Show If f t HOMER Ie 4 I I r J CLOY Cure THE TilE STORY THUS FARE FAR Amol Amoe Croy f and nd his wife when first married settled on a farm arm In Missouri where Homer was born Every Sunday meant church com company compan l pany pan for dinner and steer weighing neighing DC Oe horning the calves calvel curing hams wean Mean Meaning ing log calves and sausage making were Here all p part rt of ot Homers Homer's work The Die at at- ted d the tile Omaha Exposition where llo- llo floI I saw uw his first fleet horseless boneless carriage mo motion I tion tI n picture and hula dancer Reno Renzo former lormer hired hand returned and pur purchased purchased chased t s tarn tann arm nearby and was wel welcomed I corned by everyone everone Homer flomer started high school the first of the Cros Cro's to attend At first Brat he felt elt out of nf place but soon Boon be be- bean can gan an to make friends other students al always alway i ways way made first advances CHAPTER XVI It was not long until I was back backon on the farm for my summer work My mother was sitting out on the porch with a quilt over her knees I Iwas Iwas Iwas was shocked to see how frail trail and eyed hollow she was When I spoke lot of It she said Ill soon be feeling feelings t s better After Alter a few lew minutes she said the hill your Pa and andI I came over the first time I ever saw this farm The Idea was still In my fathers father's mind that maybe I would stay and be hinted around But much as I II liked ed the farm I must go on with the I I thing Ing that was deepest In me He tried to interest me by asking my advice about this and that but my heart beart was not in it lIe He was be be- beginning beginning ginning to realize that the day was coming when I would pull away from the old farm I was impatient with the farm work work work City life for me As Inconvenient as liS it was for Pa and the necessity for keeping a hand Pa was proud that he had a son off og at the university When he went to town on Saturday he took my last letter along and would casually get et it H out to check some statement he be had made Yes that's what Homer writes me from the sity ally Or I guess they have a pretty pret pret- ty ly good school down there At least my 2 y boy seems to think so When he spoke to me in person it always was You must get all you can out of it Lots of boys dont don't have havethe havethe the he chance you have That indeed was true for I was the only one tram from rom Knabb who had gone 11 One day there was a telegram on the mail table in in the hall and I knew Your mother is falling failing it said aid Uncle Al A Instead of Pa came cameto cameto cameto to meet me But when we got to the farm Pa was standing standing-by by the gate waiting He lie held out his work- work scarred hand I guess your Uncle Al has told you you Yes I said thickly We did all we could for her he continued We can go go in and look at her We went In together and stood be be- beside beside beside side the coffin She was a good mother to you he said The next day Pa and Phebe and I got in our hack the neighbors fell fellin fellIn fellin in behind and the procession start start- started started started ed for the Cain Cemetery When we came to the lane that leads off oil the main road someone opened the gate for the hearse and we drove through the pasture to the knoll where so many of the pioneers lay layThe The neighbors who had dug the grave were standing there wait wait- waiting waiting ing still holding their shovels A clod was tossed on the box then the men began to work their shovels Final Finally ly Pa and Phebe and I walked back to where the horses had been hitched bitched to the racks Two or three of oi the neighbors stayed and helped get supper Pa bent his head as I had seen him do doso doso doso so many times and thanked God for our blessings The next day I went back to the university and again took up my schoolwork After Alter I was through with school I went to St. St Louis and applied for fora a job on the St. St Louis Post-Dispatch Post and since they had been active in launching the school of journalism I pretty well had them They offered 20 a week and I went to work for that I now realize it was a mistake not to ask for more for it is much easier to get an extra five dollars a a week when you are bargaining than after youre you're established on the pay pay- toll roll Some way or other when you get fixed at a certain figure it takes an n act of God to lift you out of it In addition to my job I 1 was writ- writ writIng writing Ing stuff on the side and some of It tt sold Just enough to keep me running after it it like a mule with a nubbin dangling In front of it Things I wrote seemed good to me alf al- al alf ait f t though now I 1 realize reaUze how simple hand nd nd naive they must have been In fact all my life the things I 1 have written seemed good to me at atthe atthe atthe the time I wrote them Some people seem eem to have the ability of self self- criticism But I 1 haven't and it has cost me many a heartbreak The things I bave have slaved over and be be- believed believed in