4^ THE RURAL SOCRATES. 



^' ferent manner 5 I am never more fatisfied and happ^r 



*' than when 1 am working myfelf. And I muit 



^' be a convert to your way of tbhiking, my dear 

 ^' Kliyogg. purfued my friend^ from a fenfe that it is* 

 *' founded on reafon ! I v/ill never, for the future, com- 

 *' piaifantly iiften to my wife's opinion, when fhe per- 

 *' fuades me not to harrafs myfelf fo much ; and tells 

 *' me that I have enough to live upon, and am not un- 

 *.^ der the neceiiity of fhortening my days by hard la- 

 «* bor V" 



Kliyogg no fooner forms a refolution, of whofe pro- 

 priety and retflitude he is convinced, than, with uncon- 

 querable firmnefs, he infifls that all the family (hall 

 concur in it ; and when he regards any cullom as per- 

 BJcious, or even of no real benefit, he obliges every bo- 

 dy to rcjeiH: and abllain from it. — It is one of his prin- 

 cipal maxims in farming, to begin by re7nov:ng all weeds 

 before he attempts to mend the joil ; otherwife, manure,- 

 inftead of being ad vantageoits, only ferves to multiply 

 thofe fpbngy plants which fuck all nourifliment from 

 the crop. On the fame principle, he fays, a houfe can- 

 not fupport itfelf where idlenefs, luxury, and diliipa* 

 tion are predominant, though the moft proper meafures 

 m other refpe^s are taken to make it profper. — From 

 this perfuaflon he made ufe of the mod vigorous efforts 

 for extirpating all' bad habits which had crept into his 

 family. Many prejudices had he to encounter 3 many 

 contradi£lions to cope with from wife and fifter, whom 

 he found great difficulty in convincing that they ought 

 to rciflify domeftic abufes, which long habit had, in 

 fome meafure, rendered facred : yet his fortitude always 

 triumphed over their refiflance. — The applaufe and ap- 

 probation his economic improvements met with from 

 fome of the princip:d psrioiis in the canton, contributed 

 not a little to reduce to reafon thefe intefline fermenta- 

 tions. — At prcfent, concord prefides at bis board, and 

 there fccms but one heart and one wiil- So true is it 



th:it 



