The Dolores star., 1916-08-25

In the evening. We lived 30 finn {
life. indeed, that It was only by pre-
serving an absolute routine for mn
own bread-winning labors. from Q 4. m
till one. that I was able to resist thu
siren call Of farm and garden, and Rei
my daily stint accomplished.
The preceding summer had made
Nbout two hundred dollars out of nv
produce, which in my first naive en-.
thusiasm pleased me greatly. But 1,
was surely a poor return on nv invest.
ment. reckoned merely in dollars and
cents, and the second season showed
different result. Having two COW,
and a small family, managed to dis.
pose Of my surplus milk and cream
to farmer who ran a milk route
This brought me in $73 a year. As
further saved at least 500 by not hav.
ing to buy milk, and 500 by Peters
efforts at the churn, and could reckon
further profit from manure and
calves. my cows were worth between
three hundred and four hundred dol.
lars q year to me. Now that we had
hens and chickens, we could reckon
on another 500 saved in egg and poul.
try bills. To this total was able ia
add at the end Of the summer more
than FIVE hundred dollars received
from the sale of fruit and vegetables,
not only to the market but to the no.
tells. I was the only person in Bent.
ford who had cultivated raspberries
for sale, for instance, and the fact
that could deliver them absolutely
fresh to the hotels was appreciated In
so delicate fruit. Stella and Peter
were the pickers. I also supplied the
inns with peas. caulihowers and toma.
toes. Thus the farm was actually pay.
Ing me in cash or saving at least a
thousand dollars year-indeed, much
more. since we had no fruit nor yege-
table bills the year through, Mrs. Pillig
being an artist in preserving what
would not keep in the cellar. But we
Will call 1t a thousand dollars, and let
the rest go rs interest on the invest.
ment represented by seeds and imple-
ments. To offset this. paid Mike 5000
year, and employed his son Joe at
$1.75 a day for twenty weeks. This
lett me profit of about two hundred
dollars on my first full season at Twin
Fires, which paid my taxes and bought
my coal. Out Of my salary, then, came
no rent. no bills for butter, eggs, milk,
poultry nor vegetables. I had to nay
Mrs. Pillig her $40 a month therefrom,
l had to pay the upkeep Of the place,
and grocery and meat bills (the latter
being comparatively small in summer,
But with the great item Of rent elimI.
mated, and my farm help paying for
itself. 1t was astonishing to me to con.
template what a beautiful, comfort.
able home we were able to afford on
an income which in New York would
coop US IN an upper West side apart.
ment. We had thirty acres of beauti.
full land. We had brook, a pine grove,
an orchard, not too formal garden,
a lovely house, in which we were
slowly assembling mahogany furniture
which fitted 1t. We had summer soci.
ETY. as sophisticated as we cared to mix
with. and winter society to which we
could give gladly Of our own stores
of knowledge or enthusiasm and find
Joy in the giving. We had health as
never before. and air and sunshine and
a world Of beauty all about us to the
far, blue wall Of hills.
Above all. we had the perpetual in.
centive Of gardening to keep our eyes
toward the future. A true garden,
like life well lived, Is forever becom.
ing, forever in process, forever leading
on toward new goals. Life. indeed
goes hand in hand with your garden,
and never a fair thought but you
write 1t In flowers. never a beautiful
picture but you paint 1t IL you can,
and with the striving learn patience,
and with the half accomplishment the
divine unrest"
HoRAs NON NUMERo NIsl sERE.
MAS
reads the ancient motto on our dial
plate, and as l look back on the wears
OF Twin Fires genesis. or forward into
the future, the hours that are not
sunny are indeed not marked for me,
I am writing now at a table beneath
the pergola. The floor is of brick. laid
somewhat irregularly) by Stella and
me. for We still are poor as the Eek
stroms would reckon poverty. and none
OF what Mrs. Deland has called "the
grim inhibitions of wealth" prevents
us from doing whatever we can with
our own hands. and finding therein a
double satisfaction. Over nv head
rustic the thick vines-a wistaria
among them. which may or NAV not
survive another winter.
1t is June again. l know that
path now wanders up the brook al.
most to the road. amid the wild tansle,
and ends suddenly in the most unex.
pected nook beneath a willow tree
where irises fringe second tiny pool.
know that the path still wanders the
other way into the pines-pines larger
now and more murmurous of the sea-
past beds Of ferns and a lone cardinal
flower that will bloom in a shaft of
sunlight. Somewhere down that path
my wife is wandering, and she is NOT