The Story of the Soil Part 36

"He reminds me, Pet, of the Latin definition you gave for _sincere,"

_remarked the grandmother. "Pure honey without wax, wasn't it?"

"Oh, no, Grandma. Not pure honey. It says nothing about honey. Sine is the Latin for _without, _and _cera _means _wax; _so that our word _sincere, _taken literally from the Latin, means _without wax."_

"Oh, yes, I see now; but let me tell you, Adelaide, I think that professor of yours is right smart wax."

"Why, Grandma! I never heard you say such a thing. You know papa and mamma like Professor Barstow and I think I like him too, and,--and he has papa's consent, and mamma's consent."

"Well, you never heard me say such a thing before and you won't ever hear it again, but he hasn't got my consent. I think he's some wax, but I reckon you think he's some honey, and I know he thinks he's some punk'ns. Of course, your father would like an English or Scottish n.o.bleman for a son-in-law, or at least a college professor with a string of ancestry reaching across the water; but the Henry's prefer to make their own reputations as they go along, and I doubt if Patrick ever saw England or Scotland. I tell you, Adelaide, a pound of gumption will make a better husband than a s.h.i.+pload of ancestry, and I just hope you will more than like your husband, that's all."

With that the old lady arose and walked to the house.

CHAPTER XL

INSPIRATION

WESTOVER,

March 14, 1907.

Mr. Percy Johnston,

Heart-of-Egypt, Ill.

MY DEAR Friend:--We were delighted to receive your interesting letter of March 2, describing the Farmer's Inst.i.tute. I have been to two such meetings in Virginia, but they are devoted to fruit and truck and dairying, and no one seems to know much about our soils. I appreciate more and more every year the absolute knowledge you helped me to secure concerning Westover, where we had been working in the dark for two centuries. I am sure you will succeed on Poorland Farm,--just as confident as any one can be in advance of actual achievement; and I expect to see the time when Richland Farm will be a more appropriate name.

I only wish you could see my alfalfa. I have been seeding more every year and now have sixty acres. It has come through winter in fine condition and it will be a fine sight by Easter. Here's a standing invitation to take Easter dinner with us, or any other dinner, for that matter, if you ever come East.

I am planning to sow about forty acres more alfalfa this year. A writer for the _Breeder's Gazette _visited us last summer, and he said some of our alfalfa was as good as any he had ever seen in California. He said ground limestone was plainly what we need for alfalfa at Westover, but he thought some phosphorus would also help on the less rolling areas, where the alfalfa is not so good as where you found more phosphorus.

Lime and raw rock phosphate make the difference between clover and no clover.

I can get ground limestone for $2.90 a ton now, delivered at Blue Mound in bulk in carload lots. We are hoping to get it still lower, and I think we will, for some of the big lime manufacturers, such as the company at Riverton, are making plans to furnish ground limestone; and the railroad companies are likely to make better rates, or the State will do so for them.

It is truly a lamentable situation, when our hills and mountains are full of all sorts of limestone, and our exhausted lands are crying for that more than anything else. We understand, even better than you, that everybody is poor in a country where the land is poor; and it should be to the greatest interest of the railroad companies as well as to all other industries, to unite in an effort to make it possible for every landowner to apply large amounts of limestone to his land,--the more the better,--and no one should expect any large profit from the business; but wait till the benefit is produced on the land,--wait till the farmer has his increased crops, and some money from the sale of those crops. Then the railroads can make profit hauling those crops to market and hauling back the necessary supplies, and even the luxuries, which the farmer's money will enable him to buy and pay for. Then the factory wheels will turn; for, as you told us, the Secretary of Agriculture reports that eighty-six per cent. of all the manufactured products are made from agricultural raw materials.

There is no danger but what the railroads and manufacturers and commercial people will get their share out of the produce from the farms; but it is absolutely sure that, when the farms fail to produce, then there is no profit for any of them, and the last man to starve out will be the farmer himself, for he can live on what he raises even though he has nothing left to sell.

