Slowly but surely
workers came north, first in fear and dread, but later with confidence,
and now the cry is "They come, and still they come." Before we had gone
far on our journey we had an opportunity of conversing with one lately
arrived colonist. A wonderful crop of maize attracted our notice, and we
stopped to speak to the great, jolly, strong-framed Italian who had
grown it. He has moved up from the south with his wife and family, and
his fellow-workmen. They started ploughing, and though it was late in
the season, he was persuaded to try a catch-crop of maize, with the
result that he has to-day banked $5,000, when he never expected to
secure a chance harvest. And so sure is he that the land will repay all
labour and time expended upon it that he is anxious to take up a league
and colonize it with his fellow-countrymen.
It is the same story all through the northern lands; anyone with pluck,
adaptability and grit can do what this man has done: indeed hard work
and perseverance will as amply reward the labourer in the northern lands
as they have done in the south. The sight of this great crop of valuable
maize, on land which a few months before was a mere waste, brings the
words of the Psalmist forcibly to one's thoughts, for surely of no
country could it more truly be said than of the Argentine, "Dwell in
the land, and be doing good, and, verily, thou shalt be fed"; and
perhaps there are few countries in which there are less openings for the
man whose mind is not set towards "doing good": the Argentine has little
room for the shirker.
Pages:
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213