99,note3 ,please ,credit to ,sjaani     
,,adventures ,,in ,,contentment         
,david ,grayson        ,i      ,,the    
,,burden ,,of ,,the ,,valley ,,of       
,,vision    ,i came here eight years ago
 as the renter of this farm1 of which   
soon  afterward ,i became the owner4    
,the time before that ,i like to forget4
 ,the  chief impression it left1 upon my
 memory1 now happily growing            
indistinct1 is of being hurried faster  
than ,i could well travel4 ,from  the   
moment1 as a boy of seventeen1 ,i first 
began to pay my own way1 my  days were  
ordered by an inscrutable power which   
drove me hourly to my  task4 ,i was     
rarely allowed to look up or down1 but  
always forward1  toward that vague      
,success which we ,americans love to    
glorify4    ,my senses1 my nerves1 even 
my muscles were continually strained to 
the  utmost of attainment4 ,if ,i       
loitered or paused by the wayside1 as it
  seems natural for me to do1 ,i soon   
heard the sharp crack of the lash4  ,for

 many years1 and ,i can say it          
truthfully1 ,i never rested4 ,i neither 
thought nor reflected4 ,i had no        
pleasure1 even though ,i pursued it     
fiercely during the brief respite of    
vacations4 ,through many feverish  years
 ,i did not work3 ,i merely produced4   
,the only real thing ,i did was to hurry
 as though every moment were my  last1  
as though the world1 which now seems so 
rich in everything1 held  only one prize
 which might be seized upon before ,i   
arrived4 ,since then ,i  have tried to  
recall1 like one who struggles to       
restore the visions of a  fever1 what it
 was that ,i ran to attain1 or why ,i   
should have borne  without rebellion    
such indignities to soul and body4 ,that
 life seems  now1 of all illusions1 the 
most distant and unreal4 ,it is like the
  unguessed eternity before we are born3
 not of concern compared with that      
eternity upon which we are now embarked4
    ,all these things happened in cities
 and among crowds4 ,i like to forget    

them4 ,they smack of that slavery of the
 spirit which is so much worse  than any
 mere slavery of the body4    ,one      
day--it was in ,april1 ,i remember1 and 
the soft maples in the city  park were  
just beginning to blossom--,i stopped   
suddenly4 ,i did not  intend to stop4 ,i
 confess in humiliation that it was no  
courage1 no will  of my own4 ,i intended
 to go on toward ,success3 but ,fate    
stopped me4 ,it  was as if ,i had been  
thrown violently from a moving planet3  
all the  universe streamed around me and
 past me4 ,it seemed to me that of all  
animate creation1 ,i was the only thing 
that was still or silent4 ,until ,i     
stopped ,i had not known the pace ,i    
ran2 and ,i had a vague sympathy and    
understanding1 never felt before1 for   
those who left the running4 ,i lay      
prostrate with fever and close to death 
for weeks and watched the world  go by3 
the dust1 the noise1 the very colour of 
haste4 ,the only sharp  pang that ,i    
suffered was the feeling that ,i should 

be broken-hearted and  that ,i was not2 
that ,i should care and that ,i did not4
 ,it was as though  ,i had died and     
escaped all further responsibility4 ,i  
even watched with  dim equanimity my    
friends racing past me1 panting as they 
ran4 ,some of  them paused an instant to
 comfort me where ,i lay1 but ,i could  
see that  their minds were still upon   
the running and ,i was glad when they   
went  away4 ,i cannot tell with what    
weariness their haste oppressed me4 ,as 
for  them1 they somehow blamed me for   
dropping out4 ,i knew4 ,until we        
ourselves understand1 we accept no      
excuse from the man who stops4 ,while   
,i felt it all1 ,i was not bitter4 ,i   
did not seem to care4 ,i said to        
myself3 ,this is ,unfitness4 ,i survive 
no longer4 ,so be it4    ,thus ,i lay1  
and presently ,i began to hunger and    
thirst4 ,desire rose  within me3 the    
indescribable longing of the            
convalescent for the food of  recovery4 
,so ,i lay1 questioning wearily what it 

was that ,i required4 ,one  morning ,i  
wakened with a strange1 new joy in my   
soul4 ,it came to me at  that moment    
with indescribable poignancy1 the       
thought of walking  barefoot in cool1   
fresh plow furrows as ,i had once done  
when a boy4 ,so  vividly the memory came
 to me--the high airy world as it was at
 that  moment1 and the boy ,i was       
walking free in the furrows--that the   
weak  tears filled my eyes1 the first ,i
 had shed in many years4 ,then ,i       
thought  of sitting in quiet thickets in
 old fence corners1 the wood behind me  
rising still1 cool1 mysterious1 and the 
fields in front stretching away  in     
illimitable pleasantness4 ,i thought of 
the good smell of cows at  milking--you 
do not know1 if you do not know6--,i    
thought of the sights  and sounds1 the  
heat and sweat of the hay fields4 ,i    
thought of a certain  brook ,i knew when
 a boy that flowed among alders and wild
 parsnips1  where ,i waded with a       
three-foot rod for trout4 ,i thought of 

all these  things as a man thinks of his
 first love4 ,oh1 ,i craved the soil4 ,i
  hungered and thirsted for the earth4  
,i was greedy for growing things4       
,and thus1 eight years ago1 ,i came here
 like one sore-wounded creeping  from   
the field of battle4 ,i remember walking
 in the sunshine1 weak yet1  but        
curiously satisfied4 ,i that was dead   
lived again4 ,it came to me then  with a
 curious certainty1 not since so        
assuring1 that ,i understood the  chief 
marvel of nature hidden within the      
,story of the ,resurrection1 the  marvel
 of plant and seed1 father and son1 the 
wonder of the seasons1 the  miracle of  
life4 ,i1 too1 had died3 ,i had lain    
long in darkness1 and now  ,i had risen 
again upon the sweet earth4 ,and ,i     
possessed beyond others a  knowledge of 
a former existence1 which ,i knew1 even 
then1 ,i could never  return to4    ,for
 a time1 in the new life1 ,i was happy  
to drunkenness--working1  eating1       
sleeping4 ,i was an animal again1 let   

out to run in green  pastures4 ,i was   
glad of the sunrise and the sunset4 ,i  
was glad at noon4  ,it delighted me when
 my muscles ached with work and when1   
after supper1  ,i could not keep my eyes
 open for sheer weariness4 ,and         
sometimes ,i was  awakened in the night 
out of a sound sleep--seemingly by the  
very  silences--and lay in a sort of    
bodily comfort impossible to describe4  
,i did not want to feel or to think3 ,i 
merely wanted to live4 ,in the sun  or  
the rain ,i wanted to go out and come   
in1 and never again know the  pain of   
the unquiet spirit4 ,i looked forward to
 an awakening not without  dread for we 
are as helpless before birth as in the  
presence of death4    ,but like all     
birth1 it came1 at last1 suddenly4 ,all 
that summer ,i had  worked in a sort of 
animal content4 ,autumn had now come1   
late autumn1  with coolness in the      
evening air4 ,i was plowing in my upper 
field--not  then mine in fact--and it   
was a soft afternoon with the earth     

turning up  moist and fragrant4 ,i had  
been walking the furrows all day long4  
,i had  taken note1 as though my life   
depended upon it1 of the occasional     
stones  or roots in my field1 ,i made   
sure of the adjustment of the harness1  
,i  drove with peculiar care to save the
 horses4 ,with such simple details of   
the work in hand ,i had found it my joy 
to occupy my mind4 ,up to that  moment  
the most important things in the world  
had seemed a straight  furrow and       
well-turned corners--to me1 then1 a     
profound accomplishment4    ,i cannot   
well describe it1 save by the analogy of
 an opening door  somewhere within the  
house of my consciousness4 ,i had been  
in the dark3  ,i seemed to emerge4 ,i   
had been bound down3 ,i seemed to leap  
up--and with  a marvellous sudden sense 
of freedom and joy4    ,i stopped there 
in my field and looked up4 ,and it was  
as if ,i had never  looked up before4 ,i
 discovered another world4 ,it had been 
there before1  for long and long1 but ,i

 had never seen nor felt it4 ,all       
discoveries are  made in that way3 a man
 finds the new thing1 not in nature but 
in  himself4    ,it was as though1      
concerned with plow and harness and     
furrow1 ,i had  never known that the    
world had height or colour or sweet     
sounds1 or  that there was feeling in a 
hillside4 ,i forgot myself1 or where ,i 
was4  ,i stood a long time motionless4  
,my dominant feeling1 if ,i can at all  
express it1 was of a strange new        
friendliness1 a warmth1 as though these 
hills1 this field about me1 the woods1  
had suddenly spoken to me and  caressed 
me4 ,it was as though ,i had been       
accepted in membership1 as  though ,i   
was now recognised1 after long trial1 as
 belonging here4    ,across the town    
road which separates my farm from my    
nearest  neighbour's1 ,i saw a field1   
familiar1 yet strangely new and         
unfamiliar1  lying up to the setting    
sun1 all red with autumn1 above it the  
incalculable heights of the sky1 blue1  

but not quite clear1 owing to the       
,indian summer haze4 ,i cannot convey   
the sweetness and softness of that      
landscape1 the airiness of it1 the      
mystery of it1 as it came to me at  that
 moment4 ,it was as though1 looking at  
an acquaintance long known1 ,i  should  
discover that ,i loved him4 ,as ,i stood
 there ,i was conscious of  the cool    
tang of burning leaves and brush heaps1 
the lazy smoke of which  floated down   
the long valley and found me in my      
field1 and finally ,i  heard1 as though 
the sounds were then made for the first 
time1 all the  vague murmurs of the     
country side--a cow-bell somewhere in   
the distance1  the creak of a wagon1 the
 blurred evening hum of birds1 insects1 
frogs4  ,so much it means for a man to  
stop and look up from his task4 ,so ,i  
stood1 and ,i looked up and down with a 
glow and a thrill which ,i cannot  now  
look back upon without some envy and a  
little amusement at the very  grandness 
and seriousness of it all4 ,and ,i said 

aloud to myself3    ,i will be as broad 
as the earth4 ,i will not be limited4   
,thus ,i was born into the present      
world1 and here ,i continue1 not knowing
  what other world ,i may yet achieve4  
,i do not know1 but ,i wait in          
expectancy1 keeping my furrows straight 
and my corners well turned4  ,since that
 day in the field1 though my fences     
include no more acres1 and  ,i still    
plow my own fields1 my real domain has  
expanded until ,i crop  wide fields and 
take the profit of many curious         
pastures4 ,from my farm ,i  can see most
 of the world2 and if ,i wait here long 
enough all people  pass this way4       
,and ,i look out upon them not in the   
surroundings which they have chosen  for
 themselves1 but from the vantage ground
 of my familiar world4 ,the  symbols    
which meant so much in cities mean      
little here4 ,sometimes it  seems to me 
as though ,i saw men naked4 ,they come  
and stand beside my  oak1 and the oak   
passes solemn judgment2 they tread my   

furrows and the  clods give silent      
evidence2 they touch the green blades of
 my corn1 the  corn whispers its sure   
conclusions4 ,stern judgments that will 
be  deceived by no symbols6    ,thus ,i 
have delighted1 secretly1 in calling    
myself an unlimited farmer1  and ,i make
 this confession in answer to the inner 
and truthful demand of  the soul that we
 are not1 after all1 the slaves of      
things1 whether corn1  or banknotes1 or 
spindles2 that we are not the used1 but 
the users2 that  life is more than      
profit and loss4 ,and so ,i shall expect
 that while ,i am  talking farm some of 
you may be thinking dry goods1 banking1 
literature1  carpentry1 or what-not4    
,but if you can say3 ,i am an unlimited 
dry goods  merchant1 ,i am an unlimited 
carpenter1 ,i will give you an          
old-fashioned  country hand-shake1      
strong and warm4 ,we are friends2 our   
orbits  coincide4        ,,ii      ,i   
,,buy ,a ,,farm    ,as ,i have said1    
when ,i came here ,i came as a renter1  

working all of the  first summer without
 that open vision of which the prophet  
,samuel  speaks4 ,i had no memory of the
 past and no hope of the future4 ,i fed 
upon the moment4 ,my sister ,harriet    
kept the house and ,i looked after the  
farm and the fields4 ,in all those      
months ,i hardly knew that ,i had       
neighbours1 although ,horace1 from whom 
,i rented my place1 was not             
infrequently a visitor4 ,he has since   
said that ,i looked at him as though  he
 were a statute4 ,i was citified1       
,horace said2 and citified with  us here
 in the country is nearly the limit of  
invective1 though not  violent enough to
 discourage such a gift of sociability  
as his4 ,the  ,scotch ,preacher1 the    
rarest1 kindest man ,i know1 called once
 or twice1  wearing the air of formality
 which so ill becomes him4 ,i saw       
nothing in  him3 it was my fault1 not   
his1 that ,i missed so many weeks of his
  friendship4 ,once in that time the    
,professor crossed my fields with his   

tin box slung from his shoulder2 and the
 only feeling ,i had1 born of  crowded  
cities1 was that this was an intrusion  
upon my property4  ,intrusion3 and the  
,professor6 ,it is now unthinkable4 ,i  
often passed the  ,carpentry ,shop on my
 way to town4 ,i saw ,baxter many times 
at his bench4  ,even then ,baxter's eyes
 attracted me3 he always glanced up at  
me as ,i  passed1 and his look had in it
 something of a caress4 ,so the home of 
,starkweather1 standing aloof among its 
broad lawns and tall trees1  carried no 
meaning for me4    ,of all my           
neighbours1 ,horace is the nearest4     
,from the back door of my  house1       
looking over the hill1 ,i can see the   
two red chimneys of his  home1 and the  
top of the windmill4 ,horace's barn and 
corn silo are more  pretentious by far  
than his house1 but fortunately they    
stand on lower  ground1 where they are  
not visible from my side of the hill4   
,five  minutes' walk in a straight line 
across the fields brings me to ,horace's

  door2 by the road it takes at least   
ten minutes4    ,in the fall after my   
arrival ,i had come to love the farm and
 its  surroundings so much that ,i      
decided to have it for my own4 ,i did   
not  look ahead to being a farmer4 ,i   
did not ask ,harriet's advice4 ,i found 
myself sitting one day in the justice's 
office4 ,the justice was bald and  as   
dry as corn fodder in ,march4 ,he sat   
with spectacled impressiveness  behind  
his ink-stained table4 ,horace hitched  
his heel on the round of  his chair and 
put his hat on his knee4 ,he wore his   
best coat and his  hair was brushed in  
deference to the occasion4 ,he looked   
uncomfortable1  but important4 ,i sat   
opposite him1 somewhat overwhelmed by   
the business  in hand4 ,i felt like an  
inadequate boy measured against         
solemnities too  large for him4 ,the    
processes seemed curiously unconvincing1
 like a game  in which the important    
part is to keep from laughing2 and yet  
when ,i  thought of laughing ,i felt    

cold chills of horror4 ,if ,i had       
laughed at  that moment ,i cannot think 
what that justice would have said6 ,but 
it was  a pleasure to have the old man  
read the deed1 looking at me over his   
spectacles from time to time to make    
sure ,i was not playing truant4  ,there 
are good and great words in a deed4 ,one
 of them ,i brought away  with me from  
the conference1 a very fine1 big one1   
which ,i love to have  out now and again
 to remind me of the really serious     
things of life4 ,it  gives me a peculiar
 dry1 legal feeling4 ,if ,i am about to 
enter upon a  serious bargain1 like the 
sale of a cow1 ,i am more avaricious if 
,i work  with it under my tongue4       
,hereditaments6 ,hereditaments6    ,some
 words need to be fenced in1 pig-tight1 
so that they cannot escape  us2 others  
we prefer to have running at large1     
indefinite but inclusive4  ,i would not 
look up that word for anything3 ,i might
 find it fenced in so  that it could not
 mean to me all that it does now4       

,hereditaments6 ,may there be many of   
them--or it6    ,is it not a fine       
,providence that gives us different     
things to love8 ,in  the purchase of my 
farm both ,horace and ,i got the better 
of the  bargain--and yet neither was    
cheated4 ,in reality a fairly strong    
lantern  light will shine through       
,horace1 and ,i could see that he was   
hugging  himself with the joy of his    
bargain2 but ,i was content4 ,i had some
 money  left--what more does anyone want
 after a bargain8--and ,i had come into 
possession of the thing ,i desired most 
of all4 ,looking at bargains from  a    
purely commercial point of view1 someone
 is always cheated1 but looked  at with 
the simple eye both seller and buyer    
always win4    ,we came away from the   
gravity of that bargaining in ,horace's 
wagon4 ,on  our way home ,horace gave me
 fatherly advice about using my farm4   
,he  spoke from the height of his       
knowledge to me1 a humble beginner4 ,the
  conversation ran something like this3 

,,horace3 ,thar's a clump of plum trees 
along the lower pasture fence4  ,perhaps
 you saw 'm----    ,,myself3 ,i saw     
them3 that is one reason ,i bought the  
back pasture4 ,in ,may  they will be    
full of blossoms4    ,,horace3 ,they're 
wild plums3 they ain't good for nothing4
    ,,myself3 ,but think how fine they  
will be all the year round4    ,,horace3
 ,fine6 ,they take up a quarter-acre of 
good land4 ,i've been going  to cut 'em 
myself this ten years4    ,,myself3 ,i  
don't think ,i shall want them cut out4 
,,horace3 ,humph4    ,after a pause3    
,,horace3 ,there's a lot of good body   
cord-wood in that oak on the knoll4     
,,myself3 ,cord-wood6 ,why1 that oak is 
the treasure of the whole farm1 ,i  have
 never seen a finer one4 ,i could not   
think of cutting it4    ,,horace3 ,it   
will bring you fifteen or twenty dollars
 cash in hand4    ,,myself3 ,but ,i     
rather have the oak4    ,,horace3       
,humph4    ,so our conversation         
continued for some time4 ,i let ,horace 

know that ,i  preferred rail fences1    
even old ones1 to a wire fence1 and that
 ,i  thought a farm should not be too   
large1 else it might keep one away from 
his friends4 ,and what1 ,i asked1 is    
corn compared with a friend8 ,oh1 ,i    
grew really oratorical6 ,i gave it as my
 opinion that there should be  vines    
around the house 7,waste of time1 said  
,horace71 and that no farmer  should    
permit anyone to paint medicine         
advertisements on his barn  7,brings you
 ten dollars a year1 said ,horace71 and 
that ,i proposed to fix  the bridge on  
the lower road 7,what's a path-master   
for8 asked ,horace74 ,i  said that a    
town was a useful adjunct for a farm2   
but ,i laid it down as  a principle that
 no town should be too near a farm4 ,i  
finally became so  enthusiastic in      
setting forth my conceptions of a true  
farm that ,i  reduced ,horace to a      
series of humphs4 ,the early humphs were
 incredulous1  but as ,i proceeded1 with
 some joy1 they became humorously       

contemptuous1  and finally began to     
voice a large1 comfortable1             
condescending  tolerance4 ,i could      
fairly feel ,horace growing superior as 
he sat there  beside me4 ,oh1 he had    
everything in his favour4 ,he could     
prove what he  said3 ,one tree  one     
thicket  twenty dollars4 ,one landscape 
ten cords  of wood  a quarter-acre of   
corn  twenty dollars4 ,these equations  
prove  themselves4 ,moreover1 was not   
,horace the best off of any farmer in   
the  country8 ,did he not have the      
largest barn and the best corn silo8    
,and  are there better arguments8       
,have you ever had anyone give you up as
 hopeless8 ,and is it not a  pleasure8  
,it is only after people resign you to  
your fate that you  really make friends 
of them4 ,for how can you win the       
friendship of one  who is trying to     
convert you to his superior beliefs8    
,as we talked1 then1 ,horace and ,i1 ,i 
began to have hopes of him4 ,there is   
no joy comparable to the making of a    

friend1 and the more resistant the      
material the greater the triumph4       
,baxter1 the carpenter1 says that when  
he works for enjoyment he chooses curly 
maple4    ,when ,horace set me down at  
my gate that afternoon he gave me his   
hand  and told me that he would look in 
on me occasionally1 and that if ,i had  
any trouble to let him know4    ,a few  
days later ,i heard by the roundabout   
telegraph common in country             
neighbourhoods that ,horace had found a 
good deal of fun in reporting  what ,i  
said about farming and that he had      
called me by a highly humorous  but     
disparaging name4 ,horace has a vein of 
humour all his own4 ,i have  caught him 
alone in his fields chuckling to        
himself1 and even breaking  out in a    
loud laugh at the memory of some amusing
 incident that  happened ten years ago4 
,one day1 a month or more after our     
bargain1  ,horace came down across his  
field and hitched his jean-clad leg over
 my  fence1 with the intent1 ,i am sure1

 of delving a little more in the same   
rich mine of humour4    ,horace1 ,i     
said1 looking him straight in the eye1  
did you call me  an--,agriculturist6    
,i have rarely seen a man so pitifully  
confused as ,horace was at that  moment4
 ,he flushed1 he stammered1 he coughed1 
the perspiration broke out  on his      
forehead4 ,he tried to speak and could  
not4 ,i was sorry for him4    ,horace1  
,i said1 you're a ,farmer4    ,we looked
 at each other a moment with dreadful   
seriousness1 and then  both of us       
laughed to the point of holding our     
sides4 ,we slapped our  knees1 we       
shouted1 we wriggled1 we almost rolled  
with merriment4 ,horace  put out his    
hand and we shook heartily4 ,in five    
minutes ,i had the whole  story of his  
humorous reports out of him4    ,no real
 friendship is ever made without an     
initial clashing which  discloses the   
metal of each to each4 ,since that day  
,horace's jean-clad  leg has rested many
 a time on my fence and we have talked  

crops and  calves4 ,we have been the    
best of friends in the way of           
whiffle-trees1  butter tubs and pig     
killings--but never once looked up      
together at the  sky4    ,the chief     
objection to a joke in the country is   
that it is so  imperishable4 ,there is  
so much room for jokes and so few jokes 
to fill  it4 ,when ,i see ,horace       
approaching with a peculiar1 friendly1  
reminiscent  smile on his face ,i hasten
 with all ardour to anticipate him3     
,horace1 ,i exclaim1 you're a ,farmer4  
,illustration3 ,the heat and sweat of   
the hay fields        ,,iii      ,,the  
,,joy ,,of ,,possession    ,how sweet   
the west wind sounds in my own trees3   
,how graceful climb these shadows on my 
hill4    ,always as ,i travel1 ,i think1
 ,here ,i am1 let anything happen6    ,i
 do not want to know the future2        
knowledge is too certain1 too cold1  too
 real4    ,it is true that ,i have not  
always met the fine adventure nor won   
the  friend1 but if ,i had1 what should 

,i have more to look for at other       
turnings and other hilltops8    ,the    
afternoon of my purchase was one of the 
great afternoons of my life4  ,when     
,horace put me down at my gate1 ,i did  
not go at once to the house2  ,i did not
 wish1 then1 to talk with ,harriet4 ,the
 things ,i had with myself  were too    
important4 ,i skulked toward my barn1   
compelling myself to walk  slowly until 
,i reached the corner1 where ,i broke   
into an eager run as  though the old    
,nick himself were after me4 ,behind the
 barn ,i dropped  down on the grass1    
panting with laughter1 and not without  
some of the  shame a man feels at being 
a boy4 ,close along the side of the     
barn1 as ,i  sat there in the cool of   
the shade1 ,i could see a tangled mat of
  smartweed and catnip1 and the boards  
of the barn1 brown and  weather-beaten1 
and the gables above with mud swallows' 
nests1 now  deserted2 and it struck me  
suddenly1 as ,i observed these homely   
pleasant  things3    ,all this is mine4 

