12 THE BILTMORE FOREST FAIR 



I tell you, William, what is so : 



"Money kept in timber is safer 



than money kept in the safe." 



. . . . Stop the fire, William! 



. '. Now we traverse some irregular hardwoods where I have 

 been acting as undertaker, "burying the dead," or rather seeing 

 to it that the "dead were cremated," — as firewood in Asheville. 



TJ |k|«» C ^° ^^^ right, in 1895, there was a hopeless 



Mm llUi U gi°owth of brush; and I have shown it, ten 



years ago, to this and that visitor as an 



illustration of the effect of reckless cutting. A fire ran over this 



lot, in 1894. 



Today I have marked in it the best saplings by colored labels. 



There are lots of them ! This second growth obtained free 

 of charge is as good as the best that I might plant. 



Leave nature alone, — or help nature! Give it increased 

 chances! Do not hitch it up, using narrow-mindedness for the 

 harness! William, I tell you! Skip the lectures on sylviculture 

 and learn from nature! 



All men great and good, have changed their minds 

 from time to time ; Washington did when he ceased to 

 drink the health of the King ; Luther did when he mar- 

 ried a run-a-way nun ; and William J. Bryan, too, has 

 changed his mind from time to time, — ^indeed, quite 

 frequently. 



Now then: Why should not I have a metabolic 

 conviction when so many better men were kaleido- 

 scopic? 



William ! You, too, will be a better man . . , 

 when you change your mind. 



