“I leave Washington by boat at five o’clock this afternoon, and I expect to land at Leonardtown, St. Mary county, Maryland, about six o’clock in the morning, when the boat will be ready to leave that port.  It is a freight boat and stops for hours at large towns.

“I am planning for a trip into New England next week.  I did not realize how easy it is to go there until I looked up the train service.  In less than twelve hours’ time, one can make the trip from the Virginia line, through the District of Columbia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and into Massachusetts,—­ten different states, including the District.  The trip from Galena to Cairo can hardly be made in so short a time, not even on the limited Illinois Central trains.”

An hour before leaving the Washington hotel Percy chanced to meet a Congressman whom he had seen on several occasions at the University and who had spoken at the alumni banquet at the time of Percy’s graduation.

“I’m very glad you introduced yourself, Mr. Johnston,” said he.  “Want to get a place down here, do you?  Very likely I can help you some.  I’ve helped several friends of mine to get good places.  What are you after ?”

“I am thinking of getting a place of about three hundred acres,” said Percy, “and I shall certainly appreciate any assistance or information you can give me.”

“Whe-e-ew.  What are you up to?  Want to sell us a site for the new Government insane hospital, or going to lay out another addition to the city?”

“Neither,” replied Percy.  “I am looking for a piece of cheap land that I can build up and make into a good farm.”

“Oh, ho!” said the Congressman.  “That’s it, is it?  Well, now let me tell you that you’ve struck the wrong neck of the woods to find land that you can make a good farm out of.  The land about here is cheap enough all right—­cheaper than the votes of some politicians, but it can’t be built up into good farms.  Don’t attempt the impossible, my friend.  If you want cheap land for town sites or insane hospitals, right here’s the country to land in; but if you want a good farm, you stay right in Illinois, or else follow Horace Greeley’s advice and ‘go West.’.  That’s a good suggestion for you, too.  Just go West and get three hundred and twenty acres of the richest soil lying out of doors.”

“There is not much land left in the West where the rainfall is sufficient for good crops,” said Percy.

“Then take irrigated land.  The Government is getting under way some big irrigation projects, and you ought to get in on the ground floor on one of those tracts.  It is a fact that the apples from some of those irrigated farms sometimes bring more than $500 an acre.”