204 FARMING IT 



to go on as I had been doing, and look upon my 

 small corner of the world with a humorous dis- 

 regard, and attend strictly to my own affairs, the 

 duties of my profession from nine to five, and the 

 cultivation of my soil from five to dark, with the 

 interval of the dinner, or to fairly lay myself out 

 to the entertainment of the neighborhood. 



I really wished to be liked by my new neigh- 

 bors because I wanted to live in the neighbor- 

 hood and make myself one of thefn. I wanted 

 to be able to walk in upon them without formal- 

 ity, to have them drop in socially to a pipe or to 

 lunch ; to discuss matters of common interest, - 

 the growth of the crops, the relative butter quali- 

 ties of the Jerseys, the Ayrshires, the Guernseys, 

 and the Belted Dutch ; the comparative egg- 

 productiveness of the Minorcas, the Buff Wyan- 

 dottes, and the Orpingtons; whether Aldrich 

 was a real poet or a graceful dilettante; how 

 many rounds it took Jeffries to put Corbett down 

 and out; who was the first American educator, 

 Old Man Anson or Doctor Eliot, and other 

 matters of bucolic interest. 



The best method of attaining this desired end 

 was the thing that occupied me day and night. 

 We could not invite them to our house until they 

 had called, and we were not the people to slight 

 or neglect our old friends for the purpose of ob- 

 taining favor with new ones. 



