INTRODUCTION. 25 



fall came the sweetheart and the boy drove out one 

 day along quiet byways and gathered a buggy load 

 of wild flowers and vines and with these decorated 

 the sweetheart's home, and that night they were 

 married. Next day they went on a honeymoon jour- 

 ney, with the same old horse and buggy, out again 

 into the country, driving slow beneath the old oaks 

 that overarched the road, and more than ever the 

 boy resolved that his life should not be a failure; 

 that in some way he would strive mightily to be 

 worthy of her, who had been an inspiration to him 

 since she was a merry child of eleven, with sunny 

 curls hanging down on her shoulders. And as soon 

 as they were married he began digging for the foun- 

 dations of a little cottage in the corner of the wood- 

 land, a cottage where she might be mistress. All 

 winter whenever it was warm enough he worked on 

 the cottage, so that it was done nearly altogether 

 by the labor of his own hands saving that the sweet- 

 heart's father came to help now and then. In June 

 they moved in. All was fresh and new and clean, 

 the whole air was full of hope and life was very 

 joyous then. 



That spring they sowed another field to alfalfa, 

 this time a little field of about 3 acres. And this 

 field taught a much needed lesson. It began down 

 by the creek where the land was low and wet, rail 

 on up over a little hill where the land was dry and 

 filled with limestone gravel, extended on back over 

 some flat cold poor clay. And on only one acre of 

 the three did the alfalfa thrive; that acre lay on 



