ur troubles be increased in proportion? John, sit down and think
this thing over. We don't need more property; what we need is a
chance to enjoy the property we already have. The one thing we
haven't got, the one thing it seems we can't get, is time. Time to
think, time to read, time for walks on the prairie, time for sunsets,
and skies, and--and kindness, and all the things that make life real.
We have the chance to choose now between life and land; won't you
think it all over again and let us seek that which is really worth
while?"

"Now I know where Beulah got her nonsense," he retorted. "All this
talk about real life is very fine, but you don't get much life, real
or any other kind, unless you have the cash to pay down for it. You
can't buy beefsteaks with long walks over the prairie, nor clothe
yourself and family with sunsets. For my part I want some real
success. We've done pretty well here, as you say, but it's only a
beginnin' to what we can do, if we set about it, and don't wait until
the cheap land is all gone. I don't see why you should go back on me
at this time o' life, Mary. We've stood together for a long while,
and I kinda figured I could count on you."

"So you can, John; so you can to the very last, for anything that is
for your own good, but when you set your heart on something that
means more trouble and hardship and won't add one iota to your
happiness, I think it is my duty to persuade you if I can. We've been
drifting apart lately; why not let us both go back to the beginning
and start over again, and by kindness, and fairness, and liberality,
and--and sympathy, try to recover something of what we have lost?"

"I have always thought I had been liberal enough," he said. "Didn't I
build you a good house and buy furniture for it, and do I stint you
in what you spend, either on the table or yourself? More than that,
didn't I put the title to the homestead in your name? And ain't I
ready to do the same with the new homestead, if that's the sticker?"

"I never thought of such a thing," she protested. "And you shouldn't
claim too much credit for putting the homestead quarter in my name.
You know when you bought the first railroad land you were none too
sure how things would come out, and you thought it might be a wise
precaution to have the old farm land in your wife's name."

"That's all the thanks I get," he said bitterly. "Well, I'll take the
new one in my own name, but I'll take it just the sam