of representation to numbers. The most striking features in the character
of the native farmer are individuality and self-reliance. These qualities
have been inherited from ancestors who were compelled _by_ circumstances
to depend upon their own industry for a living, and their own vigilance
and courage for defence, when the treacherous Indian lurked in swamps and
woods, and the father attended Sunday worship with a weapon by his side.
The founders of these States were men who thought for themselves, or they
would not have been exiles for the sake of conscience. Their situation
made them still more indifferent to the opinions and concerns of the
world from which they were divided, while they stood aloof even from
each other, except when common danger drove them to unite for mutual
protection. Their offspring grew up amid stern and secluded surroundings,
and the thoughts and habits of the parent became the second nature of
the child. I have often imagined that in the firm, wary, and reserved
expression on the Yankee farmer's face was photographed the struggle of
his progenitors two centuries ago. This wariness and reserve does not,
as a rule, amount to churlishness. The American, like the English
cultivator, has felt the ameliorating influences of modern civilization,
and while he retains his strong individuality, his intelligence prompts
him to benefit by the opportunities denied to his forefathers.

The dwelling of the American farmer is usually lacking in those tasteful
accessories which add such a charm to the cottage homes of England and
France. Beyond the belt of suburban villas one seldom sees a carefully
tended flower-garden, or an attractive vine. The yard, like the field, is
open to the cattle, and, if there is a plot fenced in, it is devoted, not
to roses and violets, but to onions or peas. The effect is dreary and
uninviting, even though the enclosure may be clean, and the milk-cans
scoured to brilliancy. Again we see in this disregard for the beautiful
the effect of isolation upon the native character, the result of hard
grubbing for the bare needs of existence. The primitive settlers needed
every foot of the land which they laboriously subdued, for some
productive use; they had neither time nor soil to spare for the culture
of the beautiful; and their descendants have inherited the ancestral
disposition to utilize everything, and the ancestral want of taste for
the merely charming in nature. Yet there are g