he air to sink
into the earth. Don't you think so too?"

"Maybe so; but it just comes to my mind that you can't say the sower's
rhyme very well with the machine. Well, you must think it."

"What rhyme?"

"Farmers' boys used to be taught to say, whenever they threw out a
handful of seed,--

"'I sow the seed:
God give it speed
For me and those in need!'"

"Such a rhyme ought never to go out of use."

"Yes; as I was saying, you can think it, or even say it, with the
machine: it's a useful invention, anyhow."

"Is it easy to introduce these new inventions?"

"No. The first time I put my oxen each into his own yoke the whole
village ran after me. And when I brought this contrivance from the
agricultural fair and went out into the field with it, the people all
thought I'd gone crazy."

"What a pity it is that the common people are so slow to understand the
value of these improvements!"

"Whoa, Tom! whoa!" cried Buchmaier, as his horse began to paw the
ground impatiently: then, holding the bridle more firmly, he went
on:--"That isn't a pity at all, Mr. Teacher: on the contrary, that's a
very good thing. Believe me, if the farmers weren't so headstrong, and
were to go to work every year to try all the machines that learned men
invent for them, we'd have to starve many a year. Whoa, Tom! You must
study agricultural matters a little: I can lend you a book or two."

"I'll come to see you about it; I see your horse won't stand still any
more. Good luck to your labor."

"Good-bye, sir," said Buchmaier, smiling at the parting salutation.

The teacher turned to go, and Buchmaier went on with his work. But
hardly had the latter walked a few yards, before he started on hearing
Buchmaier whistle the "Lauterbacher." He was inclined to suspect an
insult, but checked himself, saying, "The man certainly means no harm."
And he was quite right, for not only did the man mean no harm, but he
meant nothing whatever: he whistled without knowing what.

In a ravine, after ascertaining that he was unperceived, the teacher
wrote in his pocket-book,--"The steady and almost immovable power of
the people's character and spirit is a sacred power of nature: it forms
the centre of gravity of human life,--I might say, the _vis inertiae_ of
all institutions.

"What a hapless vacillation would befall us if every movement in
politics, religion, or social economy were to seize at a moment's