62 CHRONICLES OF A CLAY FARM. 



when they were making speeches ; and vice versa : 

 and as decision and steady purpose, in the field, 

 when the work is once begun, is as useful, and almost 

 as necessary, to the Farmer, as to the Field-marshal ; 

 and as that exacting and important branch of the 

 community your neighbours don't usually ap- 

 prove of your doings until they understand them or 

 in other words, laugh at you, till you begin (or might 

 begin) to laugh at them ; it is eminently advisable, at 

 least I found it so, to call a pretty frequent meeting 

 of that privy-council which every man is Chairman 

 of, who has got Daylight and Eyes, Candlelight and 

 Brains, a Farm and a good Map of it. And if, O 

 ardent and yet perhaps sensitive Beginner, you will 

 take one word of advice from an ' old file ' if once 

 you have come to a determined vote and conclusion, 

 after full deliberation with these fellow-councillors, 

 and after hearing all they have got to urge pro and 

 con., don't let anything or anybody divert or 

 modify your plan. Your experience and mine will 

 differ very much if you do not find more expense and 

 more regret left behind invariably by an under-done 

 than by an over-done job. * The first expense is the 

 least ' in agriculture and in everything else perhaps, 

 with the old exceptions of Law and Matrimony. 