so deeply have made no Impression whatever While some of the things I 1 have tossed off with hardly a thought have halle made a place for themselves What makes one onego onego onego go and another fail fall is something I dont don't understand And now I have a little philosophy of my own I do everything as well as I can and hope for the best bes best t. t Sometimes I get it often I dont don't Once a week I would get a letter from Pa In the upper left hand cor cor- corner corner ner would be the return form with r f his name written In indelible pencil Everything was as well as es could be bet t I expected There had been a wash wash- washIng I Ing rain Thursday night which had I extended well over Into Friday morning The water gap was out Some mouth hoof disease In eastern Kansas Did I plan on com cony coming ing home soon I was selling enough to give me some self confidence so I walked In Inand Inand inand and resigned a proud moment Indeed when I announced I was going East Then I started home to see seePa seera seePa Pa ra and the old farm furm He lie was at the depot as always Ill carry your grip Homer How fast Cast we talked how liow much must be said nil all at once I I 1 expect you'll want to see some of your old friends We WI walked up and down the street visiting with those I knew Pa stand standing ing proudly a little to one side His Ills boyd been oft off of In St 51 Said they'd had considerable heat We went vent to the grocery store more friends there Finally we got inthe in inthe Inthe the hack and spread a lap robe over our knees When n he came to town alone clone he didn't fool Cool with a lap robe When we got to the brow of the hill my eyes swept over the farm The white house and the red barn the corncrib and the granary and the hay barn with thE cupola and the hayfork track extending out a little past the Ule side of the barn And there were the cattle and the hogs 0 ul I It t r i ia it irr rrt I t a rr f I a V I II IV I I Dave Vale with his big homely bomely Lead head and his churn feet teet and the cows and a peaceful air of contentment I guess you see Ive I've divided the hog lot loti We walked out across the farm as ashe ashe ashe he always wanted me to do when I got back He lie lIe had something he wanted to discuss with me What did I think of changing to short short- shorthorns shorthorns horns I knew what that involved and realized how much it meant to him and tried to discuss it with him but was soon mired down He knew a thousand times more about farm farm- farming farming farming ing than I would ever know What I Idid did I 1 think of lespedeza I had nev nev- never never I er heard of it I We came to Dave There he was was was- Dave with his big homely head and his churn feet and his wide saddle- saddle scarred back Ills His step had grown slow his eyesight was bad and his teeth were going He had trouble getting in and out of the barn Pa said He didn't shed right and long scraggly hair was on his underside and his back sagged I patted him and rubbed his nose but I am not sure he knew me After Acter a time we walked on St. St Louis had given me an out out- outside outside outside side point of view and I could see seethe seethe seethe the changes that were taking place in our section The road drag had come in and it had affected our roads greatly The road-drag road was only a sort of land sled Each farm farm- farmer er had one and was held responsible for a length of road As soon as a arain arain arain rain was over the farmers would get out their road drags and mash the clods and fill the ruts This hastened the drying of the roads and allowed us to get to town two or three days earlier than otherwise It was one indication of community effort a working out of small-scale small democracy cy Another change was the rural free delivery and the farmers' farmers tele tel phone telephone Slowly bit by bit the farm farm- farmers farmers farmers ers were becoming part of a com corn community the farmer who kept to him him- himself himself himself self and cooperated with no one one was passing A change was taking place in the farms too The one-horse one farmer was disappearing the farmer who tried to make a living off eighty acres Three houses which once could be seen from our front porch had been pulled down The big farm farm- farmer er was coming in This was aug aug- augmented augmented augmented by the increased part that machinery was playing The hick hick- handled ory-handled tined three fork was gone a sweep rake operated with two horses was doing the job The sickle bar ar on the Moline Mowing Machine had gone from four feet to five A farmer and his boy no long long- longer er went out with pitchforks and flopped the hay over a hay tedder was now kicking it around When my father lather had first come on OD the land he hp had cut every wheat stalk with a cradle The old cradle with its warped arm was hanging in inthe Inthe inthe the granary The McCormick Reap Heap Reaper Heaper er was now doing the work Com Com- Combines Combines Combines bines carrying six head of mules clattered across the fields fieldsA A change