r had received through inheritance only 40 acres of this; and, marrying his choice from the choir of the local Lutheran congregation, he had farmed his forty

all that life held dear. Existence seemed possible to her only because she could bestow upon him her d

bank during the last year, after having paid for his "outfit;" the forty-acre farm was free from

stepfather. As daughter and wife she had learned much of the art of agriculture, and, af

elf-binder to "help-out," and she had found pleasure and health in such hours of out-door life. "I can work and not

t always good; and only widowed mothers can know the full story of her labor, love and sacrifice. With Percy's help he was sent to school a

tle farm; and you have also had the benefit of the longer experience of our best farmers hereabout, and of the accumulated wisdom of our ancestors. Oh, I had hoped and truly believed that you would become intereste

e best twenty years of her own life; but she had never let herself enjoy that kind of selfishness which prompts a mother to do for her child what he should be taught to do for himself. Despite his natural love of sport and the severe trials he had often brought to her patience and perseverance during his

work and his college course in preparation for that work; but, after th

labor. To be sure, the lower field still grows as good or better crops than ever; but I can remember when that field was so wet and swampy that it coul

he put his arm about his mot

nly for a few years longer until he could save enough to enable him, with what we could have gotten from the sale of our own forty, to go farther west and purchase a large farm of virgin soil. He realized, my Son, that even that part of his father's farm that was

the value of clover and farm fertilizers. But with all of their skill and knowledge, the land grew poor, and now the very farm upon which Grandpa was born is not worth as much as the actual cost of the farm buildings. I hope you will consider all o