,i sprang up and drew a long breath4    
,mine1 ,i said4    ,it came to me then  
like an inspiration that ,i might now go
 out and take  formal possession of my  
farm4 ,i might experience the emotion of
 a  landowner4 ,i might swell with      
dignity and importance--for once1 at    
least4    ,so ,i started at the fence   
corner back of the barn and walked      
straight  up through the pasture1       
keeping close to my boundaries1 that ,i 
might not  miss a single rod of my      
acres4 ,and oh1 it was a prime          
afternoon6 ,the  ,lord made it6         
,sunshine--and autumn haze--and red     
trees--and yellow  fields--and blue     
distances above the far-away town4 ,and 
the air had a  tang which got into a    
man's blood and set him chanting all the
 poetry he  ever knew4    ,i climb that 
was a clod1    ,i run whose steps were  
slow1  ,i reap the very wheat of ,god   
,that once had none to sow6    ,so ,i   
walked up the margin of my field looking
 broadly about me3 and  presently1 ,i   

began to examine my fences--my          
fences--with a critical  eye4 ,i        
considered the quality of the soil1     
though in truth ,i was not  much of a   
judge of such matters4 ,i gloated over  
my plowed land1 lying  there open and   
passive in the sunshine4 ,i said of this
 tree3 ,it is  mine1 and of its         
companion beyond the fence3 ,it is my   
neighbour's4  ,deeply and sharply within
 myself ,i drew the line between meum   
and  tuum3 for only thus1 by comparing  
ourselves with our neighbours1 can  we  
come to the true realisation of         
property4 ,occasionally ,i stopped to   
pick up a stone and cast it over the    
fence1 thinking with some  truculence   
that my neighbour would probably throw  
it back again4 ,never  mind1 ,i had it  
out of my field4 ,once1 with eager      
surplusage of energy1  ,i pulled down a 
dead and partly rotten oak stub1 long an
 eye-sore1 with  an important feeling of
 proprietorship4 ,i could do anything ,i
 liked4 ,the  farm was mine4    ,how    

sweet an emotion is possession6 ,what   
charm is inherent in ownership6  ,what a
 foundation for vanity1 even for the    
greater quality of  self-respect1 lies  
in a little property6 ,i fell to        
thinking of the  excellent wording of   
the old books in which land is called   
real  property1 or real estate4 ,money  
we may possess1 or goods or chattels1   
but they give no such impression of     
mineness as the feeling that one's  feet
 rest upon soil that is his3 that part  
of the deep earth is his with  all the  
water upon it1 all small animals that   
creep or crawl in the  holes of it1 all 
birds or insects that fly in the air    
above it1 all  trees1 shrubs1 flowers1  
and grass that grow upon it1 all houses1
 barns  and fences--all1 his4 ,as ,i    
strode along that afternoon ,i fed upon 
possession4 ,i rolled the sweet morsel  
of ownership under my tongue4 ,i  seemed
 to set my feet down more firmly on the 
good earth4 ,i straightened  my         
shoulders3 this land was mine4 ,i picked

 up a clod of earth and let  it crumble 
and drop through my fingers3 it gave me 
a peculiar and  poignant feeling of     
possession4 ,i can understand why the   
miser enjoys  the very physical contact 
of his gold4 ,every sense ,i possessed1 
sight1  hearing1 smell1 touch1 led upon 
the new joy4    ,at one corner of my    
upper field the fence crosses an abrupt 
ravine upon  leggy stilts4 ,my line     
skirts the slope halfway up4 ,my        
neighbour owns the  crown of the hill   
which he has shorn until it resembles   
the tonsured  pate of a monk4 ,every    
rain brings the light soil down the     
ravine and  lays it like a hand of      
infertility upon my farm4 ,it had always
 bothered  me1 this wastage2 and as ,i  
looked across my fence ,i thought to    
myself3    ,i must have that hill4 ,i   
will buy it4 ,i will set the fence      
farther up4  ,i will plant the slope4   
,it is no age of tonsures either in     
religion or  agriculture4    ,the very  
vision of widened acres set my thoughts 

on fire4 ,in  imagination ,i extended my
 farm upon all sides1 thinking how much 
better  ,i could handle my land than my 
neighbours4 ,i dwelt avariciously upon  
more possessions3 ,i thought with       
discontent of my poverty4 ,more land ,i 
wanted4 ,i was enveloped in clouds of   
envy4 ,i coveted my neighbour's  land3  
,i felt myself superior and ,horace     
inferior3 ,i was consumed with  black   
vanity4    ,so ,i dealt hotly with these
 thoughts until ,i reached the top of   
the  ridge at the farther corner of my  
land4 ,it is the highest point on the   
farm4    ,for a moment ,i stood looking 
about me on a wonderful prospect of     
serene  beauty4 ,as it came to          
me--hills1 fields1 woods--the fever     
which had been  consuming me died down4 
,i thought how the world stretched away 
from my  fences--just such fields--for a
 thousand miles1 and in each small      
enclosure a man as hot as ,i with the   
passion of possession4 ,how they all    
envied1 and hated1 in their longing for 

more land6 ,how property kept  them     
apart1 prevented the close1 confident   
touch of friendship1 how it  separated  
lovers and ruined families6 ,of all     
obstacles to that complete  democracy of
 which we dream1 is there a greater than
 property8    ,i was ashamed4 ,deep     
shame covered me4 ,how little of the    
earth1 after  all1 ,i said1 lies within 
the limits of my fences4 ,and ,i looked 
out upon  the perfect beauty of the     
world around me1 and ,i saw how little  
excited  it was1 how placid1 how        
undemanding4    ,i had come here to be  
free and already this farm1 which ,i    
thought of so  fondly as my possession1 
was coming to possess me4 ,ownership is 
an  appetite like hunger or thirst1 and 
as we may eat to gluttony and drink  to 
drunkenness so we may possess to        
avarice4 ,how many men have ,i seen     
who1 though they regard themselves as   
models of temperance1 wear the  marks of
 unbridled indulgence of the passion of 
possession1 and how like  gluttony or   

licentiousness it sets its sure sign    
upon their faces4    ,i said to myself1 
,why should any man fence himself in8   
,and why hope to  enlarge one's world by
 the creeping acquisition of a few acres
 to his  farm8 ,i thought of the old    
scientist1 who1 laying his hand upon the
  grass1 remarked3 ,everything under my 
hand is a miracle--forgetting  that     
everything outside was also a miracle4  
,illustration3 ,,how ,,graceful ,,climb 
,,these ,,shadows ,,on ,,my ,,hill      
,as ,i stood there ,i glanced across the
 broad valley wherein lies the most  of 
my farm1 to a field of buckwheat which  
belongs to ,horace4 ,for an  instant it 
gave me the illusion of a hill on fire3 
for the late sun  shone full on the     
thick ripe stalks of the buckwheat1     
giving forth an  abundant red glory that
 blessed the eye4 ,horace had been proud
 of his  crop1 smacking his lips at the 
prospect of winter pancakes1 and here ,i
  was entering his field and taking     
without hindrance another crop1 a crop  

gathered not with hands nor stored in   
granaries3 a wonderful crop1  which1    
once gathered1 may long be fed upon and 
yet remain unconsumed4    ,so ,i looked 
across the countryside2 a group of elms 
here1 a tufted  hilltop there1 the      
smooth verdure of pastures1 the rich    
brown of  new-plowed fields--and the    
odours1 and the sounds of the           
country--all  cropped by me4 ,how little
 the fences keep me out3 ,i do not      
regard  titles1 nor consider boundaries4
 ,i enter either by day or by night1 but
  not secretly4 ,taking my fill1 ,i     
leave as much as ,i find4    ,and thus  
standing upon the highest hill in my    
upper pasture1 ,i thought  of the quoted
 saying of a certain old abbot of the   
middle ages--,he  that is a true monk   
considers nothing as belonging to him   
except a  lyre4    ,what finer spirit8  
,who shall step forth freer than he who 
goes with  nothing save his lyre8 ,he   
shall sing as he goes3 he shall not be  
held  down nor fenced in4    ,with a    

lifting of the soul ,i thought of that  
old abbot1 how smooth his  brow1 how    
catholic his interest1 how serene his   
outlook1 how free his  friendships1 how 
unlimited his whole life4 ,nothing but a
 lyre6    ,so ,i made a covenant there  
with myself4 ,i said3 ,i shall use1 not 
be  used4 ,i do not limit myself here4  
,i shall not allow possessions to come  
between me and my life or my friends4   
,for a time--how long ,i do not know--,i
 stood thinking4 ,presently ,i          
discovered1 moving slowly along the     
margin of the field below me1 the  old  
professor with his tin botany box4 ,and 
somehow ,i had no feeling that  he was  
intruding upon my new land4 ,his walk   
was slow and methodical1 his  head and  
even his shoulders were bent--almost    
habitually--from looking  close upon the
 earth1 and from time to time he        
stooped1 and once he  knelt to examine  
some object that attracted his eye4 ,it 
seemed  appropriate that he should thus 
kneel to the earth4 ,so he gathered his 

crop and fences did not keep him out nor
 titles disturb him4 ,he also was  free6
 ,it gave me at that moment a peculiar  
pleasure to have him on my  land1 to    
know that ,i was1 if unconsciously1     
raising other crops than ,i  knew4 ,i   
felt friendship for this old professor3 
,i could understand him1  ,i thought4   
,and ,i said aloud but in a low tone1 as
 though ,i were  addressing him3        
--,do not apologise1 friend1 when you   
come into my field4 ,you do not         
interrupt me4 ,what you have come for is
 of more importance at this  moment than
 corn4 ,who is it that says ,i must plow
 so many furrows this  day8 ,come in1   
friend1 and sit here on these clods3 we 
will sweeten the  evening with fine     
words4 ,we will invest our time not in  
corn1 or in  cash1 but in life4--    ,i 
walked with confidence down the hill    
toward the professor4 ,so  engrossed was
 he with his employment that he did not 
see me until ,i was  within a few paces 
of him4 ,when he looked up at me it was 

as though his  eyes returned from some  
far journey4 ,i felt at first out of    
focus1  unplaced1 and only gradually    
coming into view4 ,in his hand he held a
  lump of earth containing a thrifty    
young plant of the purple  cone-flower1 
having several blossoms4 ,he worked at  
the lump deftly1  delicately1 so that   
the earth1 pinched1 powdered and shaken 
out1 fell  between his fingers1 leaving 
the knotty yellow roots in his hand4 ,i 
marked how firm1 slow1 brown1 the old   
man was1 how little obtrusive in  my    
field4 ,one foot rested in a furrow1 the
 other was set among the grass  of the  
margin1 near the fence--his place1 ,i   
thought4    ,his first words1 though of 
little moment in themselves1 gave me a  
curious satisfaction1 as when a coin1   
tested1 rings true gold1 or a  hero1    
tried1 is heroic4    ,i have rarely1 he 
said1 seen a finer display of rudbeckia 
than this1  along these old fences4     
,if he had referred to me1 or           
questioned1 or apologised1 ,i should    

have  been disappointed4 ,he did not    
say1 your fences1 he said these  fences1
 as though they were as much his as     
mine4 ,and he spoke in his  own world1  
knowing that if ,i could enter ,i would1
 but that if ,i could  not1 no stooping 
to me would avail either of us4    ,it  
has been a good autumn for flowers1 ,i  
said inanely1 for so many  things were  
flying through my mind that ,i could not
 at once think of the  great particular 
words which should bring us together4   
,at first ,i  thought my chance had     
passed1 but he seemed to see something  
in me after  all1 for he said3    ,here 
is a peculiarly large specimen of the   
rudbeckia4 ,observe the deep  purple of 
the cone1 and the bright yellow of the  
petals4 ,here is another  that grew     
hardly two feet away1 in the grass near 
the fence where the  rails and the      
blackberry bushes have shaded it4 ,how  
small and  undeveloped it is4    ,they  
crowd up to the plowed land1 ,i         
observed4    ,yes1 they reach out for a 

better chance in life--like men4 ,with  
more  room1 better food1 freer air1 you 
see how much finer they grow4    ,it was
 curious to me1 having hitherto barely  
observed the cone-flowers  along my     
fences1 save as a colour of beauty1 how 
simply we fell to  talking of them as   
though in truth they were people like   
ourselves1  having our desires and      
possessed of our capabilities4 ,it gave 
me then1  for the first time1 the       
feeling which has since meant such      
varied  enjoyment1 of the peopling of   
the woods4    ,see here1 he said1 how   
different the character of these        
individuals4  ,they are all of the same 
species4 ,they all grow along this fence
 within  two or three rods2 but observe 
the difference not only in size but in  
colouring1 in the shape of the petals1  
in the proportions of the cone4  ,what  
does it all mean8 ,why1 nature trying   
one of her endless  experiments4 ,she   
sows here broadly1 trying to produce    
better  cone-flowers4 ,a few she plants 

on the edge of the field in the hope    
that  they may escape the plow4 ,if they
 grow1 better food and more sunshine    
produce more and larger flowers4    ,so 
we talked1 or rather he talked1 finding 
in me an eager listener4 ,and  what he  
called botany seemed to me to be life4  
,of birth1 of growth1 of  reproduction1 
of death1 he spoke1 and his flowers     
became sentient  creatures under my     
eyes4    ,and thus the sun went down and
 the purple mists crept silently along  
the  distant low spots1 and all the     
great1 great mysteries came and stood   
before me beckoning and questioning4    
,they came and they stood1 and out  of  
the cone-flower1 as the old professor   
spoke1 ,i seemed to catch a  glimmer of 
the true light4 ,i reflected how truly  
everything is in  anything4 ,if one     
could really understand a cone-flower he
 could  understand this ,earth4 ,botany 
was only one road toward the            
,explanation4    ,always ,i hope that   
some traveller may have more news of the

 way than ,i1  and sooner or later1 ,i  
find ,i must make inquiry of the        
direction of  every thoughtful man ,i   
meet4 ,and ,i have always had especial  
hope of  those who study the sciences3  
they ask such intimate questions of     
nature4 ,theology possesses a           
vain-gloriousness which places its faith
 in  human theories2 but science1 at its
 best1 is humble before nature  herself4
 ,it has no thesis to defend3 it is     
content to kneel upon the  earth1 in the
 way of my friend1 the old professor1   
and ask the simplest  questions1 hoping 
for some true reply4    ,i wondered1    
then1 what the professor thought1 after 
his years of work1  of the ,mystery2 and
 finally1 not without confusion1 ,i     
asked him4 ,he  listened1 for the first 
time ceasing to dig1 shake out and      
arrange his  specimens4 ,when ,i had    
stopped speaking he remained for a      
moment silent1  then he looked at me    
with a new regard4 ,finally he quoted   
quietly1 but  with a deep note in his   

voice3    ,canst thou by searching find 
,god8 ,canst thou  find out the         
,almighty unto perfection8 ,it is as    
high  as heaven3 what canst thou do8    
deeper than hell1  what canst thou know8
    ,when the professor had spoken we   
stood for a moment silent1 then he      
smiled and said briskly3    ,i have been
 a botanist for fifty-four years4 ,when 
,i was a boy ,i  believed implicitly in 
,god4 ,i prayed to him1 having a vision 
of him--a  person--before my eyes4 ,as  
,i grew older ,i concluded that there   
was no  ,god4 ,i dismissed him from the 
universe4 ,i believed only in what ,i   
could  see1 or hear1 or feel4 ,i talked 
about ,nature and ,reality4    ,he      
paused1 the smile still lighting his    
face1 evidently recalling to  himself   
the old days4 ,i did not interrupt him4 
,finally he turned to me  and said      
abruptly4    ,and now--it seems to      
me--there is nothing but ,god4    ,as he
 said this he lifted his arm with a     
peculiar gesture that seemed  to take in

 the whole world4    ,for a time we were
 both silent4 ,when ,i left him ,i      
offered my hand and  told him ,i hoped  
,i might become his friend4 ,so ,i      
turned my face toward  home4 ,evening   
was falling1 and as ,i walked ,i heard  
the crows calling1  and the air was keen
 and cool1 and ,i thought deep thoughts4
    ,and so ,i stepped into the darkened
 stable4 ,i could not see the outlines  
of the horse or the cow1 but knowing the
 place so well ,i could easily  get     
about4 ,i heard the horse step aside    
with a soft expectant whinny4 ,i        
smelled the smell of milk1 the musty1   
sharp odour of dry hay1 the  pungent    
smell of manure1 not unpleasant4 ,and   
the stable was warm after  the cool of  
the fields with a sort of animal warmth 
that struck into me  soothingly4 ,i     
spoke in a low voice and laid my hand on
 the horse's  flank4 ,the flesh quivered
 and shrunk away from my touch--coming  
back  confidently1 warmly4 ,i ran my    
hand along his back and up his hairy    

neck4  ,i felt his sensitive nose in my 
hand4 ,you shall have your oats1 ,i     
said1 and ,i gave him to eat4 ,then ,i  
spoke as gently to the cow1 and she     
stood aside to be milked4    ,and       
afterward ,i came out into the clear    
bright night1 and the air was  sweet and
 cool1 and my dog came bounding to meet 
me4--,so ,i carried the  milk into the  
house1 and ,harriet said in her         
heartiest tone3    ,you are late1       
,david4 ,but sit up1 ,i have kept the   
biscuits warm4    ,and that night my    
sleep was sound4        ,,iv            
,,entertain ,,an ,,agent ,,unawares     
,with the coming of winter ,i thought   
the life of a farmer might lose         
something of its charm4 ,so much        
interest lies in the growth not only of 
crops but of trees1 vines1 flowers1     
sentiments and emotions4 ,in the  summer
 the world is busy1 concerned with many 
things and full of gossip3  in the      
winter ,i anticipated a cessation of    
many active interests and  enthusiasms4 

,i looked forward to having time for my 
books and for the  quiet contemplation  
of the life around me4 ,summer indeed is
 for  activity1 winter for reflection4  
,but when winter really came every day  
discovered some new work to do or some  
new adventure to enjoy4 ,it is          
surprising how many things happen on a  
small farm4 ,examining the book  which  
accounts for that winter1 ,i find the   
history of part of a  forenoon1 which   
will illustrate one of the curious      
adventures of a  farmer's life4 ,it is  
dated ,january #e4           99       99
       99       99       99    ,i went  
out this morning with my axe and hammer 
to mend the fence along  the public     
road4 ,a heavy frost fell last night and
 the brown grass and  the dry ruts of   
the roads were powdered white4 ,even the
 air1 which was  perfectly still1 seemed
 full of frost crystals1 so that when   
the sun  came up one seemed to walk in a
 magic world4 ,i drew in a long breath  
and  looked out across the wonderful    

shining country and ,i said to myself3  
,surely1 there is nowhere ,i would      
rather be than here4 ,for ,i could have 
travelled nowhere to find greater beauty
 or a better enjoyment of it  than ,i   
had here at home4    ,as ,i worked with 
my axe and hammer1 ,i heard a light     
wagon come rattling  up the road4       
,across the valley a man had begun to   
chop a tree4 ,i could  see the axe steel
 flash brilliantly in the sunshine      
before ,i heard the  sound of the blow4 
,the man in the wagon had a round face  
and a sharp blue eye4 ,i thought he     
seemed a businesslike young man4        
,say1 there1 he shouted1 drawing up at  
my gate1 would you mind holding  my     
horse a minute8 ,it's a cold morning and
 he's restless4    ,certainly not1 ,i   
said1 and ,i put down my tools and held 
his horse4    ,he walked up to my door  
with a brisk step and a certain jaunty  
poise of  the head4    ,he is well      
contented with himself1 ,i said4 ,it is 
a great blessing for  any man to be     

satisfied with what he has got4    ,i   
heard ,harriet open the door--how every 
sound rang through the still  morning   
air6    ,the young man asked some       
question and ,i distinctly heard        
,harriet's  answer3    ,he's down there4
    ,the young man came back3 his hat   
was tipped up1 his quick eye darted     
over my grounds as though in a single   
instant he had appraised  everything and
 passed judgment upon the cash value of 
the inhabitants4  ,he whistled a lively 
little tune4    ,say1 he said1 when he  
reached the gate1 not at all            
disconcerted1 ,i  thought you was the   
hired man4 ,your name's ,grayson1 ain't 
it8 ,well1 ,i  want to talk with you4   
,after tying and blanketing his horse   
and taking a black satchel from his     
buggy he led me up to my house4 ,i had a
 pleasurable sense of excitement  and   
adventure4 ,here was a new character    
come to my farm4 ,who knows1 ,i         
thought1 what he may bring with him3 who
 knows what ,i may send away by  him8   

,here in the country we must set our    
little ships afloat on small  streams1  
hoping that somehow1 some day1 they will
 reach the sea4    ,it was interesting  
to see the busy young man sit down so   
confidently in  our best chair4 ,he said
 his name was ,dixon1 and he took out   
from his  satchel a book with a fine    
showy cover4 ,he said it was called     
,living  ,selections from ,poet1 ,sage  
and ,humourist4    ,this1 he told me1 is
 only the first of the series4 ,we      
publish six  volumes full of literchoor4
 ,you see what a heavy book this is8    
,i tested it in my hand3 it was a heavy 
book4    ,the entire set1 he said1      
weighs over ten pounds4 ,there are      
#a1afb  pages1 enough paper if laid down
 flat1 end to end1 to reach half a      
mile4    ,i cannot quote his exact      
language3 there was too much of it1 but 
he made  an impressive showing of the   
amount of literature that could be had  
at a  very low price per pound4 ,mr4    
,dixon was a hypnotist4 ,he fixed me    

with  his glittering eye1 and he talked 
so fast1 and his ideas upon the  subject
 were so original that he held me       
spellbound4 ,at first ,i was  inclined  
to be provoked3 one does not like to be 
forcibly hypnotised1  but gradually the 
situation began to amuse me1 the more so
 when ,harriet  came in4    ,did you    
ever see a more beautiful binding8 asked
 the agent1 holding  his book admiringly
 at arm's length4 ,this up here1 he     
said1 pointing  to the illuminated      
cover1 is the ,muse of ,poetry ,she is  
scattering  flowers--poems1 you know4   
,fine idea1 ain't it8 ,colouring fine1  
too4    ,he jumped up quickly and laid  
the book on my table1 to the evident    
distress of ,harriet4    ,trims up the  
room1 don't it8 he exclaimed1 turning   
his head a little  to one side and      
observing the effect with an expression 
of affectionate  admiration4    ,how    
much1 ,i asked1 will you sell the covers
 for without the  insides8    ,without  
the insides8    ,yes1 ,i said1 the      

binding will trim up my table just as   
well without  the insides4    ,i thought
 he looked at me a little suspiciously1 
but he was evidently  satisfied by my   
expression of countenance1 for he       
answered promptly3    ,oh1 but you want 
the insides4 ,that's what the books are 
for4 ,the  bindings are never sold      
alone4    ,he then went on to tell me   
the prices and terms of payment1 until  
it  really seemed that it would be      
cheaper to buy the books than to let him
  carry them away again4 ,harriet stood 
in the doorway behind him frowning  and 
evidently trying to catch my eye4 ,but  
,i kept my face turned aside so  that ,i
 could not see her signal of distress   
and my eyes fixed on the  young man     
,dixon4 ,it was as good as a play4      
,harriet there1  serious-minded1        
thinking ,i was being befooled1 and the 
agent thinking he  was befooling me1 and
 ,i1 thinking ,i was befooling both of  
them--and all  of us wrong4 ,it was very
 like life wherever you find it4        

,finally1 ,i took the book which he had 
been urging upon me1 at which  ,harriet 
coughed meaningly to attract my         
attention4 ,she knew the danger  when ,i
 really got my hands on a book4 ,but ,i 
made up as innocent as a  child4 ,i     
opened the book almost at random--and it
 was as though1 walking  down a strange 
road1 ,i had come upon an old tried     
friend not seen before  in years4 ,for  
there on the page before me ,i read3    
,the world is too much with us2 late and
 soon1  ,getting and spending we lay    
waste our powers3  ,little we see in    
,nature that is ours2  ,we have given   
our hearts away1 a sordid boon6  ,the   
sea that bares her bosom to the moon2   
,the winds that will be howling at all  
hours1  ,but are up-gathered now like   
sleeping flowers2  ,for this1 for       
everything1 we are out of tune2  ,it    
moves us not4    ,and as ,i read it came
 back to me--a scene like a picture--the
 place1 the  time1 the very feel of the 
hour when ,i first saw those lines4 ,who

 shall  say that the past does not live6
 ,an odour will sometimes set the blood 
coursing in an old emotion1 and a line  
of poetry is the resurrection and  the  
life4 ,for a moment ,i forgot ,harriet  
and the agent1 ,i forgot myself1  ,i    
even forgot the book on my              
knee--everything but that hour in the   
past--a view of shimmering hot          
housetops1 the heat and dust and noise  
of  an ,august evening in the city1 the 
dumb weariness of it all1 the           
loneliness1 the longing for green       
fields2 and then these great lines of   
,wordsworth1 read for the first time1   
flooding in upon me3           ,great   
,god6 ,i'd rather be  ,a pagan suckled  
in a creed outworn3  ,so might ,i1      
standing on this pleasant lea1  ,have   
glimpses that would make me less        
forlorn2  ,have sight of ,proteus rising
 from the sea2  ,and hear old ,triton   
blow his wreathd horn4    ,when ,i had  
finished ,i found myself standing in my 
own room with one arm  raised1 and1 ,i  

suspect1 a trace of tears in my         
eyes--there before the  agent and       
,harriet4 ,i saw ,harriet lift one hand 
and drop it hopelessly4  ,she thought ,i
 was captured at last4 ,i was past      
saving4 ,and as ,i looked  at the agent 
,i saw grim conquest glowing in his eye6
 ,so ,i sat down not  a little          
embarrassed by my exhibition--when ,i   
had intended to be  self-poised4    ,you
 like it1 don't you8 said ,mr4 ,dixon   
unctuously4    ,i don't see1 ,i said    
earnestly1 how you can afford to sell   
such  things as this so cheap4    ,they 
are cheap1 he admitted regretfully4 ,i  
suppose he wished he had  tried me with 
the half-morocco4    ,they are          
priceless1 ,i said1 absolutely          
priceless4 ,if you were the  only man in
 the world who had that poem1 ,i think  
,i would deed you my  farm for it4      
,mr4 ,dixon proceeded1 as though it were
 all settled1 to get out his black      
order book and open it briskly for      
business4 ,he drew his fountain pen1    

capped it1 and looked up at me          
expectantly4 ,my feet actually seemed   
slipping into some irresistible         
whirlpool4 ,how well he understood      
practical psychology6 ,i struggled      
within myself1 fearing engulfment3 ,i   
was all but lost4    ,shall ,i deliver  
the set at once1 he said1 or can you    
wait until the  first of ,february8     
,at that critical moment a floating spar
 of an idea swept my way and ,i  seized 
upon it as the last hope of the lost4   
,illustration3 ',did you ever see a more
 beautiful binding8'    ,i don't        
understand1 ,i said1 as though ,i had   
not heard his last  question1 how you   
dare go about with all this treasure    
upon you4 ,are  you not afraid of being 
stopped in the road and robbed8 ,why1   
,i've seen  the time when1 if ,i had    
known you carried such things as these1 
such  cures for sick hearts1 ,i think ,i
 should have stopped you myself6        
,say1 you are an odd one1 said ,mr4     
,dixon4    ,why do you sell such        

priceless things as these8 ,i asked1    
looking at  him sharply4    ,why do ,i  
sell them8 and he looked still more     
perplexed4 ,to make  money1 of course2  
same reason you raise corn4    ,but here
 is wealth1 ,i said1 pursuing my        
advantage4 ,if you have these  you have 
something more valuable than money4     
,mr4 ,dixon politely said nothing4 ,like
 a wise angler1 having failed to  land  
me at the first rush1 he let me have    
line4 ,then ,i thought of  ,ruskin's    
words1 ,nor can any noble thing be      
wealth except to a noble  person4 ,and  
that prompted me to say to ,mr4 ,dixon3 
,these things are not yours2 they are   
mine4 ,you never owned them2 but ,i     
will sell them to you4    ,he looked at 
me in amazement1 and then glanced       
around--evidently to  discover if there 
were a convenient way of escape4        
,you're all straight1 are you8 he asked 
tapping his forehead2 didn't  anybody   
ever try to take you up8    ,the covers 
are yours1 ,i continued as though ,i had

