The Stress of Society Functions 65 



trict, he became enthusiastic at the dinner table in describing 

 the glorious times they had had in the country, Mr. Keeler said : 



"Ernest, how would you like to be a fruit farmer down at 

 Brighton?" 



To which the lad replied: 



"Just try me, sir, and see! It would be splendid!" 



Of course the mother did not take the boy seriously, as she 

 could not comprehend how anyone, city bred, could endure the 

 inanity of an existence separated from the daily excitement of 

 urban life and of the constant round of gaieties in which much 

 of her later years had been spent. So all she could say was: 



"You silly boy, you don't know what you are talking about. 

 You would make a pretty farmer!" 



To this Mr. Keeler only thought it necessary to remark : 



"Well, Ernest, we must see about the matter," and so for 

 a time the matter rested there. 



What, however, seemed apparent to Mr. Keeler, the more he 

 revolved in his mind this rural problem now coming to have a 

 family and personal interest as he thought of giving the boy's 

 evident inclination an opportunity for development, was that 

 if enough land within the Brighton district could be bought at 

 a fair price, it might be possible to put into effect some of those 

 theories, which he and the professor had been discussing so 

 recently. 



Not only, he thought, should capital properly invested and 

 applied be made productive as in any wholesale, manufactur- 

 ing or other industry, but there further seemed no reasons why 

 the methods of concentrating business and of cooperation be- 

 tween the new business farmer and the old individualistic 

 settler, who for so many generations had toiled patiently alone, 

 should not be brought into effect. 



It was not long before he had, through the local enquiries of 

 an agent, obtained the prices of a number of farms for sale near 

 Brighton, and, though prepared for it somewhat, was much 

 surprised, indeed, at the low prices asked. It seemed to him 

 absurd that a few lots in a field more than five miles from the 

 centre of Toronto should have a selling price greater than a 

 hundred-acre farm, with buildings, orchard and all near Brigh- 

 ton. In some cases he learned of farms, where no sons were 



