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, ran 
‘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 