 not heard him1 the  insides are mine   
and have been for a long time3 that is  
why ,i proposed  buying the covers      
separately4    ,i opened his book again4
 ,i thought ,i would see what had been  
chosen for  its pages4 ,and ,i found    
there many fine and great things4       
,let me read you this1 ,i said to ,mr4  
,dixon2 it has been mine for a  long    
time4 ,i will not sell it to you4 ,i    
will give it to you outright4  ,the best
 things are always given4    ,having    
some gift in imitating the ,scotch      
dialect1 ,i read3      ,november chill  
blaws loud wi' angry sugh2      ,the    
shortening winter day is near a close2  
,the miry beasts retreating frae the    
pleugh2      ,the black'ning trains o'  
craws to their repose3    ,the toil-worn
 ,cotter frae his labour goes1          
,this night his weekly moil is at an    
end1    ,collects his spades1 his       
mattocks and his hoes1      ,hoping the 
morn in ease and rest to spend1    ,and 
weary1 o'er the moor1 his course does   

hameward bend4    ,so ,i read ,the      
,cotter's ,saturday ,night4 ,i love the 
poem very much  myself1 sometimes       
reading it aloud1 not so much for the   
tenderness of  its message1 though ,i   
prize that1 too1 as for the wonder of   
its music3      ,compared with these1   
,italian trills are tame2    ,the       
tickl'd ear no heart-felt raptures      
raise4    ,i suppose ,i showed my       
feeling in my voice4 ,as ,i glanced up  
from time to  time ,i saw the agent's   
face change1 and his look deepen and the
 lips1  usually so energetically tense1 
loosen with emotion4 ,surely no poem in 
all the language conveys so perfectly   
the simple love of the home1 the  quiet 
joys1 hopes1 pathos of those who live   
close to the soil4    ,when ,i had      
finished--,i stopped with the stanza    
beginning3      ,then homeward all take 
off their sev'ral way2    the agent     
turned away his head trying to brave out
 his emotion4 ,most of  us1             
,anglo-,saxons1 tremble before a tear   

when we might fearlessly beard a  tiger4
    ,i moved up nearer to the agent and 
put my hand on his knee2 then ,i read   
two or three of the other things ,i     
found in his wonderful book4 ,and once  
,i had him laughing and once again ,i   
had the tears in his eyes4 ,oh1 a       
simple young man1 a little crusty       
without1 but soft inside--like the  rest
 of us4    ,well1 it was amazing once we
 began talking not of books but of life1
 how  really eloquent and human he      
became4 ,from being a distant and       
uncomfortable person1 he became at once 
like a near neighbour and  friend4 ,it  
was strange to me--as ,i have thought   
since--how he conveyed  to us in few    
words the essential emotional note of   
his life4 ,it was no  violin tone1      
beautifully complex with harmonics1 but 
the clear simple  voice of the flute4   
,it spoke of his wife and his baby girl 
and his home4  ,the very incongruity of 
detail--he told us how he grew onions in
 his  back yard--added somehow to the   

homely glamour of the vision which he   
gave us4 ,the number of his house1 the  
fact that he had a new cottage  organ1  
and that the baby ran away and lost     
herself in ,seventeenth  ,street--were  
all1 curiously1 fabrics of his emotion4 
,it was beautiful to see commonplace    
facts grow phosphorescent in the  heat  
of true feeling4 ,how little we may come
 to know ,romance by the  cloak she     
wears and how humble must be he who     
would surprise the heart  of her6    ,it
 was1 indeed1 with an indescribable     
thrill that ,i heard him add the        
details1 one by one--the mortgage on his
 place1 now rapidly being paid  off1 the
 brother who was a plumber1 the         
mother-in-law who was not a             
mother-in-law of the comic papers4 ,and 
finally he showed us the picture  of the
 wife and baby that he had in the cover 
of his watch2 a fat baby  with its head 
resting on its mother's shoulder4       
,mister1 he said1 p'raps you think it's 
fun to ride around the country  like ,i 

do1 and be away from home most of the   
time4 ,but it ain't4 ,when ,i  think of 
,minnie and the kid--    ,he broke off  
sharply1 as if he had suddenly          
remembered the shame of such            
confidences4    ,say1 he asked1 what    
page is that poem on8    ,i told him4   
,one forty-six1 he said4 ,when ,i get   
home ,i'm going to read that to         
,minnie4 ,she likes poetry and all such 
things4 ,and where's that other  piece  
that tells how a man feels when he's    
lonesome8 ,say1 that fellow  knew6      
,we had a genuinely good time1 the agent
 and ,i1 and when he finally rose  to   
go1 ,i said3    ,well1 ,i've sold you a 
new book4    ,i see now1 mister1 what   
you mean4    ,i went down the path with 
him and began to unhitch his horse4     
,let me1 let me1 he said eagerly4       
,then he shook hands1 paused a moment   
awkwardly as if about to say  something1
 then sprang into his buggy without     
saying it4    ,when he had taken up his 
reins he remarked3    ,say6 but you'd   

make an agent6 ,you'd hypnotise 'em4    
,i recognised it as the greatest        
compliment he could pay me3 the craft   
compliment4    ,then he drove off1 but  
pulled up before he had gone five yards4
 ,he  turned in his seat1 one hand on   
the back of it1 his whip raised4        
,say6 he shouted1 and when ,i walked up 
he looked at me with fine               
embarrassment4    ,mister1 perhaps you'd
 accept one of these sets from ,dixon   
free gratis1  for nothing4    ,i        
understand1 ,i said1 but you know ,i'm  
giving the books to you--and ,i         
couldn't take them back again4    ,well1
 he said1 you're a good one1 anyhow4    
,good-bye again1 and then1  suddenly1   
business naturally coming uppermost1 he 
remarked with great  enthusiasm3        
,you've given me a new idea4 ,say1 ,i'll
 sell 'em4    ,carry them carefully1    
man1 ,i called after him2 they are      
precious4    ,so ,i went back to my     
work1 thinking how many fine people     
there are in  this world--if you scratch

 'em deep enough4    ,illustration3     
,horace 'hefted' it        ,v      ,,the
 ,,axe-,,helve    ,april the #aeth4     
,this morning ,i broke my old axe       
handle4 ,i went out early while the fog 
still filled the valley and the air was 
cool and moist as it had come  fresh    
from the filter of the night4 ,i drew a 
long breath and let my axe  fall with   
all the force ,i could give it upon a   
new oak log4 ,i swung it  unnecessarily 
high for the joy of doing it and when it
 struck it  communicated a sharp yet not
 unpleasant sting to the palms of my    
hands4  ,the handle broke short off at  
the point where the helve meets the     
steel4  ,the blade was driven deep in   
the oak wood4 ,i suppose ,i should have 
regretted my foolishness1 but ,i did    
not4 ,the handle was old and somewhat   
worn1 and the accident gave me an       
indefinable satisfaction3 the           
culmination of use1 that final          
destruction which is the complement of  
great effort4    ,this feeling was also 

partly prompted by the thought of the   
new helve ,i  already had in store1     
awaiting just such a catastrophe4       
,having come  somewhat painfully by that
 helve1 ,i really wanted to see it in   
use4    ,last spring1 walking in my     
fields1 ,i looked out along the fences  
for a  well-fitted young hickory tree of
 thrifty second growth1 bare of knots   
at least head high1 without the cracks  
or fissures of too rapid growth  or the 
doziness of early transgression4 ,what  
,i desired was a fine1  healthy tree    
fitted for a great purpose and ,i looked
 for it as ,i would  look for a perfect 
man to save a failing cause4 ,at last ,i
 found a  sapling growing in one of the 
sheltered angles of my rail fence4 ,it  
was  set about by dry grass1 overhung by
 a much larger cherry tree1 and  bearing
 still its withered last year's leaves1 
worn diaphanous but  curled delicately1 
and of a most beautiful ash gray colour1
 something  like the fabric of a wasp's 
nest1 only yellower4 ,i gave it a shake 

and  it sprung quickly under my hand    
like the muscle of a good horse4 ,its   
bark was smooth and trim1 its bole well 
set and solid4    ,a perfect tree6 ,so  
,i came up again with my short axe and  
after clearing  away the grass and      
leaves with which the wind had mulched  
it1 ,i cut into  the clean white roots4 
,i had no twinge of compunction1 for was
 this not  fulfillment8 ,nothing comes  
of sorrow for worthy sacrifice4 ,when ,i
 had  laid the tree low1 ,i clipped off 
the lower branches1 snapped off the top 
with a single clean stroke of the axe1  
and shouldered as pretty a              
second-growth sapling stick as anyone   
ever laid his eyes upon4    ,i carried  
it down to my barn and put it on the    
open rafters over the cow  stalls4 ,a   
cow stable is warm and not too dry1 so  
that a hickory log  cures slowly without
 cracking or checking4 ,there it lay for
 many weeks4  ,often ,i cast my eyes up 
at it with satisfaction1 watching the   
bark  shrink and slightly deepen in     

colour1 and once ,i climbed up where ,i 
could see the minute seams making way in
 the end of the stick4    ,in the summer
 ,i brought the stick into the house1   
and put it in the dry1  warm storeroom  
over the kitchen where ,i keep my seed  
corn4 ,i do not  suppose it really      
needed further attention1 but sometimes 
when ,i chanced  to go into the         
storeroom1 ,i turned it over with my    
foot4 ,i felt a sort  of satisfaction in
 knowing that it was in preparation for 
service3 good  material for useful work4
 ,so it lay during the autumn and far   
into the  winter4    ,one cold night    
when ,i sat comfortably at my fireplace1
 listening to the  wind outside1 and    
feeling all the ease of a man at peace  
with himself1  my mind took flight to my
 snowy field sides and ,i thought of the
 trees  there waiting and resting       
through the winter4 ,so ,i came in      
imagination  to the particular corner in
 the fence where ,i had cut my hickory  
sapling4 ,instantly ,i started up1 much 

to ,harriet's astonishment1 and  made my
 way mysteriously up the kitchen stairs4
 ,i would not tell what ,i  was after3  
,i felt it a sort of adventure1 almost  
like the joy of seeing  a friend long   
forgotten4 ,it was as if my hickory     
stick had cried out at  last1 after long
 chrysalishood3    ,i am ready4    ,i   
stood it on end and struck it sharply   
with my knuckles3 it rang out  with a   
certain clear resonance4    ,i am ready4
    ,i sniffed at the end of it4 ,it    
exhaled a peculiar good smell1 as of old
  fields in the autumn4    ,i am ready4 
,so ,i took it under my arm and carried 
it down4    ,mercy1 what are you going  
to do8 exclaimed ,harriet4              
,deliberately1 and with malice          
aforethought1 ,i responded1 ,i am going 
to litter up your floor4 ,i have decided
 to be reckless4 ,i don't care  what    
happens4    ,having made this           
declaration1 which ,harriet received    
with becoming  disdain1 ,i laid the log 
by the fireplace--not too near--and went

 to  fetch a saw1 a hammer1 a small     
wedge1 and a draw-shave4    ,i split my 
log into as fine white sections as a man
 ever saw--every  piece as straight as  
morality1 and without so much as a      
sliver to mar  it4 ,nothing is so       
satisfactory as to have a task come out 
in perfect  time and in good order4 ,the
 little pieces of bark and sawdust ,i   
swept  scrupulously into the fireplace1 
looking up from time to time to see how 
,harriet was taking it4 ,harriet was    
still disdainful4    ,making an         
axe-helve is like writing a poem 7though
 ,i never wrote one74  ,the material is 
free enough1 but it takes a poet to use 
it4 ,some people  imagine that any fine 
thought is poetry1 but there was never a
 greater  mistake4 ,a fine thought1 to  
become poetry1 must be seasoned in the  
upper  warm garrets of the mind for long
 and long1 then it must be brought down 
and slowly carved into words1 shaped    
with emotion1 polished with love4  ,else
 it is no true poem4 ,some people       

imagine that any hickory stick will     
make an axe-helve4 ,but this is far from
 the truth4 ,when ,i had whittled  away 
for several evenings with my draw-shave 
and jack-knife1 both of  which ,i keep  
sharpened to the keenest edge1 ,i found 
that my work was not  progressing as    
well as ,i had hoped4    ,this is more  
of a task1 ,i remarked one evening1 than
 ,i had imagined4    ,harriet1 rocking  
placidly in her arm-chair1 was mending a
 number of  pairs of new socks1 ,poor   
,harriet6 ,lacking enough old holes to  
occupy her  energies1 she mends holes   
that may possibly appear4 ,a frugal     
person6    ,well1 ,david1 she said1 ,i  
warned you that you could buy a helve   
cheaper than you could make it4    ,so  
,i can buy a book cheaper than ,i can   
write it1 ,i responded4    ,i felt      
somewhat pleased with my return shot1   
though ,i took pains not to  show it4 ,i
 squinted along my hickory stick which  
was even then beginning  to assume1     
rudely1 the outlines of an axe-handle4  

,i had made a  prodigious pile of fine  
white shavings and ,i was tired1 but    
quite  suddenly there came over me a    
sort of love for that length of wood4 ,i
  sprung it affectionately over my knee1
 ,i rubbed it up and down with my  hand1
 and then ,i set it in the corner behind
 the fireplace4    ,after all1 ,i said1 
for ,i had really been disturbed by     
,harriet's  remark--after all1 power    
over one thing gives us power over      
everything4  ,when you mend socks       
prospectively--into futurity--,harriet1 
that is an  evidence of true greatness4 
,sometimes ,i think it doesn't pay1     
remarked ,harriet1 though she was       
plainly pleased4    ,pretty good socks1 
,i said1 can be bought for fifteen cents
 a pair4    ,harriet looked at me       
suspiciously1 but ,i was as sober as the
 face of  nature4    ,for the next two  
or three evenings ,i let the axe-helve  
stand alone in  the corner4 ,i hardly   
looked at it1 though once in a while1   
when occupied  with some other work1 ,i 

would remember1 or rather half remember1
 that ,i  had a pleasure in store for   
the evening4 ,the very thought of sharp 
tools  and something1 to make with them 
acts upon the imagination with peculiar 
zest4 ,so we love to employ the keen    
edge of the mind upon a knotty and      
difficult subject4    ,one evening the  
,scotch preacher came in4 ,we love him  
very much1 though  he sometimes makes us
 laugh--perhaps1 in part1 because he    
makes us  laugh4 ,externally he is a    
sort of human cocoanut1 rough1 brown1   
shaggy1  but within he has the true milk
 of human kindness4 ,some of his        
qualities  touch greatness4 ,his youth  
was spent in stony places where strong  
winds  blew2 the trees where he grew    
bore thorns2 the soil where he dug was  
full of roots4 ,but the crop was human  
love4 ,he possesses that quality1       
unusual in one bred exclusively in the  
country1 of magnanimity toward  the     
unlike4 ,in the country we are tempted  
to throw stones at strange  hats6 ,but  

to the ,scotch preacher every man in one
 way seems transparent  to the soul4 ,he
 sees the man himself1 not his          
professions any more than  his clothes4 
,and ,i never knew anyone who had such  
an abiding disbelief  in the wickedness 
of the human soul4 ,weakness he sees and
 comforts2  wickedness he cannot see4   
,when he came in ,i was busy whittling  
my axe-helve1 it being my pleasure  at  
that moment to make long1 thin1 curly   
shavings so light that many of  them    
were caught on the hearth and bowled by 
the draught straight to  fiery          
destruction4    ,there is a noisy zest  
about the ,scotch preacher3 he comes in 
stomping  as we say1 he must clear his  
throat1 he must strike his hands        
together2  he even seems noisy when he  
unwinds the thick red tippet which he   
wears  wound many times around his neck4
 ,it takes him a long time to unwind it1
  and he accomplishes the task with many
 slow gyrations of his enormous  rough  
head4 ,when he sits down he takes merely

 the edge of the chair1  spreads his    
stout legs apart1 sits as straight as a 
post1 and blows his  nose with a noise  
like the falling of a tree4    ,his     
interest in everything is prodigious4   
,when he saw what ,i was doing  he      
launched at once upon an account of the 
methods of axe-helving1  ancient and    
modern1 with true incidents of his      
childhood4    ,man1 he exclaimed1 you've
 clean forgotten one of the preenciple  
refinements of the art4 ,when you chop1 
which hand do you hold down8    ,at the 
moment1 ,i couldn't have told to save my
 life1 so we both got up  on our feet   
and tried4    ,it's the right hand down1
 ,i decided2 that's natural to me4      
,you're a normal right-handed chopper1  
then1 said the ,scotch preacher1  as ,i 
was thinking4 ,now let me instruct you  
in the art4 ,being  right-handed1 your  
helve must bow out--so4 ,no first-class 
chopper uses a  straight handle4    ,he 
fell to explaining1 with gusto1 the     
mysteries of the bowed handle1  and as  

,i listened ,i felt a new and peculiar  
interest in my task ,this  was a final  
perfection to be accomplished1 the      
finality of technique6    ,so we sat    
with our heads together talking helves  
and axes1 axes with  single blades and  
axes with double blades1 and hand axes  
and great  choppers' axes1 and the      
science of felling trees1 with the true 
philosophy of the last chip1 and        
arguments as to the best procedure when 
a log begins to pinch--until a listener 
would have thought that the  art of the 
chopper included the whole philosophy of
 existence--as indeed  it does1 if you  
look at it in that way4 ,finally ,i     
rushed out and brought  in my old       
axe-handle1 and we set upon it like true
 artists1 with  critical proscription   
for being a trivial product of          
machinery4    ,man1 exclaimed the       
preacher1 it has no character4 ,now your
 helve  here1 being the vision of your  
brain and work of your hands1 will      
interpret the thought of your heart4    

,before the ,scotch preacher had        
finished his disquisition upon the art  
of  helve-making and its relations with 
all other arts1 ,i felt like ,peary     
discovering the ,pole4    ,in the midst 
of the discourse1 while ,i was soaring  
high1 the ,scotch  preacher suddenly    
stopped1 sat up1 and struck his knee    
with a tremendous  resounding smack4    
,spoons6 he exclaimed4    ,harriet and  
,i stopped and looked at him in         
astonishment4    ,spoons1 repeated      
,harriet4    ,spoons1 said the ,scotch  
preacher4 ,i've not once thought of my  
errand2  and my wife told me to come    
straight home4 ,i'm more thoughtless    
every  day6    ,then he turned to       
,harriet3    ,i've been sent to borrow  
some spoons1 he said4    ,spoons6       
exclaimed ,harriet4    ,spoons1 answered
 the ,scotch preacher4 ,we've invited   
friends for  dinner to-morrow1 and we   
must have spoons4    ,but why--how--,i  
thought-- began ,harriet1 still in      
astonishment4    ,the ,scotch preacher  

squared around toward her and cleared   
his throat4    ,it's the baptisms1 he   
said3 when a baby is brought for        
baptism1 of  course it must have a      
baptismal gift4 ,what is the best gift  
for a baby8  ,a spoon4 ,so we present it
 with a spoon4 ,to-day we discovered we 
had only  three spoons left1 and company
 coming4 ,man1 'tis a proleefic         
neighbourhood4    ,illustration3 ,,let  
,,my ,,axe ,,fall    ,he heaved a great 
sigh4    ,harriet rushed out and made up
 a package4 ,when she came in ,i thought
 it  seemed suspiciously large for      
spoons1 but the ,scotch preacher having 
again launched into the lore of the     
chopper1 took it without at first       
perceiving anything strange4 ,five      
minutes after we had closed the door    
upon him he suddenly returned holding up
 the package4    ,this is an uncommonly 
heavy package1 he remarked2 did ,i say  
table-spoons8    ,go on6 commanded      
,harriet2 your wife will understand4    
,all right--good-bye again1 and his     

sturdy figure soon disappeared in  the  
dark4    ,the impractical man6 exclaimed
 ,harriet4 ,people impose on him4       
,what was in that package1 ,harriet8    
,oh1 ,i put in a few jars of jelly and a
 cake of honey4    ,after a moment      
,harriet looked up from her work4    ,do
 you know the greatest sorrow of the    
,scotch preacher and his wife8    ,what 
is it8 ,i asked4    ,they have no chick 
nor child of their own1 said ,harriet4  
,it is prodigious1 the amount of work   
required to make a good  axe-helve--,i  
mean to make it according to one's      
standard4 ,i had times of  humorous     
discouragement and times of high elation
 when it seemed to me ,i  could not work
 fast enough4 ,weeks passed when ,i did 
not touch the helve  but left it        
standing quietly in the corner4 ,once or
 twice ,i took it out  and walked about 
with it as a sort of cane1 much to the  
secret  amusement1 ,i think1 of         
,harriet4 ,at times ,harriet takes a    
really wicked  delight in her           

superiority4    ,early one morning in   
,march the dawn came with a roaring     
wind1 sleety  snow drove down over the  
hill1 the house creaked and complained  
in every  clapboard4 ,a blind of one of 
the upper windows1 wrenched loose from  
its  fastenings1 was driven shut with   
such force that it broke a window pane4 
,when ,i rushed up to discover the      
meaning of the clatter and to repair    
the damage1 ,i found the floor covered  
with peculiar long fragments of         
glass--the pane having been broken      
inward from the centre4    ,just what ,i
 have wanted1 ,i said to myself4    ,i  
selected a few of the best pieces and so
 eager was ,i to try them that  ,i got  
out my axe-helve before breakfast and   
sat scratching away when  ,harriet came 
down4    ,nothing equals a bit of broken
 glass for putting on the final perfect 
touch to a work of art like an          
axe-helve4 ,nothing will so beautifully 
and delicately trim out the curves of   
the throat or give a smoother turn  to  

the waist4 ,so with care and an         
indescribable affection1 ,i added the   
final touches1 trimming the helve until 
it exactly fitted my hand4 ,often  and  
often ,i tried it in pantomime1 swinging
 nobly in the centre of the             
sitting-room 7avoiding the lamp71       
attentive to the feel of my hand as it  
ran along the helve4 ,i rubbed it down  
with fine sandpaper until it  fairly    
shone with whiteness4 ,then ,i borrowed 
a red flannel cloth of  ,harriet and    
having added a few drops--not too       
much--of boiled oil1 ,i  rubbed the     
helve for all ,i was worth4 ,this ,i    
continued for upward of an  hour4 ,at   
that time the axe-helve had taken on a  
yellowish shade1 very  clear and        
beautiful4    ,i do not think ,i could  
have been prouder if ,i had carved a    
statue or  built a parthenon4 ,i was    
consumed with vanity2 but ,i set the new
 helve  in the corner with the          
appearance of utter unconcern4          
,there1 ,i remarked1 it's finished4     

,i watched ,harriet out of the corner of
 my eye3 she made as if to speak  and   
then held silent4    ,that evening      
friend ,horace came in4 ,i was glad to  
see him4 ,horace is or  was a famous    
chopper4 ,i placed him at the fireplace 
where his eye1  sooner or later1 must   
fall upon my axe-helve4 ,oh1 ,i worked  
out my  designs6 ,presently he saw the  
helve1 picked it up at once and turned  
it  over in his hands4 ,i had a         
suffocating1 not unhumorous1 sense of   
self-consciousness4 ,i know how a poet  
must feel at hearing his first  poem    
read aloud by some other person who does
 not know its authorship4 ,i  suffer and
 thrill with the novelist who sees a    
stranger purchase his  book in a        
book-shop4 ,i felt as though ,i stood   
that moment before the  ,great ,judge4  
,horace hefted it and balanced it1 and  
squinted along it2 he rubbed it  with   
his thumb1 he rested one end of it on   
the floor and sprung it  roughly4       
,david1 he said severely1 where did you 

git this8    ,once when ,i was a boy ,i 
came home with my hair wet4 ,my father  
asked3    ,david1 have you been         
swimming8    ,i had exactly the same    
feeling when ,horace asked his question4
 ,now ,i am1  generally speaking1 a     
truthful man4 ,i have written a good    
deal about the  immorality1 the         
unwisdom1 the short-sightedness1 the    
sinful wastefulness  of a lie4 ,but at  
that moment1 if ,harriet had not been   
present--and that  illustrates one of   
the purposes of society1 to bolster up a
 man's  morals--,i should have evolved  
as large and perfect a prevarication as 
it  lay within me to do--cheerfully4    
,but ,i felt ,harriet's moral eye upon  
me3  ,i was a coward as well as a       
sinner4 ,i faltered so long that ,horace
  finally looked around at me4          
,horace has no poetry in his soul1      
neither does he understand the          
philosophy of imperfection nor the art  
of irregularity4    ,it is a tender     
shoot1 easily blasted by cold winds1 the

 creative  instinct3 but persistent4 ,it
 has many adventitious buds4 ,a late    
frost  destroying the freshness of its  
early verdure1 may be the means of a    
richer growth in later and more         
favourable days4           99       99  
99       99       99    ,for a week ,i  
left my helve standing there in the     
corner4 ,i did not even  look at it4 ,i 
was slain4 ,i even thought of getting up
 in the night and  putting the helve on 
the coals--secretly4 ,then1 suddenly1   
one morning1 ,i  took it up not at all  
tenderly1 indeed with a humorous        
appreciation of  my own absurdities1 and
 carried it out into the yard4 ,an      
axe-helve is  not a mere ornament but a 
thing of sober purpose4 ,the test1 after
 all1  of axe-helves is not sublime     
perfection1 but service4 ,we may easily 
find  flaws in the verse of the         
master--how far the rhythm fails of the 
final  perfect music1 how often         
uncertain the rhyme--but it bears within
 it1  hidden yet evident1 that certain  

incalculable fire which kindles and     
will continue to kindle the souls of    
men4 ,the final test is not the         
perfection of precedent1 not regularity1
 but life1 spirit4    ,it was one of    
those perfect1 sunny1 calm mornings that
 sometimes come in  early ,april3 the   
zest of winter yet in the air1 but a    
promise of summer4    ,i built a fire of
 oak chips in the middle of the yard1   
between two flat  stones4 ,i brought out
 my old axe1 and when the fire had      
burned down  somewhat1 leaving a        
foundation of hot coals1 ,i thrust the  
eye of the axe  into the fire4 ,the     
blade rested on one of the flat stones1 
and ,i kept it  covered with wet rags in
 order that it might not heat           
sufficiently to  destroy the temper of  
the steel4 ,harriet's old gray hen1 a   
garrulous  fowl1 came and stood on one  
leg and looked at me first with one eye 
and  then with the other4 ,she asked    
innumerable impertinent questions and   
was  generally disagreeable4    ,i am   

