HOME BUILDING 269 



slowly, even the dress of those engaged in the 

 business of farming was so distinctive as to ex- 

 cite ridicule. 



This condition of the business of farming threw 

 a certain environment about those engaged in it 

 that they continued in the same old rut, even when 

 conditions changed and greater opportunities were 

 possible upon the farm. 



The young man or woman reared under these 

 environments, without any education that led 

 them out into the delights and possibilities of the 

 business, got out enough into the world to see that 

 there was another class of men and women en- 

 gaged in different business, wearing a more pleas- 

 ing dress, possessing beautiful looking homes, and 

 apparent prosperous business ; that these men and 

 women were leaders of men and women, as law- 

 yers, physicians, clergymen, merchant princes, 

 etc. They had never heard the merits or possi- 

 bilities of the business of farming exalted either 

 in home, school or elsewhere. It was not thought 

 possible for those on the farm to be as well dressed 

 as people in other lines of business, and so the 

 business of farming was generally condemned and 

 looked upon with ridicule and contempt. Even 

 the literature and art of the day portrayed and 

 pictured the men, women, and children engaged in 

 the business of farming in the most slurring man- 

 ner. The written eloquence of the great lawyers 

 and statesmen and their pictures in action, was the 

 literature and art found in both schoolhouse and 

 home. Is it any wonder that the young man upon 

 the farm early in his life began to dream of the 



