my way of thinking, justly despised. Here is a man with great

opportunities, and what does he do with them? He hunts, and he

dresses very prettily - which is a thing to be ashamed of in a man -

and he acts plays; and if he does aught else, the news of it has not

come here.'

'Yet these are all innocent,' said Otto. 'What would you have him

do - make war?'

'No, sir,' replied the old man. 'But here it is; I have been fifty

years upon this River Farm, and wrought in it, day in, day out; I

have ploughed and sowed and reaped, and risen early, and waked late;

and this is the upshot: that all these years it has supported me and

my family; and been the best friend that ever I had, set aside my

wife; and now, when my time comes, I leave it a better farm than

when I found it. So it is, if a man works hearty in the order of

nature, he gets bread and he receives comfort, and whatever he

touches breeds. And it humbly appears to me, if that Prince was to

labour on his throne, as I have laboured and wrought in my farm, he

would find both an increase and a blessing.'

'I believe with you, sir,' Otto said; 'and yet the parallel is

inexact. For the farmer's life is natural and simple; but the

prince's is both artificial and complicated. It is easy to do right

in the one, and exceedingly difficult not to do wrong in the other.

If your crop is blighted, you can take off your bonnet and say,

"God's will be done"; but if the prince meets with a reverse, he may

have to blame himself for the attempt. And perhaps, if all the

kings in Europe were to confine themselves to innocent amusement,

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