sorry1 madam1 ,i said finally1 but ,i   
have grown adamant to  criticism4 ,i    
have done my work as well as it lies in 
me to do it4 ,it is  the part of sanity 
to throw it aside without compunction4  
,a work must  prove itself4 ,shoo6    ,i
 said this with such conclusiveness and 
vigour that the critical old  hen       
departed hastily with ruffled feathers4 
,so ,i sat there in the glorious        
perfection of the forenoon1 the great   
day  open around me1 a few small clouds 
abroad in the highest sky1 and all  the 
earth radiant with sunshine4 ,the last  
snow of winter was gone1 the  sap ran in
 the trees1 the cows fed further afield4
    ,when the eye of the axe was        
sufficiently expanded by the heat ,i    
drew it  quickly from the fire and drove
 home the helve which ,i had already    
whittled down to the exact size4 ,i had 
a hickory wedge prepared1 and it  was   
the work of ten seconds to drive it into
 the cleft at the lower end  of the     
helve until the eye of the axe was      

completely and perfectly  filled4 ,upon 
cooling the steel shrunk upon the wood1 
clasping it with  such firmness that    
nothing short of fire could ever        
dislodge it4 ,then1  carefully1 with    
knife and sandpaper ,i polished off the 
wood around the  steel of the axe until 
,i had made as good a job of it as lay  
within my  power4    ,so ,i carried the 
axe to my log-pile4 ,i swung it above my
 head and the  feel of it was good in my
 hands4 ,the blade struck deep into the 
oak  wood4 ,and ,i said to myself with  
satisfaction3    ,it serves the purpose4
        ,,vi      ,,the ,,marsh ,,ditch 
,if the day and the night are such that 
you greet them with joy and life  emits 
a fragrance like flowers and            
sweet-smelling herbs--is more  elastic1 
more starry1 more immortal--that is your
 ,success4      ,in all the days of my  
life ,i have never been so well content 
as ,i am  this spring4 ,last summer ,i  
thought ,i was happy1 the fall gave me a
  finality of satisfaction1 the winter  

imparted perspective1 but spring        
conveys a wholly new sense of life1 a   
quickening the like of which ,i  never  
before experienced4 ,it seems to me that
 everything in the world is  more       
interesting1 more vital1 more           
significant4 ,i feel like waving  aside 
all roofs1 in the way of ,le ,sage's    
,asmodeus4    ,i even cease to fear     
,mrs4 ,horace1 who is quite the most    
formidable  person in this              
neighbourhood4 ,she is so avaricious in 
the saving of  souls--and so covetous of
 mine1 which ,i wish especially to      
retain4 ,when  ,i see her coming across 
the hill ,i feel like running and       
hiding1 and if  ,i were as bold as a    
boy1 ,i should do it1 but being a       
grown-up coward ,i  remain and          
dissemble4    ,she came over this       
morning4 ,when ,i beheld her afar off1  
,i drew a long  breath3 ,one thousand1  
,i quoted to myself1 shall flee at the  
rebuke of  one4    ,in calmness ,i      
waited4 ,she came with colours flying   

and hurled her  biblical lance4 ,when ,i
 withstood the shock with unexpected    
jauntiness1  for ,i usually fall dead at
 once1 she looked at me with severity   
and  said3    ,mr4 ,grayson1 you are a  
materialist4    ,you have shot me with a
 name1 ,i replied4 ,i am unhurt4    ,it 
would be impossible to slay me on a day 
like this4 ,on a day like  this ,i am   
immortal4    ,it comes to me as the     
wonder of wonders1 these spring days1   
how surely  everything1 spiritual as    
well as material1 proceeds out of the   
earth4 ,i  have times of sheer ,paganism
 when ,i could bow and touch my face to 
the  warm bare soil4 ,we are so often   
ashamed of the ,earth--the soil of it1  
the sweat of it1 the good common        
coarseness of it4 ,to us in our fine    
raiment and soft manners1 it seems      
indelicate4 ,instead of seeking that    
association with the earth which is the 
renewal of life1 we devise  ourselves   
distant palaces and seek strange        
pleasures4 ,how often and  sadly we     

repeat the life story of the yellow     
dodder of the moist lanes  of my lower  
farm4 ,it springs up fresh and clean    
from the earth itself1  and spreads its 
clinging viny stems over the hospitable 
wild balsam and  golden rod4 ,in a      
week's time1 having reached the warm    
sunshine of the  upper air1 it forgets  
its humble beginnings4 ,its roots wither
 swiftly  and die out1 but the sickly   
yellow stems continue to flourish and   
spread1 drawing their nourishment not   
from the soil itself1 but by  strangling
 and sucking the life juices of the     
hosts on which it feeds4  ,i have seen  
whole byways covered thus with yellow   
dodder--rootless1  leafless1            
parasitic--reaching up to the sunlight1 
quite cutting off and  smothering the   
plants which gave it life4 ,a week or   
two it flourishes  and then most of it  
perishes miserably4 ,so many of us come 
to be like  that3 so much of our        
civilization is like that4 ,men and     
women there  are--the pity of it--who1  

eating plentifully1 have never          
themselves  taken a mouthful from the   
earth4 ,they have never known a moment's
 real  life of their own4 ,lying up to  
the sun in warmth and comfort--but      
leafless--they do not think of the hosts
 under them1 smothered1  strangled1     
starved4 ,they take nothing at first    
hand4 ,they experience  described       
emotion1 and think prepared thoughts4   
,they live not in life1  but in printed 
reports of life4 ,they gather the odour 
of odours1 not the  odour itself3 they  
do not hear1 they overhear4 ,a poor1    
sad1 second-rate  existence6    ,bring  
out your social remedies6 ,they will    
fail1 they will fail1 every  one1 until 
each man has his feet somewhere upon the
 soil6    ,my wild plum trees grow in   
the coarse earth1 among excrementitious 
mould1 a physical life which finally    
blossoms and exhales its perfect  odour3
 which ultimately bears the seed of its 
immortality4    ,human happiness is the 
true odour of growth1 the sweet         

exhalation of  work3 and the seed of    
human immortality is borne secretly     
within the  coarse and mortal husk4 ,so 
many of us crave the odour without      
cultivating the earthly growth from     
which it proceeds3 so many1 wasting     
mortality1 expect immortality6          
----,why1 asks ,charles ,baxter1 do you 
always put the end of your  stories     
first8    ,you may be thankful1 ,i      
replied1 that ,i do not make my remarks 
all  endings4 ,endings are so much more 
interesting than beginnings4    ,without
 looking up from the buggy he was       
mending1 ,charles ,baxter  intimated    
that my way had at least one advantage3 
one always knew1 he  said1 that ,i      
really had an end in view--and hope     
deferred1 he said----    ----,how       
surely1 soundly1 deeply1 the physical   
underlies the spiritual4  ,this morning 
,i was up and out at half-past four1 as 
perfect a morning as  ,i ever saw3 mists
 yet huddled in the low spots1 the sun  
coming up over  the hill1 and all the   

earth fresh with moisture1 sweet with   
good  odours1 and musical with early    
bird-notes4    ,it is the time of the   
spring just after the last seeding and  
before the  early haying3 a catch-breath
 in the farmer's year4 ,i have been     
utilising  it in digging a drainage     
ditch at the lower end of my farm4 ,a   
spot of  marsh grass and blue flags     
occupies nearly half an acre of good    
land and  ,i have been planning ever    
since ,i bought the place to open a     
drain from  its lower edge to the creek1
 supplementing it in the field above1 if
  necessary1 with submerged tiling4 ,i  
surveyed it carefully several weeks  ago
 and drew plans and contours of the work
 as though it were an  inter-oceanic    
canal4 ,i find it a real delight to work
 out in the earth  itself the details of
 the drawing4    ,this morning1 after   
hastening with the chores1 ,i took my   
bag and my  spade on my shoulder and set
 off 7in rubber boots7 for the ditch4   
,my way  lay along the margin of my     

cornfield in the deep grass4 ,on my     
right as ,i  walked was the old rail    
fence full of thrifty young hickory and 
cherry  trees with here and there a     
clump of blackberry bushes4 ,the trees  
beyond the fence cut off the sunrise so 
that ,i walked in the cool broad        
shadows4 ,on my left stretched the      
cornfield of my planting1 the young     
corn well up1 very attractive and       
hopeful1 my really frightful scarecrow  
standing guard on the knoll1 a wisp of  
straw sticking up through a hole  in his
 hat and his crooked thumbs turned      
down--,no mercy4    ,surely no corn ever
 before grew like this1 ,i said to      
myself4  ,to-morrow ,i must begin       
cultivating again4    ,so ,i looked up  
and about me--not to miss anything of   
the morning--and ,i  drew in a good big 
breath and ,i thought the world had     
never been so open  to my senses4    ,i 
wonder why it is that the sense of smell
 is so commonly  under-regarded4 ,to me 
it is the source of some of my greatest 

pleasures4  ,no one of the senses is    
more often allied with robustity of     
physical  health4 ,a man who smells     
acutely may be set down as enjoying that
 which  is normal1 plain1 wholesome4 ,he
 does not require seasoning3 the        
ordinary  earth is good enough for him4 
,he is likely to be sane--which means   
sound1 healthy--in his outlook upon     
life4    ,of all hours of the day there 
is none like the early morning for      
downright good odours--the morning      
before eating4 ,fresh from sleep and    
unclogged with food a man's senses cut  
like knives4 ,the whole world  comes in 
upon him4 ,a still morning is best1 for 
the mists and the  moisture seem to     
retain the odours which they have       
distilled through the  night4 ,upon a   
breezy morning one is likely to get a   
single predominant  odour as of clover  
when the wind blows across a hay field  
or of apple  blossoms when the wind     
comes through the orchard1 but upon a   
perfectly  still morning1 it is         

wonderful how the odours arrange        
themselves in  upright strata1 so that  
one walking passes through them as from 
room to  room in a marvellous temple of 
fragrance1 7,i should have said1 ,i     
think1  if ,i had not been on my way to 
dig a ditch1 that it was like turning   
the  leaves of some delicate volume of  
lyrics67    ,so it was this morning4 ,as
 ,i walked along the margin of my field 
,i was  conscious1 at first1 coming     
within the shadows of the wood1 of the  
cool1  heavy aroma which one associates 
with the night3 as of moist woods and   
earth mould4 ,the penetrating scent of  
the night remains long after the  sights
 and sounds of it have disappeared4 ,in 
sunny spots ,i had the  fragrance of the
 open cornfield1 the aromatic breath of 
the brown earth1  giving curiously the  
sense of fecundity--a warm1 generous    
odour of  daylight and sunshine4 ,down  
the field1 toward the corner1 cutting in
  sharply1 as though a door opened 7or a
 page turned to another lyric71  came   

the cloying1 sweet fragrance of wild    
crab-apple blossoms1 almost  tropical in
 their richness1 and below that1 as ,i  
came to my work1 the  thin acrid smell  
of the marsh1 the place of the rushes   
and the flags and  the frogs4    ,how   
few of us really use our senses6 ,i mean
 give ourselves fully at any  time to   
the occupation of the senses4 ,we do not
 expect to understand a  treatise on    
,economics without applying our minds to
 it1 nor can we  really smell or hear or
 see or feel without every faculty      
alert4 ,through  sheer indolence we miss
 half the joy of the world6    ,often as
 ,i work ,i stop to see3 really see3 see
 everything1 or to listen1  and it is   
the wonder of wonders1 how much there is
 in this old world  which we never      
dreamed of1 how many beautiful1 curious1
 interesting  sights and sounds there   
are which ordinarily make no impression 
upon our  clogged1 overfed and          
preoccupied minds4 ,i have also had the 
feeling--it  may be unscientific but it 

is comforting--that any man might see   
like an  ,indian or smell like a hound  
if he gave to the senses the brains     
which  the ,indian and the hound apply  
to them4 ,and ,i'm pretty sure about the
  ,indian6 ,it is marvellous what a man 
can do when he puts his entire mind     
upon one faculty and bears down hard4   
,so ,i walked this morning1 not hearing 
nor seeing1 but smelling4 ,without      
desiring to stir up strife among the    
peaceful senses1 there is this  further 
marvel of the sense of smell4 ,no other 
possesses such an  after-call4 ,sight   
preserves pictures3 the complete view of
 the aspect of  objects1 but it is      
photographic and external4 ,hearing     
deals in echoes1  but the sense of      
smell1 while saving no vision of a place
 or a person1  will re-create in a way  
almost miraculous the inner emotion of a
  particular time or place4 ,i know of  
nothing that will so create an  appetite
 under the ribs of death4    ,only a    
short time ago ,i passed an open doorway

 in the town4 ,i was busy  with errands1
 my mind fully engaged1 but suddenly ,i 
caught an odour from  somewhere within  
the building ,i was passing4 ,i stopped6
 ,it was as if in  that moment ,i lost  
twenty years of my life3 ,i was a boy   
again1 living  and feeling a particular 
instant at the time of my father's      
death4 ,every  emotion of that occasion1
 not recalled in years1 returned to me  
sharply  and clearly as though ,i       
experienced it for the first time4 ,it  
was a  peculiar emotion3 the first time 
,i had ever felt the oppression of      
space--can ,i describe it8--the utter   
bigness of the world and the  aloofness 
of myself1 a little boy1 within it--now 
that my father was  gone4 ,it was not at
 that moment sorrow1 nor remorse1 nor   
love3 it was an  inexpressible cold     
terror--that anywhere ,i might go in the
 world1 ,i  should still be alone6      
,and there ,i stood1 a man grown1       
shaking in the sunshine with that old   
boyish emotion brought back to me by an 

odour6 ,often and often have ,i  known  
this strange rekindling of dead fires4  
,and ,i have thought how1 if  our senses
 were really perfect1 we might lose     
nothing1 out of our lives3  neither     
sights1 nor sounds1 nor emotions3 a sort
 of mortal immortality4  ,was not       
,shakespeare great because he lost less 
of the savings of his  senses than other
 men8 ,what a wonderful seer1 hearer1   
smeller1 taster1  feeler1 he must have  
been--and how1 all the time1 his mind   
must have  played upon the gatherings of
 his senses6 ,all scenes1 all men1 the  
very  turn of a head1 the exact sound of
 a voice1 the taste of food1 the feel   
of the world--all the emotions of his   
life must he have had there before  him 
as he wrote1 his great mind playing upon
 them1 reconstructing1  re-creating and 
putting them down hot upon his pages4   
,there is nothing  strange about great  
men2 they are like us1 only deeper1     
higher1 broader3  they think as we do1  
but with more intensity3 they suffer as 

we do1 more  keenly3 they love as we do1
 more tenderly4    ,i may be            
over-glorifying the sense of smell1 but 
it is only because ,i  walked this      
morning in a world of odours4 ,the      
greatest of the senses1 of  course1 is  
not smell or hearing1 but sight4 ,what  
would not any man  exchange for that3   
for the faces one loves1 for the scenes 
one holds  most dear1 for all that is   
beautiful and changeable and beyond     
description8 ,the ,scotch ,preacher says
 that the saddest lines in all          
literature are those of ,milton1 writing
 of his blindness4    ,seasons return2  
but not to me returns  ,day1 or the     
sweet approach of even or morn1  ,or    
sight of vernal bloom or ,summer's rose1
  ,or flocks1 or herds1 or human face   
divine4    --,i have wandered a long way
 from ditch-digging1 but not wholly     
without  intention4 ,sooner or later ,i 
try to get back into the main road4 ,i  
throw  down my spade in the wet trampled
 grass at the edge of the ditch4 ,i take

  off my coat and hang it over a limb of
 the little hawthorn tree4 ,i put  my   
bag near it4 ,i roll up the sleeves of  
my flannel shirt3 ,i give my hat  a     
twirl2 ,i'm ready for work4    --,the   
senses are the tools by which we lay    
hold upon the world3 they are  the      
implements of consciousness and growth4 
,so long as they are used  upon the good
 earth--used to wholesome               
weariness--they remain healthy1  they   
yield enjoyment1 they nourish growth2   
but let them once be removed  from their
 natural employment and they turn and   
feed upon themselves1  they seek the    
stimulation of luxury1 they wallow in   
their own  corruption1 and finally1 worn
 out1 perish from off the earth which   
they  have not appreciated4 ,vice is    
ever the senses gone astray4    --,so ,i
 dug4 ,there is something fine in hard  
physical labour1 straight  ahead3 no    
brain used1 just muscles4 ,i stood      
ankle-deep in the cool  water3 every    
spadeful came out with a smack1 and as  

,i turned it over at  the edge of the   
ditch small turgid rivulets coursed back
 again4 ,i did  not think of anything in
 particular4 ,i dug4 ,a peculiar joy    
attends the  very pull of the muscles4  
,i drove the spade home with one foot1  
then ,i  bent and lifted and turned with
 a sort of physical satisfaction        
difficult to describe4 ,at first ,i had 
the cool of the morning1 but by  seven  
o'clock the day was hot enough6 ,i      
opened the breast of my shirt1  gave my 
sleeves another roll1 and went at it    
again for half an hour1  until ,i       
dripped with perspiration4    ,i will   
knock off1 ,i said1 so ,i used my spade 
as a ladder and climbed  out of the     
ditch4 ,being very thirsty1 ,i walked   
down through the marshy  valley to the  
clump of alders which grows along the   
creek4 ,i followed a  cow-path through  
the thicket and came to the creek side1 
where ,i knelt  on a log and took a good
 long drink4 ,then ,i soused my head in 
the cool  stream1 dashed the water upon 

my arms and came up dripping and        
gasping6  ,oh1 but it was fine6    ,so  
,i came back to the hawthorn tree1 where
 ,i sat down comfortably and  stretched 
my legs4 ,there is a poem in stretched  
legs--after hard  digging--but ,i can't 
write it1 though ,i can feel it6 ,i got 
my bag and  took out a half loaf of     
,harriet's bread4 ,breaking off big     
crude pieces1  ,i ate it there in the   
shade4 ,how rarely we taste the real    
taste of  bread6 ,we disguise it with   
butter1 we toast it1 we eat it with milk
 or  fruit4 ,we even soak it with gravy 
7here in the country where we aren't  at
 all polite--but very comfortable71 so  
that we never get the downright         
delicious taste of the bread itself4 ,i 
was hungry this morning and ,i ate  my  
half loaf to the last crumb--and wanted 
more4 ,then ,i lay down for a  moment in
 the shade and looked up into the sky   
through the thin outer  branches of the 
hawthorn4 ,a turkey buzzard was lazily  
circling  cloud-high above me3 a frog   

boomed intermittently from the little   
marsh1  and there were bees at work in  
the blossoms4    --,i had another drink 
at the creek and went back somewhat     
reluctantly1  ,i confess1 to the work4  
,it was hot1 and the first joy of effort
 had worn  off4 ,but the ditch was to be
 dug and ,i went at it again4 ,one      
becomes a  sort of machine--unthinking1 
mechanical3 and yet intense physical    
work1  though making no immediate       
impression on the mind1 often lingers in
 the  consciousness4 ,i find that       
sometimes ,i can remember and enjoy for 
long  afterward every separate step in a
 task4    ,it is curious1 hard physical 
labour6 ,one actually stops thinking4 ,i
  often work long without any thought   
whatever1 so far as ,i know1 save  that 
connected with the monotonous repetition
 of the labour itself--down  with the   
spade1 out with it1 up with it1 over    
with it--and repeat4 ,and  yet          
sometimes--mostly in the forenoon when  
,i am not at all tired--,i will         

suddenly have a sense as of the world   
opening around me--a sense of its       
beauty and its meanings--giving me a    
peculiar deep happiness1 that is  near  
complete content--    ,happiness1 ,i    
have discovered1 is nearly always a     
rebound from hard work4  ,it is one of  
the follies of men to imagine that they 
can enjoy mere  thought1 or emotion1 or 
sentiment6 ,as well try to eat beauty6  
,for  happiness must be tricked6 ,she   
loves to see men at work4 ,she loves    
sweat1 weariness1 self-sacrifice4 ,she  
will be found not in palaces but        
lurking in cornfields and factories and 
hovering over littered desks3  she      
crowns the unconscious head of the busy 
child4 ,if you look up  suddenly from   
hard work you will see her1 but if you  
look too long she  fades sorrowfully    
away4    --,down toward the town there  
is a little factory for barrel hoops and
  staves4 ,it has one of the most       
musical whistles ,i ever heard in my    
life4  ,it toots at exactly twelve      

o'clock3 blessed sound6 ,the last       
half-hour at  ditch-digging is a hard1  
slow pull4 ,i'm warm and tired1 but ,i  
stick down  to it and wait with         
straining ear for the music4 ,at the    
very first note1  of that whistle ,i    
drop my spade4 ,i will even empty out a 
load of dirt  half way up rather than   
expend another ounce of energy2 and ,i  
spring out  of the ditch and start for  
home with a single desire in my         
heart--or  possibly lower down4 ,and    
,harriet1 standing in the doorway1 seems
 to me  a sort of angel--a culinary     
angel6    ,talk of joy3 there may be    
things better than beef stew and baked  
potatoes and home-made bread--there may 
be--        ,,vii      ,,an ,,argument  
,,with ,a ,,millionnaire      ,let the  
mighty and great    ,roll in splendour  
and state1    ,i envy them not1 ,i      
declare it4    ,i eat my own lamb1      
,my own chicken and ham1    ,i shear my 
own sheep and wear it4      ,i have     
lawns1 ,i have bowers1    ,i have       

fruits1 ,i have flowers4    ,the lark is
 my morning charmer2    ,so you jolly   
dogs now1    ,here's ,god bless the     
plow--    ,long life and content to the 
farmer4    ----,rhyme on an old pitcher 
of ,english pottery4    ,i have been    
hearing of ,john ,starkweather ever     
since ,i came here4 ,he is a  most      
important personage in this community4  
,he is rich4 ,horace  especially loved  
to talk about him4 ,give ,horace half a 
chance1 whether  the subject be pigs or 
churches1 and he will break in somewhere
 with the  remark3 ,as ,i was saying to 
,mr4 ,starkweather-- or1 ,mr4           
,starkweather  says to me-- ,how we love
 to shine by reflected glory6 ,even     
,harriet has  not gone unscathed2 she1  
too1 has been affected by the bacillus  
of  admiration4 ,she has wanted to know 
several times if ,i saw ,john           
,starkweather drive by3 the finest span 
of horses in this country1 she  says1   
and did you see his daughter8 ,much     
other information  concerning the       

,starkweather household1 culinary and   
otherwise1 is  current among our hills4 
,we know accurately the number of ,mr4  
,starkweather's bedrooms1 we can tell   
how much coal he uses in winter and  how
 many tons of ice in summer1 and upon   
such important premises we  argue his   
riches4    ,several times ,i have passed
 ,john ,starkweather's home4 ,it lies   
between my  farm and the town1 though   
not on the direct road1 and it is really
  beautiful with the groomed and guided 
beauty possible to wealth4 ,a  stately  
old house with a huge end chimney of red
 brick stands with  dignity well back   
from the road2 round about lie pleasant 
lawns that  once were cornfields3 and   
there are drives and walks and exotic   
shrubs4  ,at first1 loving my own hills 
so well1 ,i was puzzled to understand   
why ,i  should also enjoy               
,starkweather's groomed surroundings4   
,but it came to me  that after all1 much
 as we may love wildness1 we are not    
wild1 nor our  works4 ,what more        

artificial than a house1 or a barn1 or a
 fence8 ,and the  greater and more      
formal the house1 the more formal indeed
 must be the  nearer natural            
environments4 ,perhaps the hand of man  
might well have  been less evident in   
developing the surroundings of the      
,starkweather  home--for art1 dealing   
with nature1 is so often too            
accomplished6    ,but ,i enjoy the      
,starkweather place and as ,i look in   
from the road1 ,i  sometimes think to   
myself with satisfaction3 ,here is this 
rich man who  has paid his thousands to 
make the beauty which ,i pass and take  
for  nothing--and having taken1 leave as
 much behind4 ,and ,i wonder sometimes  
whether he1 inside his fences1 gets more
 joy of it than ,i1 who walk the  roads 
outside4 ,anyway1 ,i am grateful to him 
for using his riches so much  to my     
advantage4    ,on fine mornings ,john   
,starkweather sometimes comes out in his
 slippers1  bare-headed1 his white vest 
gleaming in the sunshine1 and walks     

slowly  around his garden4 ,charles     
,baxter says that on these occasions he 
is  asking his gardener the names of the
 vegetables4 ,however that may be1 he   
has seemed to our community the very    
incarnation of contentment and          
prosperity--his position the acme of    
desirability4    ,what was my           
astonishment1 then1 the other morning to
 see ,john  ,starkweather coming down   
the pasture lane through my farm4 ,i    
knew him  afar off1 though ,i had never 
met him4 ,may ,i express the            
inexpressible  when ,i say he had a rich
 look2 he walked rich1 there was        
richness in the  confident crook of his 
elbow1 and in the positive twitch of the
 stick he  carried3 a man accustomed to 
having doors opened before he knocked4  
,i  stood there a moment and looked up  
the hill at him1 and ,i felt that       
profound curiosity which every one of us
 feels every day of his life to  know   
something of the inner impulses which   
stir his nearest neighbour4 ,i  should  

have liked to know ,john ,starkweather2 
but ,i thought to myself as  ,i have    
thought so many times how surely one    
comes finally to imitate his            
surroundings4 ,a farmer grows to be a   
part of his farm2 the sawdust on  his   
coat is not the most distinctive        
insignia of the carpenter2 the poet     
writes his truest lines upon his own    
countenance4 ,people passing in my  road
 take me to be a part of this natural   
scene4 ,i suppose ,i seem to  them as a 
partridge squatting among dry grass and 
leaves1 so like the  grass and leaves as
 to be invisible4 ,we all come to be    
marked upon by  nature and              
dismissed--how carelessly6--as genera or
 species4 ,and is it  not the primal    
struggle of man to escape               
classification1 to form new             
differentiations8    ,sometimes--,i     
confess it--when ,i see one passing in  
my road1 ,i feel like  hailing him and  
saying3    ,friend1 ,i am not all       
farmer4 ,i1 too1 am a person2 ,i am     

different and  curious4 ,i am full of   
red blood1 ,i like people1 all sorts of 
people2 if  you are not interested in   
me1 at least ,i am intensely interested 
in you4  ,come over now and let's talk6 
,so we are all of us calling and calling
 across the incalculable gulfs  which   
separate us even from our nearest       
friends6    ,once or twice this feeling 
has been so real to me that ,i've been  
near  to the point of hailing utter     
strangers--only to be instantly overcome
  with a sense of the humorous absurdity
 of such an enterprise4 ,so ,i laugh  it
 off and ,i say to myself3    ,steady   
now3 the man is going to town to sell a 
pig2 he is coming back  with ten pounds 
of sugar1 five of salt pork1 a can of   
coffee and some  new blades for his     
mowing machine4 ,he hasn't time for     
talk--and so ,i  come down with a bump  
to my digging1 or hoeing1 or chopping1  
or whatever  it is4    ----,here ,i've  
left ,john ,starkweather in my pasture  
while ,i remark to  the extent of a page

 or two that ,i didn't expect him to see
 me when he  went by4    ,i assumed that
 he was out for a walk1 perhaps to      
enliven a worn appetite  7do you know1  
confidentially1 ,i've had some pleasure 
in times past in  reflecting upon the   
jaded appetites of millionnaires671 and 
that he  would pass out by my lane to   
the country road2 but instead of that1  
what  should he do but climb the yard   
fence and walk over toward the barn     
where ,i was at work4    ,perhaps ,i was
 not consumed with excitement3 here was 
fresh adventure6    ,a farmer1 ,i said  
to myself with exultation1 has only to  
wait long  enough and all the world     
comes his way4    ,i had just begun to  
grease my farm wagon and was            
experiencing some  difficulty in lifting
 and steadying the heavy rear axle while
 ,i took off  the wheel4 ,i kept busily 
at work1 pretending 7such is the        
perversity of  the human mind7 that ,i  
did not see ,mr4 ,starkweather4 ,he     
stood for a  moment watching me2 then he

 said3    ,good morning1 sir4    ,i     
looked up and said3    ,oh1 good        
morning6    ,nice little farm you have  
here4    ,it's enough for me1 ,i        
replied4 ,i did not especially like the 
little4  ,one is human4    ,then ,i had 
an absurd inspiration3 he stood there so
 trim and jaunty and  prosperous4 ,so   
rich6 ,i had a good look at him4 ,he was
 dressed in a  woollen jacket coat1     
knee-trousers and leggins2 on his head  
he wore a  jaunty1 cocky little ,scotch 
cap2 a man1 ,i should judge1 about fifty
  years old1 well-fed and hearty in     
appearance1 with grayish hair and a     
good-humoured eye4 ,i acted on my       
inspiration3    ,you've arrived1 ,i     
said1 at the psychological moment4      
,how's that8    ,take hold here and help
 me lift this axle and steady it4 ,i'm  
having a  hard time of it4    ,the look 
of astonishment in his countenance was  
beautiful to see4    ,for a moment      
failure stared me in the face4 ,his     
expression said with  emphasis3 ,perhaps

 you don't know who ,i am4 ,but ,i      
looked at him with  the greatest good   
feeling and my expression said1 or ,i   
meant it to say3  ,to be sure ,i don't3 
and what difference does it make1       
anyway6    ,you take hold there1 ,i     
said1 without waiting for him to catch  
his  breath1 and ,i'll get hold here4   
,together we can easily get the wheel   
off4    ,without a word he set his cane 
against the barn and bent his back1 up  
came the axle and ,i propped it with a  
board4    ,now1 ,i said1 you hang on    
there and steady it while ,i get the    
wheel  off--though1 indeed1 it didn't   
really need much steadying4    ,as ,i   
straightened up1 whom should ,i see but 
,harriet standing transfixed  in the    
pathway half way down to the barn1      
transfixed with horror4 ,she  had       
recognised ,john ,starkweather and had  
heard at least part of what ,i  said to 
him1 and the vision of that important   
man bending his back to  help lift the  
axle of my old wagon was too terrible6  

