LOOKING BACKWARD 395 



* and I guess I'll have to thank you for throwing 

 me down that day." 



Zeb has married Lena, and a little cottage 

 is to be built for them this winter, just east of 

 the farm-house ; and Lena's place is to be filled 

 by her cousin, who has come from the old 

 country. 



Anderson and Sam both left in 1898, poor, 

 faithful Anderson because his heart gave out, 

 and Sam because his beacon called him. 



Lars's boys, now sixteen and eighteen, have full 

 charge of the poultry plant, and are quite up to 

 Sam in his best days. Of course I have had all 

 kinds of troubles with all sorts of men ; but we 

 have such a strong force of " reliables " that the 

 atmosphere is not suited to the idler or the hobo, 

 and we are, therefore, never seriously annoyed. 

 Of one thing I am certain : no man stays long 

 at our farm-house without apprehending the uses 

 of napkin and bath-tub, and these are strong 

 missionary forces. 



Through careful tilth and the systematic return 

 of all waste to the land, the acres at Four Oaks 

 have grown more fertile each year. The soil was 

 good seven years ago, and we have added fifty 

 per cent to its crop capacity. The amount of 

 waste to return to the land on a farm like this 

 is enormous, and if it be handled with care, 

 there will be no occasion to spend much money 

 for commercial fertilizers. I now buy fertilizers 

 only for the mid-summer dressing on my timothy 



