The Title to the Farm 67 



Most farmers desire a comfortable and a 

 beautiful home, and it is to aid such that this 

 book is written. Such a farmer would doubt- 

 less consult a builder or an architect as to the 

 foundation, walls, plan and materials of the 

 home to be constructed, and he would act 

 wisely ; but how many would think so far as 

 to consult a lawyer as to the very foundation 

 upon which his home and his future happy 

 occupancy of it rest : the title to the farm. 

 Too many times he is satisfied with the services 

 of the village solons, — the shoemaker who is a 

 notary public, the justice of the peace, or 

 the pettifogger who daily overrules the supreme 

 court or the court of appeals. Years after he 

 has purchased his farm, he finds, perhaps, that 

 some man has given a deed whose wife has not 

 signed, and upon the death of the woman's 

 husband our farmer friend is confronted with 

 a law suit ; and he finds that this wife, who did 

 not sign the deed, is entitled to dower in his 

 farm, the use of one -third of its value at the 

 time her husband gave the deed, for life. Such 

 cases are frequent, and might easily be pre- 

 vented by submitting an abstract of the title to 

 a lawyer at a cost of $5 or less. The flaw in 

 the title may be a mortgage or judgment, oi* a 

 failure of all the heirs of a deceased person, 

 somewhere along the chain of title, to join in 



