AS A FARMER 357 



his farm "the playground of his old age," and laid by a good 

 deal of youthful feeling and the results of varied reflection which 

 he proposed to make use of as a pastime when he had labored 

 long enough in prescribed ways. The writing he had in mind 

 would have filled up his leisure for the next ten years. 



The danger of too much work of this kind was not overlooked 

 by his friends. The letter given below from his old cousin Elias 

 Stilwell shows his knowledge of his kinsman. In order to make 

 his advice acceptable while suggesting that he suppress his 

 energy in one direction, he diplomatically unfolds a scheme for 

 its outlet in another and, as he thinks, more wholesome field. 



. . . And you are going to your farm to work? I don't like it! You should 

 go to reflect, and not to think. Thinking is only preparing rough, crude work 

 for sale. Reflection gives a polished, enduring finish that will preserve the 

 thought for centuries if well done. You are capable of it. You are doing too 

 much. Don't wear out the machine! Go to your farm. Don't touch pen to 

 paper. Spend the whole day in walking and breathing pure fresh air. ... I 

 wish you would send out West to some of our cavalry officers and obtain 

 a few select mares from those wonderful war-horses the plain Indians use in 

 battle. I would cross them with the fine Arab stallions General Grant 

 brought home. You could originate the finest cavalry horses in the world. 

 They could carry weight, require but little food, and have the staying quality 

 of a sea-bird. I can procure here a fine pair of tame young moose, male and 

 female. It has been thought they might be cultivated for meat production. 



There was, nevertheless, one practical side of farming to 

 which Mr. Shaler devoted himself assiduously, and that was 

 the extirpation of weeds, especially the thistle, which genera- 

 tions of poor tillers of the soil had allowed to infest the fields. 

 This business of rooting out thistles was not only a practical 

 measure for releasing the land from a pest, but with him it grew 

 to be a recreation. In the course of time the work becoming 

 purely mechanical, his mind was left free to follow its imagina- 

 tive way. He found so much satisfaction in his efforts to exter- 

 minate these weeds that he almost ceased to regard them as 

 enemies or himself as an avenger. Their wide distribution led 

 him on to the breezy hilltops, along the rocky slopes of his so- 



