dcast over the land, so
that there would be no spot in Britain in which there were not clusters
of human dwellings, each with its little garden around it, and yet no
spot on which a _city_ could be found."

"Hum, rather awkward for the transaction of business, I fear," suggested
Tom.

"Not a bit; our distances would be greater, but we could overcome that
difficulty by using horses more than we do--and railroads."

"And how would you manage with huge manufactories?" inquired Tom.

"I've not been able to solve that difficulty yet," replied Ned, smiling;
"but my not being able to point out how things may be put right, does
not, in the least degree, alter the fact that, as they are at present,
they are wrong."

"Most true, my sagacious friend," said Tom; "but, pray, how do you prove
the fact that things _are_ wrong?"

"I prove it thus:--You admit, I suppose, that the air of all large
cities is unhealthy, as compared with that of the country, and that men
and women who dwell in cities are neither so robust nor so healthy as
those who dwell in country places?"

"I'm not sure that I do admit it," answered Tom.

"Surely you don't deny that people of the cities deem it a necessary of
life to get off to the country at least once a year, in order to
recruit, and that they invariably return better in health than when they
left?"

"True; but that is the result of change."

"Ay," added Ned, "the result of change from worse to better."

"Well, I admit it for the sake of argument."

"Well, then, if the building of cities necessarily and inevitably
creates a condition of atmosphere which is, to some extent, no matter
how slight, prejudicial to health, those who build them and dwell in
them are knowingly damaging the life which has been given them to be
cherished and taken care of."

"Ned," said Tom, quietly, "you're a goose!"

"Tom," retorted Ned, "I know it; but, in the sense in which you apply
the term, all men are geese. They are divided into two classes--namely,
geese who are such because they can't and won't listen to reason, and
geese who are such because they take the trouble to talk philosophically
to the former; but to return from this digression, what think you of the
argument?"

Tom replied by reining up his steed, pointing to an object in front, and
inquiring, "What think you of _that_?"

The object referred to was a man, but, in appearance at least, he was
not many degrees removed from the monkey. He