Show R a n t r rh HOMER homek acroy C CROY I 1 tit C re SERVICE THE STORY THUS FAR amos croy and his wife ife when first married settled 0 on n a larm farm la in missouri where homer was born b orn every sunday meant church corn company for dinner and steer weighing wel ching I 1 de e ho aning the calves curing hams bean ear I 1 ing calves and sausage making were all part of 0 homers nork the cloys attended the omaha exposition where llo ilo mer saw his first horseless t carriage moton motion picture and hula dancer renzo former h hired t red hand returned and pur chased a farm arm nearby and was welcome by everyone homer started high school the first of the ho cros crois to attend at first be felt out of place but soon hen ben fan a to make friends other students always made first advances CHAPTER XVI it was not long until I 1 was back on the farm for my summer work my mother was sitting out on the porch ch with a quilt over her knees I 1 was shocked to see how frail and hollow homow eyed she was when I 1 spoke of it she said ill soon be feeling better after a few minutes she said the hill your pa and I 1 came over the first time I 1 ever saw 1 this farm I 1 the idea was still in my fathers mind that maybe I 1 would stay and i he hinted around but much as I 1 liked the farm I 1 must go on with the thing that was deepest in me he tried to interest me by asking my I 1 advice about this and that but my i heart was not in it he was beginning to realize that the day d ay was coming when I 1 would pull away from the old farm I 1 was impatient with the farm work work work city life for me As inconvenient as it was for pa and the necessity for keeping a hand pa was proud that he had a son affat 1 the university when he went I 1 to town on saturday he took my last letter along and would casually I 1 get it out to check some statement he had made yes what homer writes me from the university or 1 I guess they have a pretty good school down there at least my boy seems to think so when he spoke to me in person it always was yoa you must get all you can out of it lots of boys dont have the chance you have that indeed was true for I 1 was the only one from knabb who had gone one day there was a telegram on the mail table in the hall and I 1 knew your mother is failing it said uncle al instead of pa came to meet me but when we got to the farm pa was standing by the gate I 1 waiting he held out his work 1 scarred hand band 1 I guess your uncle al has told you yes I 1 said thickly we did all we could for her he continued we can go in and look at her we went in together and stood beside the coffin she se was a good mother to you he said the next day pa and phebe and I 1 got in our hack the neighbors fell in behind and the procession started for the cain cemetery when we came to the lane that leads off 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 I 1 the neighbors w who ho had dug the grave were standing there wait ing still holding their shovels A clod was tossed on the box then the men began to work their shovels finally pa and phebe and I 1 walked back i to where the horses had been hitched to the racks two or three of the neighbors stayed and helped get supper pa bent his head as I 1 had seen him do so many times and thanked god for our blessings the next day I 1 went back to the univ university rosity and again took up my schoolwork after I 1 was through with school ident I 1 went to st louis and applied for a job JO b on the st louis post dispatch and since they had been active in launching the school of journalism I 1 pretty well had them they offered 20 a week and I 1 went to work for that I 1 now realize it was a mistake not to ask for more for it is much easier to get an extra five dollars a week when you are bargaining than after youre established on the payroll some way or other when you get fixed at a certain figure it takes an a n act of god to lift you out ot of it in addition to my job I 1 was writing stuff on the side and some of it sold just enough to keep me running after it like a mule with a nubbin dangling in front of it bilings th ings I 1 wrote seemed good to me although now I 1 realize how simple and naive they must have been in fact all my life the things I 1 h have a ve glitten seemed good to me at the time I 1 wrote them some people seem to have the ability of self criticism but I 1 and it has cost me many a heartbreak the things I 1 have slaved over and believed in so deeply have made no impression whatever while of t the he thin things g s I 1 have tossed off some with hard hardly ly a t thought h 0 aught have made a place for themselves what makes one go and another fall fail is something I 1 dont und understand estand rs tand and now I 1 have a little philosophy of my own I 1 do everything as well as I 1 can and hope for the best sometimes get it often I 1 dont 1 I once a week I 1 would get a letter from pa in the upper lefthand left hand corner would be the return form with his name written in indelible pencil everything was as well as could be be expected there had been a washing rain thursday night which w aich had extended well over into friday morning the water gap was out some hoof and mouth disease in eastern kan kansas sas did I 1 plan on corning coming home soon I 1 was selling enough to give me some self confidence so I 1 walked in and resigned a proud moment indeed when I 1 announced I 1 was going east then I 1 started home to see pa and the old farm he was at the depot as always ill carry your grip homer how fast we talked how much must be said all at once 1 I expect you 11 want to see some of your old friends we walked up and down the street visiting with those I 1 knew pa standing proudly a little to one side his boyd been off of in st lauist said had considerable heat we went to the grocery store more friends there finally we got in the hack and spread a lap robe over our knees when he came to town alone he fool 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 side of the barn and there were the cattle and the hogs e Z I 1 4 al R N C Z 1 01 0 1 1 I 1 dave with his big homely head and his churn feet and the cows and a peaceful air of contentment 1 I guess you see ive divided the hog botill lot we walked out across the farm as he always wanted me to do when I 1 got back he had something he wanted to discuss with me what did I 1 think of changing to short horns I 1 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 farming than I 1 would ever know what did I 1 think of lespedeza