238 
‘Che RURAL NEW-YORKER 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
The Twins. —James aod William 
Hardy were twins—bnrn and bred on a 
New Hampshire farm. The family dated 
far back to pioneer times, when John 
Hardy and Henry Graham, with their 
yoniiK wives, went into the wilderness as 
the advance guard of civilization. It 
came to be a common nnder.standing that 
a Hardy should always marry a Gra¬ 
ham, and through four generations at 
least this family law had been observed 
until there had been developed one of 
those fine, purebred New England fami¬ 
lies which represent jinst about the high¬ 
est type of the American. As the fath¬ 
er of these twins married a Graham girl 
you had a right to expect them to be as 
much alike as two peas in the family 
pod—both in appearance and in char¬ 
acter. Here you surely might expect 
one of those cases where the twins are 
always being mixed up, not even their 
mother being sure which was Jim and 
which was Bill. In truth, however, the 
boys were distinctly different from the 
day they were born—different in size, 
apiiearance and in character. 
T'nlike. — These twins innocently 
brought to the surface a sad spot of 
family history which both the Grahams 
and the Hardys hoped had been buried 
too far down ever to betray itself. Far 
back in the French and Indian war a 
b:ind of raiders from Canada burst out 
of the forest and carried off a dozcui pris¬ 
oners. Among them was the pride of 
the Graham family—a beautiful girl of 
It). The settlers, hiding in their block¬ 
house. could only look on and see their 
relatives start on the long march to 
Carnula. The next year some of these 
prisoners were ransomed, and came back 
to say that the girl had married a young 
Fnmchman. She was happy, and sent 
word to her parents that she preferred to 
stay with her husband. Years went by, 
until one night there c<aine to Willi.am 
Hardy’s house a Canadian ranger and 
a young girl. It was their grand¬ 
daughter and her father. The mother 
had died and had begged her husband to 
take her daughter back to the old folks 
as her offering of love. The father de¬ 
livered his message, bade his daughter 
farewell and silently vanished into the 
forest. They uevm* saw him again, but 
they realized that he had given full 
measure of devotiim to his dead wife. 
The girl grew up to be a beautiful crea¬ 
ture much like her mother, only darker, 
and at times there was a bright glitter 
in her eye. She married a Hardy and 
.‘settled down as a farmer's wife. She 
was dutiful and kind, but .sometimes her 
hu.sbiind would see her standing at the 
<loor—looking off into the Northern for¬ 
ests with a look which made him shake 
his head. Years went by, and this spot 
on the family history had been forgot¬ 
ten until these twins uncovered it! 
Their mother knew in her heart that the 
spirit of the re.stless Frenchman was 
watching her from the cradle through 
the black shiny eyes of her strange baby. 
James, the light-haired, steady, purebred 
infant, slept calmly or acted just as a 
good Hardy should, but the wild spirit of 
the foi’est had jumped three generations 
right into the cr.-ulle. where this black- 
haired* little changeling stared at her! 
Growing XT’. —^'I'liere never were t\w 
children more unlik** than these twins. 
,Tim was solid, sound, a little slow, but 
absolutely trustworthy—“a born Hardy” 
as they .said. Bill was bright, quick, 
restless and full of i)lans and visions. 
He di<l did not like to work, and had no 
respect for the family skeleton. This 
was a mortgage, which for many years 
had Slink its claws into the rocky little 
farm. The truth was that this farm nev- 
re should have been cleared and settled. 
It was rocky and sandy; further out of 
date than the old mill rotting unused by 
the old mill pond. The mortgage hung 
like a wolf at the back door, demanding 
its due. which came out of the little 
farm like blood money. Jim Hardy, like 
his father and grandfather, grew up to 
regard that mortgage a.s a fixed and sa¬ 
cred institution. It was like a family 
heirloom or tradition—something like 
the old musket which an older Hardy 
carried at Bunker Hill, or like grand¬ 
mother’s old spinning-wheel. As for the 
poor, rocky farm, Jim and his father 
would stay and grind themselves away 
in a hopeless struggle just because the 
Hardys who went before them had done 
so. It was different with Bill. He had 
no use for the mortgage or for the rocky 
pastures, for the dash of French blood 
had put rubber, or yeast, into the cov¬ 
ering of the stern New England thought. 
His father never could understand him 
and one day, when Bill was 17, the blood 
of the ‘‘changi'ling’’ burst into open mu¬ 
tiny. 'J'he father knew of only one way 
to act. He ordered the boy around be¬ 
hind the barn and took the horsewhip to 
him. As a Hardy, Bill was expected to 
stand and take his punishment without 
a murmur. As the descendant of ti wild 
forest ranger he could only resent the 
blows. What he did was fo catch his 
father’s arms and hold them like a vice. 
Neither siioke a word. They just looked 
at each other. The older man strug¬ 
gled, but he was powerless—he knew that 
his sou was the master. He dropped the 
whip from his hand and 'bowed his head. 
The boy released him, broke the whip 
in two. and threw it away. The f.ather 
walked to the house, a dazed and broken 
man. Bill watched him and then walked 
out to the back lot where .Tim, the steady 
and faithful, was building a fence, 
“Good-bye, Jim,” he said. “I’m off. 
It had to Clime. I’m difl'erent, and yet 
the same as you will see. You stay here 
and look after father and mother. I 
will help some day.” It was the Hardy 
in both the boys which made it impos¬ 
sible for them to come any closer in 
feeling. Bill walked on over the pa.«- 
ture' hill; at the top he paused to wave 
his hand. Then he was gone. 
