THE RURAL SOCRATES. 23^ 



^^ days arc fo feducing^that all which he can do, will not 

 ^' prevent your yielding to them a little. You may 

 " thank God therefore, that he holds a tight rein to 

 *' hinder you from falling/' — *^ Well, I agree (faid 

 *^ Hans,) that I am wrong in this particular; but he at 

 " leafh ought to count us for fomething, when thequef- 

 '' tion is how to diflribute our work; for he will al- 

 *• ways go on in his own way, I have now for a long 

 '' time defired that the cow-houfe might be properly 

 ^' arranged, to enable us to make liquid manure, which 

 ** is fo proper for our meadow land ; but he will never 

 " yield to me ; and our whole attention has been 

 ^^ given to the carrying oiFfand and gravel to improve 

 " our arable land." — '^ But have your meadows been 

 ^' negle^fted ?''— I do not fay that they have ; but our 

 '' improvements might as well firfc have been there." — 

 ''* Agreed ; but would you recommend one to under- 

 '' take one thing, and another to undertake another." — = 

 *^ That is not a point which I can maintain ; for an union 

 " of forces is what is mofj: eifential to work, if we wifb 

 *' things to go well ; iince as foon as th^fc forces bc- 

 ^^ come feparatcd, for different objects, nothing great is 

 " any where done." — '' Thus then, according to your 

 ''• own opinion, it is nece(fary when opinions differ, that 

 ^^ one fliould take the lead ; and in this cafe, ought than 

 '' of the father or the children to be preferred f"— 

 Hans had too good a heart to anfwer me any otherw*ife.. 

 than by the blufhes which covered his countenance. He 

 now fought only to excufe himfclf * urging that ''a will- 

 ** ing and active workman could not be blamed, if he 

 ** fometimes pretended to give his opinion upon the 

 *' manner in which his work fhoald be condu'^ed."— 

 This I alTared him wouid never be taken ill by 

 his father-in-law ; but that we fathers were ofter 

 obliged-to appear outwardly more fevere towards our 

 children, than we really were ; and that he would foon 

 have to make the proof in the cafe cf children of hii 

 own- f 



