The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1900-05-29
RUsKIN's DREAM.

were dry and Gull except Cu6 IOL1O"-
ing paragraphs setting forth the
| folIy of wars and notwithstanding, the
hook would still be worth reading.
AS a parable the quotation is magnif-
cent and almost without an equal in
the whole range of literaturge. The
extracts below are from his lecture
1.-The Mystery Of Life" delivered at
Dublin in 1868-one of the lectures
composing the famous Sesame and
Lilies" Mr.. Ruskin said:
ssThough I am no poet, I have
dreams sometimes: [ dreamed was
at a child's May-day party, in which
every means of entertainment had
been provided for them, by a wise
and kind host. It was in a stately
house, with beautiful gardens at
tached to it; and the children had
been set free in the rooms and gar
dens, with no care whatever but
how to pass their afternoon rejoic-
ingly. They did not, indeed, know
much about what was to happen
next day and some of them, I
thought, were a little frightened be-
cause there was some chance of their
being sent to a new school where
there we're examinations but they
kept the thoughts of that out of
their heads as we'll rs they could, and
resolved to enjoy themselves. The
house, [ said, was in a beautiful gar
den, and in the garden were all kinds
of flowers sweet grassy banks for
rest and smooth lawns for play and
pleasant streams and woods and
rocky places for climbing. And the
children were happy for a little
while, but presently they separated
themselves into parties and then
each party declared it would have a
piece of garden for it's own, and that
none of the others should have any
thing to do with that piece. Next,
they qUarreled violently rs to which
pieces they should have and and at
last the boys took up the thing, as
boys should do, ''practically, and
fought in the fower-beds till there
was hardly a flower left standing.
Then they trampled down each
others bits of garden out of spite !;
and the girls cried till they could
cry no more and so they all lay
down at last breathless in the ruin,
and waited for the time when they
were to be taken home in the even
ing.
Meanwhile the children in the
house had been making themselves
happy also in their manner. For
them, there had been provided every
kind of indoors pleasure: there was
music for them to dance to and the
library was open, with all manner of
amusing books and there was a
museum full of the most curious
shells, and animals, and birds and
there was a workshop, with lathes
and carpenters tools, for the ingen-
iOus boys and there were pretty
fantastic dresses, for the girls to
dress in and there were microscopes
and kaleidOscOpes, and whatever
toys a child could fancy and a table
in the dining-roOm, loaded with
everything nice to eat.
But, in the midst of all this, it
struck two or three of the more
practical" children, that they would
like some of the brass-headed nails
that studded the chairs and so they
set to work to pull them out.
Presently, the others, who were
reading, or looking at shells, took a
fancy to do the like and in a little
while all the children, nearly, were
spraining their fingers in pulling out
brass-headed nails. With all that
they could pull out, they were not
satisfied and then, everybody want
ed some of somebody else's. And at
last the really ''practical' and '.sen-
sible" ones declared that nothing
was of any consequence that after
noon, except to get plenty of brass
headed nails and that the books,
and the cakes, and the microscopes
were of no use at all in themselves,
but only, if they could be exchanged
for nail-heads. And, at last, they
began to fight for ~nail-deads, as the
others fought for the bits of garden.
Only here and there, a despised one
shrank away in a corner, and tried
to get II little quiet with a book, IN
Hhn midst Of rnniCn. hrnA IL H.