32 THE LURE OF THE LAND 



and a joy and a blessing. His early experience on the 

 farm is not likely to help him along in that line. Of 

 course he begins his new labors from a new point of 

 view. His attitude towards the plow is quite different 

 from that of a boy ; but it* is hard to get over these 

 early impressions, and hence the intending farmer is 

 more than likely to look forward to a career of resting 

 in the shade and watching other people work. Rest 

 of course is not only physiological and necessary, and 

 delightful, but there can be no rest if there is no work, 

 and the modern farmer should not sit in the shade un- 

 til he has earned that right by becoming fatigued in the 

 sun. 



But approached from the point of view of science, 

 the labor of the farm is a continued joy. It is a manip- 

 ulation of the laboratory which the real chemist does 

 not relegate to a helper, it is the touching of a canvas 

 by an artist's brush which cannot be left to an amateur. 

 The hired man can never put a soul into a field any 

 more than the hired painter can put a soul into a pic- 

 ture. 



For these reasons the man who was born in the city, 

 and who by the great impress of heredity some time in 

 his life feels the lure of the land, has a good chance to 

 become a good farmer, perhaps as good as the boy who 

 was born upon the farm. I do not claim for a moment 

 that every man, even if born in the city, could be suc- 

 cessful on the farm. That is not reasonable. A lot 

 of people who were born in the city can never become 

 farmers, any more than boys born on the farm can be. 

 We must not forget the natural tact and ability, with- 

 out which none of us can ever succeed in anything, no 

 matter how patiently we try. 



The point which I wish to accentuate is that when 



