In the Mississippi Valley, then, or the greater part of it--whatever the
historical origin of the provisions may be-from one-thirty-sixth to one-
eighteenth of the public land has been set apart to the education of
generation after generation till the end of the republic--or as Americans
would be disposed to put it in synonymous phrase, "till the end of time."
Acres vary in size, one of our eminent horticulturists has reminded us,
measured in terms of productivity. And the gifts to the various townships
have been by no means of the same size, measured in terms of revenue for
school purposes. "Number sixteen" may sometimes have fallen in shallow
soil or on stony ground and "thirty-six" in swamp or alkali land. The
lottery of nature is as hard-hearted as the lotteries of human devising;
but the general provision has put an obligation upon the other thirty-five
or thirty-four sections in every township that I suppose is seldom evaded.
The child's acres are practically never, I suspect, less valuable than the
richest and largest of those in the township about it, for the reason that
the difference is made good by the local taxpayer.
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