90 



when they shall have made money enough by some profita 

 ble business to be able to do so. 



&quot; It is not my purpose now to show how often these 

 young men are disappointed, and how they are deceived in 

 their views of the enjoyment of rural life. My object is to 

 give a word of encouragement to those who may be tempted 

 to shun the slow way of getting an estate, and my lesson 

 shall be drawn from the experience and observation of more 

 than twenty-five years. The experience of a large number 

 within my observation, during this time, may be considered 

 embodied in one case, which is probably a fair sample of a 

 very large number all over the land. 



&quot; A young man began his career by working for his father 

 at stipulated wages, which he continued a few years, until 

 his ability was fully tested, when he took the manage 

 ment of a farm on shares. The time at length came when 

 he would have a farm of his own, which he purchased with 

 much solicitude and many fears of ultimate success in pay 

 ing for it. His former accumulations, together with a small 

 patrimony from his father s estate, was not sufficient to pay 

 for half the cost of the farm and stock, and he often wished 

 himself on a smaller place, and out of debt. The farm he 

 purchased, like many others of that day, had been pretty 

 hardly run with crops of grain, and was much out of repair. 

 There was an enterprise requiring good courage and perse 

 verance. Our farmer had three principal things to do : he 

 had his family to support, which was not small, his debt to 

 pay, and his farm to improve. It is sufficient to say that he 

 carried these on together every year. There was no year 

 but at the end of it he had, besides paying the interest and 

 improving his farm, paid something upon the principal, gen 

 erally however a little less than he had anticipated. He 

 had not only these things to do, but he must sustain the so 

 cial position which his family and his education entitled him 



