124 HAPPY HOLLOW FARM 



discouragement in you at the wrong moment, 

 it's supposable that you may come to a sudden 

 snap judgment and chuck the whole thing and 

 turn your face "back home." We've seen them 

 do that. We've seen many a case where suc- 

 cess might very well have come if the lightly 

 balanced scales of decision had only tipped the 

 other way in the critical hour. 



I'm not writing mere abstract arguments 

 now; I'm giving the sum of scores of actual 

 experiences that have been lived out around 

 us. It comes to this: Success hangs upon 

 state of mind more than upon any externals. 

 In the last four years we have been much dis- 

 turbed by the spectacle of eager, hopeful men 

 and women surrendering to discouragement 

 and failure. But we have seen others achieve 

 happy success. If we tried to deduce from 

 these cases a rule that would prescribe how old 

 a man ought to be, or how much money he 

 ought to have, or what he ought to do upon his 

 land to make the game win for him, we'd have 

 to give it up. But if you want a rule, if you 

 must have a rule of some sort that will guide 

 the back-to-the-lander, here's one : 



Get hold of your farm and then make violent 

 love to it and keep it up. 



