THE FARMER OF YESTERDAY 11 



the farm that he has never been able to save 

 enough to go back to the farm where the food 

 comes from. Jeremiah resigns his high stool, 

 his high-power spectacles and his green shade, 

 and a through Pullman sets Jeremiah and 

 Mary down on a willow-bank, where he was 

 born and raised. 



Let us say that this was in Iowa, because 

 Iowa as a State presents in a mass the con- 

 ditions developed in our national life in that 

 brief interval between the time when Jeremiah 

 turned his back on the Land, and to-day, 

 when he seeks to return. 



Yes, this is home. But somehow things do 

 not look the same. There is an extra wing 

 on the house and a second story has been added ; 

 it is freshly painted and shingled and wears 

 green blinds. There is a red barn with white 

 battens, housing a glistening gang plow and a 

 binder, and a pair of ton horses with big 

 creases in their backs are browsing in the feed 

 lot. There is a wind-mill and a telephone, 

 and hot-and-cold water, and woven wire 

 fences, and a suspicious odor of gasoline. 



"Here is the screw loose," thought Jere- 

 miah. "The farmer is making too much 



