“Surely, Joe, that cannot be?”
“It is perfectly true, I assure you. I have seen a family as much attached to half and even a quarter of a rood as if it had been a hundred acres.”
“But that is downright folly.”
“I can imagine, however, that it is hard to give up a bit of land that has been in the family for generations.”
“But what happens at last?”
“They are obliged at last to sell, of course, and betake themselves to other employments. They are wise if they begin to sell soon enough.”
“I have heard,” said the sergeant, “that the reason why we find so many Swiss in other countries is, that the land is divided and divided again, in the way you describe, till the people cannot live upon it.”
“In Switzerland,” said Joe, “they do not commonly go on to the last moment before they sell. When a small farmer leaves his estate among his children, it is common for the eldest of the richest son to purchase their slips of land from his brothers and sisters, while they find a subsistence in other countries as soldiers, valets, tutors, and governesses.”
“And why not in their own?”
“Because Switzerland is a poor country, and there is not capital enough in it to employ its population.”