CAN WE MAKE IT PAY? 277 



and home life, it is withdrawing from production 

 some of our richest acres. This is exactly what we 

 cannot afford to have done. We need, on the con- 

 trary, that every acre shall be brought to its maxi- 

 mum power to feed our increasing population. 



I am writing and this chapter is specially intended 

 for those people who are waking up to the fact that 

 the best life for the majority of people is country life, 

 for those who have battered themselves against the 

 problem of earning a living at city employment and 

 done nothing else than merely to secure daily bread. 

 Young men I specially advise to turn to agriculture 

 as the most hopeful of the industries. Our city boys 

 should find places with skilled farmers, if possible, 

 where they can secure a training supplementary to 

 anything given by the schools. To a college grad- 

 uate I would say, add now a few years at an agri- 

 cultural college. 



To everyone I would say this business of going 

 into the country is not a matter of play or of senti- 

 ment; bring with you every bit of information and 

 training that you can secure. Come out from con- 

 gested life with the understanding that you cannot 

 change your lot by merely getting away from houses 

 and paved streets, that country life to be a success 

 requires knowledge, industry, thriftiness, economy, 

 and all the better qualities that make up the best 

 human character. This is the better part of the 

 whole story, that country life makes men, if it has 

 good stuff to work on. 



