THE FARMERS' CLUB 



a better and more sympathetic appreciation of 

 their point of view of things than would have been 

 the case without my previous experience. Beyond 

 this, it gave me acquaintance with the social 

 manners and customs of farmers and taught me 

 that, if you want to get on the friendliest of 

 footings with them, you must make yourself one 

 with them in this respect. The following incident 

 indicates that I had some realization of this pretty 

 early in life. 



Farmers did not, in the time of which I have 

 been speaking, lose sight of their creature com- 

 forts, even in the midst of serious business, often 

 transacting it with accompaniments, which solaced 

 and cheered as well as stimulated. They fre- 

 quently did so when they met in conclave to 

 discuss such problems, in connection with their 

 occupation, as they were faced with. This was 

 borne in upon me at a comparatively early age, 

 upon the one solitary occasion when my father 

 deputed me to represent him at an agricultural 

 gathering. My father was the founder and 

 secretary of a Farmers' Club, which met at monthly 

 intervals on a market-day at one or other of the 

 hotels in the county town. It happened on the 

 day of one of the meetings that my father was 

 suddenly called away from home on other business. 

 He, therefore, directed me to represent him at the 

 meeting. I was but a schoolboy it was at the 

 end of the 'fifties and was rather taken aback by 

 the tallness of the order, as I had never been 

 intrusted with such an important mission before. 

 However, I had unbounded confidence in my father, 

 whose will was my law, so I made no bones about 



27 



