4 FARMING IT 



struments, made exhaustive examinations of the 

 workings of my vital organs, and finally suggested 

 that I had better take more exercise, keep in the 

 open air as much as possible, and not allow busi- 

 ness affairs to worry me. For, as he said, I had 

 become a little "hipped" from too close atten- 

 tion to business, and needed rest. 



Now this gratified me beyond measure, for it 

 is really a delightful thing to have people look 

 upon one as a person who has been sacrificing 

 his health to the demands of his profession, and 

 although I knew in my inmost heart that I never 

 had overworked, but, if the truth were known, 

 had spent a good part of office hours in sitting 

 with my feet on the desk, contemplating the 

 square in front of my office, I fostered to the 

 utmost the delusion under which the doctor and 

 the people in general labored, and I decided to 

 take a rest. I can give you no idea of the pleasure 

 I felt in hearing the remarks made by my ac- 

 quaintances upon my personal appearance, and 

 in realizing that in the minds of some I was, ac- 

 cording to their expression, " booked for the junk 

 heap " unless I took a rest. 



It was then that the long-dominant desire to 

 have a small farm or garden patch of my own 

 awoke in me. I knew perfectly well that if I took 

 a deserted farm and tried to bring it to its previ- 

 ous usefulness, history would be repeated, and it 



