52 THE FAT OF THE LAND 



" Well, that's good ! How much will it cost 

 to get them out ? " 



" About five cents apiece. A couple of smart 

 fellows can make good wages at that price." 



"Good. We will save thirteen cents each. 

 They will cost 193 instead of $333. I don't 

 know everything yet, do I, Thompson ? " 



" You learn easy, I reckon." 



" Keep your eyes and ears open, and if you 

 find any one who can do this job, let him have 

 it, for we are going to be too busy with other 

 things at present. It's time for me to be off. I 

 cannot be out again till Thursday, for I must 

 find a man, a woman, and a team of horses and 

 all that goes with them. I'll see you on the 8th 

 at any rate." 



I was dead tired when I reached home ; but 

 there wasn't a grain of depression in my fatigue, 

 rather a sense of elation. I felt that for the 

 first time in thirty years real things were doing 

 and I was having a hand in them. The fatigue 

 was the same old tire that used to come after a 

 hard day on my father's farm, and the sense was 

 so suggestive of youth that I could not help feel- 

 ing younger. I have never gotten away from the 

 faith that the real seed of life lies hidden in the 

 soil ; that the man who gives it a chance to 

 germinate is a benefactor, and that things done 

 in connection with land are about the only real 

 things. I have grown younger, stronger, happier, 

 with each year of personal contact with the soil 



