HOMES NEAR TO NATURE 



231 



Mr. Opper. It is not always to be con- 

 cluded when one sees him sitting cozily 

 by the fireplace that he is evolving 

 something" that will revolutionize the 

 political world, or rouse convulsions of 

 laughter that will disrupt several but- 

 tons. He is just sitting and smoking. 

 He is especially fond of doing that. He 

 philosophizes and comes to conclu- 

 sions, and one of the conclusions evol- 

 ved, 1 suppose, from one of these tire- 

 side reveries is that farming for a car- 

 toonist and comic man would be too 

 funny for anything — so funny that it 

 would obliterate all other fun or con- 

 ceptions of fun. 



he looked over the fence and saw the 

 little pigs basking in the sun. He had 

 read and philosophized on the subject 

 that every fanner must keep several 

 cows, make butter and now and then 

 a cheese or two, have milk to sell to 

 the neighbors and to supply a greater 

 part of the city. All these things he 

 had read and regarded as good as many 

 another deluded city mortal has done 

 when influenced by certain publica- 

 tions that throw the charm of the dol- 

 lars over the landscape. But by and 

 by be showed himself to be a real lover 

 of nature because he threw away every- 

 thing except nature. He bought an 



WHEN ONE SEES HIM SITTING COZILY P.Y THE FIRESIDE. 



Mr. Opper tried it for a year or two. 

 He had read books and he knew how. 

 He had been told that the ideal is to 

 buy a farm anywhere in the country, 

 where most farms are, move there, bor- 

 row or buy one old hen and soon have 

 six or seven hundred chickens and a 

 liberal bank account. He had read that 

 a horse and carriage is the ideal pas- 

 toral method and if one expects to get 

 near to the heart of nature on many 

 country roads several horses and sev- 

 eral carriages would be better. He had 

 read that the scraps from the table 

 would support numerous pigs which 

 would afford joy and satisfaction when 



automobile and he buys eggs and milk. 

 He has no farmer's cares or worries be- 

 cause he has no farm. What was the 

 chicken yard is now a beautiful garden 

 kept decorated by nature, and I fancy 

 that he gets more satisfaction from a 

 walk down the country lane with the 

 ladies of his household and his two 

 ever present dogs than he would get if 

 he should see a herd of cows coming 

 down that same lane. 



Mr. Opper's use of the farm is to live 

 on it and love it and not worry about 

 it. It did seem a little funny at first 

 but then what must one expect of such 

 an original funny man. There would 



