24 THE LARGER ASPECTS OF FARM LIFE. 



means simply this: that by reason of our ignorance we shall 

 be unfortunate; being unfortunate, we shall be worried; being 

 worried, we shall not be well nourished; not being well nour- 

 ished, we shall die before our time, leaving half-nourished and 

 nervous descendants to live still shorter lives, until our names 

 finally perish from the earth. That is what death means to 

 the evolutionist, and it is the process which the ignorant are 

 now going through. 



We are, then, atoms in a struggling mass of humanity, of 

 whom it is certain that the weakest must die, but amid wdiich 

 it is the highest duty of each one of us to make sure that he 

 shall live. If we can also aid others to live, we shall do well, 

 but nature does not demand it of us, nor can we do so until 

 we have first satisfied our own debt to the awful force which 

 controls us; but by as much as we maintain or increase our 

 own vigor, by so much we add to the aggregate vigor of our 

 race. It is, therefore, not only essential, but morally right 

 that, up to a certain point, we look out for ourselves; and we 

 are compelled not only to live, but to live up to a certain 

 standard of comfort which is customary among those with 

 whom we mingle. The Chinaman lives in happiness and 

 holds his own among the races amid environments which 

 would be death to the American farmer. 



I have now to disentangle from this seething multitude the 

 farming class, and especially the American farmer, in order to 

 note his condition as compared with others of his race, and 

 see whether or not he is holding his own, and, if not, whether 

 of his own volition he can strengthen himself, recover any 

 ground he may have lost, and maintain his position among 

 those who shall live; and, as I am now considering mankind 

 solely with reference to the relative power of survival, I am 

 compelled, as already stated, to again make the rather heart- 

 less division into owners and non-owners of property, meaning 

 by the latter class those who, in the prime of life, have not in 

 their possession the means of supporting tiiemselves without 

 serious worry during their years of decline. For the acquisi- 

 tion of the means of subsistence according to one's station in 

 life is not only the best, but the only evidence of power of 