,she caught my eye  and pointed and     
mouthed4 ,when ,i smiled and nodded1    
,john ,starkweather  straightened up and
 looked around4    ,don't1 on your life1
 ,i warned1 let go of that axle4    ,he 
held on and ,harriet turned and         
retreated ingloriously4 ,john           
,starkweather's face was a study6       
,did you ever grease a wagon8 ,i asked  
him genially4    ,never1 he said4       
,there's more of an art in it than you  
think1 ,i said1 and as ,i worked ,i     
talked to him of the lore of axle-grease
 and showed him exactly how to  put it  
on--neither too much nor too little1 and
 so that it would  distribute itself    
evenly when the wheel was replaced4     
,there's a right way of doing           
everything1 ,i observed4    ,that's so1 
said ,john ,starkweather3 if ,i could   
only get workmen that  believed it4     
,by that time ,i could see that he was  
beginning to be interested4 ,i put  back
 the wheel1 gave it a light turn and    
screwed on the nut4 ,he helped  me with 

the other end of the axle with all good 
humour4    ,perhaps1 ,i said1 as        
engagingly as ,i knew how1 you'd like to
 try the  art yourself8 ,you take the   
grease this time and ,i'll steady the   
wagon4    ,all right6 he said1 laughing1
 ,i'm in for anything4    ,he took the  
grease box and the paddle--less gingerly
 than ,i thought he  would4    ,is that 
right8 he demanded1 and so he put on the
 grease4 ,and oh1 it  was good to see   
,harriet in the doorway6    ,steady     
there1 ,i said1 not so much at the end3 
now put the box down on  the reach4     
,and so together we greased the wagon1  
talking all the time in the  friendliest
 way4 ,i actually believe that he was   
having a pretty good  time4 ,at least it
 had the virtue of unexpectedness4 ,he  
wasn't bored6    ,when he had finished  
we both straightened our backs and      
looked at each  other4 ,there was a     
twinkle in his eye3 then we both        
laughed4 ,he's all  right1 ,i said to   
myself4 ,i held up my hands1 then he    

held up his3 it  was hardly necessary to
 prove that wagon-greasing was not a    
delicate  operation4    ,it's a good    
wholesome sign1 ,i said1 but it'll come 
off4 ,do you happen  to remember a story
 of ,tolstoi's called ,ivan the ,fool'8 
7,what is a farmer doing quoting        
,tolstoi6 remarked his                  
countenance--though he said not a word47
    ,in the kingdom of ,ivan1 you       
remember1 ,i said1 it was the rule that 
whoever had hard places on his hands    
came to table1 but whoever had not  must
 eat what the others left4    ,thus ,i  
led him up to the back steps and poured 
him a basin of hot  water--which ,i     
brought myself from the kitchen1        
,harriet having  marvellously and       
completely disappeared4 ,we both washed 
our hands1  talking with great good     
humour4    ,when we had finished ,i     
said3    ,sit down1 friend1 if you've   
time1 and let's talk4    ,so he sat down
 on one of the logs of my woodpile3 a   
solid sort of man1  rather warm after   

his recent activities4 ,he looked me    
over with some  interest and1 ,i        
thought1 friendliness4    ,why does a   
man like you1 he asked finally1 waste   
himself on a little  farm back here in  
the country8    ,for a single instant ,i
 came nearer to being angry than ,i have
 been for a  long time4 ,waste myself6  
,so we are judged without knowledge4 ,i 
had a  sudden impulse to demolish him   
7if ,i could7 with the nearest sarcasms 
,i  could lay hand to4 ,he was so sure  
of himself6 ,oh well1 ,i thought1 with  
vainglorious superiority1 he doesn't    
know1 ,so ,i said3    ,what would you   
have me be--a millionnaire8    ,he      
smiled1 but with a sort of sincerity4   
,you might be1 he said3 who can tell6   
,i laughed outright3 the humour of it   
struck me as delicious4 ,here ,i had    
been1 ever since ,i first heard of ,john
 ,starkweather1 rather gloating  over   
him as a poor suffering millionnaire 7of
 course millionnaires are  unhappy71 and
 there he sat1 ruddy of face and hearty 

of body1 pitying  me for a poor         
unfortunate farmer back here in the     
country6 ,curious1  this human nature of
 ours1 isn't it8 ,but how infinitely    
beguiling6    ,so ,i sat down beside    
,mr4 ,starkweather on the log and       
crossed my legs4 ,i  felt as though ,i  
had set foot in a new country4    ,would
 you really advise me1 ,i asked1 to     
start in to be a  millionnaire8    ,he  
chuckled3    ,well1 that's one way of   
putting it4 ,hitch your wagon to a star2
 but  begin by making a few dollars more
 a year than you spend4 ,when ,i        
began---- he stopped short with an      
amused smile1 remembering that ,i did   
not know who he was4    ,of course1 ,i  
said1 ,i understand that4    ,a man must
 begin small--he was on pleasant        
ground--and anywhere he  likes1 a few   
dollars here1 a few there4 ,he must work
 hard1 he must save1  he must be both   
bold and cautious4 ,i know a man who    
began when he was  about your age with  
total assets of ten dollars and a good  

digestion4  ,he's now considered a      
fairly wealthy man4 ,he has a home in   
the city1 a  place in the country1 and  
he goes to ,europe when he likes4 ,he   
has so  arranged his affairs that young 
men do most of the work and he draws the
  dividends--and all in a little more   
than twenty years4 ,i made every  single
 cent--but as ,i said1 it's a penny     
business to start with4 ,the  point is1 
,i like to see young men ambitious4     
,illustration3 ,what would you have me  
be--a millionaire8    ,ambitious1 ,i    
asked1 for what8    ,why1 to rise in the
 world2 to get ahead4    ,i know you'll 
pardon me1 ,i said1 for appearing to    
cross-examine you1  but ,i'm            
tremendously interested in these things4
 ,what do you mean by  rising8 ,and who 
am ,i to get ahead of8    ,he looked at 
me in astonishment1 and with evident    
impatience at my  consummate stupidity4 
,i am serious1 ,i said4 ,i really want  
to make the best ,i can of my  life4    
,it's the only one ,i've got4    ,see   

here1 he said3 let us say you clear up  
five hundred a year from  this farm---- 
,you exaggerate-- ,i interrupted4    ,do
 ,i8 he laughed2 that makes my case all 
the better4 ,now1 isn't it  possible to 
rise from that8 ,couldn't you make a    
thousand or five  thousand or even fifty
 thousand a year8    ,it seems an       
unanswerable argument3 fifty thousand   
dollars6    ,i suppose ,i might1 ,i     
said1 but do you think ,i'd be any      
better off or  happier with fifty       
thousand a year than ,i am now8 ,you    
see1 ,i like all  these surroundings    
better than any other place ,i ever     
knew4 ,that old  green hill over there  
with the oak on it is an intimate friend
 of mine4  ,i have a good cornfield in  
which every year ,i work miracles4 ,i've
 a cow  and a horse1 and a few pigs4 ,i 
have a comfortable home4 ,my appetite is
  perfect1 and ,i have plenty of food to
 gratify it4 ,i sleep every night  like 
a boy1 for ,i haven't a trouble in this 
world to disturb me4 ,i enjoy  the      

mornings here in the country3 and the   
evenings are pleasant4 ,some of  my     
neighbours have come to be my good      
friends4 ,i like them and ,i am  pretty 
sure they like me4 ,inside the house    
there ,i have the best books  ever      
written and ,i have time in the evenings
 to read them--,i mean  really read     
them4 ,now the question is1 would ,i be 
any better off1 or  any happier1 if ,i  
had fifty thousand a year8    ,john     
,starkweather laughed4    ,well1 sir1 he
 said1 ,i see ,i've made the            
acquaintance of a  philosopher4    ,let 
us say1 ,i continued1 that you are      
willing to invest twenty years  of your 
life in a million dollars4 7,merely an  
illustration1 said  ,john               
,starkweather47 ,you have it where you  
can put it in the bank and  take it out 
again1 or you can give it form in       
houses1 yachts1 and other  things4 ,now 
twenty years of my life--to me--is worth
 more than a million  dollars4 ,i simply
 can't afford to sell it for that4 ,i   

prefer to invest  it1 as somebody or    
other has said1 unearned in life4 ,i've 
always had a  liking for intangible     
properties4    ,see here1 said ,john    
,starkweather1 you are taking a narrow  
view of  life4 ,you are making your own 
pleasure the only standard4 ,shouldn't a
  man make the most of the talents given
 him8 ,hasn't he a duty to  society8    
,now you are shifting your ground1 ,i   
said1 from the question of  personal    
satisfaction to that of duty4 ,that     
concerns me1 too4 ,let me ask  you3     
,isn't it important to society that this
 piece of earth be plowed  and          
cultivated8    ,yes1 but----    ,isn't  
it honest and useful work8    ,of       
course4    ,isn't it important that it  
shall not only be done1 but well done8  
,certainly4    ,it takes all there is in
 a good man1 ,i said1 to be a good      
farmer4    ,but the point is1 he argued1
 might not the same faculties applied to
  other things yield better and bigger  
results8    ,that is a problem1 of      

course1 ,i said4 ,i tried money-making  
once--in a  city--and ,i was            
unsuccessful and unhappy2 here ,i am    
both successful and  happy4 ,i suppose  
,i was one of the young men who did the 
work while some  millionnaire drew the  
dividends4 7,i was cutting close1 and ,i
 didn't  venture to look at him74 ,no   
doubt he had his houses and yachts and  
went  to ,europe when he liked4 ,i know 
,i lived upstairs--back--where there    
wasn't a tree to be seen1 or a spear of 
green grass1 or a hill1 or a  brook3    
only smoke and chimneys and littered    
roofs4 ,lord be thanked for  my escape6 
,sometimes ,i think that ,success has   
formed a silent conspiracy  against     
,youth4 ,success holds up a single      
glittering apple and bids ,youth  strip 
and run for it2 and ,youth runs and     
,success still holds the apple4    ,john
 ,starkweather said nothing4    ,yes1 ,i
 said1 there are duties4 ,we realise1 we
 farmers1 that we must  produce more    
than we ourselves can eat or wear or    

burn4 ,we realise that  we are the      
foundation3 we connect human life with  
the earth4 ,we dig and  plant and       
produce1 and having eaten at the first  
table ourselves1 we  pass what is left  
to the bankers and millionnaires4 ,did  
you ever think1  stranger1 that most of 
the wars of the world have been fought  
for the  control of this farmer's second
 table8 ,have you thought that the      
surplus  of wheat and corn and cotton is
 what the railroads are struggling to   
carry8 ,upon our surplus run all the    
factories and mills2 a little of it     
gathered in cash makes a millionnaire4  
,but we farmers1 we sit back            
comfortably after dinner1 and joke with 
our wives and play with our  babies1 and
 let all the rest of you fight for the  
crumbs that fall from  our abundant     
tables4 ,if once we really cared and got
 up and shook  ourselves1 and said to   
the maid3 ',here1 child1 don't waste the
 crusts3  gather 'em up and to-morrow   
we'll have a cottage pudding1' where in 

the  world would all the millionnaires  
be8    ,oh1 ,i tell you1 ,i waxed       
eloquent4 ,i couldn't let ,john         
,starkweather1 or  any other man1 get   
away with the conviction that a         
millionnaire is  better than a farmer4  
,moreover1 ,i said1 think of the        
position of the  millionnaire4 ,he      
spends his time playing not with life1  
but with the  symbols of life1 whether  
cash or houses4 ,any day the symbols may
 change2  a little war may happen along1
 there may be a defective flue or a     
western breeze1 or even a panic because 
the farmers aren't scattering as  many  
crumbs as usual 7they call it crop      
failure1 but ,i've noticed that  the    
farmers still continue to have plenty to
 eat7 and then what happens  to your    
millionnaire8 ,not knowing how to       
produce anything himself1 he  would     
starve to death if there were not       
always1 somewhere1 a farmer to  take him
 up to the table4    ,you're making a   
strong case1 laughed ,john              

,starkweather4    ,strong6 ,i said4 ,it 
is simply wonderful what a leverage upon
 society a  few acres of land1 a cow1 a 
pig or two1 and a span of horses gives a
  man4 ,i'm ridiculously independent4   
,i'd be the hardest sort of a man to    
dislodge or crush4 ,i tell you1 my      
friend1 a farmer is like an oak1 his    
roots strike deep in the soil1 he draws 
a sufficiency of food from the  earth   
itself1 he breathes the free air around 
him1 his thirst is  quenched by heaven  
itself--and there's no tax on sunshine4 
,i paused for very lack of breath4 ,john
 ,starkweather was laughing4    ,when   
you commiserate me1 therefore 7,i'm sure
 ,i shall never do it  again1 said ,john
 ,starkweather7--when you commiserate   
me1 therefore1  and advise me to rise1  
you must give me really good reasons for
 changing  my occupation and becoming a 
millionnaire4 ,you must prove to me that
 ,i  can be more independent1 more      
honest1 more useful as a millionnaire1  
and  that ,i shall have better and truer

 friends6    ,john ,starkweather looked 
around at me 7,i knew ,i had been       
absurdly eager  and ,i was rather       
ashamed of myself7 and put his hand on  
my knee 7he has  a wonderfully fine     
eye674    ,i don't believe1 he said1    
you'd have any truer friends4           
,anyway1 ,i said repentantly1 ,i'll     
admit that millionnaires have their     
place--at present ,i wouldn't do        
entirely away with them1 though ,i do   
think they'd enjoy farming better4 ,and 
if ,i were to select a  millionnaire for
 all the best things ,i know1 ,i should 
certainly choose  you1 ,mr4             
,starkweather4    ,he jumped up4    ,you
 know who ,i am8 he asked4    ,i nodded4
    ,and you knew all the time8    ,i   
nodded4    ,well1 you're a good one6    
,we both laughed and fell to talking    
with the greatest friendliness4 ,i  led 
him down my garden to show him my prize 
pie-plant1 of which ,i am  enormously   
proud1 and ,i pulled for him some of the
 finest stalks ,i could  find4    ,take 

it home1 ,i said1 it makes the best pies
 of any pie-plant in this  country4     
,he took it under his arm4    ,i want   
you to come over and see me the first   
chance you get1 he said4  ,i'm going to 
prove to you by physical demonstration  
that it's better  sport to be a         
millionnaire than a farmer--not that ,i 
am a millionnaire3  ,i'm only accepting 
the reputation you give me4    ,so ,i   
walked with him down to the lane4       
,let me know when you grease up again1  
he said1 and ,i'll come over4    ,so we 
shook hands3 and he set off sturdily    
down the road with the  pie-plant leaves
 waving cheerfully over his shoulder4   
,illustration3 ,somehow1 and suddenly1  
,i was a boy again        ,,viii      ,a
 ,,boy ,,and ,a ,,preacher    ,this     
morning ,i went to church with ,harriet4
 ,i usually have some excuse  for not   
going1 but this morning ,i had them out 
one by one and they were  altogether so 
shabby that ,i decided not to use them4 
,so ,i put on my  stiff shirt and       

,harriet came out in her best black cape
 with the silk  fringes4 ,she looked so 
immaculate1 so ruddy1 so cheerfully     
sober 7for  ,sunday7 that ,i was        
reconciled to the idea of driving her up
 to the  church4 ,and ,i am glad ,i     
went1 for the experience ,i had4    ,it 
was an ideal summer ,sunday3 sunshiny1  
clear and still4 ,i believe if  ,i had  
been some ,rip ,van ,winkle waking after
 twenty years' sleep ,i should  have    
known it for ,sunday4 ,away off over the
 hill somewhere we could hear  a lazy   
farm boy singing at the top of his      
voice3 the higher cadences of  his song 
reached us pleasantly through the still 
air4 ,the hens sitting  near the lane   
fence1 fluffing the dust over their     
backs1 were holding a  small and        
talkative service of their own4 ,as we  
turned into the main  road we saw the   
,patterson children on their way to     
church1 all the  little girls in ,sunday
 ribbons1 and all the little boys very  
uncomfortable in knit stockings4    ,it 

seems a pity to go to church on a day   
like this1 ,i said to ,harriet4    ,a   
pity6 she exclaimed4 ,could anything be 
more appropriate8    ,harriet is good   
because she can't help it4 ,poor        
woman6--but ,i haven't  any pity for    
her4    ,it sometimes seems to me the   
more worshipful ,i feel the less ,i want
 to  go to church4 ,i don't know why it 
is1 but these forms1 simple though  they
 are1 trouble me4 ,the moment an        
emotion1 especially a religious         
emotion1 becomes an institution1 it     
somehow loses life4 ,true emotion is    
rare and costly and that which is       
awakened from without never rises to    
the height of that which springs        
spontaneously from within4    ,back of  
the church stands a long low shed where 
we tied our horse4 ,a  number of other  
buggies were already there1 several     
women were standing  in groups1 preening
 their feathers1 a neighbour of ours who
 has a  tremendous bass voice was       
talking to a friend3    ,yas1 oats is   

showing up well1 but wheat is backward4 
,his voice1 which he was evidently      
trying to subdue for ,sunday1 boomed    
through the still air4 ,so we walked    
among the trees to the door of the      
church4 ,a smiling elder1 in an         
unaccustomed long coat1 bowed and       
greeted  us4 ,as we went in there was an
 odour of cushions and our footsteps on 
the wooden floor echoed in the warm     
emptiness of the church4 ,the ,scotch   
preacher was finding his place in the   
big ,bible2 he stood solid and  shaggy  
behind the yellow oak pulpit1 a peculiar
 professional look on his  face4 ,in the
 pulpit the ,scotch preacher is too much
 minister1 too little  man4 ,he is best 
down among us with his hand in ours4 ,he
 is a sort of  human solvent4 ,is there 
a twisted and hardened heart in the     
community he  beams upon it from his    
cheerful eye1 he speaks out of his great
 charity1  he gives the friendly        
pressure of his large hand1 and that    
hardened  heart dissolves and its frozen

 hopelessness loses itself in tears4 ,so
 he  goes through life1 seeming always  
to understand4 ,he is not surprised by  
wickedness nor discouraged by weakness3 
he is so sure of a greater  ,strength6  
,but ,i must come to my experience1     
which ,i am almost tempted to call a    
resurrection--the resurrection of a boy1
 long since gone away1 and of a  tall   
lank preacher who1 in his humility1     
looked upon himself as a  failure4 ,i   
hardly know how it all came back to me2 
possibly it was the  scent-laden breeze 
that came in from the woods and through 
the half-open  church window1 perhaps it
 was a line in one of the old songs1    
perhaps it  was the droning voice of the
 ,scotch preacher--somehow1 and         
suddenly1 ,i  was a boy again4          
----,to this day ,i think of death as a 
valley3 a dark shadowy valley3  the     
,valley of the ,shadow of ,death4 ,so   
persistent are the impressions of       
boyhood6 ,as ,i sat in the church ,i    
could see1 as distinctly as though ,i   

were there1 the church of my boyhood and
 the tall dyspeptic preacher  looming   
above the pulpit1 the peculiar way the  
light came through the  coarse colour of
 the windows1 the barrenness and        
stiffness of the great  empty room1 the 
raw girders overhead1 the prim choir4   
,there was  something in that preacher1 
gaunt1 worn1 sodden though he appeared3 
a  spark somewhere1 a little flame1     
mostly smothered by the gray dreariness 
of his surroundings1 and yet blazing up 
at times to some warmth4    ,as ,i      
remember it1 our church was a church of 
failures4 ,they sent us the  old gray   
preachers worn out in other fields4     
,such a succession of them ,i  remember1
 each with some peculiarity1 some       
pathos4 ,they were of the old  sort1    
indoctrinated ,presbyterians1 and they  
harrowed well our barren  field with the
 tooth of their hard creed4 ,some       
thundered the ,law1 some  pleaded ,love2
 but of all of them ,i remember best the
 one who thought  himself the greatest  

failure4 ,i think he had tried a hundred
 churches--a  hard life1 poorly paid1   
unappreciated--in a new country4 ,he had
 once had  a family1 but one by one they
 had died4 ,no two were buried in the   
same  cemetery2 and finally1 before he  
came to our village1 his wife1 too1 had 
gone4 ,and he was old1 and out of       
health1 and discouraged3 seeking some   
final warmth from his own cold doctrine4
 ,how ,i see him1 a trifle bent1  in his
 long worn coat1 walking in the country 
roads3 not knowing of a  boy who loved  
him6    ,he told my father once3 ,i     
recall his exact1 words3    ,my days    
have been long1 and ,i have failed4 ,it 
was not given me to reach  men's hearts4
    ,oh1 gray preacher1 may ,i now make 
amends8 ,will you forgive me8 ,i was a  
boy and did not know2 a boy whose       
emotions were hidden under mountains  of
 reserve3 who could have stood up to be 
shot more easily than he could  have    
said3 ,i love you6    ,of that          
preacher's sermons ,i remember not one  

word1 though ,i must have  heard scores 
of them--only that they were            
interminably long and dull and  that my 
legs grew weary of sitting and that ,i  
was often hungry4 ,it was  no doubt the 
dreadful old doctrine that he preached1 
thundering the  horrors of disobedience1
 urging an impossible love through fear 
and a  vain belief without reason4 ,all 
that touched me not at all1 save with a 
sort of wonder at the working of his    
great ,adam's apple and the strange     
rollings of his cavernous eyes4 ,this he
 looked upon as the work of ,god2  thus 
for years he had sought1 with           
self-confessed failure1 to touch the    
souls of his people4 ,how we travel in  
darkness and the work we do in all      
seriousness counts for naught1 and the  
thing we toss off in play-time1         
unconsciously1 ,god uses6    ,one       
tow-headed boy sitting there in a front 
row dreaming dreams1 if the  sermons    
touched him not1 was yet thrilled to the
 depths of his being by  that tall      

preacher4 ,somewhere1 ,i said1 he had a 
spark within him4 ,i  think he never    
knew it3 or if he knew it1 he regarded  
it as a wayward  impulse that might lead
 him from his ,god4 ,it was a spark of  
poetry3  strange flower in such a husk4 
,in times of emotion it bloomed1 but in 
daily life it emitted no fragrance4 ,i  
have wondered what might have been  if  
some one--some understanding woman--had 
recognised his gift1 or if he  himself  
as a boy had once dared to cut free6 ,we
 do not know3 we do not  know the       
tragedy of our nearest friend6    ,by   
some instinct the preacher chose his    
readings mostly from the ,old           
,testament--those splendid1 marching    
passages1 full of oriental imagery4  ,as
 he read there would creep into his     
voice a certain resonance that  lifted  
him and his calling suddenly above his  
gray surroundings4    ,how vividly ,i   
recall his reading of the twenty-third  
,psalm--a particular  reading4 ,i       
suppose ,i had heard the passage many   

