32 MY SUMMER IN A GARDEN. 



sending out dozens of sharp-pointed, healthy 

 shoots, every joint prepared to be an inde- 

 pendent life and plant. The only way to 

 deal with it is to take one part hoe and two 

 parts fingers, and carefully dig it out, not 

 leaving a joint anywhere. It will take a little 

 time, say all summer, to dig out thoroughly a 

 small patch ; but if you once dig it out and 

 keep it out, you will have no further trouble. 

 I have said it was total depravity. Here 

 it is. If you attempt to pull up and root 

 out any sin in you, which shows on the sur- 

 face, if it does not show, you do not care 

 for it, you may have noticed how it rims 

 into an interior network of sins, and an ever- 

 sprouting branch of them roots somewhere ; 

 and that you cannot pull out one without 

 making a general internal disturbance and 

 rooting up your whole being. I suppose it 

 is less trouble to quietly cut them off at the 

 top, say once a week, on Sunday, when 

 you put on your religious clothes and face, 

 so that no one will see them, and not try 

 to eradicate the network within. 



