| OCR Text |
Show m : - B A Farmer Seeking Contentment . - j H' A man who had a large and flour- K Ishlng agricultural estate grow dls- H contented and resolved to exchange H his prosperous but laborious exist-1 K c-nco for the ease and comfort of the I Hf city, Bays II. C. Rcade In Canadian Hi Countryman, K He saw tens of thousands of peo- Hi pie rising at daybreak in distant sub- m urbs and rushing Into factories in HI furious haste lesj, they should be too B late for the seven o'clock whistle. flR lie entered and saw them driven H like pieces of machinery in an in- BBc exorable industrial bVBtem. working Hj! pcriolously near the limit of mental K and physical strength. Hj "I can go to work when I wish," HI ho reflected, "and take a breathing HJ fcpell when I need it. I would sacrl-Bfl sacrl-Bfl flee both strength and freedom to en-B en-B tor this treadmill. Agriculture Is not flfl; o great a tyrant as Industrialism. K At eight o'clock in the morning ho Bfl beheld a panic stricken army of BB clerks' bcurrylng pell mell Into TNaro-Bfl TNaro-Bfl houses and o dices. BB "Do you do this summer and win-BB win-BB tcr?" he asked them. BB "Yes," they replied. BB "' am Prclt' much a slave In BB times of ploughing and harvesting," BBjhe mused, "but I am not a slave to flfljhhe dock the wholo year round. Of-BBjflce Of-BBjflce routine Is merely a mild form ot Iflflrervltude." ffK"s At noon ho saw thousands Jammed 5u.ibow to elbow at crowded lunch -3Bpcounlcrs- jW "I do not mind a church social at flujl times," he laughed to himself, "but B(l should soon crack my rllm If 1 had BB always to do with so little elbow BB r00m ns that." BB He tried to walk along tlio narrow BB BnJ congested pavements and found BflJ that he needed the sinuosity of a BE tnako to glide In and out of tlio Jost-BB Jost-BB ling crowds with anything llko swift-BK swift-BK iicbs motion. Women's hat pins BV endangered IiIb eyes, men's heavy BB tots imperiled his toos. BJ "This is like walking to a funeral," Bj "ftR his mental comment. "It must BJ be l'retty hard to feel friendly to BJ jour neighbors when you have to push BJ your way about In a perpetual foot-BJ foot-BJ DaH scrimmage." BJ In the evening ho saw tlio same BJ scrimmage repeated on street cars. BJ There passed by him car after car BJ of wriggling, squirming human be-B be-B Ings massed together llko a ball of B worms. "I would not drive a crate of chickens chick-ens to market packed like that," ho muttored Indignantly to himself. "All I those cars need Is a few bright lab-I lab-I els and they'd pas's for exhibits from Borne canning factory." He traveled Into the suburbs and Baw men with little watering pots In their bands bending over diminutive shrubs In tiny plots ot lands behind their houses. -it i "What ure you doing thero?" he asked. "Wo are cultivating our gnrdens," they replied. "You can't Imagine what a pleasure It Is to havo a llttlo bit of nature at your porch, after n long day In a city otllce." "If that's nature," said tho farm cr, "1 guess niy hundred acres must bo eternity. They'd make top thou sand doll's gardens like yours." In the evening everything waa brightly Illuminated in the lienit of the city. Theaters and picture palaces pal-aces were open and thousands of people- flocked together for enjoyment. "There seems to be a good deal to be said for the eenings," ho re-1 fleeted, "even if tho city days aro wearisome." "I suppose you nover get tired ot all these amusements?" he Inquired of a bystander. "I don't go to the theater very much," was the answer. "I can not always afford It. In fact, llko the majority ma-jority of people, I spend most of my evenings at home. There Is no pleasure plea-sure like a few 'friends and a chat at jour own .fireside; though sometimes some-times we cannot hear one another talk for the street noises." Ho went Into a bank the next day and noticed a number of persons paying pay-ing sums Into tho savings, department. depart-ment. They seemed of average prosperity, pros-perity, but tho amounts tl-y deposited depos-ited were very small not at all an substantial as the buuis he had himself him-self banked after even a middling harvest. He concluded that tho average lot In tho city was certainly ncltner more pleasant nor moro prolltable than his own, and that if Nature was needed lo ameliorate tho discomforts In such n lifo, six hundred acres was certainly certain-ly a better comforter than a small back garden. |
