Musings of the South 163 



to pay for it. He very soon saw that his land-hold- 

 ings would be unprofitable to him if he could not 

 make them profitable to his tenants. All he wants 

 is the right kind of a man. He need not have any- 

 thing but a few ragged clothes. Benson will furnish 

 him mules, a cow, a pig, seed, farming utensils, 

 everything, and give him half he raises. That is 

 the business side of it, and there is a weighty hint 

 to landholders how to make their lands pay inter- 

 est. Young Benson wants good society. He wants 

 a cultivated wife, and people around her who will 

 make her contented in this out-of-the-way place. 

 Therefore he is pushing for the right kind of a 

 school. "Here is this timber going to waste," he 

 says. "We want to teach our people how to make 

 wagons, ax-handles, plow-stocks, houses, furniture, 

 every useful thing that is wooden, out of it. Here is 

 this water-power going to waste. We want to put 

 it to work for the people. Here is the school-house. 

 We want to make the people intelligent, and we 

 want an educated, but sensible, minister. We want 

 to get rid of cock-fighting, gambling, drinking, 

 loafing, and every sort of meanness, and have a 

 neighborhood that is fit for a man to live comfort- 

 ably and happily in." 



It is plain to be seen that the elder Benson is on 

 the right track for doubling the price of his land, and 

 getting his pay for his goods. And it is equally 

 plain that the younger Benson is on the right 

 track for himself as a cultured man, for his neigh- 



