Serge a = tig ees * 
PP ye ee tn A ee 
AN HUNDRED FOLD 379 
“It has been smooth sailing for me thus far, 
and I believe it is simply a business with the 
usual ups and downs; but I mean to make the 
ups the feature in this case.” 
« Are you really glad to get back toit? Didn’t 
you want to stay longer?” 
«“T had a fine trip, and all that, but I give you 
this for true; I don’t think it would make me 
feel badly if I were condemned to stay within 
forty miles of this place for the rest of my life.” 
“J can’t go so far as that with you, Dad, but 
perhaps I may when I’m older.” 
« Yes, age makes a difference. At forty a man 
is a fool or a farmer, or both; at fifty the pull 
of the land is mighty; at sixty it has full posses- 
sion of him; at seventy it draws him down with 
other forces than that which Newton discovered, 
and at eighty it opens for him and kindly tucks 
the sod around him. Mother Earth is no step- 
mother, but warm and generous to all, and I 
think a fellow is lucky who comes to her for 
long years of bounty before he is compelled to 
seek her final hospitality.” 
«“ But, Dad, we can’t all be farmers.” 
« Of course not, and there’s the pity of it; but 
almost every man can have a plot of ground on 
which each year he can grow some new thing, if 
only a radish or a leaf of lettuce, to add to the 
real wealth of the world. I tell you, young 
lady, that all wealth springs out of the ground. 
You think that riches are made in Wall Street, 