I 1 had never heard of it we came to dave there he was dave with his big homely head and his churn feet and his wide saddle scarred back his step had gro grown wn slow his eyesight was bad and his teeth were going he had trouble getting in and out of the barn pa said he shed right and long scraggly hair was on his underside and his back sagged I 1 patted him and rubbed his nose but I 1 am not sure he knew me after a time we walked on st louis had given me an outside point of view and I 1 could see 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 was only a sort of land sled each farmer had one and was held responsible for a length of road As soon as a rain was over the farmers would get out their road drags and mash the clods and fill the ruts r 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 corn community effort a working out of small scale democracy another change was the rural free delivery and the farmers telephone slowly bit by bit the farmers eks were becoming part of a community the farmer who kept to himself and operated cooperated co with no one was passing A change was taking place in the farms too the one horse 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 farmer was coming in this was augmented by the increased part that machinery was playing the hick ory handled three tined fork was gone a sweep rake operated with two horses was doing the job the sickle bar on the moline mowing machine had gone gohe fr from om four feet to five A farmer and his boy no longer went out with p pitchforks itch forks and flopped the hay over a hay tedder was now it around when my falier had first come on the land ainu he ne had c cut t ever every Y who wheat with a cradle the old 3 sta tt its warped arm was h 8 the granary the 80 er was now doing do ing the work 11 bin bines eso carrying six head of p clattered across the fields anul ek A change had co come me tor for for when ine m tok m milking kang time ca found I 1 was not expected trie I 1 to LU i bucket and march to the mik lake I 1 was becoming a city roan milk 11 other words just about useless I 1 found also a change in our ft ily life a distinction that and was sub su ut important my mother v le r had 7 ways sat at the side 0 of 1 the 6 li e table al to the ki kitchen so she rould could up and run in but now champ tlc some unspoken famil family Y arra arran gerne phebe did not move into wl but sat at the foot 01 of the table babl place at the end of supper pa something that was war on 11 1115 his mind BJ Had I 1 decided I 1 wanted to CO come me bart back the farm simple as this seems i a moved me deeply for I 1 real more sharply than ever the cleava laed age had come 1 I I 1 want to go to new york the old gentleman looked UP un 10 see if I 1 was it was a na mo ment before he could speak have you fully made up boz mind yes I 1 choked out he did not speak for a much fat lor er time 1 I wont oppose it iti lt said finally id like you to go to your nio ers grave before you go 90 he yil later we got in the buggy and drove to the knoll where the pioneers pioneer lie he UK 14 graveyard is in the middle if oither the ea j cain farm cornfields come up on 0 two sides and on one side is a pas ture there are maple trees ta reach over the gravel and there is a hog tight fence to keep out the stock in wisterra win winter terra lab bits skip across the graves in am mer the corn whispers and the gro grass is exceedingly green we stood beside the grave Ss rt was always a good mother to you he said it came time to go you drive and ill shut the gate he said but unconsciously he did opp oppose u my going during the following days dap things were going well he said lit be had bought some land on the norh and some on the east the farm am was expanding his idea of swinging over from corn to cattle fanning was working out city life rua ra perilous you could be fired out of 0 a job then where would you be oi oa a farm you could be independent no man was your boss it if yoa ym worked hard and were honest you yoa could build up a farm that wab afoa take care of you in your old days the appeal was powerful bat there also was the desire to do to kind of work I 1 wished to do wre more and more my mind was filled will wil fancies I 1 seemed always to be thinking how I 1 would write this so sen tence or why that word serve or how I 1 could describe tie ot people I 1 knew and possibly make readers see them as I 1 did ari ad those people began to appear a stories in my mind one day in booth I 1 found something that expressed a acely what I 1 felt but beet beell able to put into words 1 I try to 10 write in such a way that there is W film between me and my reader I 1 knew instantly that was the wal wa I 1 wanted to write so easily sra naturally that the reader would kl be conscious of any style at all 1 0 DM of what I 1 was trying to say going to new york meant inot inert preparation than going to st josept or to the university or to st LOLA loin so we drove to to town and bought 1 steamer trunk and the old tin ca el backed trunk went into pit fa room when the day came th the e three d a us went to the d depot and stood for the train to come vailen W it was time for me to get on pa W 6 out his hand let us bear from you whenever its convenient face to the widow WL As ai I 1 pressed my I 1 could see the two stanimir stan ilir alone on the platform j I 1 11 bad when I 1 got to new york of i ina de feeling the same sinking had when I 1 11 had that I 1 had 1 started to high school and ww had gone to st joseph and later aier 0 st louis maybe I 1 had betters better bajt turn home and help on the farn farm that inner imp again there was wished to tow do to do what I 1 so deeply so I 1 had some cards P hinted at to I 1 hole in the wall place and ent Is well wellon on the ine address I 1 i knew so 0 who aei layette fayette street I 1 was as surprised surp risea I 1 saw the puck building W was just a big red brick auw IS not an edifice at all but that thai all right it w was the habited 0 who had been be editor a man th my contributions and printing for all the world to see two sla at the entrance were of the side 1 de either columns one on 4 main door and there was a impressive gold statue of puck P world ing down on a foolish insides d in however when I 1 st wed ran quite so grand ig A r pj ancient elevator a M man pw handle back and forth and w TIM right ed d aloft but that was ON au editor of puck could have I 1 office in a an ano d 4 to have thought it was just ls Is way TO BE CONTINUED |