CHAPTER XI 



THE GRANGE 



NE evening in June, I was sitting on 

 a bench contemplating the growth of 

 the vegetable garden, the astonishing 

 developments of the pigweed in the 

 field, and the inferiority of our neighbor's crops, 

 when I was approached by a friend from the 

 country, the successful manager of a productive 

 and extensive farm, and my prospective member- 

 ship in the Grange was solicited. Perhaps I am 

 in error to say that he requested me to apply for 

 admission to the organization, for in fact he so 

 managed the conversation that I was the actual 

 suppliant. 



The Grange in our state is a most powerful and 

 extensive organization, probably having as many 

 members, as much enthusiasm, and fully as 

 many enjoyable festivals as any other organiza- 

 tion, and it is certainly a privilege to belong to 

 it; and so, when it was casually intimated that 

 my ownership of so extensive a farm as my two- 

 acre patch appeared to be might qualify me for 

 admission into that society, I was at once inter- 