had come for me too For when milking time came I found Cound I was not expected to take a bucket and march to the milk lot lotI I was becoming a city man In other words just about useless I II I found also u a change in hi our fam farn family ily life liCe a distinction that was subtle and an important My mother hud had al always al al- always ways sat at nt the side of the table next to the kitchen so she could jump jump up and run in but now through some unspoken family arrangement Phebe rhebe did not move Into her place but sat at the Ule foot of oi the table At the end of supper Pa ra spoke of I something that was on his mind Had HadI I I 1 decided I wanted to come back to I Ithe the farm Simple as this seems it I moved me deeply for I 1 realized I more sharply than ever the deny cleav cleavage age had come comeI comeI I I want to go to New York The old gentleman looked up to see if I was It w was as a mo mo- moment moment ment before he could speak sp ak Have you fully made up your mind Yes I to I choked out lIe He did not speak for a much long longer er time I wont won't oppose It to he lie said finally Id like you to go to your moth moth- mothers mother's mothers mothers mother's ers er's grave before you go he said later We got In the buggy and drove to the knoll where the pioneers lie The graveyard Is in the middle of the old Cain farm cornfields come up on orr two sides and on one side is a pas pas- ture There are maple trees which reach over the graves and there is a tight hog fence to keep out the stock In winter rab rab- rabbits rabbits rabbits bits skip across the graves In sum sum- summer summer summer I mer the corn whispers and the grass grassis is exceedingly green I We stood beside the grave She was always a good mother to you he said It came time to go You drive and Ill I'll shut the gate he said But unconsciously he did oppose my going during the following days Things were going well he said he had bought some land on the north and some on the east the farm was expanding his Idea of swing swing- swinging swinging swinging ing over from corn to cattle farm farm- farming farming farming ing was working out City life was perilous You could be fired tired out of ofa ofa a n job then where would you be On Ona a farm you could be independent No man was your boss If you worked hard and were honest you could build up a farm that would take care of you in your old days The appeal was powerful but there also was the desire to do the kind of work I wished to do More and more my mind was filled with fancies I seemed always to be bethinking bethinking bethinking thinking how I would write this sen sen- sentence sentence tence tense or why that word wouldn't serve or how I could describe the people I knew and possibly make readers see them as I did And those people began to appear in stories in my mind One day in Booth I found something that expressed ex ex- exactly exactly exactly what I felt but hadn't been able to put into words words' I try to write in such a Way that there is no film between me and my reader I knew instantly that was the way I wanted to write so easily and naturally that the reader would not be conscious of any style at all only of what I was trying to say Going to New York meant more preparation than going to St St. Joseph or to the university or to St. St Louis so we drove to town and bought a steamer trunk and the old tin cam cam- el-backed el trunk went into Pas Pa's room I When the day came the three of ofus ofus ofus us went to the depot and stood wait wait- waiting waiting waiting ing for the train to come When it was time for Cor me to get on Pa held out his hand Let us hear from you whenever its it's convenient As I pressed my face to 0 the win window win win- window window dow I could see the two standing alone on the platform When I got to New York I had the same sinking feeling of made inadequacy Inadequacy that I had had when I had started to high school and when I had gone to St. St Joseph and later to St. St Louis Maybe I had better re reo return re- re return turn home and help on the farm But again there was that inner impulse to do what I so deeply wished to do doSo So I had some cards printed at a ahole wall the hole wall the place and went to the address I 1 knew so well on La Lafayette fayette Street I was surprised when I saw the Puck building Why it was just j 1St a big red brick building I INot Not an edifice at all But that was all right It was the habitat of an editor a man who had been buying my contributions and printing them for all the world to see At the entrance were two stone columns one on either side of the main door and there was a most impressive gold statue of Puck look look- lookIng looking Ing down on a foolish world However when I stepped inside it wasn't quite so grand I 1 got into an ancient elevator a man pumped a handle back and forth and we start start- started started ed aloft But that was all right The editor of Puck could have had his office in a and I would have thought it was just his whim whim- whimsical whimsical whimsical way TO BE CONTINUED |