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But he saw clearly now (his work on a book of agriculture, in

which the chief element in husbandry was to have been the

laborer, greatly assisted him in this) that the sort of farming

he was carrying on was nothing but a cruel and stubborn struggle

between him and the laborers, in which there was on one side-his

side-a continual intense effort to change everything to a pattern

he considered better; on the other side, the natural order of

things. And in this struggle he saw that with immense expenditure

of force on his side, and with no effort or even intention on the

other side, all that was attained was that the work did not go to

the liking of either side, and that splendid tools, splendid

cattle and land were spoiled with no good to anyone. Worst of

all, the energy expended on this work was not simply wasted. He

could not help feeling now, since the meaning of this system had

become clear to him, that the aim of his energy was a most

unworthy one.