152 CHRONICLES OF A CLAY FARM. 



credulities had passed away from him. My deepest 

 drains were no longer deep; my largest fields no 

 longer ' to' big for the farm.' But Greening was a 

 true improver notwithstanding. He baptized every 

 new-born notion with a jest, but he watched its 

 growth and adopted each youngster in succession, and 

 so heartily and practically withal, that they seldom 

 got into his hands without thriving better after all 

 than they had done in mine. 



Ye ardent Go-aheads ! who expect every new argu- 

 ment to tell at once, every intellect to yield at the 

 first onset, every new plan to be tried by every body, 

 learn to wait : and you will find that there is much 

 more chance of your notion being overtaken than 

 overlooked, much more likelihood of your having to 

 re-claim than to re-assert a single hint that was ever 

 good for anything. The seed may seem a long time 

 buried, but if it have any vitality in it, it is germi- 

 nating where you little think, and will fructify when 

 you least expect, and with a produce you had never 

 dreamt of. And when you come again and say ' this 

 is mine!' do not be surprised if shouts of louder 

 laughter greet you than even befell your first an- 

 nouncement of it. 



I had time to think all this : for my guest, like a 



