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Show 5 MARY i il SUCCEEDS i J; ON j3 1 1 MAIN STREET II J t ; A J; By LAURA MILLER y.::...A...AA...AA.A.:.:::t::::::::.V S by LAura Miller KEEPING THE KIDS ON THE FARM Out near Chlekashaw, Okla., there's a little station and by this time pi-ob-ably a post office called Lyle. Nearby Near-by are three Lyle children on the 350-acre 350-acre farm w-ho show no enthusiasm for learning to become white-collared city folks. The story runs like this: There was a Tennessee farm boy who did things "just like dad" and stayed Just as poor as dad was. There was a girl, an orphan, who grew up being waited on in her sister's home. Then the girl's father asked her to join him on a Texas ranch. "It was 21 miles from town," she laughs in retrospect," and I hud to cook or starve, and keep a nice house or live in filth. By and by the boy and girl became Mr. and Mrs. Bob Lyle, and tried farming on a big scale In Oklahoma. "But we liked to work our fool selves to death," recalls Bob. And, "nine months of the year I was kept busy feeding 20 farm hands and baling bal-ing the bay crop," says bis wife, "and when the bottom dropped out of the hay market, and the war took all our labor, we decided we'd let the hogs do the baling and save me the cook- , ing." At one time they made a record shipment of 28 cars, filled with 2,250 head of hogs. They brought $64,000 and the Lyles felt proud until they happened on a sale of pure bred hogs where 50 head sold for more than $27,000. Then and there the Lyles discarded all faith In old-fashioned methods. They substituted high-bred pigs and treated them with the consideration con-sideration due to breeding. That they're succeeding financially Is evidenced evi-denced by the fact that three sales last year netted $75,000. Mrs. Lyle Is the business manager of the firm, carrying all correspondence, correspond-ence, keeping the books, working up pedigrees (which for human folks had always fascinated her), and doing some clever advertising. At the fairs, where Lyle pigs are carrying off prizes, there's a funny booklet always for distribution. dis-tribution. It is called "Pig Tales," and the long braids of hair on four girls spell out "Leave it to Lyle." In side are scraps of Mr. Lyle's humorous philosophy turned into sales argn ments. And the little Lyles? Each one had a pure bred pig sold him or her on Interest. At the end of the year they sold enough pork on the hoof to pay off their notes and start them In a business that at the end of five years, their mother estimates, should give each the equivalent of 8,000 pigs worth $75 each 1 |