MY VINEYARD. 141 



CHAPTER XIX. 



THE RESPONSE. 



" * * * Does the " record " answer the inquiry 

 which you seem to make? "Too late to go a-farming?" 

 So many things are to be considered that one can hardly 

 say. In your meditation upon the subject, above other 

 things, one sliould be kept in mind. Can you infer it to 

 be aught else than your lamentable bachelorhood? 

 Why Providence should have visited you with such a 

 judgment, I know not. But it is never too late (so wise 

 men say) for reform and repentance, even to the eleventh 

 hour ; and how much more available must the eighth 

 hour be, which is scarcely passed. With a helpmeet, a 

 dear companion of your joys and sorrows (and there will 

 be both) then look ahead. 



If you can find within you the least germ of love for a 

 rural life, my advice is, nourish it with care ; and if it 

 flourisheth, then cast around for some country home wliicli 

 shall be congenial to your tastes. The change would be 



