l beauty," sez he, "give me them picters made in corn, and
oats, and beans. Give me that Dakota cow made out of grain, with a tail
of timothy grass, and straw legs, and corn ear horns. There is real
beauty," sez he.

"Or that picter in the State Buildin' of the hull farm made in seeds.
The old bean farm-house, and barley well-sweep, and the fields bounded
with corn twig fences, and horses made of silk-weed, and manes and tales
of corn-silk--there is beauty," sez he.

"And as for statutes, I'd ruther see one of them figgers that Miss
Brooks of Nebraska makes out of butter than a hull carload of marble
figgers."

I sithed a deep, curious sithe, and he went on:

"Why," sez he, "it stands to reason they're more valuable; what good
would the stun be to you if a marble statute got smashed? A dead loss on
your hands.

"But let one of her Iolanthes git knocked over and broke to pieces, why
there you are, good, solid butter, worth 30 cents of any man's money.

"Give me statuary that is ornamental in prosperity, and that you can eat
up if reverses come to you," sez he.

"Why," sez he, "there is one hundred kinds of grain in that one model
farm of Illinois.

"Now, if that picter should git torn to pieces by a cyclone, what would
a ile paintin' be? A dead loss.

"But that grain farm-house, what food for hens that would make--such a
variety. Why, the hens would jest pour out eggs fed on the ruins of that
farm.

"Give me beauty and economy hitched together in one team."

[Illustration: "What food for hens that would make."]

I sithed, and the sithe wuz deep, almost like a groan, and sez I--

"You tire me, Josiah Allen--you tire me almost to death."

"Wall," sez he, "I'm talkin' good horse sense."

Sez I, "I should think it wuz animal sense of some kind--nothin'
spiritual about it and riz up."

"Wall," sez he, "you'll see five hundred folks a-standin' round and
praisin' up them seed picters where there is one that gits carried away
as you do over Wattses 'Love and Death' and Elihu Vedder's dum picters."

"Wall," sez I, in a tired-out axent, "that don't prove anything, Josiah
Allen. The multitude chose Barrabus to the Divine One.

"Not," sez I reasonably, "that I would want to compare the seed picters
and the butter females to a robber.

"They're extremely curious and interestin' to look at, and wonderful in
their way as anything in the hull Exposition.

"But," sez I, "there is a height and a depth in the soul