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158
Adventures in Contentment
·
David Grayson
71
"That
is
a
problem,
of
course,"
I
said.
"I
tried
money-making
once--in
a
city--and
I
was
unsuccessful
and
unhappy;
here
I
am
both
successful
and
happy.
I
suppose
I
was
one
of
the
young
men
who
did
the
work
while
some
millionnaire
drew
the
dividends."
(I
was
cutting
close,
and
I
didn't
venture
to
look
at
him).
"No
doubt
he
had
his
houses
and
yachts
and
went
to
Europe
when
he
liked.
I
know
I
lived
upstairs--back--where
there
wasn't
a
tree
to
be
seen,
or
a
spear
of
green
grass,
or
a
hill,
or
a
brook:
only
smoke
and
chimneys
and
littered
roofs.
Lord
be
thanked
for
my
escape!
Sometimes
I
think
that
Success
has
formed
a
silent
conspiracy
against
Youth.
Success
holds
up
a
single
glittering
apple
and
bids
Youth
strip
and
run
for
it;
and
Youth
runs
and
Success
still
holds
the
apple."
John
Starkweather
said
nothing.
"Yes,"
I
said,
"there
are
duties.
We
realise,
we
farmers,
that
we
must
produce
more
than
we
ourselves
can
eat
or
wear
or
burn.
We
realise
that
we
are
the
foundation:
we
connect
human
life
with
the
earth.
We
dig
and
plant
and
produce,
and
having
eaten
at
the
first
table
ourselves,
we
pass
what
is
left
to
the
bankers
and
millionnaires.
Did
you
ever
think,
stranger,
that
most
of
the
wars
of
the
world
have
been
fought
for
the
control
of
this
farmer's
second
table?
Have
you
thought
that
the
surplus
of
wheat
and
corn
and
cotton
is
what
the
railroads
are
struggling
to
carry?
Upon
our
surplus
run
all
the
factories
and
mills;
a
little
of
it
gathered
in
cash
makes
a
millionnaire.
But
we
farmers,
we
sit
back
comfortably
after
dinner,
and
joke
with
our
wives
and
play
with
our
babies,
and
let
all
the
rest
of
you
fight
for
the
crumbs
that
fall
from
our
abundant
tables.
If
once
we
really
cared
and
got
up
and
shook
ourselves,
and
said
to
the
maid:
'Here,
child,
don't
waste
the
crusts:
gather
'em
up
and
to-morrow
we'll
have
a
cottage
pudding,'
where
in
the
world
would
all
the
millionnaires
be?"
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