CONVENTION—Better and happier homes, 177 
such a splendid man as I considered him in many respects to be 
should live just as he did. “Live,” he exclaimed, “do you call 
that living? They live just like their hogs.” It is only justice in 
this case to say that the farmer had an improved breed of hogs, 
and that they fared well. 
During one of the drives that I took while east, I passed the old 
homestead of a man who died a few years since and left an estate 
valued at $250,000, and yet it was one of the most desolate and 
forsaken looking places that I ever saw. Still it was but little 
worse than it was many years ago when I used to pass it very 
often, and see its owner devoting every energy of both body and 
soul to the one single object of getting money. And he succeed¬ 
ed, as his estate of one-fourth of a million indicates. But as to a 
happy or comfortable home, he never knew the least thing about it, 
neither did his family. What is such a life worth? You may say 
that this is an extreme case, and perhaps it is; but it is not the only 
one of the kind that I have ever seen. Let us take another case. 
An old school mate whom I visited is a good farmer. He is much 
more than that; he is well informed, and in all his business transac¬ 
tions a Christian gentleman. He inherited his farm and a large for¬ 
tune with it. He is liberal and generous in his dealings and in his 
benevolence, himself and family during the last year having sub¬ 
scribed $3,500 to a single object. I believe he would thoroughly 
scorn a mean or dishonest deed of any kind. Neither would I intimate 
that he does not love his wife and intends to treat her well, for I 
am sure he does both. Yet, when I went there I found her in the 
kitchen hard at work, and assisted by an old aunt 7G years of age; 
and this was their daily routine. I spoke to him about it, and 
asked him why, with his large fortune he would still persist in such 
a life of manual labor for himself and all his family, when he might 
do so much good by employing plenty of hired help, both in the 
house and upon the farm; and both himself and wife might employ 
their time to so much better advantage in teaching and training 
others to labor, and enabling them to care for themselves instead of 
being a burden upon the community. “ Well,” he said, “ I do not 
work much and do not intend to in the future; but somehow in the 
house we do not always succeed in getting good help, and it costs 
considerable, and so we sometimes do without help in the house.” 
And yet his wealth runs into the hundreds of thousands. When I 
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