es, manure, etc., and the net
product is L4,500. Your fortune's made, man,--it is made; I wish you
joy!" And Uncle Jack rubbed his hands.

"Bless me, father," said eagerly the young Pisistratus, who had
swallowed with ravished ears every syllable and figure of this inviting
calculation, "why, we should be as rich as Squire Rollick; and then, you
know, sir, you could keep a pack of fox-hounds."

"And buy a large library," added Uncle Jack, with more subtle knowledge
of human nature as to its appropriate temptations. "There's my friend
the archbishop's collection to be sold."

Slowly recovering his breath, my father gently turned his eyes from one
to the other; and then, laying his left hand on my head, while with the
right he held up Erasmus rebukingly to Uncle Jack, said,--

"See how easily you can sow covetousness and avidity in the youthful
mind. Ah, brother!"

"You are too severe, sir. See how the dear boy hangs his head! Fie!
natural enthusiasm of his years,--'gay hope by fancy fed,' as the poet
says. Why, for that fine boy's sake you ought not to lose so certain
an occasion of wealth, I may say, untold. For observe, you will form
a nursery of crabs; each year you go on grafting and enlarging your
plantation, renting,--nay, why not buying, more land? Gad, sir! in
twenty years you might cover half the county; but say you stop short at
2,000 acres, why the net profit is L90,000 a-year. A duke's income,--a
duke's; and going a-begging, as I may say."

"But stop," said I, modestly; "the trees don't grow in a year. I know
when our last apple-tree was planted--it is five years ago--it was then
three years old, and it only bore one half-bushel last autumn."

"What an intelligent lad it is! Good head there. Oh, he'll do credit
to his great fortune, brother," said Uncle Jack, approvingly. "True, my
boy. But in the mean while we could fill the ground, as they do in Kent,
with gooseberries and currants, or onions and cabbages. Nevertheless,
considering we are not great capitalists, I am afraid we must give up
a share of our profits to diminish our outlay. So harkye,
Pisistratus--look at him, brother, simple as he stands there, I think he
is born with a silver spoon in his mouth--harkye, now to the mysteries
of speculation. Your father shall quietly buy the land, and then,
presto! we will issue a prospectus and start a company. Associations can
wait five years for a return. Every year, meanwhile, increases the value
of t