THE TEACHINGS OF TRAVEL 189 



blacker than any you'll find in the big cities ; and 

 he does not have to be among you over forty- 

 eight hours either. 



On this point I want to say that we found the 

 cleanest towns (small towns I mean), speaking 

 from the standpoint of morals, among the much 

 maligned Mormon inhabitants of the west; and 

 the rottenest small towns, morally, we found in 

 the middle west, from the Great Lakes to the 

 Missouri river. 



Another thing we learned is that the average 

 farmer has less judgment in the handling of 

 horses than the city horseman. I do not hesitate 

 to say that seventy-five per cent of the trouble 

 farmers have with their stock is the result of poor 

 judgment displayed in feeding and working. 

 And fully half the losses they suffer from live 

 stock diseases are the result of poor nursing. If 

 I must treat a severe case of any disease, give me 

 anybody but a farmer to do the nursing. 



We also learned that while the man who suc- 

 ceeds over a period of time must deal squarely and 

 "deliver the goods", ninety per cent of all farm- 

 ers we had anything to do with "want to be 

 humbugged by strangers"; "and the slicker you 

 do 'em the better they seem to like it." P. T. 

 Barnum meant the rural population when he re- 

 marked "thusly" years ago; and it holds good 

 today in spite of all this nonsense about the farm- 

 er not being a "rube" any more. Nine times out 

 of ten he is "easy picking" for a stranger and 

 "snap" for the traveling faker. 



I have known the old "soap trick" to be 

 pulled off in one of the best dairy sections of Wis- 

 consin, where the farmers are supposed to be 



