TAKING REINS IN HAND. 77 



flectingly, and disappeared from the stage. He has 

 become the father of a race that is hewing its way 

 in Oregon, or he is a dignitary in Wisconsin, or 

 thwacking terribly among the foremost fighters of 

 the war. 



Here and there remains an aged representative 

 of the class, with all his nasal twang and his apti- 

 tude for a score of different services ; but the chances 

 are, if he has failed of placing himself in the legis- 

 lative chambers of the West, or of holding ownership 

 of some rough farm of his own, that he has some 

 moral obliquity which makes him an outcast. 



Certain it is, that very few native Americans of 

 activity and of energy are to be decoyed into the 

 traces of farm labor, unless they can assume the full 

 direction. American blood is fast, and fast blood is 

 impatient with a hoe among small carrots. It is well, 

 perhaps, that blood is so fast, and hopes so tall. 

 These tell grandly in certain directions, but they are 

 not available for working over a heap of compost. 

 The American eagle is (or was) a fine bird, but he 

 docs not consume grasshoppers like a turkey. 



In view of the fact that dexterous labor is not 

 now available, there is a satisfaction in knowing that 

 the necessity for it is year by year diminishing. 

 Upon the old system of growing all that a man 

 might need within his own grounds, a proper farm 



