Page:Anti-slavery and reform papers by Thoreau, Henry David.djvu/113

 102 A^tti' Slavery and Reform Papers.

Wrights, ye engineers, ye operatives and speculators of every class, never again complain of a want of power : it is the grossest form of infidelity. The question is, not how we shall execute, but what. Let us not use in a niggardly manner what is thus generously offered.

Consider what revolutions are to be effected in agri- culture. First, in the new country a machine is to move along, taking out trees and stones to any required depth, and piling them up in convenient heaps; then the same machine, ^^with a little alteration,'* is to plane the ground perfectly, till there shall be no hills nor valleys, making the requisite canals, ditches, and roads as it goes along.

The same machine, " with some other little alterations,*' is then to sift the ground thoroughly, supply fertile soil iVom other places if wanted, and plant it and finally the same machine, " with a little addition,** is to reap and gather in the crop, thresh and grind it, or press it to oil, or prepare it any way for final use. For the descrip- tion of these machines we are referred to ^^ Etzler's Mechanical System,** pages 11 to 27. We should be pleased to see that " Mechanical System.** We have great faith in it. But we cannot stop for applications now.

Who knows but by accumulating the power until the end of the present century, using meanwhile only the smallest allowance, reserving all that blows, all that hhines, all that ebbs and flows, all that dashes, we may liave got such a reserved accumulated power as to run the earth off its track into a new orbit, some summer, and so change the tedious vicissitude of the seasons ? Or, perchance, coming generations will not abide the dissolution of the globe, but, availing themselves of