Page:Frank Owen - Rare Earth, 1931.djvu/129

 or wheat will grow for me as for any other man."

So they commenced searching about for a farm. Anywhere in Illinois would do. It is hard to explain why they did not return to the Carolinas. Though perhaps Benda did not wish to be too far away from Chicago, the city of promise. He had always imagined that some day Chicago would acknowledge his intellect. And even when he abandoned work as a civil engineer he could not utterly forsake the state that had been the cradle of his dreams.

It was not so easy to buy a place that was within their means. They had not much money. Most of the farms required a large down payment. But at last they had located that place near Galvey. It was a pitiable house. No one had lived in it for more than a year. The roof leaked and the tiny porch slanted at a perilous angle. But to them it represented home. Benda who was efficient at all kinds of work decided he could repair it himself at slight expense and make it livable. Far