FIRST YEARS OF SUCCESS. in 



This was going back to the right line. He 

 seems, however, to have done no more in this 

 line until August of the next year (the month 

 after his marriage), when he returned in 

 earnest to the rural life, and never after- 

 wards left it. His earliest and fastest friend 

 was Frasers Magazine, now, alas ! defunct. 

 But he was speedily engaged to write for 

 other papers and magazines. His real literary 

 life, in fact, may be said to begin at this period. 

 The " Farmer at Home " was the title of this 

 paper singled out by the Spectator as the best 

 of all the papers for the month. Here there 

 occurs a really striking passage on the 

 "Farmer's Creed." They live, says the 

 writer, amid conditions so unchanging that 

 they have acquired a creed of their own, which 

 they rarely express, never discuss, and never 

 fail to act upon. 



" . . . In no other profession do the sons and 

 the daughters remain so long, and so naturally, 

 under the parental roof. The growth of half 

 a dozen strong sons was a matter of self-con- 

 gratulation, for each as he came to man's 



