74 The Illumination of Joseph Keeler, Esq. 



Keeler imagined would satisfy his boy's desires and give him- 

 self the opportunity of putting into practice the plans which he 

 was maturing for an honourable occupation for his son. See- 

 ing a favourable opportunity of handling the place by securing 

 the services of a young farmer, he purchased the adjoining farm, 

 and the son of its former owner agreed to take charge on the 

 basis of "share and share" alike in the products, Mr. Keeler 

 reserving the forest land and orchards with other land for sepa- 

 rate development. 



With his business foresight, Mr. Keeler had no idea of rush- 

 ing into any large expenditures until experience had taught 

 him the best methods of procedure. As it became known to 

 the neighbors that a newcomer from the city had purchased 

 land, they became immediately interested and awaited with 

 much curiosity what their new neighbour might be going to do. 

 Mr. Keeler casually met with one and another of these; he 

 found them intelligent within the limits of their old-time ex- 

 perience, and when he told them he hoped they might work 

 together to develop the district, he was met with friendly assur- 

 ances of goodwill and assistance. He further soon found that, 

 for the very reasons which the professor and himself had worked 

 out, these farmers had been following for years along these 

 narrow lines of cultivation which brought them an easy sub- 

 sistence, such as keeping cows for supplying the cheese factory, 

 caring fairly for their old orchards and growing tomatoes and 

 other vegetables for the canneries, receiving much the same 

 returns as they had twenty years before. He learned that the 

 prices were not such as to enable them to employ sufficient 

 labour for development, while largely for just such reasons 

 the sons of the farm had year after year gone into town, where 

 they could receive ready money or to the West to take up new 

 prairie farms. When asked why they had not combined to sell 

 their produce in wholesale lots, they could only reply by saying 

 "they hardly knew," but all felt that some such scheme would 

 pay if it could be worked out. Mr. Keeler recognized now at 

 first hand how the lack of business methods and the absence of 

 anyone to take the initiative accounted for what seemed to be 

 a lack of energy and even a seeming hopelessness of any possible 

 improvement in then* conditions; and he determined that, his 



