his brother hesitated. "Speak up, my little man, and don't be
afraid!"

"I don't know," replied the lad, frankly.

"Good for you!" said his father. "Never be afraid of saying that you
don't know when you do _not_ know. The fear of confessing ignorance is
what has wrecked many a young fellow's chances for finding out things
he should know."

"Well, boys," said Mr. Bryant, addressing himself to the three lads,
"all the land of the United States Government that is open to
settlement is laid off in townships six miles square. These, in turn,
are laid off into sections of six hundred and forty acres each. Now,
then, how much land should there be in a quarter-section?"

"One hundred and sixty acres!" shouted all three boys at once,
breathlessly.

"Correct. The Government allows every man, or single woman of mature
age, widow or unmarried, to go upon a plot of land, not more than one
hundred and sixty acres nor less than forty acres, and to improve it,
and live upon it. If he stays there, or 'maintains a continuous
residence,' as the lawyers say, for a certain length of time, the
Government gives him a title-deed at the end of that time, and he owns
the land."

"What?--free, gratis, and for nothing?" cried Sandy.

"Certainly," said his uncle. "The homestead law was passed by Congress
to encourage the settlement of the lands belonging to the Government.
You see there is an abundance of these lands,--so much, in fact, that
they have not yet been all laid off into townships and sections and
quarter-sections. If a large number of homestead claims are taken up,
then other settlers will be certain to come in and buy the lands that
the Government has to sell; and that will make settlements grow
throughout that locality."

"Why should they buy when they can get land for nothing by entering
and taking possession, just as we are going to do?" interrupted
Oscar.

"Because, my son, many of the men cannot make oath that they have not
taken up Government land somewhere else; and then, again, many men are
going into land speculations, and they don't care to wait five years
to prove up a homestead claim. So they go upon the land, stake out
their claim, and the Government sells it to them outright at the rate
of a dollar and a quarter an acre."

"Cash down?" asked Charlie.

"No, they need not pay cash down unless they choose. The Government
allows them a year to pay up in. But land speculators who make a
business of this sort o