“Bill went away richer by a check for a few hundred dollars.  Oh, I always know when I’m losin’ money!  I’m not like other citizens o’ Pointview.

“Dan came to see me the next Saturday night.  He was a big, blue-eyed, handsome, good-natured boy, an’ dressed like the son of a millionaire.  I brought him here to the office, an’ he sat down beside me.

“‘Dan,’ I says, ‘what are your plans for the future?’

“‘I mean to be a lawyer,’ says he.

“‘Quit it,’ I says.

“‘Why?’ says he.

“’There are too many lawyers.  We don’t need any more.  They’re devourin’ our substance.’

“‘What do you suggest?’

“’Be a real man.  We’re on the verge of a social revolution.  Boys have been leaving the farms an’ going into the cities to be grand folks.  The result is we have too many grand folks an’ too few real folks.  The tide has turned.  Get aboard.’

“‘I don’t understand you.’

“‘America needs wheat an’ corn an’ potatoes more than it needs arguments an’ theories.’

“‘Would you have me be a farmer?’ he asked, in surprise.

“‘A farmer!’ I says.  ’It’s a new business—­an exact science these days.  Think o’ the high prices an’ the cheap land with its productiveness more than doubled by modern methods.  The country is longing for big, brainy men to work its idle land.  Soon we shall not produce enough for our own needs.’

“‘But I’m too well educated to be a farmer,’ says he.

“‘Pardon me,’ I says.  ’The land ’ll soak up all the education you’ve got an’ yell for more.  Its great need is education.  We’ve been sending the smart boys to the city an’ keeping the fools on the farm.  We’ve put everything on the farm but brains.  That’s what’s the matter with the farm.’

“‘But farming isn’t dignified,’ says Dan.

“‘Pardon me ag’in,’ says I.  ’It’s more dignified to search for the secrets o’ God in the soil than to grope for the secrets o’ Satan in a lawsuit.  Any fool can learn Blackstone an’ Kent an’ Greenleaf, but the book o’ law that’s writ in the soil is only for keen eyes.’

“‘I want a business that fits a gentleman,’ says Dan.

“‘An’ the future farmer can be as much of a gentleman as God ’ll let him,’ says I.  ’He’ll have as many servants as his talents can employ.  His income will exceed the earnings o’ forty lawyers taken as they average.  His position will be like that o’ the rich planter before the war.’

“‘Well, how shall I go about it?’ he says, half convinced.

“‘First stop tryin’ to keep up with Lizzie,’ says I.  ’The way to beat Lizzie is to go toward the other end o’ the road.  Ye see, you’ve dragged yer father into the race, an’ he’s about winded.  Turn around an’ let Lizzie try to keep up with you.  Second, change yer base.  Go to a school of agriculture an’ learn the business just as you’d go to a school o’ law or medicine.  Begin modest.  Live within yer means.  If you do right I’ll buy you all the land ye want an’ start ye goin’.’