We are all well. My son Charles is still bookkeeping for a Richmond firm, but he is becoming greatly interested in my alfalfa, and says he sometimes wishes he had taken an agricultural course instead of the literary at college. His grandmother says she reckons the agricultural college could give him about all the literature he needs keeping books for a hides and tallow wholesale company; and I am coming to believe that she is about right. I still remember that the dative of indirect object is used with most Latin verbs compounded with _ad, ante, con, in, inter, ob, post, pre, pro, sub, _and _super, _and sometimes _circ.u.m; _but it would have been just as easy for me to have learned forty years ago that the essential elements of plant food are carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen; nitrogen, phosphorus, and pota.s.sium; magnesium, calcium, iron and sulfur; and possibly chlorin; and I am sure that the culture of Greek roots and a knowledge of Latin compounds have been of less value to me during the forty years than the culture of alfalfa roots and even a meager knowledge of plant-food compounds have been during the last three years.

Adelaide is teaching; Frank is in the academy; and the younger children are all in school.

We shall always be glad to hear from you.

Very respectfully yours,

CHARLES WEST.

"That is an exceptionally good letter," said Mrs. Johnson, as Percy finished reading.

"Not for Mr. West," he replied. "His letters are always good, always helpful and encouraging, almost an inspiration to me. Mr. West is in many ways a very exceptional man. If he had not been tied down all his life to a so-called worn-out farm of a thousand acres, he might just as well have been the Governor of the State. Even in spite of himself he has been practically forced to accept some very responsible public offices, but the financial sacrifice was too great to permit his retaining them very long. I never realized until I was nearly through college that the trustees of our own University devoted a large amount of time to that public service with no financial remuneration whatever. They are merely reimbursed for their actual and necessary travelling expenses."

"Well, if I were a young man about your age, this letter would be an inspiration to me," said his mother.

"You mean his suggestion about changing the name of our farm?"

"No, I mean his possible suggestion about changing the name of his daughter."

Percy was silent.

"How can I tell anything from your blank face? Why do you not speak?"

"You will have to show me," said Percy.

"Will you accept his invitation?"

"Oh, Mr. West always closes his letters with an invitation for me to visit them if I ever come East. There is nothing exceptional or unusual in that."

"The letter is very exceptional," she repeated, "insomuch that if there is no understanding there is no misunderstanding, and if there is some misunderstanding there was no intention. When Mrs. Barton says: 'Do come over when you can,' there is no invitation intended and no acceptance expected; but when Mrs. McKnight says: 'Can't you and your son come over and take supper with us Thursday evening,'--well that is an invitation to come. In the case of Mr.

West's letter, perhaps you had an invitation to spend the Easter vacation at Westover when his daughter will be at home,--and perhaps not."

Percy was silent and his mother quietly waited.

"In any case," he said, "I cannot afford to go this spring. We never were so short of funds. I almost begrudged the railroad fare I paid to go to the Inst.i.tute."

"I have agreed to agree with you regarding the matter of hiring more help on the farm if you need it," she said; "for it is easily possible to lose by saving. There are some things which should never be influenced by financial considerations. It is more than three years since your Eastern trip. You need a rest and a change. It would be entirely commonplace for you to spend the Easter time in Virginia. You ought to see the country in the spring; and you ought especially to be interested in Mr. West's sixty acres of alfalfa.

Expectations are always followed either by realization or by disappointment, either of which my n.o.ble son can bear."

Her fingers pa.s.sed through his hair as she kissed his forehead.

"The only question is, whether you would enjoy a visit to Westover,"

she continued. "You have insisted that the Winterbine deposit remain in my name, but I have written and signed a check against that reserve for $100, and you have only to fill in the date and draw the amount at the County Seat whenever you wish. If you go, express my regards to the ladies, and especially remember me to the grandmother."

CHAPTER XLI