CROPS AND PROFITS. 209 



after long travail, and comparison of views in the 

 course of which, he has whittled a stout billet of 

 wood to a very fine point. If I address him in the 

 field, he stops leans on his hoe and is willing to 

 lavish upon me the only valuable commodity for 

 which he makes no charge, to wit his time. 



Such a farmer repairs his barn promptly, when 

 the sills are giving way ; he does not hesitate at the 

 purchase of a ' likely pair of cattle ' at a bargain ; 

 he will buy occasional bags of guano, upon proof in 

 his turnip patch, or on his winter rye ; but if a sub- 

 soil plow is recommended, he gives a sly twinkle to 

 that gray eye of his, and a complimentary allusion to 

 the old ' Eagle No. 4,' which settles the business. 



Such men are in their way money-makers ; but 

 rather by dint of not spending, than by large profits. 

 These back-country gentlemen have their families 

 educated (thanks to our school system) ; boys, lank 

 at the- first, in short-armed coats, and with a pinch 

 of the vowel sounds in their speech ; but they do not 

 linger around such a homestead ; they come to the 

 keeping of hotels, or of woodyards on the Missis- 

 sippi ; many are written down in the dead-books of 

 the war. 



Our mouey*saving farmer has his daughter too, 

 with her Chrysanthemums and striped-grass at the 

 door, and her pink monster of a Hydrangea. She has 



