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158
Adventures in Contentment
·
David Grayson
11
HORACE:
They're
wild
plums:
they
ain't
good
for
nothing.
MYSELF:
But
think
how
fine
they
will
be
all
the
year
round.
HORACE:
Fine!
They
take
up
a
quarter-acre
of
good
land.
I've
been
going
to
cut
'em
myself
this
ten
years.
MYSELF:
I
don't
think
I
shall
want
them
cut
out.
HORACE:
Humph.
After
a
pause:
HORACE:
There's
a
lot
of
good
body
cord-wood
in
that
oak
on
the
knoll.
MYSELF:
Cord-wood!
Why,
that
oak
is
the
treasure
of
the
whole
farm,
I
have
never
seen
a
finer
one.
I
could
not
think
of
cutting
it.
HORACE:
It
will
bring
you
fifteen
or
twenty
dollars
cash
in
hand.
MYSELF:
But
I
rather
have
the
oak.
HORACE:
Humph.
So
our
conversation
continued
for
some
time.
I
let
Horace
know
that
I
preferred
rail
fences,
even
old
ones,
to
a
wire
fence,
and
that
I
thought
a
farm
should
not
be
too
large,
else
it
might
keep
one
away
from
his
friends.
And
what,
I
asked,
is
corn
compared
with
a
friend?
Oh,
I
grew
really
oratorical!
I
gave
it
as
my
opinion
that
there
should
be
vines
around
the
house
(Waste
of
time,
said
Horace),
and
that
no
farmer
should
permit
anyone
to
paint
medicine
advertisements
on
his
barn
(Brings
you
ten
dollars
a
year,
said
Horace),
and
that
I
proposed
to
fix
the
bridge
on
the
lower
road
(What's
a
path-master
for?
asked
Horace).
I
said
that
a
town
was
a
useful
adjunct
for
a
farm;
but
I
laid
it
down
as
a
principle
that
no
town
should
be
too
near
a
farm.
I
finally
became
so
enthusiastic
in
setting
forth
my
conceptions
of
a
true
farm
that
I
reduced
Horace
to
a
series
of
humphs.
The
early
humphs
were
incredulous,
but
as
I
proceeded,
with
some
joy,
they
became
humorously
contemptuous,
and
finally
began
to
voice
a
large,
comfortable,
condescending
tolerance.
I
could
fairly
feel
Horace
growing
superior
as
he
sat
there
beside
me.
Oh,
he
had
everything
in
his
favour.
He
could
prove
what
he
said:
One
tree
+
one
thicket
=
twenty
dollars.
One
landscape
=
ten
cords
of
wood
=
a
quarter-acre
of
corn
=
twenty
dollars.
These
equations
prove
themselves.
Moreover,
was
not
Horace
the
"best
off"
of
any
farmer
in
the
country?
Did
he
not
have
the
largest
barn
and
the
best
corn
silo?
And
are
there
better
arguments?
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