brain. We don't know how to use our
horses. They have power enough to do all the hard work, if we only knew
how to put it into wheels and gears. We must begin to work our brains as
well as our muscles on a farm miles long an' wide."

"It ain't fair to expect the land to furnish all the fertility," said
Samson.

Brimstead's face glowed as he outlined his vision:

"These great stretches of smooth, rich land just everlastingly ram the
spurs into you and keep your brain galloping. Mine is goin' night and
day. The prairies are a new thing and you've got to tackle 'em in a new
way. I tell you the seeding and planting and mowing and reaping and
threshing is all going to be done by machinery and horses. The wheel will
be the foundation of the new era."

"You're right," said Samson.

"How are you gettin' along?"

"Rather slow," Samson answered. "It's hard to get our stuff to market
down in the Sangamon country. Our river isn't navigable yet. We hope that
Abe Lincoln, who has just been elected to the Legislature, will be able
to get it widened and straightened and cleaned up so it will be of some
use to us down there."

"I've heard of him. They call him Honest Abe, don't they?"

"Yes; and he is honest if a man ever was."

"That's the kind we need to make our laws," said Mrs. Brimstead. "There
are not many men who get a reputation for honesty. It ought to be easy,
but it isn't."

"Men are pretty good in the main," said Samson. "But ye know there are
not so many who can exactly toe the mark. They don't know how or they're
too busy or something. I guess I'm a little careless, and I don't believe
I'm a bad fellow either. Abe's conscience don't ever sit down to rest. He
traveled three miles one night to give back four cents that he had
overcharged a customer. I'd probably have waited to have her come back,
and by that time it might have slipped my mind or maybe she would have
moved away. I suppose that in handling dollars we're mostly as honest
as Abe, but we're apt to be a little careless with the cents. Abe toed
the penny mark, and that's how he got his reputation. The good God has
given him a sense of justice that is like a chemist's balance. It can
weigh down to a fraction of a grain. Now he don't care much about
pennies. He can be pretty reckless with 'em. But when they're a measure
on the balance, he counts 'em careful, I can tell ye."

"Say, I'll tell ye," said Brimstead. "Honesty is like Sapington's pills.
There'