"to get the peasant to adopt any new
invention; the husbandman cannot be an innovator, he must not be; he is
to be the representative of the conservative element, and yet he must
keep pace with the progress of the new age. This is difficult, and
great patience is needed."

He spoke of a long cherished plan he had entertained of sending out
agricultural missionaries, or rather, of making missionaries out of
some of the peasants themselves; for the peasantry always had a
prejudice against a man who made use of learned words.

Roland went into the exhibition, and round among the multitude, as if
he were suddenly transported into a wholly new world. Here was a man,
living only a few hours' distance from Villa Eden, who was laboring
with such zeal and such devotion, in order to supply good nourishment
to his fellow human beings. And what are we trying to do? Something of
this was apparent when he said to Eric:--

"Herr Weidmann has a noble calling, even if he does speak a great deal
about manure."

Among all those who were shouting and rejoicing, there was not one so
happy as Eric was, when he heard his pupil say this. This
acknowledgment,--that none of the material substances on which human
activity was employed were impure, if one considered the real thought
thereby unfolded,--this was a result far beyond his expectation. He
congratulated himself on having come here; here must Roland find his
true vocation, he must devote himself to agriculture, for in that there
is a direct means of benefiting the many.

"You must see my pigs," urged Weidmann, "Yorkshire pigs, six weeks old,
splendid creatures! Have you too an antipathy to pigs? I can very
easily imagine it. But, my young friend, of the meat that goes for food
in our country, seventy per cent. is pork, twenty per cent. beef and
veal, and only ten per cent. mutton, lamb, fowl, game, etc., is eaten."

The Yorkshire pigs were, in fact, very pretty-looking animals.

Roland did not go to see them, but remained a long time looking at the
so-called Hercules' Clubs, or the Serpent's Gourds, as they are also
termed, a huge growth, half as long as a man, and double the thickness
of his arm.

The prizes were awarded, the rejoicing of the people became tumultuous,
and it was a continual delight to Eric to point out to his pupil, that
this was a festival got up by the people themselves, and was
established neither by Church nor State. Weidmann, who heard something
of this,