190 HAPPY HOLLOW FARM 



Does that talk seem too hifalutin? I guess 

 not. Most of you will get the gist of it, any- 

 way. It's natural enough, I dare say, that a 

 man should feel odd and awkward and doubt- 

 ful in the first stages of a new life ; but it's bet- 

 ter to get over that feeling so soon as you can. 

 Your work doesn't really begin until that mood 

 is past. 



All your soil wants from you is a sign that 

 you're inclined to be friendly and that you're 

 honestly trying to understand. Take this from 

 me: Once that sign is given, once you do 

 really put your mind upon your work, forth- 

 with all the kinks have begun to straighten out. 

 After that, you may do just what you like with 

 your land. The soil isn't stubborn ; it isn't the 

 least bit inclined to hold back on you and to 

 yield its secrets and its fruits grudgingly. The 

 clay is not more plastic to the hand of the pot- 

 ter than the soil is plastic to the mind of the 

 thinking farmer. He may do just what he 

 wills with it. 



There were spots on our farm that had long 

 ago been given up as hopeless, not worth the 

 effort of reclaiming them. No raw townsman 

 could be more timid than our tenant had been 

 about making those spots of some account. 



