CHAPTER XXVIII 



THE TEACHINGS OF TRAVEL 



Our last experience in South Dakota just 

 about "cured" both my brother and me, and we 

 have now settled down, my brother in Iowa and 

 I in Wisconsin. 



While we gained nothing from a financial 

 standpoint, we learned many lessons that are as 

 good as cash invested in substantial enterprises. 



One of the big lessons we learned early in our 

 experience is the custom of "clique rule," which 

 exists in all small towns, and which is one of the 

 most important factors bearing on a practitioner's 

 popularity in a small town. Ninety per cent of 

 the inhabitants of all small towns are not con- 

 scious of the existence of "clique" influence al- 

 though they are active members of such cliques. 



When a practitioner first locates in a small 

 town, and it makes absolutely no difference what 

 or where the town is, he must refrain from becom- 

 ing enmeshed in one or the other of these cliques, 

 and this he can do best by forming no fast or 

 particular friendships until he gets the lay of the 

 land. In a small town you are either a "friend of 

 mine" or an enemy; a "middle" existence is 

 almost impossible. If it is true that it is hard 

 for a practitioner to do well in his "home" town, 

 this is the chief reason; he belongs to a certain 

 clique and does not realize it. 



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