never been able to say that such portion of land was theirs, cross
the Atlantic to realise that happiness. This formerly rude soil has
been converted by my father into a pleasant farm, and in return it
has established all our rights; on it is founded our rank, our
freedom, our power as citizens, our importance as inhabitants of
such a district. These images I must confess I always behold with
pleasure, and extend them as far as my imagination can reach: for
this is what may be called the true and the only philosophy of an
American farmer.

Pray do not laugh in thus seeing an artless countryman tracing
himself through the simple modifications of his life; remember that
you have required it, therefore with candour, though with
diffidence, I endeavour to follow the thread of my feelings, but I
cannot tell you all. Often when I plough my low ground, I place my
little boy on a chair which screws to the beam of the plough--its
motion and that of the horses please him; he is perfectly happy and
begins to chat. As I lean over the handle, various are the thoughts
which crowd into my mind. I am now doing for him, I say, what my
father formerly did for me, may God enable him to live that he may
perform the same operations for the same purposes when I am worn out
and old! I relieve his mother of some trouble while I have him with
me, the odoriferous furrow exhilarates his spirits, and seems to do
the child a great deal of good, for he looks more blooming since I
have adopted that practice; can more pleasure, more dignity be added
to that primary occupation? The father thus ploughing with his
child, and to feed his family, is inferior only to the emperor of
China ploughing as an example to his kingdom. In the evening when I
return home through my low grounds, I am astonished at the myriads
of insects which I perceive dancing in the beams of the setting sun.