68 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



about a week later than today. It was the day before Christ- 

 mas. I remember how happy I felt when I stepped ofif the 

 cars and started off toward the old home of my father. I 

 started to walk over the four miles, going home to my father's 

 farm, and it was with a feeling of elation that I kept discover- 

 ing upon every hand things with which I was familiar in my 

 boyhood. I remember how happy I was to see it all. And I 

 remember very well how happy I was when I stepped on an 

 old bridge and saw the water running beneath, and saw the 

 little fish darting here and there, just the same fish, it seemed 

 to me, that I had left there when I went away. And it seemed 

 to me as if they were there to welcome me back to the old home. 

 And when I got near the old place I stood there gazing on my 

 old father's farm, and how familiar and fresh everything 

 appeared to me. It seemed to me like getting back to heaven. 

 After the first raptures of home-coming were over, my father 

 said to me, " Let us go out and look at the place." We went 

 out, and oh, how the old farm had changed. My father had 

 changed, too. I could hardly think it was the same place. 

 We used to think it was a fairly rich farm, and that we' were 

 fortunate in having such a good place, but somehow or other it 

 did not seem to look just the same any more. Years before 

 I used to think it looked so big, but after coming back from 

 those great plains in the far west, oh, how small it did appear to 

 me ! I never shall forget how it came over me, and it did not 

 seem as though I should be able to adjust myself to those new 

 conditions. There was the barn that I used to think was so 

 large, and I well remember how proud I was the first time I 

 filled that barn with hay. I began to think what I could do, 

 and the more I thought of it the more restless and discontented 

 I became. I tried not to show my discontent, but my father 

 saw that I was restless, and he said, " My boy, now I suppose 

 it is true that you did a great business in the west. I suppose 

 it is true, as you say, that you had two thousand head of cattle 

 to look after." I do not believe that the old gentleman ever 

 believed it was true. But I remember very well how he went 

 to the shelf and took down his account book. He was a New 

 Englander himself. He always kept an accurate account of 

 everything. If he owed a man that man got it. If that man 

 owed him anything he got it too. He showed me that old 

 account book, and showed me the hay he had cut, the wheat. 



