312 AROUND AN OLD HOMESTEAD. 



suds. "Well, sir," said the old gentleman, "there jest 

 ain't no use in talkin' ; soapsuds hain't no 'count for 

 hogs." Now there was a farmer who had some intel- 

 ligence. And he practiced what he preached; for his 

 pigs, as I happen to know, always had the best of milk 

 and corn, and plenty of it. 



It is from such surroundings that some of the 

 greatest poets and writers upon Nature have sprung 

 Burns, Jefferies, Whitman, Thoreau, Flagg, Burroughs 

 and they have not infrequently remained farmers. 

 Our great statesmen and Presidents have, as a rule, 

 been brought up on farms. It was there they learned 

 self-reliance and independence, and laid the foundation 

 for all their future careers; and it has been to the 

 country that they have returned to pass their declining 

 years. President Arthur is the one notable exception 

 among our Presidents of one who was born and bred 

 in the city. It is as if, in the old myth of Antaeus, a 

 touch of Mother Earth adds strength to character, and 

 furnishes a never-failing source of vigor and manliness. 

 The farm is the best place on earth in. which to 

 bring up the boy. Mr. Murat Halstead, whose early 

 years were passed not far from the homestead, has 

 spoken of his final relinquishment of the life of a farm 

 boy, even though journalism brought greater success, 

 with genuine feeling: 



"I have never since walked between plow handles, the 

 more 's the pity, it sometimes seems, for the nlow carves a path 

 of independence that should be more highly considered than 

 it is as a walk of life." 



Cobbett's "Rural Rides" reveal the unmistakable 

 charm of the outdoors to one whose life was spent 



