The Problem to be Solved 5 



might pall upon me, and when the papers 

 brought me news of great events in the world 

 of art I might feel that I was losing more than 

 I had gained. And my friends and acquaint- 

 ances were not slow in pointing out to me that 

 even if I worked hard and intelligently as a 

 farmer I could not be sure of making a com- 

 fortable living; and their picture of a farmer's 

 life made much of early rising, long hours of 

 work, bodily exhaustion, an unceasing battle 

 with Nature, and a gradual relapse, intellec- 

 tually, to the level of other farmers good 

 men, perhaps, but dull-witted in all matters 

 not connected with crops and stock. My 

 friends predicted that a year or two of farming 

 would result either in the loss of all interest in 

 literature, science, and art, or I would become 

 heartily sick of country life and eager to get 

 back to town at any cost. I would find, they 

 said, that books and magazines lost their in- 

 terest after a day's work in the fields; that 

 gradually there would be less talk about art and 

 music, and more about corn and calves. The 

 life of hard physical labor would end in blunt- 

 ing the intellectual perceptions. I recognize 



