BACK TO THE LAND 291 



partake of the business of farming, with a suffi- 

 cient wage, and with the idea impressed upon 

 our minds that our lives should be lives of service, 

 we will then find ourselves better off for mingling 

 with the common every day men and women, and 

 thank God that we are of the common people. 



The author has lived in the rich corn belt of 

 Indiana all of the fifty-seven years of his life. He 

 was born on a pioneer farm that had only been set- 

 tled for fifteen years before his birth. He has ever 

 mingled with the farming class and has known the 

 financial status of hundreds of farmers. He 

 knows how the farmers of the corn belt are pros- 

 pering. He knows of scores of farmers who were 

 worth from twenty-five to one hundred and fifty 

 thousand dollars, and he knows that the vast ma- 

 jority of these farmers of our best lands possess a 

 competence, are better housed, fed, and dressed, 

 and have greater opportunities for possessing hap- 

 piness than you find in the city. 



He is firm in the faith that the greater oppor- 

 tunity to find peace, plenty and happiness, is to 

 be found on the farm. He concedes that many will 

 not be able to find it there, neither will they likely 

 find it in the city. 



After all that you can say upon this subject it 

 resolves itself up to the man or woman. No one 

 can tell you how to get back to the land so that 

 you can just go out and lay your hand upon the 

 opportunity of better living and just stop there. 

 You are still the architects of your own fortune. 

 The way may be laid out before you so you can 

 see clearly down the road to the reality beyond, 

 but you must go down the road yourself and pos- 