The City. —Bill was clean and .sound 
at heart, and the French blood had given 
him a quick active brain. Instead of 
striking for the wilderness he headed 
for New Y'ork and he pro-spi-red. The 
old French ancestor drove him mi with 
tireless energy, and the long line of 
clean farm breeding kept him true to 
hi.s purpose to go back some day and 
show the old folks that he was still a 
Hardy, Years pa.s.sed, until one day 
there came to Bill an uncontrollable 
longing to go home. .Tust a few brief, 
unresponsive letters had passed between 
him and .Tim, but the time came when 
Bill longed with a great longing to see 
the old farm once more. And so, the 
next day, a well-dressed, pi’osperous man 
walked into the old yard and looked 
about him. There was .Tim, the same 
old Jim, walking in from the barn with 
the night’s milk. Father was cutting 
wood at the wood pile and mother stood 
at the kitchen door—just the same old 
home picture which Bill knew so ^Ycll. 
Bill did great things during hi.s short 
stay. He paid that mortgage, ordered a 
new barn built and left capital for .Tim 
to improve the farm. He did everything 
that a Hardy ought to do—and more— 
and yet he could not satisfy himself. It 
all seemed so small and narrow. He 
had hoped to find great music in the 
wind among the pines, but it filled him 
with a great loneline.ss, which he could 
not overcome. He had hoped to find 
peace and rest, but these were for the 
untried farm boy—not for .the restless 
and worried business man. It broke out 
of him at night on the second day. when 
he and .Tim were on the pasture hill 
looking for the sheep. The loneliness 
of the early Fall day fairl.v entered his 
heart. 
“Jim," he said “old ftlloic, T don't 
see how you lire in such u dod-forsokcii 
place!" 
“Why, Bill,” said Jim. “New Y..rk 
must be like Paradise to beat the old 
homestead.” 
“Better a week on Bmadw.'iy than a 
lifetime on these lonely hills.” 
“I’d like to try it and .see!” .said .Tim. 
The P''arm. —So .Tim Hai-dy, the jilain 
farmer, went to New Y’ork to visit 
Brother Bill. He had everything he 
could call for. Bill lived in ,a beautiful 
apartment, and he gave Jim a white 
card to see and do what he wanted. Bill 
was too busy to go around much, but 
.Tim made his way. For a couple of days 
it was fine— then somehow .Tim. just like 
Bill at the old faian, began to grow 
lonesome and oppressed. Right through 
the wall of Bill’s apartment hou.se was 
a family with one child, the janitor told 
him, the child was sick, so Jim knocked 
at the door to sympathize with the 
neighbor-s. They froze him with a few 
words and got rid of him. Right in 
MM 
n 
SI 
I 
t 
I 
Y ou know where the 
ANIMAL MATTER 
in Armour Fertilizers comes 
from. You may have grown 
the hogs and cattle. 
Armour Fertilizers are GOOD 
for your land — GOOD for 
your crops—GOOD for your 
pocketbook—GOOD for your 
disposition — sl GOOD all 
’round investment 
From the farm — 
back to the farm 
Armour Fertilizer Works 
Atlanta, Ga. Jacksonville, Fla. Greensboro, N. C. New Orleans, La, 
Nashville, Tenn. Baltimore, Md. Chi< ago, 111. 
I 
ni 
I 
!1 
1 
I 
1091 
FERTILIZERS that FERTILIZE 
WILL INCREASE 
YOUR PROFITS 
Literature upon request 
The Wilcox FertilizerCompany 
MYSTIC, CONN. 
i?»®^erRodUi 
YOURS 
Fence Bardai 
rom factory orlces— ” ^ 
Get rock bottom direct from factory prlces- 
1.3c per rod up—on Brown's DOUBLE 0.41/- 
VANIZED stiff st.iy fence. Outlasts all others. 
FACTORY PRICES, FREIGHT PREPAID 
Brown fence Is made of Biuslc Open Hearth 
Wire — DOUBLE OALVANIZED. Freo^ 
Book shows 150 styles. Ako Oates, Barb 
Wire and Steel Posts. Our prices save- 
you 25 ^6 to 40 . Write today for money 
saving Free Book and sample to test. • 
THE BROWN FENCE & WIRE CO., 
OEPT.359 - CLEVELAND, OHIO 
This Warranted 
lull sized hardwood and Steel 
Dumping Horse Cart 
$17.75 
freight prepaid many Station 
East of Mississippi River. 
Full particulars on appli¬ 
cation. 
HOBSON & CO. 
Box 17 Easton Pa. 
Adds to your proliLs. Uii-culars free. 
J. R. Greiner - 128 25th, Ogrden, Utah 
Solves Fruit Growing Problems St^gSer 
fully explains orchard planting, spraying, tillage, 
packing and marketing. Send 10c for three 
months’ trial subscription. Address AMERICAN 
FRUIT-GROWER, Box 321, Charlottesville, Va. 
JI^E/ R O Y Stay in the Ground 
right where they belong, and 
CHILLED PLOWS 
do good work where others fail. 
This Le Roy General Purpose Chilled Plow is 
Steady Running, Strong-, Durable and Easy to Handle 
in all conditions of Sod, Stubble, 
Clay, Hard Gravelly or Stony 
soils. 
Its superior construction and 
Light Draft make it the chosen 
plow of thousands of successful farmers who honestly concede 
much of their prosperity to its use. 
Best grade of iron mixed to ensure strength and good wear¬ 
ing qualities. The perfectly chilled Moldboards will wear for 12 
years. Chilled Shin Piece ; extra long chilled Landslide. Points 
are chilled, strong, and long-wearing. 
Ask your dealer about Lc Roy Plows, and send for catalog. 
LE ROY PLOW CO., Dept. R. Le Roy, N. Y. 
