you do away with the dam?"

"Do you see those two beech trees down there, near the fence where the
brook cuts in between the two steep banks?" asked John pointing.

"Yes, I do," said his friend.

"Well, do you notice how the banks approach each other at that point?
A thirty-or forty-foot dam built across there would back up the water
over an acre or two of ground in there--that land is unfit for
anything else--and it would give them all the water they'd need for
cutting ice in the winter and swimming in the summer; and as for
electricity, a little direct-connection unit run by gasoline and
setting in one corner of the garage, where it would be near at hand,
would do the trick nicely. You know, Al," he continued, "the trouble
with our farmers is they don't manage right. Now take Joe Williams
here for an example. Here's wasted water power; he's still turning the
old grind-stone by hand, and probably will all his life, unless
someone wakes him up. Then here's this good bottom land wasted. Why,
it was only last week he came in to see me at the bank to borrow a
thousand dollars--said he was going to get married and needed some
money to set himself up in housekeeping, as he's put all his money
into buying the farm. Said he's going to marry a woman who's used to a
little better than farm life, and, now that he's got his brother's boy
helping him, he would like to put on another team."

"Did you loan him the money, John?" asked his friend, keenly
interested.

"No, I didn't, Al. I told him I'd think it over. In fact, it was to