Douglas Daily Dispatch

A New Yorker At Large
(By MARK BARRON)

NEW YORK-Julian and Larry Anhault are two New Yorkers who really reformed.

You meet them most every day those jaded Manhattans who are tired of it all and resolve to go back to the farm and the simple life.

Only, they seldom do. They can't get away from the bright lights, the noise of the subway and the shadows of skyscrapers. They may sleep profoundly beneath the elevated tracks, but among the clover they are kept awake by crickets or grasshoppers.

Julian and Larry are the exceptions.

They were kings on Broadway once owned theatres, bossed stars and mingled with society.

One day they became bored, closed their offices, bought a farm in the wilderness above Essex, Conn., and went in for agriculture in a big way.

"We weren't going to be country gentlemen," Julian explains. "We were determined to be real dirt farmers, prove to ourselves that a pair of Broadway fellows could rustle for themselves in the rural districts as well as in a night club."

Broadway to Spuds.

"We looked over the situation and decided that potatoes would be a nice crop. They look good and are not too hard to cultivate. We had a fine crop, harvested a couple of hundred bushels. Well, it didn't work out. The price of potatoes dropped that year lower than they had been in years.

"The next year we didn't plant potatoes, and the price jumped back up to a record-breaking mark."

Deciding that maybe they could do better with something else, the Anhault brothers went in for chickens.

"We started out with 7000," Larry explained. "Now we have about 70. They cost us twice as much to raise as we could sell them for."

Chickens were too fragile, so they went in for sheep raising. They now have 12 left and are trying to give them away.

The Anhault farm is now green with an abundant crop. "It looks as though your luck has changed," I commented.

"You certainly have a beautiful crop here. What is this you have planted?"

"That," Julian explained, "is mostly weeds, probably with a few vagrant potatoes hanging around.

"We planted only mint this season. Not much money in it, but it goes good around the house with lemonade."

"Anyway, you are lucky to have a place away out in the country like this," I consoled them, "away from the smoke and noise and rush of New York. You can keep healthy out here."

Mint Conservation.

"Maybe so," Julian said, "but you can have the country. There's nothing to do but breathe fresh air and sleep. Next fall Larry and I are coming back to Broadway. We're just waiting until we use up this mint crop. It shouldn't go to waste."