HAPPY HOLLOW FARM 243 



that the work of making a farm out of a piece 

 of wilderness is nothing but a riotous jest. 



But the talk carried a serious undernote, for 

 all the surface lightness. Those folks are doing 

 some thinking. There's an unfailing sign we 

 found in them: They've learned something 

 besides discouragement from their mistakes. 

 They've learned some things that might hardly 

 be learned at all save by making mistakes. 



They've learned the very duplicate of our 

 own most invaluable lesson, that farming is a 

 waiting game and that the waiting must be 

 done thoroughly. They've learned just what 

 I've been trying to tell you all through this 

 part of the story, that there's no thoroughness 

 in any method of farming which seeks only im- 

 mediate results and that what the old-timers 

 of this country call long chances are really no 

 chances at all, but the surest of sure-thing bets. 



It boils down to this: Wouldn't you rather 

 stake a big, round dollar on a proposition that's 

 certain to give you two for one next year than 

 fritter away a dollar's worth of nickels on a 

 slot-machine gamble with nothing guaranteed 

 but quick action? Apply that to farming, and 

 who's taking chances the man who plays his 



