IN DAKOTA, 68 
in the long run. And there are times when there is 
extra work in the house when there may be none on 
the farm. Provide for this also. And don’t wait 
for your wife to ask forit. A sensitive woman—as 
most women are, and your wife certainly is—will 
generally do the work herself rather than ask for 
the help she ought to have, even though it robs her 
of many hours in the night, when she ought to be 
asleep. It will rob her also of the bloom on her 
cheek, and the buoyancy and elasticity of spirit 
which your money can’t replace. » 
RETROSPECTION, 
Looking back over the year’s work I certainly had 
no reason to be dissatisfied with the result. It stood 
out in pleasant contrast with the year before, and 
profiting by the mistakes of that year, I had greater 
courage for the work, and stronger faith in the out- 
come, of the future. My bump of caution had 
been considerably developed last year, and that of 
hope by the success of the present. No one can fore- 
east the future ; he who trusts in God and does his 
level best, has done all that the best man can do, and 
is pretty sure to come out all right sooner or later. 
And if he has a well-improved Dakota farm back of 
him, he has a very substantial reason for increased 
confidence in the future. 
CANCELLING THE MORTGAGE. 
When I had got far enough along with my crops 
to feel certain of the result, I wrote my friend 