times before1 but upon  this certain    
morning----    ,shall ,i ever forget8   
,the windows were open1 for it was ,may1
 and a boy  could look out on the       
hillside and see with longing eyes the  
inviting  grass and trees4 ,a soft wind 
blew in across the church2 it was full  
of  the very essence of spring4 ,i smell
 it yet4 ,on the pulpit stood a bunch   
of crocuses crowded into a vase3 some   
,mary's offering4 ,an old man named     
,johnson who sat near us was already    
beginning to breathe heavily1           
preparatory to sinking into his regular 
,sunday snore4 ,then those words  from  
the preacher1 bringing me suddenly--how 
shall ,i express it8--out of  some      
formless void1 to intense               
consciousness--a miracle of creation3   
,yea though ,i walk through the valley  
of the shadow of death1 ,i will  fear no
 evil3 for thou art with me2 thy rod and
 thy staff they comfort  me4    ,well1  
,i saw the way to the place of death    
that morning2 far more vividly  ,i saw  

it than any natural scene ,i know3 and  
myself walking therein4 ,i  shall know  
it again when ,i come to pass that way2 
the tall1 dark1 rocky  cliffs1 the      
shadowy path within1 the overhanging    
dark branches1 even the  whitened dead  
bones by the way--and as one of the     
vivid phantasms of  boyhood--cloaked    
figures ,i saw1 lurking mysteriously in 
deep recesses1  fearsome for their very 
silence4 ,and yet ,i with magic rod and 
staff  walking within--boldly1 fearing  
no evil1 full of faith1 hope1 courage1  
love1 invoking images of terror but for 
the joy of braving them4 ,ah1           
tow-headed boy1 shall ,i tread as       
lightly that dread pathway when ,i come 
to it8 ,shall ,i1 like you1 fear no     
evil6    ,so that great morning went    
away4 ,i heard nothing of singing or    
sermon  and came not to myself until my 
mother1 touching my arm1 asked me if ,i 
had been asleep6 ,and ,i smiled and     
thought how little grown people         
knew--and ,i looked up at the sad sick  

face of the old preacher with a  new    
interest and friendliness4 ,i felt1     
somehow1 that he too was a  familiar of 
my secret valley4 ,i should have liked  
to ask him1 but ,i did  not dare4 ,so ,i
 followed my mother when she went to    
speak to him1 and  when he did not see1 
,i touched his coat4    ,after that how 
,i watched when he came to the reading4 
,and one great  ,sunday1 he chose a     
chapter from ,ecclesiastes1 the one that
 begins  sonorously3    ,remember now   
thy creator in the days of thy  youth4  
,surely that gaunt preacher had the true
 fire in his gray soul4 ,how his  voice 
dwelt and quivered and softened upon the
 words6    ,while the sun1 or the light1
 or the moon1 or the  stars1 be not     
darkened1 nor the clouds return after   
the rain----  ,thus he brought in the   
universe to that  small church and      
filled the heart of a boy4    ,in the   
days when the keepers of the house shall
  tremble1 and the strong men shall bow 
themselves1  and the grinders cease     

because they are few1 and those  that   
look out of the windows be darkened4    
,and the doors shall be shut in the     
streets1 when  the sound of the grinding
 is low1 and he shall rise up  at the   
voice of the bird and all the daughters 
of music  shall be brought low4    ,do  
not think that ,i understood the meaning
 of those passages3 ,i am not  vain     
enough to think ,i know even now--but   
the sound of them1 the roll  of them1   
the beautiful words1 and above all1 the 
pictures6    ,those ,daughters of       
,music1 how ,i lived for days imagining 
them6 ,they were  of the trees and the  
hills1 and they were very beautiful but 
elusive2  one saw them as he heard      
singing afar off1 sweet strains fading  
often  into silences4 ,daughters of     
,music6 ,daughters of ,music6 ,and why  
should  they be brought low8    ,doors  
shut in the street--how ,i saw them--a  
long1 long street1 silent1  full of     
sunshine1 and the doors shut1 and no    
sound anywhere but the low  sound of the

 grinding3 and the mill with the wheels 
drowsily turning and  no one there at   
all save one boy with fluttering heart1 
tiptoeing in the  sunlit doorway4       
,and the voice of the bird4 ,not the    
song but the voice4 ,yes1 a bird had  a 
voice4 ,i had known it always1 and yet  
somehow ,i had not dared to say  it4 ,i 
felt that they would look at me with    
that questioning1  incredulous look     
which ,i dreaded beyond belief4 ,they   
might laugh6 ,but  here it was in the   
,book--the voice of a bird4 ,how my     
appreciation of  that ,book increased   
and what a new confidence it gave me in 
my own  images6 ,i went about for days1 
listening1 listening1 listening--and    
interpreting4    ,so the words of the   
preacher and the fire in them3    ,and  
when they shall be afraid of that which 
is  high and fears shall be in the      
way----    ,i knew the fear of that     
which is high3 ,i had dreamed of it     
commonly4 ,and  ,i knew also the ,fear  
that stood in the way3 him ,i had seen  

in a myriad  of forms1 looming black by 
darkness in every lane ,i trod2 and yet 
with  what defiance ,i met and slew him6
    ,and then1 more thrilling than all  
else1 the words of the preacher3    ,or 
ever the silver cord be loosed1 or the  
golden  bowl be broken1 or the pitcher  
be broken at the fountain1  or the wheel
 broken at the cistern4    ,such        
pictures3 that silver cord1 that golden 
bowl6 ,and why and  wherefore8    ,a    
thousand ways ,i turned them in my      
mind--and always with the sound of  the 
preacher's voice in my ears--the        
resonance of the words conveying an     
indescribable fire of inspiration4      
,vaguely and yet with certainty ,i knew 
the preacher spoke out of some          
unfathomable emotion which ,i did not   
understand--which ,i did not care to    
understand4 ,since then ,i have  thought
 what those words must have meant to    
him6    ,ah1 that tall lank preacher1   
who thought himself a failure3 how long 
,i  shall remember him and the words he 

read and the mournful yet resonant      
cadences of his voice--and the barren   
church1 and the stony religion6  ,heaven
 he gave me1 unknowing1 while he        
preached an ineffectual hell4    ,as we 
rode home ,harriet looked into my face4 
,you have enjoyed the service1 she said 
softly4    ,yes1 ,i said4    ,it was a  
good sermon1 she said4    ,was it8 ,i   
replied4        ,,ix      ,,the ,,tramp 
,i have had a new and strange           
experience--droll in one way1 grotesque 
in  another and when everything is said1
 tragic3 at least an adventure4         
,harriet looks at me accusingly1 and ,i 
have had to preserve the air of  one    
deeply contrite now for two days 7no    
easy accomplishment for me671  even     
though in secret ,i have smiled and     
pondered4    ,how our life has been     
warped by books6 ,we are not contented  
with  realities3 we crave conclusions4  
,with what ardour our minds respond to  
real events with literary deductions4   
,upon a train of incidents1 as          

unconnected as life itself1 we are wont 
to clap a booky ending4 ,an  instinctive
 desire for completeness animates the   
human mind 7a struggle  to circumscribe 
the infinite74 ,we would like to have   
life turn  out--but it doesn't--it      
doesn't4 ,each event is the beginning of
 a whole  new genealogy of events4 ,in  
boyhood ,i remember asking after every  
story  ,i heard3 ,what happened next8   
for no conclusion ever quite satisfied  
me--even when the hero died in his own  
gore4 ,i always knew there was          
something yet remaining to be told4 ,the
 only sure conclusion we can  reach is  
this3 ,life changes4 ,and what is more  
enthralling to the human  mind than this
 splendid1 boundless1 coloured          
mutability6--life in the  making8 ,how  
strange it is1 then1 that we should be  
contented to take  such small parts of  
it as we can grasp1 and to say1 ,this is
 the true  explanation4 ,by such devices
 we seek to bring infinite existence    
within  our finite egoistic grasp4 ,we  

solidify and define where solidification
  means loss of interest2 and loss of   
interest1 not years1 is old age4    ,so 
,i have mused since my tramp came in for
 a moment out of the ,mystery  7as we   
all do7 and went away again into the    
,mystery 7in our way1 too74    ,there   
are strange things in this world6       
99       99       99       99       99  
,as ,i came around the corner ,i saw    
sitting there on my steps the very      
personification of ,ruin1 a tumble-down1
 dilapidated wreck of manhood4 ,he  gave
 one the impression of having been      
dropped where he sat1 all in a  heap4   
,my first instinctive feeling was not   
one of recoil or even of  hostility1 but
 rather a sudden desire to pick him up  
and put him where  he belonged1 the     
instinct1 ,i should say1 of the normal  
man who hangs his  axe always on the    
same nail4 ,when he saw me he gathered  
himself together  with reluctance and   
stood fully revealed4 ,it was a curious 
attitude of  mingled effrontery and     

apology4 ,hit me if you dare1 blustered 
his  outward personality4 ,for ,god's   
sake1 don't hit me1 cried the innate    
fear in his eyes4 ,i stopped and looked 
at him sharply1 ,his eyes dropped1  his 
look slid away1 so that ,i experienced a
 sense of shame1 as though ,i  had      
trampled upon him4 ,a damp rag of       
humanity6 ,i confess that my first      
impulse1 and a strong one1 was to kick  
him for the good of the human  race4 ,no
 man has a right to be like that4       
,and then1 quite suddenly1 ,i had a     
great revulsion of feeling4 ,what was ,i
  that ,i should judge without          
knowledge8 ,perhaps1 after all1 here was
 one  bearing treasure4 ,so ,i said3    
,you are the man ,i have been expecting4
    ,he did not reply1 only flashed his 
eyes up at me1 wherein fear deepened4   
,i have been saving up a coat for you1  
,i said1 and a pair of shoes4  ,they are
 not much worn1 ,i said1 but a little   
too small for me4 ,i think  they will   
fit you4    ,he looked at me again1 not 

sharply1 but with a sort of weak        
cunning4 ,so  far he had not said a     
word4    ,i think our supper is nearly  
ready1 ,i said3 let us go in4    ,no1   
mister1 he mumbled1 a bite out here--no1
 mister--and then1 as  though the sound 
of his own voice inspired him1 he grew  
declamatory4    ,i'm a respectable man1 
mister1 plumber by trade1 but----       
,but1 ,i interrupted1 you can't get any 
work1 you're cold and you  haven't had  
anything to eat for two days1 so you are
 walking out here in  the country where 
we farmers have no plumbing to do4 ,at  
home you have a  starving wife and three
 small children----    ,six1 mister---- 
,well1 six--,and now we will go in to   
supper4    ,i led him into the entry way
 and poured for him a big basin of hot  
water4 ,as ,i stepped out again with a  
comb he was slinking toward the         
doorway4    ,here1 ,i said1 is a comb2  
we are having supper now in a few       
minutes4    ,i wish ,i could picture    
,harriet's face when ,i brought him into

 her  immaculate kitchen4 ,but ,i gave  
her a look1 one of the commanding sort  
that ,i can put on in times of great    
emergency1 and she silently laid        
another place at the table4    ,when ,i 
came to look at our ,ruin by the full   
lamplight ,i was surprised to  see what 
a change a little warm water and a comb 
had wrought in him4 ,he  came to the    
table uncertain1 blinking1 apologetic4  
,his forehead1 ,i saw1  was really      
impressive--high1 narrow and            
thin-skinned4 ,his face gave one        
somehow the impression of a carving once
 full of significant lines1 now  blurred
 and worn as though ,time1 having first 
marked it with the lines  of character1 
had grown discouraged and brushed the   
hand of  forgetfulness over her work4   
,he had peculiar thin1 silky hair of no 
particular colour1 with a certain almost
 childish pathetic waviness  around the 
ears and at the back of the neck4       
,something1 after all1 about  the man   
aroused one's compassion4    ,i don't   

know that he looked dissipated1 and     
surely he was not as dirty  as ,i had at
 first supposed4 ,something remained    
that suggested a care for  himself in   
the past4 ,it was not dissipation1 ,i   
decided2 it was rather an  indefinable  
looseness and weakness1 that gave one   
alternately the  feeling ,i had first   
experienced1 that of anger1 succeeded by
 the  compassion that one feels for a   
child4 ,to ,harriet1 when she had once  
seen him1 he was all child1 and she all 
compassion4    ,we disturbed him with no
 questions4 ,harriet's fundamental      
quality is  homeliness1 comfortableness4
 ,her tea-kettle seems always singing2  
an  indefinable tabbiness1 as of feather
 cushions1 lurks in her  dining-room1 a 
right warmth of table and chairs1       
indescribably  comfortable at the end of
 a chilly day4 ,a busy good-smelling    
steam  arises from all her dishes at    
once1 and the light in the middle of the
  table is of a redness that enthralls  
the human soul4 ,as for ,harriet        

herself1 she is the personification of  
comfort1 airy1 clean1 warm1             
inexpressibly wholesome4 ,and never in  
the world is she so engaging as  when   
she ministers to a man's hunger4        
,truthfully1 sometimes1 when she  comes 
to me out of the dimmer light of the    
kitchen to the radiance of  the table   
with a plate of muffins1 it is as though
 she and the muffins  were a part of    
each other1 and that she is really      
offering some of  herself4 ,and down in 
my heart ,i know she is doing just that6
    ,well1 it was wonderful to see our  
,ruin expand in the warmth of ,harriet's
  presence4 ,he had been doubtful of me2
 of ,harriet1 ,i could see1 he was      
absolutely sure4 ,and how he did eat1   
saying nothing at all1 while  ,harriet  
plied him with food and talked to me of 
the most disarming  commonplaces4 ,i    
think it did her heart good to see the  
way he ate3 as  though he had had       
nothing before in days4 ,as he buttered 
his muffin1  not without some           

refinement1 ,i could see that his hand  
was long1 a  curious1 lean1 ineffectual 
hand1 with a curving little finger4     
,with the  drinking of the hot coffee   
colour began to steal up into his face1 
and  when ,harriet brought out a quarter
 of pie saved over from our dinner and  
placed it before him--a fine brown pie  
with small hieroglyphics in the  top    
from whence rose sugary bubbles--he     
seemed almost to escape himself4  ,and  
,harriet fairly purred with hospitality4
    ,the more he ate the more of a man  
he became4 ,his manners improved1 his   
back straightened up1 he acquired a not 
unimpressive poise of the head4  ,such  
is the miraculous power of hot muffins  
and pie6    ,as you came down1 ,i asked 
finally1 did you happen to see old man  
,masterson's threshing machine8    ,a   
big red one1 with a yellow blow-off8    
,that's the one1 ,i said4    ,well1 it  
was just turning into a field about two 
miles above here1 he  replied4    ,big  
gray1 banked barn8 ,i asked4    ,yes1   

and a little unpainted house1 said our  
friend4    ,that's ,parsons'1 put in    
,harriet1 with a mellow laugh4 ,i wonder
 if he  ever will paint that house4 ,he 
builds bigger barns every year and      
doesn't touch the house4 ,poor ,mrs4    
,parsons----    ,and so we talked of    
barns and threshing machines in the way 
we farmers  love to do and ,i lured our 
friend slowly into talking about        
himself4 ,at  first he was non-committal
 enough and what he said seemed         
curiously made  to order2 he used       
certain set phrases with which to       
explain simply what  was not easy to    
explain--a device not uncommon to all of
 us4 ,i was  fearful of not getting     
within this outward armouring1 but      
gradually as  we talked and ,harriet    
poured him a third cup of hot coffee he 
dropped  into a more familiar tone4 ,he 
told with some sprightliness of having  
seen threshings in ,mexico1 how the     
grain was beaten out with flails in  the
 patios1 and afterwards thrown up in the

 wind to winnow out4    ,you must have  
seen a good deal of life1 remarked      
,harriet  sympathetically4    ,at this  
remark ,i saw one of our ,ruin's long   
hands draw up and clinch4 ,he  turned   
his head toward ,harriet4 ,his face was 
partly in the shadow1 but  there was    
something striking and strange in the   
way he looked at her1  and a deepness in
 his voice when he spoke3    ,too much6 
,i've seen too much of life4 ,he threw  
out one arm and brought  it back with a 
shudder4    ,you see what it has left   
me1 he said1 ,i am an example of too    
much  life4    ,in response to          
,harriet's melting compassion he had    
spoken with  unfathomable bitterness4   
,suddenly he leaned forward toward me   
with a  piercing gaze as though he would
 look into my soul4 ,his face had       
changed  completely2 from the loose and 
vacant mask of the early evening it had 
taken on the utmost tensity of emotion4 
,you do not know1 he said1 what it is to
 live too much--and to be  afraid4      

,live too much8 ,i asked4    ,yes1 live 
too much1 that is what ,i do--and ,i am 
afraid4    ,he paused a moment and then 
broke out in a higher key3    ,you think
 ,i am a tramp4 ,yes--you do4 ,i know--a
 worthless fellow1 lying1  begging1     
stealing when he can't beg4 ,you have   
taken me in and fed me4  ,you have said 
the first kind words ,i have heard1 it  
seems to me1 in  years4 ,i don't know   
who you are4 ,i shall never see you     
again4    ,i cannot well describe the   
intensity of the passion with which he  
spoke1  his face shaking with emotion1  
his hands trembling4    ,oh1 yes1 ,i    
said easily1 we are comfortable people  
here--and it is a  good place to live4  
,no no1 he returned4 ,i know1 ,i've got 
my call-- ,then leaning forward  he said
 in a lower1 even more intense voice--,i
 live everything  beforehand4    ,i was 
startled by the look of his eyes3 the   
abject terror of it3 and ,i  thought to 
myself1 ,the man is not right in his    
mind4 ,and yet ,i longed  to know of the

 life within this strange husk of       
manhood4    ,i know1 he said1 as if     
reading my thought1 you think--and he   
tapped  his forehead with one           
finger--but ,i'm not4 ,i'm as sane as   
you are4    ,it was a strange story he  
told4 ,it seems almost unbelievable to  
me as ,i  set it down here1 until ,i    
reflect how little any one of us knows  
of the  deep life within his nearest    
neighbour--what stories there are1 what 
tragedies enacted under a calm exterior6
 ,what a drama there may be in  this    
commonplace man buying ten pounds of    
sugar at the grocery store1 or  this    
other one driving his two old horses in 
the town road6 ,we do not  know4 ,and   
how rarely are the men of inner         
adventure articulate6  ,therefore ,i    
treasure the curious story the tramp    
told me4 ,i do not  question its truth4 
,it came as all truth does1 through a   
clouded and  unclean medium3 and any    
judgment of the story itself must be    
based upon  a knowledge of the personal 

equation of the ,ruin who told it4    ,i
 am no tramp1 he said1 in reality1 ,i am
 no tramp4 ,i began as well as          
anyone--,it doesn't matter now1 only ,i 
won't have any of the sympathy  that    
people give to the man who has seen     
better days4 ,i hate sentiment4  ,i hate
 it----    ,i cannot attempt to set down
 the story in his own words4 ,it was    
broken  with exclamations and involved  
with wandering sophistries and diatribes
  of self-blame4 ,his mind had trampled 
upon itself in throes of  introspection 
until it was often difficult to say     
which way the paths of  the narrative   
really led4 ,he had thought so much and 
acted so little  that he travelled in a 
veritable bog of indecision4 ,and yet1  
withal1  some ideas1 by constant        
attrition1 had acquired a really        
striking form4  ,i am afraid before     
life1 he said4 ,it makes me dizzy with  
thought4    ,at another time he said1   
,if ,i am a tramp at all1 ,i am a mental
 tramp4 ,i  have an unanchored mind4    

,it seems that he came to a realisation 
that there was something peculiar  about
 him at a very early age4 ,he said they 
would look at him and  whisper to one   
another and that his sayings were much  
repeated1 often in  his hearing4 ,he    
knew that he was considered an          
extraordinary child3 they  baited him   
with questions that they might laugh at 
his quaint replies4  ,he said that as   
early as he could remember he used to   
plan situations so  that he might say   
things that were strange and even       
shocking in a  child4 ,his father was a 
small professor in a small college--a   
worm he  called him bitterly--one of    
those worms that bores in books and     
finally  dries up and blows off4 ,but   
his mother--he said she was an angel4 ,i
  recall his exact expression about her 
eyes that when she looked at one  it    
made him better4 ,he spoke of her with a
 softening of the voice1  looking often 
at ,harriet4 ,he talked a good deal     
about his mother1 trying  to account for

 himself through her4 ,she was not      
strong1 he said1 and  very sensitive to 
the contact of either friends or        
enemies--evidently a  nervous1          
high-strung woman4    ,you have known   
such people1 he said1 everything hurt   
her4    ,he said she starved to death4  
,she starved for affection and          
understanding4    ,one of the first     
things he recalled of his boyhood was   
his passionate  love for his mother4    
,i can remember1 he said1 lying awake in
 my bed and thinking how ,i  would love 
her and serve her--and ,i could see     
myself in all sorts of  impossible      
places saving her from danger4 ,when she
 came to my room to  bid me good night1 
,i imagined how ,i should look--for ,i  
have always been  able to see myself    
doing things--when ,i threw my arms     
around her neck to  kiss her4    ,here  
he reached a strange part of his story4 
,i had been watching ,harriet  out of   
the corner of my eye4 ,at first her face
 was tearful with  compassion1 but as   

the ,ruin proceeded it became a study in
 wonder and  finally in outright alarm4 
,he said that when his mother came in to
 bid  him good night he saw himself so  
plainly beforehand 7more vividly than   
,i see you at this moment7 and felt his 
emotion so keenly that when his  mother 
actually stooped to kiss him1 somehow he
 could not respond1 he  could not throw 
his arms around her neck4 ,he said he   
often lay quiet1 in  waiting1 trembling 
all over until she had gone1 not only   
suffering  himself but pitying her1     
because he understood how she must feel4
 ,then  he would follow her1 he said1 in
 imagination through the long hall1     
seeing himself stealing behind her1 just
 touching her hand1 wistfully  hoping   
that she might turn to him again--and   
yet fearing4 ,he said no one  knew the  
agonies he suffered at seeing his       
mother's disappointment over  his       
apparent coldness and unresponsiveness4 
,i think1 he said1 it hastened her      
death4 ,he would not go to the  funeral2

 he did not dare1 he said4 ,he cried and
 fought when they came to  take him     
away1 and when the house was silent he  
ran up to her room and  buried his head 
in her pillows and ran in swift         
imagination to her  funeral4 ,he said he
 could see himself in the country road1 
hurrying in  the cold rain--for it      
seemed raining--he said he could        
actually feel the  stones and ruts1     
although he could not tell how it was   
possible that he  should have seen      
himself at a distance and felt in his   
own feet the  stones of the road4 ,he   
said he saw the box taken from the      
wagon--saw  it--and that he heard the   
sound of the clods thrown in1 and it    
made him  shriek until they came running
 and held him4    ,as he grew older he  
said he came to live everything         
beforehand1 and that  the event as      
imagined was so far more vivid and      
affecting that he had no  heart for the 
reality itself4    ,it seems strange to 
you1 he said1 but ,i am telling you     

exactly what  my experience was4    ,it 
was curious1 he said1 when his father   
told him he must not do a  thing1 how he
 went on and imagined in how many       
different ways he could  do it--and how1
 afterward1 he imagined he was punished 
by that worm1  his father1 whom he      
seemed to hate bitterly4 ,of those early
 days1 in  which he suffered acutely--in
 idleness1 apparently--and perhaps that 
was  one of the causes of his           
disorder--he told us at length1 but many
 of the  incidents were so evidently    
worn by the constant handling of his    
mind  that they gave no clear           
impression4    ,finally1 he ran away    
from home1 he said4 ,at first he found  
that a wholly  new place and new people 
took him out of himself 7surprised me1  
he  said1 so that ,i could not live     
everything beforehand74 ,thus he fled4  
,the slang he used1 chased himself all  
over the country1 seemed  peculiarly    
expressive4 ,he had been in foreign     
countries2 he had herded  sheep in      

