HAPPY HOLLOW FARM 257 



country here who are bolder. Some seem bold 

 enough to try growing bananas or edible sea- 

 weed on these rocky Ozark hillsides. Frankly, 

 I'm growing more timid rather than bolder 

 about radical innovations. A reasonable cau- 

 tion has its place in progress, hasn't it? 



Speaking of progress, we're getting some of 

 it in the Fayetteville country this year. We've 

 fussed about the delays ; but we'll have to stop 

 fussing pretty soon and take a fresh grip on 

 things if we don't want to be known among 

 the neighbors as hard- shelled old-timers. 



A rural life conference was held at the state 

 university in June. In point of attendance 

 it's said to have beaten any other conference 

 of the sort in the United States. It was a 

 whizzer! Day after day, right in the middle 

 of summer, the farmers gathered for discussion 

 of their living problems. They weren't con- 

 tent merely to sit and listen to a lot of speech- 

 making by distinguished visitors. They were 

 interested enough to take part in some high- 

 strung disagreements and arguments among 

 themselves about this, that and the other. 

 That's a mighty good sign. They talked of 

 good roads, and improvement of rural schools, 

 and better marketing of farm products, and 



