The Courier. (Genoa, Nev.) 1899-1904, 1904-02-05
A Contented Man.

sympathetic stories that made him the
most popular and beloved ofall Ameri-
can writer's. Twins eontented man
was discovered in the gardens of the
Tuileries at Paris in the person of an
old French gentleman, who had been
robbed of nearly all his property dur
| ing the revolution but did not grieve
about it while living ON the small
estate saved from the wreck. But,
alas for poor human nature. A subse-
quent French government restored to
the old man the bulk of his former
valuable estates. but instead of making
him happier. this event had the re-
verse effect. When Irving next met
him he had become a soured and pessi-
mistic misanthrope, grieying over the
one-third withheld instead of rejoicing
over the two-thirds given back TO him.
Now comes the Mail Order Journal
insisting that il has found the only
simon-pure, OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES con-
tented man, and as all search for this
rare animal has heretofore proven I'M
availing, the announcement of the SEN
sational discovery will be received with
interest. The Journals friend is not a
rich man. as some might suppose; rich
men are never contented and never
happy. This bipedal eurio owns small
farm of ten acres, good soil, which he
keeps highly iertilized. He has
comfortable little house, barn and
outbuildings. He keeps one big horse,
which does all the team work on the
place: four first-class COWS, few good
hogs, a flock of seventy-five hens and
ten stands of bees. He received last
year s125 from his poultry, 500 from
his dairy, $500 from an acre of onions,
500 from his potato crop, sold small
fruits to the amouns eff Sl25 and apples
Sl10, calves $50, hogs s12o, honey $50
and has plenty of good things left to
carry him through the present winter.
He and his wife have done most of
the work, she caring for the poultry
and dairy and helping him during the
small fruit harvest. We are assured
that this man lives happy and peace
full life, as well as one of absolute indie
pendence.
Such is the story. If really con-
tented man has been discovered, it is
an event of prime Importance. 1t is
doubly interesting that the first man
discovered contented with his lot
should be farmer and small farmer
at that. This seems to confirm what
some of us had suspected, that if con-
tentment could be found at all, the
most natural place to look for it would
be on the farm. 1t has been proved
over and over again that happiness
will never be found at either of the ex-
treme ends of the social ladder. No
philosopher would ever think of look
ing for happy man among the ex-
tremely rich or the extremely poor.
"You will go safest in the middle"
wrote the Roman poet, and similarly
it has been found that among the mid
die classes, the merely well-off, we must
search for the happiest man and wom-
an. Blessed be America if she has sue
ceeded in bringing about conditions
that will produce even one perfectly
contented man. He should be taken to
the st. Louis Exposition this year and
exhibited as a treasure beyond price
and discovery more important to the
human race than all the wonders con-
tributed by the wealth of nations.
Come, oh happy little farmer, and tell
us how to be happy without vast pos
sessions, satisfied without fame or So
cial distinction, aud content with what
we have without longing eternally for
what we have not.-The American
Farmer.
Colonel Pat Ouinn of Silver City is