THE COUNTRY HOME [CHAPTER 
said, “at Wellesley Farms. Some days I do not go 
to the city at all. It is not necessary, because, by 
telephone, I can keep in close touch with my city 
affairs, and can direct them as well as if in the store. 
I spend a large share of my time with experimental 
farming. You should see my pears!”” ‘Then he 
launched out into an enthusiastic discourse on coun- 
try life, and what it was doing for health and com- 
fort and intellectual broadening. Of course, such 
men have very little to carry into the country, except 
money and art. They will make some comical 
blunders, but will be sure to work out notable 
experiments, and will do a vast deal to make 
country life every way more admirable. 
With ministers I have special sympathy — men 
who in this age are compelled to hold on largely to 
the conservative past, and wear themselves out, be- 
cause they are not allowed to adjust their work to 
the living present. They are no longer allowed to 
be pastors of the old, shepherd sort, and must be 
keenly alert to hold their own, until their nerves give 
out with the tension. Then they are “broken down 
ministers’ — sadly at loss for any retreat. Every 
minister should cultivate horticulture; and whatever 
else he does not do, he should secure early in life a 
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