CONCLUSION 187 
sions, the mercantile and manufacturing business will be 
relieved of the congestion of workers. 
Nearly forty years ago the author, a boy of fifteen, 
bid an affectionate adieu to his mother on the old farm 
porch and set his face towards the city and entered its 
busy activities. He engaged in mercantile pursuits for 
a time, attending school and college, educated himself 
for the profession of law, engaged in the successful prac- 
tice of his profession for many years, engaged in manu- 
facturing, farming, political strife and office holding, and 
now finds himself past the meridian of life with a great 
fund of experience to his credit. 
But now as the border land of eternity appears to view, 
realizing that it will be but a short time until “ life’s fit- 
ful dream ” will be o’er, he yearns to spend the remainder 
of his days upon the farm, that he may regain some of 
the lost pleasures of farm life. Upon the farm, where, 
far removed from the bitter, galling strife of men, he 
may commune with nature, study soil problems, smell 
the bloom of vetch and clover, admire the beauty of 
growing plants, hear the songs of birds and the soothing 
rustle of the corn, and bask in the delights of sunshine 
and open sky. 
Farmers of America, you do not realize what God and 
Nature have done for you. Your lines have indeed 
“fallen in pleasant places,” but oh, so many of you have 
failed to grasp your opportunities. Ye are God’s chosen 
people and yet you do not act it. 
If you are tempted to leave the farm, command the 
tempter to get behind you. Stay with your fields, your 
