344 T^^^^ Story of Vineland. 



thousands of acres uninhabited, and of which the Vineland-tract formed 

 a part, had been given over to coal-burners and manufacturers of glass : 

 and thus the forest-growth was kept down ; and, naturally enough, one re- 

 ceived the impression that the land was incapable of better things, and con- 

 sequently must be poor. What, then, is the secret ? How did it happen, 

 that, despite these drawbacks, the colony advanced with such giant strides ? 

 Well, in the first place, the enterprise had the charm of novelty. Again : 

 at the outset, actual experiment proved the fallacy of the idea that crops 

 could not be produced. Crops were produced. Furthermore, the land 

 was sold at low rates and on easy terms of payment ; thus enabling men 

 of very limited means to undertake the establishment of homes. Again : 

 the situation was available. One could pack up and go to Vineland with- 

 out feeling that he was sundering the old associations ; and many who 

 would hesitate long before starting for Kansas or Minnesota, or who would 

 never leave for those distant points at all, would venture a change of resi- 

 dence if only a day's journey separated the new from the old. Again : the 

 climate was known to be exceedingly healthful. Again : there is the fasci- 

 nation, and the supreme advantage to the poor, of growing up with a place 

 v\'here one may live plainly, and wear cheap clothing, and never be dis- 

 turbed thereby, because all are in like condition : and each may say to the 

 other, " It is a little disagreeable just now, to be sure ; but we shall have 

 pleasant times by and by." A portion of the considerations named are 

 common, and, of course, have influence in new colonies generally; but 

 there were other influences brought to bear in Vineland, which were radi- 

 cal and entirely original, and without which the progress, the prosperit}-, 

 and the promise of the settlement must have been very materially reduced. 

 These reformatorj^ movements were not akin to those in which too much 

 is attempted. ]\Ir. Landis indulged in no Utopian dreams : he was too 

 well bred for that. He did not think to inaugurate a system in which the 

 course of true love should never run rough, and in which virtue and hero- 

 ism should always find reward. He did not hope even to smooth at once 

 all the ruts in the old road hardened by a thousand years of travel. He 

 only ventured on advance movements which appeared to lie within the 

 compass of possibilit}'. Foremost of these was the prohibition of liquor-sell- 

 ing. He adopted this restriction in the beginning, not as a philanthropic 



