the field before a flock of larks rose up in
such innumerable quantities as almost darkened the air. "See," said Mr
Barlow, "these little fellows are trespassing upon my turnips in such
numbers, that in a short time they will destroy every bit of green about
the field; yet I would not hurt them on any account. Look round the
whole extent of the country, you will see nothing but a barren waste,
which presents no food either to bird or beast. These little creatures,
therefore, assemble in multitudes here, where they find a scanty
subsistence, and though they do me some mischief, they are welcome to
what they can find. In the spring they will enliven our walks by their
agreeable songs."

_Tommy._--How dreary and uncomfortable is this season of winter; I wish
it were always summer.

_Mr Barlow._--In some countries it is so; but there the inhabitants
complain more of the intolerable heat than you do of the cold. They
would with pleasure be relieved by the agreeable variety of cooler
weather, when they are panting under the violence of a scorching sun.

_Tommy._--Then I should like to live in a country that was never either
disagreeably hot or cold.

_Mr Barlow._--Such a country is scarcely to be found; or if it is,
contains so small a portion of the earth as to leave room for very few
inhabitants.

_Tommy._--Then I should think it would be so crowded that one would
hardly be able to stir, for everybody would naturally wish to live
there.

_Mr Barlow._--There you are mistaken, for the inhabitants of the finest
climates are often less attached to their own country than those of the
worst. Custom reconciles people to every kind of life, and makes them
equally satisfied with the place in which they are born. There is a
country called Lapland, which extends a great deal further north than
any part of England, which is covered with perpetual snows during all
the year, yet the inhabitants would not exchange it for any other
portion of the globe.

_Tommy._--How do they live in so disagreeable a country?

_Mr Barlow._--If you ask Harry, he will tell you. Being a farmer, it is
his business to study the different methods by which men find
subsistence in all the different parts of the earth.

_Tommy._--I should like very much to hear, if Harry will be so good as
to tell me.

_Harry._--You must know then, Master Tommy, that in the greatest part of
this country which is called Lapland, the inhabitants neither sow nor
reap; t