made; but by chance I met your friend, Doctor Goddard, on the train,
and, in answer to my inquiry as to whom I could go to for correct
information concerning the history and present condition and value
of farm lands in this section of the country, he advised me to stop
off at Blue Mound Station and consult with you. Had I known that you
were to be in Montplain to-day, of course I should have gone
directly there. Your mother very graciously consented to receive me
as a belated summer boarder, a kindness which I greatly appreciate,
I assure you.

"My mother and I have a small farm in Illinois,--so small that it
would be lost in such an estate as Westover, but the price of land
is very high in the West at the present time; and I am really
considering the question of selling our little forty-acre farm and
purchasing two or three hundred acres in the East or South. My
thought is that I might secure a farm that was once good land, but
that has been run down to such an extent that it can be bought for
perhaps ten or twenty dollars an acre. I should want the land to be
nearly level so that it would not be difficult to prevent damage
from surface washing. I should prefer, of course, to purchase where
there is a good road and not more than five miles from a railway
station.

"If I secure such a farm, it would be my purpose to restore its
fertility. If possible I should want to make the land at least as
productive as it ever was, even in its virgin state."

"Well, Sir," said Mr. West, "if you could accomplish your purpose
and ultimately show a balance on the right side of the ledger, it
would be a work of very great value to this country. There will be