,australia 7so he said71 and certainly  
from his knowledge of the  country he   
had wandered with the gamboleros of     
,south ,america2 he had  gone for gold  
to ,alaska1 and worked in the lumber    
camps of the ,pacific  ,northwest4 ,but 
he could not escape1 he said4 ,in a     
short time he was no  longer surprised4 
,his account of his travels1 while      
fragmentary1 had a  peculiar vividness4 
,he saw what he described1 and he saw it
 so plainly  that his mind ran off into 
curious details that made his words     
strike  sometimes like flashes of       
lightning4 ,a strange and wonderful     
mind--uncontrolled4 ,how that man needed
 the discipline of common work6    ,i   
have rarely listened to a story with    
such rapt interest4 ,it was not  only   
what he said1 nor how he said it1 but   
how he let me see the strange  workings 
of his mind4 ,it was continuously a     
story of a story4 ,when his  voice      
finally died down ,i drew a long breath 
and was astonished to  perceive that it 

was nearly midnight--and ,harriet       
speechless with her  emotions4 ,for a   
moment he sat quiet and then burst out3 
,i cannot get away3 ,i cannot escape1   
and the veritable look of some  trapped 
creature came into his eyes1 fear so    
abject that ,i reached over  and laid my
 hand on his arm3    ,friend1 ,i said1  
stop here4 ,we have a good country4 ,you
 have travelled  far enough4 ,i know    
from experience what a cornfield will do
 for a man4    ,i have lived all sorts  
of life1 he continued as if he had not  
heard a  word ,i said1 and ,i have lived
 it all twice1 and ,i am afraid4        
,face it1 ,i said1 gripping his arm1    
longing for some power to blow  grit    
into him4    ,face it6 he exclaimed1    
don't you suppose ,i have tried4 ,if ,i 
could do  a thing--anything--a few times
 without thinking--once would be        
enough--,i might be all right4 ,i should
 be all right4    ,he brought his fist  
down on the table1 and there was a note 
of  resolution in his voice4 ,i moved my

 chair nearer to him1 feeling as  though
 ,i were saving an immortal soul from   
destruction4 ,i told him of  our life1  
how the quiet and the work of it would  
solve his problems4 ,i  sketched with   
enthusiasm my own experience and ,i     
planned swiftly how he  could live1     
absorbed in simple work--and in books4  
,try it1 ,i said eagerly4    ,i will1 he
 said1 rising from the table1 and       
grasping my hand4 ,i'll  stay here4     
,i had a peculiar thrill of exultation  
and triumph4 ,i know how the priest     
must feel1 having won a soul from       
torment6    ,he was trembling with      
excitement and pale with emotion and    
weariness4  ,one must begin the quiet   
life with rest4 ,so ,i got him off to   
bed1 first  pouring him a bathtub of    
warm water4 ,i laid out clean clothes by
 his  bedside and took away his old     
ones1 talking to him cheerfully all the 
time about common things4 ,when ,i      
finally left him and came downstairs ,i 
found ,harriet standing with frightened 

eyes in the middle of the  kitchen4     
,i'm afraid to have him sleep in this   
house1 she said4    ,but ,i reassured   
her4 ,you do not understand1 ,i said4   
,owing to the excitement of the evening 
,i spent a restless night4 ,before      
daylight1 while ,i was dreaming a       
strange dream of two men running1 the   
one who pursued being the exact         
counterpart of the one who fled1 ,i     
heard  my name called aloud3    ,david1 
,david6    ,i sprang out of bed4    ,the
 tramp has gone1 called ,harriet4    ,he
 had not even slept in his bed4 ,he had 
raised the window1 dropped out  on the  
ground and vanished4        ,x          
,,the ,,infidel    ,i find that we have 
an infidel in this community4 ,i don't  
know that ,i  should set down the fact  
here on good white paper2 the walls1    
they say1  have eyes1 the stones have   
ears4 ,but consider these words written 
in  bated breath6 ,the worst of it      
is--,i gather from common report--this  
infidel is a ,cheerful ,infidel1 whereas

 a true infidel should bear upon  his   
face the living mark of his infamy4 ,we 
are all tolerant enough of  those who do
 not agree with us1 provided only they  
are sufficiently  miserable6 ,i confess 
when ,i first heard of him--through     
,mrs4 ,horace  7with shudders7--,i was  
possessed of a consuming secret desire  
to see  him4 ,i even thought of climbing
 a tree somewhere along the public      
road--like ,zaccheus1 wasn't it8--and   
watching him go by4 ,if by any  chance  
he should look my way ,i could easily   
avoid discovery by crouching  among the 
leaves4 ,it shows how pleasant must be  
the paths of  unrighteousness that we   
are tempted to climb trees to see those 
who walk  therein4 ,my imagination      
busied itself with the infidel4 ,i      
pictured him  as a sort of ,moloch      
treading our pleasant countryside1      
flames and smoke  proceeding from his   
nostrils1 his feet striking fire1 his   
voice like the  sound of a great wind4  
,at least that was the picture ,i formed

 of him  from common report4    ,and    
yesterday afternoon ,i met the infidel  
and ,i must here set down a  true       
account of the adventure4 ,it is1       
surely1 a little new door opened  in the
 house of my understanding4 ,i might    
travel a whole year in a city1  brushing
 men's elbows1 and not once have such an
 experience4 ,in country  spaces men    
develop sensitive surfaces1 not         
calloused by too frequent  contact1     
accepting the new impression vividly and
 keeping it bright to  think upon4    ,i
 met the infidel as the result of a     
rather unexpected series of  incidents4 
,i don't think ,i have said before that 
we have for some time  been expecting a 
great event on this farm4 ,we have      
raised corn and  buckwheat1 we have a   
fertile asparagus bed and onions and    
pie-plant  7enough to supply the entire 
population of this community7 and ,i    
can't  tell how many other vegetables4  
,we have had plenty of chickens hatched 
out 7,i don't like chickens1 especially 

hens1 especially a certain gaunt  and   
predatory hen named so ,harriet says    
,evangeline1 who belongs to a  neighbour
 of ours7 and we have had two litters of
 pigs1 but until this  bright moment of 
expectancy we never have had a calf4    
,upon the advice of ,horace1 which ,i   
often lean upon as upon a staff1 ,i     
have been keeping my young heifer shut  
up in the cow-yard now for a week  or   
two4 ,but yesterday1 toward the middle  
of the afternoon1 ,i found the  fence   
broken down and the cow-yard empty4     
,from what ,harriet said1 the  brown cow
 must have been gone since early        
morning4 ,i knew1 of course1  what that 
meant1 and straightway ,i took a stout  
stick and set off over  the hill1       
tracing the brown cow as far as ,i could
 by her tracks4 ,she had  made way      
toward a clump of trees near ,horace's  
wood lot1 where ,i  confidently expected
 to find her4 ,but as fate would have   
it1 the pasture  gate1 which is rarely  
used1 stood open and the tracks led     

outward into  an old road4 ,i followed  
rapidly1 half pleased that ,i had not   
found her  within the wood4 ,it was a   
promise of new adventure which ,i came  
to with  downright enjoyment            
7confidentially--,i should have been    
cultivating  corn674 ,i peered into     
every thicket as ,i passed3 once ,i     
climbed an old  fence and1 standing on  
the top rail1 intently surveyed my      
neighbour's  pasture4 ,no brown cow was 
to be seen4 ,at the crossing of the     
brook ,i  shouldered my way from the    
road down a path among the alders1      
thinking  the brown cow might have gone 
that way to obscurity4    ,it is curious
 how1 in spite of domestication and     
training1 ,nature in her  great moments 
returns to the primitive and            
instinctive6 ,my brown cow1  never      
having had anything but the kindest     
treatment1 is as gentle an  animal as   
could be imagined1 but she had followed 
the nameless1  ages-old law of her      
breed3 she had escaped in her great     

moment to the  most secret place she    
knew4 ,it did not matter that she would 
have been  safer in my yard--both she   
and her calf--that she would have been  
surer  of her food2 she could only obey 
the old wild law4 ,so turkeys will hide 
their nests4 ,so the tame duck1 tame for
 unnumbered generations1 hearing  from  
afar the shrill cry of the wild drake1  
will desert her quiet  surroundings1    
spread her little-used wings and become 
for a time the  wildest of the wild4    
,so we think--you and ,i--that we are   
civilised6 ,but how often1 how often1   
have we felt that old wildness which is 
our common heritage1 scarce  shackled1  
clamouring in our blood6    ,i stood    
listening among the alders1 in the deep 
cool shade4 ,here and  there a ray of   
sunshine came through the thick foliage3
 ,i could see it  where it silvered the 
cobweb ladders of those moist spaces4   
,somewhere in  the thicket ,i heard an  
unalarmed catbird trilling her exquisite
 song1 a  startled frog leaped with a   

splash into the water2 faint odours of  
some  blossoming growth1 not            
distinguishable1 filled the still air4  
,it was  one of those rare moments when 
one seems to have caught ,nature        
unaware4  ,i lingered a full minute1    
listening1 looking2 but my brown cow had
 not  gone that way4 ,so ,i turned and  
went up rapidly to the road1 and there  
,i  found myself almost face to face    
with a ruddy little man whose           
countenance bore a look of round        
astonishment4 ,we were both surprised4  
,i  recovered first4    ,have you seen a
 brown cow8 ,i asked4    ,he was still  
so astonished that he began to look     
around him2 he thrust  his hands        
nervously into his coat pockets and     
pulled them out again4    ,i think you  
won't find her in there1 ,i said1       
seeking to relieve his  embarrassment4  
,but ,i didn't know1 then1 how very     
serious a person ,i had encountered4    
,no--no1 he stammered1 ,i haven't seen  
your cow4    ,so ,i explained to him    

with sobriety1 and at some length1 the  
problem ,i  had to solve4 ,he was       
greatly interested and inasmuch as he   
was going my  way he offered at once to 
assist me in my search4 ,so we set off  
together4 ,he was rather stocky of      
build1 and decidedly short of breath1   
so that ,i regulated my customary stride
 to suit his deliberation4 ,at  first1  
being filled with the spirit of my      
adventure1 ,i was not  altogether       
pleased with this arrangement4 ,our     
conversation ran something  like this3  
,,stranger3 ,has she any spots or marks 
on her8    ,,myself3 ,no1 she is plain  
brown4    ,,stranger3 ,how old a cow is 
she8    ,,myself3 ,this is her first    
calf4    ,,stranger3 ,valuable animal8  
,,myself3 7fencing73 ,i have never put a
 price on her2 she is a promising  young
 heifer4    ,,stranger3 ,pure blood8    
,,myself3 ,no1 grade4    ,after a pause3
    ,,stranger3 ,live around here8      
,,myself3 ,yes1 half a mile below here4 
,do you8    ,,stranger3 ,yes1 three     

miles above here4 ,my name's ,purdy4    
,,myself3 ,mine is ,grayson4    ,he     
turned to me solemnly and held out his  
hand4 ,i'm glad to meet you1  ,mr4      
,grayson1 he said4 ,and ,i'm glad1 ,i   
said1 to meet you1 ,mr4 ,purdy4    ,i   
will not attempt to put down all we     
said3 ,i couldn't4 ,but by such  devices
 is the truth in the country made       
manifest4    ,so we continued to walk   
and look4 ,occasionally ,i would        
unconsciously  increase my pace until ,i
 was warned to desist by the puffing of 
,mr4  ,purdy4 ,he gave an essential     
impression of genial timidity3 and how  
he  did love to talk6    ,we came at    
last to a rough bit of land grown up to 
scrubby oaks and  hazel brush4    ,this1
 said ,mr4 ,purdy1 looks hopeful4    ,we
 followed the old road1 examining every 
bare spot of earth for some  evidence of
 the cow's tracks1 but without finding  
so much as a sign4 ,i  was for pushing  
onward but ,mr4 ,purdy insisted that    
this clump of woods  was exactly such a 

place as a cow would like4 ,he developed
 such a  capacity for argumentation and 
seemed so sure of what he was talking   
about that ,i yielded1 and we entered   
the wood4    ,we'll part here1 he said3 
you keep over there about fifty yards   
and  ,i'll go straight ahead4 ,in that  
way we'll cover the ground4 ,keep       
a-shoutin'4    ,so we started and ,i    
kept a-shoutin'4 ,he would answer from  
time to time3  ,hulloo hulloo6    ,it   
was a wild and beautiful bit of forest4 
,the ground under the trees  was thickly
 covered with enormous ferns or bracken1
 with here and there  patches of light  
where the sun came through the foliage4 
,the low spots  were filled with the    
coarse green verdure of skunk cabbage4  
,i was so  sceptical about finding the  
cow in a wood where concealment was so  
easy  that ,i confess ,i rather idled   
and enjoyed the surroundings4 ,suddenly1
  however1 ,i heard ,mr4 ,purdy's voice1
 with a new note in it3    ,hulloo1     
hulloo----    ,what luck8    ,hulloo1   

hulloo----    ,i'm coming-- and ,i      
turned and ran as rapidly as ,i could   
through the  trees1 jumping over logs   
and dodging low branches1 wondering what
 new  thing my friend had discovered4   
,so ,i came to his side4    ,have you   
got trace of her8 ,i questioned eagerly4
    ,sh6 he said1 over there4 ,don't you
 see her8    ,where1 where8    ,he      
pointed1 but for a moment ,i could see  
nothing but the trees and the  bracken4 
,then all at once1 like the puzzle in a 
picture1 ,i saw her  plainly4 ,she was  
standing perfectly motionless1 her head 
lowered1 and in  such a peculiar clump  
of bushes and ferns that she was all but
  indistinguishable4 ,it was wonderful1 
the perfection with which her  instinct 
had led her to conceal herself4    ,all 
excitement1 ,i started toward her at    
once4 ,but ,mr4 ,purdy put his hand  on 
my arm4    ,wait1 he said1 don't        
frighten her4 ,she has her calf there4  
,no6 ,i exclaimed1 for ,i could see     
nothing of it4    ,we went1 cautiously1 

a few steps nearer4 ,she threw up her   
head and  looked at us so wildly for a  
moment that ,i should hardly have known 
her  for my cow4 ,she was1 indeed1 for  
the time being1 a wild creature of the  
wood4 ,she made a low sound and advanced
 a step threateningly4    ,steady1 said 
,mr4 ,purdy1 this is her first calf4    
,stop a minute and  keep quiet4 ,she'll 
soon get used to us4    ,moving to one  
side cautiously1 we sat down on an old  
log4 ,the brown  heifer paused1 every   
muscle tense1 her eyes literally        
blazing1 ,we sat  perfectly still4      
,after a minute or two she lowered her  
head1 and with  curious guttural sounds 
she began to lick her calf1 which lay   
quite  hidden in the bracken4    ,she   
has chosen a perfect spot1 ,i thought to
 myself1 for it was the  wildest bit of 
forest ,i had seen anywhere in this     
neighbourhood4 ,at one  side1 not far   
off1 rose a huge gray rock1 partly      
covered on one side  with moss1 and     
round about were oaks and a few ash     

trees of a poor  scrubby sort 7else they
 would long ago have been cut out74 ,the
 earth  underneath was soft and springy 
with leaf mould4--    ,mr4 ,purdy was   
one to whom silence was painful2 he     
fidgeted about1  evidently bursting with
 talk1 and yet feeling compelled to     
follow his  own injunction of silence4  
,presently he reached into his capacious
  pocket and handed me a little         
paper-covered booklet4 ,i took it1      
curious1  and read the title3    ,is    
,there a ,hell8    ,it struck me        
humorously4 ,in the country we are      
always--at least some of  us are--more  
or less in a religious ferment1 ,the    
city may distract  itself to the point  
where faith is unnecessary2 but in the  
country we  must1 perforce1 have        
something to believe in4 ,and we talk   
about it1 too6  ,i read the title aloud1
 but in a low voice3    ,is ,there a    
,hell8 ,then ,i asked3 ,do you really   
want to know8    ,the argument is all   
there1 he replied4    ,well1 ,i said1 ,i

 can tell you off-hand1 out of my own   
experience1 that  there certainly is a  
hell----    ,he turned toward me with   
evident astonishment1 but ,i proceeded  
with  tranquillity3    ,yes1 sir1       
there's no doubt about it4 ,i've been   
near enough myself  several times to    
smell the smoke4 ,it isn't around here1 
,i said4    ,as he looked at me his     
china-blue eyes grew larger1 if that    
were  possible1 and his serious1 gentle 
face took on a look of pained  surprise4
    ,before you say such things1 he     
said1 ,i beg you to read my book4    ,he
 took the tract from my hands and opened
 it on his knee4    ,the ,bible tells   
us1 he said1 that in the beginning ,god 
created the  heavens and the earth1 ,he 
made the firmament and divided the      
waters4  ,but does the ,bible say that  
,he created a hell or a devil8 ,does it8
    ,i shook my head4    ,well1 then6 he
 said triumphantly1 and that isn't all1 
either4 ,the  historian ,moses gives in 
detail a full account of what was made  

in six  days4 ,he tells how day and     
night were created1 how the sun and the 
moon  and the stars were made2 he tells 
how ,god created the flowers of the     
field1 and the insects1 and the birds1  
and the great whales1 and said1  ',be   
fruitful and multiply1' ,he accounts for
 every minute of the time in  the entire
 six days--and of course ,god rested on 
the seventh--and there  is not one word 
about hell4 ,is there8    ,i shook my   
head4    ,well then-- exultantly1 where 
is it8 ,i'd like to have any man1 no    
matter how wise he is1 answer that4     
,where is it8    ,that1 ,i said1 has    
troubled me1 too4 ,we don't always know 
just where  our hells are4 ,if we did we
 might avoid them4 ,we are not so       
sensitive to  them as we should be--do  
you think8    ,he looked at me intently3
 ,i went on before he could answer3     
,why1 ,i've seen men in my time living  
from day to day in the very  atmosphere 
of perpetual torment1 and actually      
arguing that there was no  hell4 ,it is 

a strange sight1 ,i assure you1 and one 
that will trouble you  afterwards4 ,from
 what ,i know of hell1 it is a place of 
very loose  boundaries4 ,sometimes ,i've
 thought we couldn't be quite sure when 
we  were in it and when we were not4    
,i did not tell my friend1 but ,i was   
thinking of the remark of old           
,swedenborg3 ,the trouble with hell is  
we shall not know it when we  arrive4   
,at this point ,mr4 ,purdy burst out    
again1 having opened his little book  at
 another page4    ,when ,adam and ,eve  
had sinned1 he said1 and the ,god of    
,heaven walked  in the garden in the    
cool of the evening and called for them 
and they  had hidden themselves on      
account of their disobedience1 did ,god 
say to  them3 ,unless you repent of your
 sins and get forgiveness ,i will shut  
you  up in yon dark and dismal hell and 
torment you 7or have the devil do it7   
for ever and ever8 ,was there such a    
word8    ,i shook my head4              
,illustration3 ,he reached into his     

pocket and handed me a little           
paper-covered booklet    ,no1 sir1 he   
said vehemently1 there was not4    ,but 
does it say1 ,i asked1 that ,adam and   
,eve had not themselves been  using     
their best wits in creating a hell8     
,that point has occurred to me4  ,in my 
experience ,i've known both ,adams and  
,eves who were most adroit in  their    
capacity for making places of           
torment--and afterwards of getting  into
 them4 ,just watch yourself some day    
after you've sown a crop of  desires and
 you'll see promising little hells      
starting up within you  like pigweeds   
and pusley after a warm rain in your    
garden4 ,and our  heavens1 too1 for that
 matter--they grow to our own planting3 
and how  sensitive they are too6 ,how   
soon the hot wind of a passion withers  
them  away6 ,how surely the fires of    
selfishness blacken their perfection6   
,i'd almost forgotten ,mr4 ,purdy--and  
when ,i looked around1 his face wore  a 
peculiar puzzled expression not unmixed 

with alarm4 ,he held up his  little book
 eagerly almost in my face4    ,if ,god 
had intended to create a hell1 he said1 
,i assert without fear  of successful   
contradiction that when ,god was there  
in the ,garden of  ,eden it was the time
 for ,him to have put ,adam and ,eve and
 all their  posterity on notice that    
there was a place of everlasting        
torment4 ,it  would have been only a    
square deal for ,him to do so4 ,but did 
,he8    ,i shook my head4    ,he did    
not4 ,if ,he had mentioned hell on that 
occasion ,i should not now  dispute its 
existence4 ,but ,he did not4 ,this is   
what ,he said to ,adam--the  very words3
 ',in the sweat of thy face shalt thou  
eat bread1 till thou  return unto the   
ground3 for out of it thou wast taken3  
for dust thou  art1 and unto dust shalt 
thou return4' ,you see ,he did not say  
',unto hell  shalt thou return4' ,he    
said1 ',unto dust4' ,that isn't hell1 is
 it8    ,well1 ,i said1 there are in my 
experience a great many different kinds 

of hells4 ,there are almost as many     
kinds of hells as there are men and     
women upon this earth4 ,now1 your hell  
wouldn't terrify me in the least4  ,my  
own makes me no end of trouble4 ,talk   
about burning pitch and  brimstone3 how 
futile were the imaginations of the old 
fellows who  conjured up such puerile   
torments4 ,why1 ,i can tell you of no   
end of  hells that are worse--and not   
half try4 ,once ,i remember1 when ,i was
  younger----    ,i happened to glance  
around at my companion4 ,he sat there   
looking at me  with horror--fascinated  
horror4    ,well1 ,i won't disturb your 
peace of mind by telling that story1 ,i 
said4    ,do you believe that we shall  
go to hell8 he asked in a low voice4    
,that depends1 ,i said4 ,let's leave out
 the question of 'we'2 let's be  more   
comfortably general in our discussion4  
,i think we can safely say  that some go
 and some do not4 ,it's a curious and   
noteworthy thing1 ,i  said1 but ,i've   
known of cases--,there are some people  

who aren't really  worth good honest    
tormenting--let alone the rewards of    
heavenly bliss4  ,they just haven't     
anything to torment6 ,what is going to  
become of such  folks8 ,i confess ,i    
don't know4 ,you remember when ,dante   
began his journey  into the infernal    
regions----    ,i don't believe a word  
of that ,dante1 he interrupted          
excitedly2 it's  all a made up story4   
,there isn't a word of truth in it2 it  
is a  blasphemous book4 ,let me read you
 what ,i say about it in here4    ,i    
will agree with you without argument1 ,i
 said1 that it is not all  true4 ,i     
merely wanted to speak of one of        
,dante's experiences as an  illustration
 of the point ,i'm making4 ,you remember
 that almost the first  spirits he met  
on his journey were those who had never 
done anything in  this life to merit    
either heaven or hell4 ,that always     
struck me as being  about the worst     
plight imaginable for a human being4    
,think of a creature  not even worth    

good honest brimstone6    ,since ,i came
 home1 ,i've looked up the passage2 and 
it is a wonderful  one4 ,dante heard    
wailings and groans and terrible things 
said in many  tongues4 ,yet these were  
not the souls of the wicked4 ,they were 
only  those who had lived without praise
 or blame1 thinking of nothing but      
themselves4 ,heaven would not dull its  
brightness with those1 nor would  lower 
hell receive them4    ,and what is it1  
asked ,dante1 that makes them so        
grievously suffer8    ,hopelessness of  
death1 said ,virgil1 ,their blind       
existence here1 and  immemorable former 
life1 make them so wretched that they   
envy every  other lot4 ,mercy and       
,justice alike disdain them4 ,let us    
speak of them  no more4 ,look1 and pass6
    ,but ,mr4 ,purdy1 in spite of his   
timidity1 was a man of much persistence4
    ,they tell me1 he said1 when they   
try to prove the reasonableness of      
hell1 that unless you show sinners how  
they're goin' to be tormented1  they'd  

never repent4 ,now1 ,i say that if a man
 has to be scared into  religion1 his   
religion ain't much good4    ,there1 ,i 
said1 ,i agree with you completely4     
,his face lighted up1 and he continued  
eagerly3    ,and ,i tell 'em3 ,you just 
go ahead and try for heaven2 don't pay  
any  attention to all this talk about   
everlasting punishment4    ,good advice6
 ,i said4    ,it had begun to grow dark4
 ,the brown cow was quiet at last4 ,we  
could  hear small faint sounds from the 
calf4 ,i started slowly through the     
bracken4 ,mr4 ,purdy hung at my elbow1  
stumbling sideways as he walked1  but   
continuing to talk eagerly4 ,so we came 
to the place where the calf  lay4 ,i    
spoke in a low voice3    ,so boss1 so   
boss4    ,i would have laid my hand on  
her neck but she started back with a    
wild  toss of her horns4 ,it was a      
beautiful calf6 ,i looked at it with a  
peculiar feeling of exultation1 pride1  
ownership4 ,it was red-brown1 with  a   
round curly pate and one white leg4 ,as 

it lay curled there among the  ferns1 it
 was really beautiful to look at4 ,when 
we approached1 it did  not so much as   
stir4 ,i lifted it to its legs1 upon    
which the cow  uttered a strange        
half-wild cry and ran a few steps off1  
her head thrown  in the air4 ,the calf  
fell back as though it had no legs4     
,she is telling it not to stand up1 said
 ,mr4 ,purdy4    ,i had been afraid at  
first that something was the matter6    
,some are like that1 he said4 ,some call
 their calves to run4 ,others  won't let
 you come near 'em at all2 and ,i've    
even known of a case where a  cow gored 
its calf to death rather than let anyone
 touch it4    ,i looked at ,mr4 ,purdy  
not without a feeling of admiration4    
,this was a  thing he knew3 a language  
not taught in the universities4 ,how    
well it  became him to know it2 how     
simply he expressed it6 ,i thought to   
myself3  ,there are not many men in this
 world1 after all1 that it will not pay 
us to go to school to--for something or 

other4    ,i should never have been     
able1 indeed1 to get the cow and calf   
home1  last night at least1 if it had   
not been for my chance friend4 ,he knew 
exactly what to do and how to do it4 ,he
 wore a stout coat of denim1  rather    
long in the skirts4 ,this he slipped    
off1 while ,i looked on in  some        
astonishment1 and spread it out on the  
ground4 ,he placed my staff  under one  
side of it and found another stick      
nearly the same size for  the other     
side4 ,these he wound into the coat     
until he had made a sort of  stretcher4 
,upon this we placed the unresisting    
calf4 ,what a fine one it  was6 ,then1  
he in front and ,i behind1 we carried   
the stretcher and its  burden out of the
 wood4 ,the cow followed1 sometimes     
threatening1  sometimes bellowing1      
sometimes starting off wildly1 head and 
tail in the  air1 only to rush back and1
 venturing up with trembling muscles1   
touch  her tongue to the calf1 uttering 
low maternal sounds4    ,keep steady1   

said ,mr4 ,purdy1 and everything'll be  
all right4    ,when we came to the brook
 we stopped to rest4 ,i think my        
companion would  have liked to start his
 argument again1 but he was too short of
 breath4    ,it was a prime spring      
evening6 ,the frogs were tuning up4 ,i  
heard a  drowsy cowbell somewhere over  
the hills in the pasture4 ,the brown    
cow1  with eager1 outstretched neck1 was
 licking her calf as it lay there on    
the improvised stretcher4 ,i looked up  
at the sky1 a blue avenue of  heaven    
between the tree tops2 ,i felt the      
peculiar sense of mystery which  nature 
so commonly conveys4    ,i have been too
 sure6 ,i said4 ,what do we know after  
all6 ,why may  there not be future      
heavens and hells--'other heavens for   
other earths'8  ,we do not know--we do  
not know--    ,so1 carrying the calf1 in
 the cool of the evening1 we came at    
last to my  yard4 ,we had no sooner put 
the calf down than it jumped nimbly to  
its  feet and ran1 wobbling absurdly1 to

 meet its mother4    ,the rascal1 ,i    
said1 after all our work4    ,it's the  
nature of the animal1 said ,mr4 ,purdy1 
as he put on his coat4    ,i could not  
thank him enough4 ,i invited him to stay
 with us to supper1  but he said he must
 hurry home4    ,then come down soon to 
see me1 ,i said1 and we will settle this
  question as to the existence of a     
hell4    ,he stepped up close to me and 
said1 with an appealing note in his     
voice3    ,you do not really believe in 
a hell1 do you8    ,how human nature    
loves collusiveness3 nothing short of   
the categorical  will satisfy us6 ,what 
,i said to ,mr4 ,purdy evidently        
appeased him1 for he  seized my hand and
 shook and shook4    ,we haven't        
understood each other1 he said eagerly4 
,you don't believe  in eternal damnation
 any more than ,i do4 ,then he added1 as
 though some  new uncertainty puzzled   
him1 ,do you8    ,at supper ,i was      
telling ,harriet with gusto of my       
experiences4 ,suddenly  she broke out3  

