CHAPTER LVI 
THE SYNDICATE 
I po not wish to take credit for things which 
gave me pleasure in the doing, or to appear altru- 
istic in my dealings with the people employed at . 
Four Oaks. I tell of our business and other re- 
lations because they are details of farm history 
and rightfully belong to these pages. If I dealt 
fairly by my men and established relations of 
mutual confidence and dependence, it was not 
in the hope that my ways might be approved 
and commended, but because it paid, in more 
ways than one. I wanted my men to have a 
lively interest in the things which were of im- 
portance to me, that their efforts might be intel- 
ligent and direct; and I was glad to enter into 
their schemes, either for pleasure or for profit, 
with such aid as I could give. Cordial under- 
standing between employee and employer puts 
life into the contract, and disposes of perfunctory 
service, which simply recognizes a definite deed 
for a definite compensation. Uninterested labor 
leaves a load of hay in the field to be injured, 
just because the hour for quitting has come, 
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