AN HUNDRED FOLD 379 



It has been smooth sailing for me thus far, 

 and I believe it is simply a business with the 

 usual ups and downs ; but I mean to make the 

 ups the feature in this case." 



" Are you really glad to get back to it ? Didn't 

 you want to stay longer ? " 



" I had a fine trip, and all that, but I give you 

 this for true ; I don't think it would make me 

 feel badly if I were condemned to stay within 

 forty miles of this place for the rest of my life." 



" I can't go so far as that with you, Dad, but 

 perhaps I may when I'm older." 



" Yes, age makes a difference. At forty a man 

 is a fool or a farmer, or both ; at fifty the pull 

 of the land is mighty ; at sixty it has full posses- 

 sion of him ; at seventy it draws him down with 

 other forces than that which Newton discovered, 

 and at eighty it opens for him and kindly tucks 

 the sod around him. Mother Earth is no step- 

 mother, but warm and generous to all, and I 

 think a fellow is lucky who comes to her for 

 long years of bounty before he is compelled to 

 seek her final hospitality." 



" But, Dad, we can't all be farmers." 



" Of course not, and there's the pity of it ; but 

 almost every man can have a plot of ground on 

 which each year he can grow some new thing, if 

 only a radish or a leaf of lettuce, to add to the 

 real wealth of the world. I tell you, young 

 lady, that all wealth springs out of the ground. 

 You think that riches are made in Wall Street, 



