248 THE BUSINESS OF FAEMING 



find work to do that aids in the building of their 

 characters, and fits them for the active duties of 

 life and good citizenship. Whereas, if they live in 

 the city or village, their vacations are spent in 

 idleness that so unfits the boy and girl for the 

 serious duties of life. 



If, then, the farmer can secure upon the farm the 

 enjoyments and privileges that can be obtained in 

 the city, why should he bring himself within the 

 other environments of the city that are pernicious 

 to himself and family? 



For a half century the author has lived in close 

 contact with the farmers of the rich corn belt of 

 Indiana. For years he was the legal adviser for 

 hundreds of these farmers. He mingled with 

 them and their families, even in their homes. He 

 has talked to them as a public speaker in their 

 school houses, churches and public halls, discussing 

 politics, temperance, and farm problems. And he 

 has ever been a close observer of their class. Let- 

 ting his memory go back over these years of ac- 

 tivity and intermingling, he recalls scores of 

 farmers who moved from the farm to the city 

 either as office holders, or seekers of better busi- 

 ness and educational opportunities, and peaceful 

 retirement, and nearly every single one of them 

 made the greatest mistake of their lives. 



He has seen active men with industrious, inter- 

 esting wives and children, live forces in the farm 

 communities in which they resided, and living un- 

 der conditions that ought to have contributed con- 

 tentment, happiness and plenty, who began to 

 dream of office holding and city merchant's lives, 

 and came to the city to realize them. 



