SIXTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VIJI. 911 



per cent were returned to the owner, who not only has a number of posts 

 thoroughly treated with oil. but he has also been of material assistance 

 in the carrying out of these post treating experiments. Those who are 

 interested in this line of work, which will probably mean a great deal to 

 the users of posts in this state and who desire to co-operate with the 

 ■experiment station are requesed to correspond with the forester of the 

 state college. The final success of these experiment will mean the pos- 

 sibility of using to great advantage the very large amount of soft-wooded 

 timber now growing in the state and it may also mean that the growing 

 of soft-wooded posts, which can be produced in from five to eight years, 

 may become a practical commercial proposition. 



THE STRENUOUS LIFE, AND WHERE ARE WE AT. 



FLORA R. WOOD, BEFORE THE LINX COUNTY, FARirEUS IXNSTITUTE. 



For years we have heard this saying, "The American people are liv- 

 ing too fast." We can note the effect by looking on the faces of the 

 people, more especially in the cities. Hurried, restless, woebegone, and on 

 many a look of despair. The strenuous life seems to be a national disease. 



And the best I can hope to do with this great question is to speak of 

 a few of the causes and suggest, if I may, a remedy, if persisted in will 

 in a measure alleviate. 



The prime cause of the strenuous life in most cause is the desire for • 

 gain — to have just a few more dolars than someone else. 



Look for moment at the rich and wealthy classes. In many cases 

 they will barter everything worth living for — Faith, Hope and Charitj', — 

 faith in God, hope of heaven and charity for their fellow man. 



After the .gain of wealth, as they come to the eventide of life, many 

 ■will be prone to say "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole 

 ■world and lose his own soul, or what shall he give in exchange for his 

 soul." "^e have all heard of such cases, and the desire to live over a- 

 gain. But we will pass this way but once. Dissatisfied with the past and 

 present, no hope for the future, is the cause of many I have spoken of. 



The next case I will speak of is the very poor class. Their lives are 

 strenuous by the ceaseless strife for their daily bread, and many times 

 are made more strenuous by those who have them in their power. We 

 often hear that worry kills more people than work, yet we cannot cen- 

 sure this class for the look of worry stamped on their faces. Toil, 

 poverty and the poor house loom up in the distance in their imagination. 

 So this is where they think they are at whether they are not. 



The next class of which I will speak is the well-to-do — the comfortable 

 class. This is the class in which the farmer belongs, for if anyone ought 

 to be comfortable and happy it is the farmer. So the strenuous life in 

 this case is mostly imagination. Sometimes as we see the more favored 

 one rent his farm and move to town and we meet him on the street with 

 his "biled shirt" on and stand-up collar, we bemoan our fate that we 

 have to labor. So we fret and fune out of envy pure and simple. We 



