"
"I can't go so far as that with you, Dad, but perhaps I may when I'm
older."
"Yes, age makes a difference. At forty a man is a fool or a farmer, or
both; at fifty the pull of the land is mighty; at sixty it has full
possession of him; at seventy it draws him down with other forces than
that which Newton discovered, and at eighty it opens for him and kindly
tucks the sod around him. Mother Earth is no stepmother, but warm and
generous to all, and I think a fellow is lucky who comes to her for long
years of bounty before he is compelled to seek her final hospitality."
"But, Dad, we can't all be farmers."
"Of course not, and there's the pity of it; but almost every man can
have a plot of ground on which each year he can grow some new thing, if
only a radish or a leaf of lettuce, to add to the real wealth of the
world. I tell you, young lady, that all wealth springs out of the
ground. You think that riches are made in Wall Street, but they are
not; they are only handled and manipulated. Stop the work of the farmer
from April to October of any year, and Wall Street would be a howling
wilderness.
Pages:
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437