Some Sins of Nature 49 



fences . I ' ve determined to raise cattle . Will 

 the fever strike them, I wonder? Who knows? 



The experience of these three years, in 

 which my total farm losses have reached 

 about $7,000, has given me a feeling of ten- 

 derness and sympathy for the farmer I never 

 had before. Who can measure the sum of 

 his anguish through the years as he watches 

 the fleeting clouds in the brazen heat of 

 summer and sees no sign of rain, knowing 

 that every moment of that heat is burning 

 to ashes the hopes he has cherished for his 

 loved ones? 



With me farming is a dissipation. I am 

 willing to spend my hard-earned money in 

 this game with Fate. It is gambling. The 

 cruelty and sheer brutality of Nature fasci- 

 nate me — she who has no ear to hear, no 

 heart to pity, no arm to save the weak, 

 knows no conventions of morals or qualms of 

 conscience, breeds and kills by the million 



while her eternal life rolls on forever. 

 4 



