IN DAKOTA. 49 
lates men to tell exaggerated stories on one side or 
the other.” 
“Not at all,’ I said. “A successful man any- 
where is likely to take a rosy view of things, and an 
unsnecessful one the reverse. All men who go to 
Dakota are not successful, and those who fail are apt 
to blame the country for it. The truth lies between 
these extremes. The country does offer grand oppor- 
tunities to men of courage and determination. There 
is no mistake about that. But all men do not pos- 
sess these qualities.” 
JAMES HARDY. 
I was deeply and sadly interested in the case of 
James Hardy. He was about my age, and we had 
gone to school and played together as boys, and had 
been friends all our lives. He bad married a year or 
two before I did, and rented some land on shares 
some two miles from the farm on which [ was living 
at that time. He was strictly temperate, clever, kind- 
hearted, and one of the most industrious men in the 
county. He was everybody’s friend, and everybody 
seemed to be his. Indeed, | don’t think he ever had 
an enemy in his life. | 
But somehow he could never getahead. The fates, 
or luck—whatever these things may be—seemed 
against him. He generally had good health himself, 
but if ever he was sick, it was pretty sure to be just 
at, the time his crops most needed attention. His wife’s 
health was poor, and one of his three children had 
