My family has been your loyal servant for years, and I have been ever since I can remember. You've been repaying our gratitude with marvelous crops that we sold for profit over the years. However, due to the drought that has been happening, you have not been able to produce any crops. You were never truly mine, because I've always had to accept the fact that the bank owns you, not I. And because of this, we have not made any profits. "The kids are hungry all the time. We got no clothes, torn an' ragged" (33). My family can't just leave you. "Grampa took [you up], and he had to kill the Indians and drive them away. And Pa was born here, and he killed weeds and snakes [just to protect you]. An' we was born here. There in the door--our children born here. And Pa had to borrow money. The bank owned [you] then, but we stayed and we got a little bit of what we raised" (33). You're not ours to keep, I know. "But [you're] our land. We measured [you] and broke [you] up. We were born on [you], and we got killed on [you], died on [you]. Even if [you're] no good, [you're] still ours. That's what makes [you] ours--being born on [you], working [you], dying on [you]. That makes ownership, not a paper with numbers on it" (33). "[I] loved [you] more than the bank loved [you]" (30). "Funny thing how it is. If a man owns a little property, that property is him, it's part of him, and it's like him" (37). This is why I love you so much, and the exact reason why I do not want to leave you. You are just like me, and being forced to leave you will make me miserable. "Only my possessions are big--and [I] am [your] servant" (37).
Sincerely,
A Tenant Farmer
Sincerely,
A Tenant Farmer
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