250 THE BUSINESS OF FAKMING 



they resented any proposal to move back to the 

 farm, and these men were persuaded to embark 

 into some city business for which they had no 

 adaptation or training, and so it was but a short 

 time until they made miserable failures and their 

 property was swept away and for ever afterwards 

 they were as derelicts upon life's sea. And of the 

 few who at the expiration of their term of office 

 did go back to the old farm home, it was with a dis- 

 contented and dissatisfied spirit which so hung 

 about them that it prevented them from getting 

 properly back into country life again. 



The effects of city environments caused the 

 women and children of these men to so act towards 

 their old neighbors and friends as to stir up ani- 

 mosity and strife. The men themselves, had, too, 

 fallen under the effect of city environment that 

 leads to speculation, were no longer content to de- 

 vote their entire attention to the business of farm- 

 ing, so they engaged in contracting for the doing 

 of public work, stock buying, or some work for the 

 doing of which they had no training or experience. 

 Their farms and the business of farming were 

 neglected and they too in time found their property 

 swept away and the remainder of their lives were 

 bound with misery. 



The men who did not come to the city as office 

 holders, but to engage in a city business for which 

 they had no adaptation or training, also, as well 

 as their families, fell under the spell of the city's 

 environments and temptations, their lives and 

 business became failures and their property too 

 was swept away. 



The author has seen numbers of farmers who 



