The farm is laid by for the winter, and most of the details needed for a just comprehension of our experiment have been given.  From this time on we will deal chiefly with results.  We will watch the out-put from the factory, and commend or find fault as the case may deserve.

The social side of life is quite as important as the commercial, for though we gain money, if we lose happiness, what profit have we?  Let us study the children to see what chances for happiness and good fellowship lie in them.

Kate is our first-born.  She is a bright, beautiful woman of five-and-twenty, who has had a husband these six years, one daughter for four years, and, wonderful to relate, another daughter for two years.  She is quick and practical, with strong opinions of her own, prompt with advice and just as prompt with aid; a woman with a temper, but a friend to tie to in time of stress.  She has the education of a good school, and what is infinitely better, the cultivation of an observing mind.  She is quick with tongue and pen, but her quickness is so tempered by unquestioned friendliness that it fastens people to her as with a cord.  She overflows with interests of every description, but she is never too busy to listen sympathetically to a child or a friend.  She is the practical member of the family, and we rarely do much out of the ordinary without first talking it over with Kate.

Tom Hamilton, her husband, is a young man who is getting on in the world.  He is clever in his profession, and sure to succeed beyond the success of most men.  He is quiet in manner, but he seems to have a way of managing his quick, handsome wife, which is something of a surprise to me, and to her also, I fancy.  They are congenial and happy, and their children are beings to adore.  Tom and Kate are to live in town.  They are too young for the joys of country life, and must needs drag on as they are, loved and admired by a host of friends.  They can, and will, however, spend much time at Four Oaks; and I need not say they approved our plans.

Jack is our second.  He was a junior at Yale, and I am shy of saying much about him lest I be accused of partiality.  Enough to say that he is tall, blond, handsome, and that he has gentle, winning ways that draw the love of men and women.  He is a dreamer of dreams, but he has a sturdy drop of Puritan blood in his veins that makes him strong in conviction and brave in action.  Jack has never caused me an hour of anxiety, and I was ever proud to see him in any company.

Concerning Jane, I must be pardoned in advance for a father’s favoritism.  She is my youngest, and to me she seems all that a father could wish.  Of fair height and well moulded, her physique is perfect.  Good health and a happy life had set the stamp of superb womanhood upon her eighteen years.  Any effort to describe her would be vain and unsatisfactory.  Suffice it to say that she is a pure blonde, with eyes, hair, and skin just to my liking.  She is quiet