Earth Builders. 



87 



cases, until after I shall have answered all 

 thy objections." 



"It is a bargain," said Ghopal, who even 

 •during the discussion had ample evidence 

 of the little esteem in which he was held in 

 •comparison with his new acquaintance. 



Every party of travelers as they prepared 

 to leave the Serai, approached Byram's cot 

 with meal and rice, or raisins or dried dates, 

 unleavened bread, or a bowl of milk, and 

 .set them before him, and when the offerings 

 were brought Byram turned with a smile to 

 the donors, and touched each gift with his 

 right hand to signifiy thankful acceptance. 

 But of Ghopal they took no heed. 



Then Byram called a Munshi or Scribe, 

 and said, "Oh, Munshi, I have entered into 

 a compact with this man, and do thou now 



commit it to writing that all men may know 

 the parties to the contract and the terms, 

 and that there be no disputes hereafter." 



Byram smiled when Ghopal described him- 

 self as Ghopal the potter, for he knew well 

 he was no Brahmin. 



When this was done, Byram set aside 

 about a tenth part of all the gifts he had 

 received, and, handing it to Ghopal, bade 

 him take it to the great square in front of 

 the Serai and scatter it for the birds and 

 insects, and on his return Byram divided 

 the bread and dates and raisins, and reserv- 

 ing one portion for himself gave the other 

 to Ghopal, together with a bowl of milk; 

 and they sat apart and ate their morning 

 meal in silence, for a Brahmin may not eat 

 with a potter. 



EARl'H BUILDERS. 



THERE are many people who roam 

 through the forest or over the 

 prairie, who see the fruitful soil everywhere 

 bringing forth food for man and beast, who 

 know that the same state of things has ex- 

 isted as long as man has lived on earth, but 

 who never dream that an enormous amount 

 of living energy was required to prepare 

 the soil for man's occupancy, and that an 

 equally enormous sacrifice of life is needed 

 to maintain the soil in fruitful condition. 



The farmer's experience has given him 

 some clue to the truth — he knows if he 

 keeps cropping the soil for all it will yield, 

 without returning anything to it, its fertility 

 will soon be exhausted. He knows, in fact, 

 that crops want food to make them grow, 

 that they find some of this food in the soil, 

 and that after this food is all used up, it is 

 no use trying to till the land any more until 

 it is manured, or dressed with a fresh sup- 

 ply of plant food. 



The farmer knows too that when land 

 becomes so poor that it is no longer profit- 



able to cultivate, it improves by lying fal- 

 low a few years. The soil gets fresh plant 

 food from the air. 



This can only be done by the agency of 

 plants and animals. The life-work of every 

 plant and tree and blade of grass that 

 grows, is to live on the air and convert it 

 into its own substance. The life-work of 

 every insect and bird and beast that lives, is 

 to convert the plant substance into animal 

 substance. In doing this, all these creatures 

 take something more from the air — not the 

 same sort of food that plants take from it, 

 but something different. This something, 

 called nitrogen, which animals take from 

 the air, is mixed in their stomachs with the 

 vegetable food. 



If plants and trees were simply to die 

 where they live, they would not render the 

 soil fertile ; what they take from the air 

 would go back to the air, and nothing 

 would go back to the soil except the little 

 they take up by their roots ; just as when 

 wood is burnt, nothing goes back to the 



