sowed them and when spring is new, they 

 are a tall pile of snow fresh fallen, only there blows from them an odor 

 not of snowdrifts or winter, since snowdrifts are odorless ; plum-sown 

 drifts are odor-full. Sweet it is after long winter months, when woods 

 and fields have all their odors sealed for frozen fields are odorless to 

 walk over my hillfield and on a sudden have wafted in my face odors 

 that might have been distilled for kings to use on coronation days, and 

 feel myself in the path of the winds a-blowing from my drift of plum 

 blossoms, My heart sings, "Spring is here! Spring is here!" And 

 the meadowlark singing to the sun makes not more music than my 

 heart, with its bird-call, "Spring is come, is come!" 



Friend, I can see you want my farm ; but I remind you of the com- 

 mandment, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's" farm. Let us go 

 down through the woods slowly. Make no haste, for woods are not made 

 to pass through lightly. God has been a good while growing these trees 

 and is not through yet. Walk down from the crest of the hill through 

 the thickets where vines and briers tangle (get some nettles on your 

 clothes so you look better), and pass that big elm, off with your hat, 

 man ; and now lift up your eyes that is my orchard. Do you see long 

 rows of apple trees? Why, I have come up through great tribulation to 

 get them. Every one represents courage on my part, besides some 

 trifling expense, and no end of forbearance. Those of mine own house- 

 hold have flouted me as a visionary and have looked knowingly at each 

 other, as to say, "Poor dear, his reason was once as balanced as ours." 

 Genius is not understood, Columbus found it so; I have found it so. 

 Great dreamers are.alwa>s derided (see Palissy the potter, and Morse 

 and Goodyear). Because I profess to see the day when, from those 

 boughs apples shall hang their crimson spheres, even that person related 

 to me, as Job's wife was to him, has snubbed me publicly and held me 

 up domestically to the ridicule of mine own children; but I persevered. 

 Genius does. I have. Each year I planted a new installment of apples 

 till now I have some thirty acres or over sown to them. I have sown 

 the wind, but to this writing I have not reaped the whirlwind, nor even 



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