INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS 47 



of so slight and delicate a type and the alimentary 

 canal so undeveloped that they cannot bear the 

 burdens of this strenuous modern world. " Tell 

 me what you eat and I will tell you what manner 

 of man you are," is an old saying. But tell me 

 what the soil is, and I will tell you the quality of 

 the men and animals which will be produced from 

 the foods raised upon it. 



I see those healthy country girls of the early 

 nineteenth century, yet; dressed in " store goods " 

 calico or gingham protected by white or 

 colored aprons, with a little home-made lace to 

 set off their rounded necks and with quite undis- 

 torted forms ; although work had made their hands 

 large and strong their faces revealed a well 

 nourished body, a cheerful temper and the habits 

 of right living. If the world was not better in 

 those days, it was certainly more natural. We 

 of the first half of the last century had more man- 

 ual exercise than our grandchildren but the pity 

 bestowed on us for our hard pioneer conditions 

 might better be given to the shop and factory 

 workers of today. 



I have been a pioneer in three fertile new states 

 in my time, but I have yet to see a country so 

 liberally supplied with the bounties of life, or a 



