HAPPY HOLLOW FARM 19 



then, the thing to do is to go and hunt up our 

 farm." 



That brought on more conversation. Laura 

 didn't want to hurt ; but she had to say it sooner 

 or later. "Have you forgotten that it takes 

 money to buy a farm?" she asked. "You know 

 how much money we have." 



I knew, well enough. By shaking out and 

 cashing in all our resources we could have in 

 hand in real money something less than four 

 thousand dollars. I'll admit that that made 

 me feel a bit uneasy. If it had been forty 

 thousand I'd have felt better. Even forty 

 thousand in Omaha wouldn't have let us "get 

 by" with what we meant to do. 



"No matter," I said. "Just listen to this, 

 now : We want that place, wherever it is. It's 

 ridiculous to suppose that it doesn't exist 

 somewhere, when we've wanted it so long and 

 so faithfully. We've never really tried to find 

 it. That's what we're going to do now." 



"But if we had a big farm, what should we 

 do with it?" Laura persisted. "We're not 

 farmers." It beats all how very practical a 

 practical person can be if she puts her mind 

 to it. 



I'm bound to own that Laura was right, on 