,what was his name8    ,purdy4    ,why1 
he's the infidel that ,mrs4 ,horace     
tells about6    ,is that possible8 ,i   
said1 and ,i dropped my knife and fork4 
,the  strangest sensation came over me4 
,why1 ,i said1 then ,i'm an infidel too6
    ,so ,i laughed and ,i've been       
laughing gloriously ever since--at      
myself1 at  the infidel1 at the entire  
neighbourhood4 ,i recalled that         
delightful  character in ,the ,vicar of 
,wakefield 7my friend the ,scotch       
,preacher  loves to tell about him71 who
 seasons error by crying out ,fudge6    
,fudge6 ,i said4    ,we're all poor     
sinners6        ,,xi      ,,the         
,,country ,,doctor    ,sunday afternoon1
 ,june #i4    ,we had a funeral to-day  
in this community and the longest       
funeral  procession1 ,charles ,baxter   
says1 he has seen in all the years of   
his  memory among these hills4 ,a good  
man has gone away--and yet remains4 ,in 
the comparatively short time ,i have    
been here ,i never came to know him     

well personally1 though ,i saw him often
 in the country roads1 a ruddy  old     
gentleman with thick1 coarse1 iron-gray 
hair1 somewhat stern of  countenance1   
somewhat shabby of attire1 sitting as   
erect as a trooper in  his open buggy1  
one muscular hand resting on his knee1  
the other holding  the reins of his     
familiar old white horse4 ,i said ,i did
 not come to know  him well personally1 
and yet no one who knows this community 
can help  knowing ,doctor ,john ,north4 
,i never so desired the gift of moving  
expression as ,i do at this moment1 on  
my return from his funeral1 that ,i  may
 give some faint idea of what a good man
 means to a community like  ours--as the
 more complete knowledge of it has come 
to me to-day4    ,in the district school
 that ,i attended when a boy we used to 
love to  leave our mark1 as we called   
it1 wherever our rovings led us4 ,it was
 a  bit of boyish mysticism1            
unaccountable now that we have grown    
older and  wiser 7perhaps72 but it had  

its meaning4 ,it was an instinctive     
outreaching of the young soul to        
perpetuate the knowledge of its         
existence upon this forgetful earth4 ,my
 mark1 ,i remember1 was a notch  and a  
cross4 ,with what secret fond diligence 
,i carved it in the gray  bark of beech 
trees1 on fence posts1 or on barn doors1
 and once1 ,i  remember1 on the         
roof-ridge of our home1 and once1 with  
high imaginings  of how long it would   
remain1 ,i spent hours chiseling it deep
 in a  hard-headed old boulder in the   
pasture1 where1 if man has been as kind 
as ,nature1 it remains to this day4 ,if 
you should chance to see it you  would  
not know of the boy who carved it there4
    ,so ,doctor ,north left his secret  
mark upon the neighbourhood--as all of  
us do1 for good or for ill1 upon our    
neighbourhoods1 in accordance  with the 
strength of that character which abides 
within us4 ,for a long  time ,i did not 
know that it was he1 though it was not  
difficult to see  that some strong good 

man had often passed this way4 ,i saw   
the mystic  sign of him deep-lettered in
 the hearthstone of a home2 ,i heard it 
speaking bravely from the weak lips of a
 friend2 it is carved in the  plastic   
heart of many a boy4 ,no1 ,i do not     
doubt the immortalities of the  soul2 in
 this community1 which ,i have come to  
love so much1 dwells more  than one of  
,john ,north's immortalities--and will  
continue to dwell4 ,i1  too1 live more  
deeply because ,john ,north was here4   
,he was in no outward way an            
extraordinary man1 nor was his life     
eventful4 ,he was born in this          
neighbourhood3 ,i saw him lying quite   
still  this morning in the same sunny   
room of the same house where he first   
saw  the light of day4 ,here among these
 common hills he grew up1 and save for  
the few years he spent at school or in  
the army1 he lived here all his  life   
long4 ,in old neighbourhoods and        
especially farm neighbourhoods  people  
come to know one another--not clothes   

knowledge1 or money  knowledge--but that
 sort of knowledge which reaches down   
into the hidden  springs of human       
character4 ,a country community may be  
deceived by a  stranger1 too easily     
deceived1 but not by one of its own     
people4 ,for it  is not a studied       
knowledge2 it resembles that slow       
geologic uncovering  before which not   
even the deep buried bones of the       
prehistoric saurian  remain finally     
hidden4    ,i never fully realised until
 this morning what a supreme triumph it 
is1  having grown old1 to merit the     
respect of those who know us best4 ,mere
  greatness offers no reward to compare 
with it1 for greatness compels  that    
homage which we freely bestow upon      
goodness4 ,so long as ,i live ,i  shall 
never forget this morning4 ,i stood in  
the door-yard outside of  the open      
window of the old doctor's home4 ,it was
 soft1 and warm1 and  very still--a     
,june ,sunday morning4 ,an apple tree   
not far off was still  in blossom1 and  

across the road on a grassy hillside    
sheep fed  unconcernedly4 ,occasionally1
 from the roadway where the horses of   
the  countryside were waiting1 ,i heard 
the clink of a bit-ring or the low      
voice of some new-comer seeking a place 
to hitch4 ,not half those who  came     
could find room in the house3 they stood
 uncovered among the trees4  ,from      
within1 wafted through the window1 came 
the faint odour of flowers1  and the    
occasional minor intonation of someone  
speaking--and finally our  own ,scotch  
,preacher6 ,i could not see him1 but    
there lay in the cadences  of his voice 
a peculiar note of peacefulness1 of     
finality4 ,the day  before he died ,dr4 
,north had said3    ,i want ,mc,alway to
 conduct my funeral1 not as a minister  
but as a man4  ,he has been my friend   
for forty years2 he will know what ,i   
mean4    ,the ,scotch ,preacher did not 
say much4 ,why should he8 ,everyone     
there  knew3 and speech would only have 
cheapened what we knew4 ,and ,i do not  

now recall even the little he said1 for 
there was so much all about me  that    
spoke not of the death of a good man1   
but of his life4 ,a boy who  stood near 
me--a boy no longer1 for he was as tall 
as a man--gave a more  eloquent tribute 
than any preacher could have done4 ,i   
saw him stand his  ground for a time    
with that grim courage of youth which   
dreads emotion  more than a battle3 and 
then ,i saw him crying behind a tree6   
,he was not  a relative of the old      
doctor's2 he was only one of many into  
whose deep  life the doctor had entered4
    ,they sang ,lead1 ,kindly ,light1   
and came out through the narrow doorway 
into the sunshine with the coffin1 the  
hats of the pallbearers in a row  on    
top1 and there was hardly a dry eye     
among us4    ,and as they came out      
through the narrow doorway1 ,i thought  
how the  ,doctor must have looked out   
daily through so many1 many years upon  
this  beauty of hills and fields and of 
sky above1 grown dearer from long       

familiarity--which he would know no     
more4 ,and ,kate ,north1 the ,doctor's  
sister1 his only relative1 followed     
behind1 her fine old face gray and  set1
 but without a tear in her eye4 ,how    
like the ,doctor she looked3 the  same  
stern control6    ,in the hours which   
followed1 on the pleasant winding way to
 the  cemetery1 in the groups under the 
trees1 on the way homeward again1 the   
community spoke its true heart1 and ,i  
have come back with the feeling  that   
human nature1 at bottom1 is sound and   
sweet4 ,i knew a great deal  before     
about ,doctor ,north1 but ,i knew it as 
knowledge1 not as emotion1  and         
therefore it was not really a part of my
 life4    ,i heard again the stories of 
how he drove the country roads1 winter  
and  summer1 how he had seen most of the
 population into the world and had  held
 the hands of many who went out6 ,it was
 the plain1 hard life of a  country     
doctor1 and yet it seemed to rise in our
 community like some  great tree1 its   

roots deep buried in the soil of our    
common life1 its  branches close to the 
sky4 ,to those accustomed to the outward
  excitements of city life it would have
 seemed barren and uneventful4 ,it  was 
significant that the talk was not so    
much of what the ,doctor did as  of how 
he did it1 not so much of his actions as
 of the natural  expression of his      
character4 ,and when we come to think of
 it1 goodness  is uneventful4 ,it does  
not flash1 it glows4 ,it is deep1 quiet 
and very  simple4 ,it passes not with   
oratory1 it is commonly foreign to      
riches1  nor does it often sit in the   
places of the mighty3 but may be felt in
  the touch of a friendly hand or the   
look of a kindly eye4    ,outwardly1    
,john ,north often gave the impression  
of brusqueness4 ,many a  woman1 going to
 him for the first time1 and until she  
learned that he  was in reality as      
gentle as a girl1 was frightened by his 
manner4 ,the  country is full of stories
 of such encounters4 ,we laugh yet over 

the  adventure of a woman who formerly  
came to spend her summers here4 ,she    
dressed very beautifully and was        
nervous4 ,one day she went to call on   
the ,doctor4 ,he made a careful         
examination and asked many questions4   
,finally he said1 with portentous       
solemnity3    ,madam1 you're suffering  
from a very common complaint4    ,the   
,doctor paused1 then continued1         
impressively3    ,you haven't enough    
work to do4 ,this is what ,i would      
advise4 ,go home1  discharge your       
servants1 do your own cooking1 wash your
 own clothes and  make your own beds4   
,you'll get well4    ,she is reported to
 have been much offended1 and yet to-day
 there was a  wreath of white roses in  
,doctor ,north's room sent from the city
 by that  woman4    ,if he really hated 
anything in this world the ,doctor hated
 whimperers4  ,he had a deep sense of   
the purpose and need of punishment1 and 
he  despised those who fled from        
wholesome discipline4    ,a young fellow

 once went to the ,doctor--so they tell 
the story--and  asked for something to  
stop his pain4    ,stop it6 exclaimed   
the ,doctor3 why1 it's good for you4    
,you've done  wrong1 haven't you8 ,well1
 you're being punished2 take it like a  
man4  ,there's nothing more wholesome   
than good honest pain4    ,and yet how  
much pain he alleviated in this         
community--in forty years6    ,the deep 
sense that a man should stand up to his 
fate was one of the  key-notes of his   
character2 and the way he taught it1 not
 only by word  but by every action of   
his life1 put heart into many a weak man
 and  woman1 ,mrs4 ,patterson1 a friend 
of ours1 tells of a reply she once had  
from the ,doctor to whom she had gone   
with a new trouble4 ,after telling  him 
about it she said3    ,i've left it all 
with the ,lord4    ,you'd have done     
better1 said the ,doctor1 to keep it    
yourself4 ,trouble  is for your         
discipline3 the ,lord doesn't need it4  
,it was thus out of his wisdom that he  

was always telling people what  they    
knew1 deep down in their hearts1 to be  
true4 ,it sometimes hurt at  first1 but 
sooner or later1 if the man had a spark 
of real manhood in  him1 he came back1  
and gave the ,doctor an abiding         
affection4    ,there were those who1    
though they loved him1 called him       
intolerant4 ,i  never could look at it  
that way4 ,he did have the only kind of 
intolerance which is at all tolerable1  
and that is the intolerance of          
intolerance4 ,he always set himself with
 vigour against that unreason and  lack 
of sympathy which are the essence of    
intolerance2 and yet there was  a rock  
of conviction on many subjects behind   
which he could not be  driven4 ,it was  
not intolerance3 it was with him a      
reasoned certainty of  belief4 ,he had a
 phrase to express that not uncommon    
state of mind in  this age particularly1
 which is politely willing to yield its 
foothold  within this universe to almost
 any reasoner who suggests some other   

universe1 however shadowy1 to stand     
upon4 ,he called it a mush of           
concession4 ,he might have been wrong in
 his convictions1 but he1 at  least1    
never floundered in a mush of           
concession4 ,i heard him say once3      
,there are some things a man can't      
concede1 and one is1 that a man who  has
 broken a law1 like a man who has broken
 a leg1 has got to suffer for  it4      
,it was only with the greatest          
difficulty that he could be prevailed   
upon  to present a bill4 ,it was not    
because the community was poor1 though  
some of our people are poor1 and it was 
certainly not because the ,doctor  was  
rich and could afford such philanthropy1
 for1 saving a rather  unproductive farm
 which during the last ten years of his 
life lay wholly  uncultivated1 he was as
 poor as any man in the community4 ,he  
simply  seemed to forget that people    
owed him4    ,it came to be a common and
 humorous experience for people to go to
 the  ,doctor and say3    ,now1 ,doctor 

,north1 how much do ,i owe you8 ,you    
remember you attended my  wife two years
 ago when the baby came--and ,john when 
he had the  diphtheria----    ,yes1 yes1
 said the ,doctor1 ,i remember4    ,i   
thought ,i ought to pay you4    ,well1  
,i'll look it up when ,i get time4      
,but he wouldn't4 ,the only way was to  
go to him and say3    ,doctor1 ,i want  
to pay ten dollars on account4    ,all  
right1 he'd answer1 and take the money4 
,to the credit of the community ,i may  
say with truthfulness that the  ,doctor 
never suffered4 ,he was even able to    
supply himself with the best            
instruments that money could buy4 ,to   
him nothing was too good for our        
neighbourhood4 ,this morning ,i saw in a
 case at his home a complete set  of    
oculist's instruments1 said to be the   
best in the county--a very  unusual     
equipment for a country doctor4 ,indeed1
 he assumed that the  responsibility for
 the health of the community rested upon
 him4 ,he was a  sort of                

self-constituted health officer4 ,he was
 always sniffing about  for old wells   
and damp cellars--and somehow1 with his 
crisp humour and  sound sense1 getting  
them cleaned4 ,in his old age he even   
grew  querulously particular about these
 things--asking a little more of human  
nature than it could quite accomplish4  
,there were innumerable other  ways--how
 they came out to-day all glorified now 
that he is gone6--in  which he served   
the community4    ,horace tells how he  
once met the ,doctor driving his old    
white horse in  the town road4          
,horace1 called the ,doctor1 why don't  
you paint your barn8    ,well1 said     
,horace1 it is beginning to look a bit  
shabby4    ,horace1 said the ,doctor1   
you're a prominent citizen4 ,we look to 
you  to keep up the credit of the       
neighbourhood4    ,horace painted his   
barn4    ,i think ,doctor ,north was    
fonder of ,charles ,baxter than of      
anyone else1  save his sister4 ,he hated
 sham and cant3 if a man had a single   

reality  in him the old ,doctor found   
it2 and ,charles ,baxter in many ways   
exceeds  any man ,i ever knew in the    
downright quality of genuineness4 ,the  
,doctor  was never tired of telling--and
 with humour--how he once went to       
,baxter  to have a table made for his   
office4 ,when he came to get it he found
  the table upside clown and ,baxter on 
his knees finishing off the under  part 
of the drawer slides4 ,baxter looked up 
and smiled in the engaging  way he has1 
and continued his work4 ,after watching 
him for some time the  ,doctor said3    
,baxter1 why do you spend so much time  
on that table8 ,who's going to  know    
whether or not the last touch has been  
put on the under side of  it8    ,baxter
 straightened up and looked at the      
,doctor in surprise4    ,why1 ,i will1  
he said4    ,how the ,doctor loved to   
tell that story6 ,i warrant there is no 
boy who  ever grew up in this country   
who hasn't heard it4    ,it was a part  
of his pride in finding reality that    

made the ,doctor such  a lover of true  
sentiment and such a hater of           
sentimentality4 ,i prize  one memory of 
him which illustrates this point4 ,the  
district school gave  a speaking and we 
all went4 ,one boy with a fresh young   
voice spoke a  soldier piece--the       
soliloquy of a one-armed veteran who    
sits at a  window and sees the troops go
 by with dancing banners and glittering 
bayonets1 and the people cheering and   
shouting4 ,and the refrain went         
something like this3    ,never again    
call ',comrade'    ,to the men who were 
comrades for years2  ,never again call  
',brother'    ,to the men we think of   
with tears4    ,i happened to look      
around while the boy was speaking1 and  
there sat the  old ,doctor with the     
tears rolling unheeded down his ruddy   
face2 he was  thinking1 no doubt1 of his
 war time and the comrades he knew4     
,on the other hand1 how he despised     
fustian and bombast4 ,his ,bah6         
delivered explosively1 was often like a 

breath of fresh air in a stuffy  room4  
,several years ago1 before ,i came      
here--and it is one of the  historic    
stories of the county--there was a      
semi-political ,fourth of  ,july        
celebration with a number of ambitious  
orators4 ,one of them1 a  young fellow  
of small worth who wanted to be elected 
to the legislature1  made an impassioned
 address on ,patriotism4 ,the ,doctor   
was present1 for  he liked gatherings3  
he liked people4 ,but he did not like   
the young  orator1 and did not want him 
to be elected4 ,in the midst of the     
speech1  while the audience was being   
carried through the clouds of oratory1  
the  ,doctor was seen to be growing more
 and more uneasy4 ,finally he burst     
out3    ,bah6    ,the orator caught     
himself1 and then swept on again4       
,bah6 said the ,doctor4    ,by this time
 the audience was really interested4    
,the orator stopped4 ,he  knew the      
,doctor1 and he should have known better
 than to say what he  did4 ,but he was  

very young and he knew the ,doctor was  
opposing him4    ,perhaps1 he remarked  
sarcastically1 the ,doctor can make a   
better  speech than ,i can4    ,the     
,doctor rose instantly1 to his full     
height--and he was an                   
impressive-looking man4    ,perhaps1 he 
said1 ,i can1 and what is more1 ,i will4
 ,he stood up on a  chair and gave them 
a talk on ,patriotism--real             
patriotism--the  patriotism of duty done
 in the small concerns of life4 ,that   
speech1  which ended the political      
career of the orator1 is not forgotten  
to-day4    ,one thing ,i heard to-day   
about the old ,doctor impressed me      
deeply4 ,i  have been thinking about it 
ever since3 it illuminates his character
  more than anything ,i have heard4 ,it 
is singular1 too1 that ,i should not    
have known the story before4 ,i don't   
believe it was because it all  happened 
so long ago2 it rather remained untold  
out of deference to a  sort of          
neighbourhood delicacy4    ,i had1      

indeed1 wondered why a man of such      
capacities1 so many qualities  of real  
greatness and power1 should have escaped
 a city career4 ,i said  something to   
this effect to a group of men with whom 
,i was talking this  morning4 ,i thought
 they exchanged glances2 one said3      
,when he first came out of the army he'd
 made such a fine record as a  surgeon  
that everyone-urged him to go to the    
city and practice----    ,a pause       
followed which no one seemed inclined to
 fill4    ,but he didn't go1 ,i said4   
,no1 he didn't go4 ,he was a brilliant  
young fellow4 ,he knew a lot1 and  he   
was popular1 too4 ,he'd have had a great
 success----    ,another pause4    ,but 
he didn't go8 ,i asked promptingly4     
,no2 he staid here4 ,he was better      
educated than any man in this county4   
,why1 ,i've seen him more'n once pick up
 a book of ,latin and read it for       
pleasure4    ,i could see that all this 
was purposely irrelevant1 and ,i liked  
them for  it4 ,but walking home from the

 cemetery ,horace gave me the story2 the
  community knew it to the last detail4 
,i suppose it is a story not  uncommon  
among men1 but this morning1 told of the
 old ,doctor we had just  laid away1 it 
struck me with a tragic poignancy       
difficult to describe4    ,yes1 said    
,horace1 he was to have been married1   
forty years ago1 and  the match was     
broken off because he was a drunkard4   
,a drunkard6 ,i exclaimed1 with a shock 
,i cannot convey4    ,yes1 sir1 said    
,horace1 one o' the worst you ever see4 
,he got it in  the army4 ,handsome1     
wild1 brilliant--that was the ,doctor4  
,i was a little  boy but ,i remember it 
mighty well4    ,he told me the whole   
distressing story4 ,it was all a long   
time ago and  the details do not matter 
now4 ,it was to be expected that a man  
like the  old ,doctor should love1 love 
once1 and love as few men do4 ,and that 
is  what he did--and the girl left him  
because he was a drunkard6    ,they all 
thought1 said ,horace1 that he'd up an' 

kill himself4 ,he  said he would1 but he
 didn't4 ,instid o' that he put an open 
bottle on  his table and he looked at it
 and said3 ',which is stronger1 now1 you
 or  ,john ,north8 ,we'll make that the 
test1' he said1 'we'll live or die by   
that4' ,them was his exact words4 ,he   
couldn't sleep nights and he got        
haggard like a sick man1 but he left the
 bottle there and never touched  it4    
,how my heart throbbed with the thought 
of that old silent struggle6 ,how  much 
it explained2 how near it brought all   
these people around him6 ,it  made him  
so human4 ,it is the tragic necessity   
7but the salvation7 of  many a man that 
he should come finally to an            
irretrievable experience1  to the       
assurance that everything is lost4 ,for 
with that moment1 if he be  strong1 he  
is saved4 ,i wonder if anyone ever      
attains real human sympathy  who has not
 passed through the fire of some such   
experience4 ,or to  humour either6 ,for 
in the best laughter do we not hear     

constantly that  deep minor note which  
speaks of the ache in the human heart8  
,it seems to  me ,i can understand      
,doctor ,north6    ,he died ,friday     
morning4 ,he had been lying very quiet  
all night2  suddenly he opened his eyes 
and said to his sister3 ,good-bye1      
,kate1  and shut them again4 ,that was  
all4 ,the last call had come and he was 
ready for it4 ,i looked at his face     
after death4 ,i saw the iron lines of   
that old struggle in his mouth and chin2
 and the humour that it brought  him in 
the lines around his deep-set eyes4     
----,and as ,i think of him this        
afternoon1 ,i can see him--curiously1   
for  ,i can hardly explain it--carrying 
a banner as in battle right here among  
our quiet hills4 ,and those he leads    
seem to be the people we know1 the  men1
 and the women1 and the boys6 ,he is the
 hero of a new age4 ,in olden  days he  
might have been a pioneer1 carrying the 
light of civilisation to  a new land2   
here he has been a sort of moral        

pioneer--a pioneering far  more         
difficult than any we have ever known4  
,there are no heroics  connected with   
it1 the name of the pioneer will not go 
ringing down the  ages2 for it is a     
silent leadership and its success is    
measured by  victories in other lives4  
,we see it now1 only too dimly1 when he 
is  gone4 ,we reflect sadly that we did 
not stop to thank him4 ,how busy we     
were with our own affairs when he was   
among us6 ,i wonder is there  anyone    
here to take up the banner he has laid  
down6    ----,i forgot to say that the  
,scotch ,preacher chose the most        
impressive  text in the ,bible for his  
talk at the funeral3    ,he that is     
greatest among you1 let him be 444 as he
 that doth serve4    ,and we came away  
with a nameless1 aching sense of loss1  
thinking how1  perhaps1 in a small way1 
we might do something for somebody      
else--as the  old ,doctor did4          
,,xii      ,,an ,,evening ,,at ,,home   
,how calm and quiet a delight    ,is it1

 alone1  ,to read and meditate and      
write1    ,by none offended1 and        
offending none4  ,to walk1 ride1 sit or 
sleep at one's own ease1    ,and1       
pleasing a man's self1 none other to    
displease4    --,charles ,cotton1 a     
friend of ,izaak ,walton1 #afej         
,during the last few months so many of  
the real adventures of life have  been  
out of doors and so much of the beauty1 
too1 that ,i have scarcely  written a   
word about my books4 ,in the summer the 
days are so long and  the work so       
engrossing that a farmer is quite       
willing to sit quietly on  his porch    
after supper and watch the long evenings
 fall--and rest his  tired back1 and go 
to bed early4 ,but the winter is the    
true time for  indoor enjoyment6        
,days like these6 ,a cold night after a 
cold day6 ,well wrapped1 you have  made 
arctic explorations to the stable1 the  
chicken-yard and the  pig-pen2 you have 
dug your way energetically to the front 
gate1 stopping  every few minutes to    

beat your arms around your shoulders and
 watch the  white plume of your breath  
in the still air--and you have rushed in
  gladly to the warmth of the           
dining-room and the lamp-lit supper4    
,after  such a day how sharp your       
appetite1 how good the taste of food6   
,harriet's brown bread 7moist1 with     
thick1 sweet1 dark crusts7 was never    
quite so delicious1 and when the meal is
 finished you push back your  chair     
feeling like a sort of lord4    ,that   
was a good supper1 ,harriet1 you say    
expansively4    ,was it8 she asks       
modestly1 but with evident pleasure4    
,cookery1 you remark1 is the greatest   
art in the world----    ,oh1 you were   
hungry6    ,next to poetry1 you         
conclude1 and much better appreciated4  
,think how  easy it is to find a poet   
who will turn you a presentable sonnet1 
and  how very difficult it is to find a 
cook who will turn you an edible        
beefsteak----    ,i said a good deal    
more on this subject which ,i shall not 

attempt to  repeat4 ,harriet did not    
listen through it all4 ,she knows what  
,i am  capable of when ,i really get    
started2 and she has her well-defined   
limits4 ,a practical person1 ,harriet6  
,when ,i have gone about so far1 she    
begins clearing the table or takes up   
her mending--but ,i don't mind it  at   
all4 ,having begun talking1 it is       
wonderful how pleasant one's own  voice 
becomes4 ,and think of having a clear   
field--and no interruptions6    ,my own 
particular room1 where ,i am permitted  
to revel in the desert of  my own       
disorder1 opens comfortably off the     
sitting-room4 ,a lamp with a  green     
shade stands invitingly on the table    
shedding a circle of light on  the books
 and papers underneath1 but leaving all 
the remainder of the  room in dim       
pleasantness4 ,at one side stands a     
comfortable big chair  with everything  
in arm's reach1 including my note books 
and ink bottle4  ,where ,i sit ,i can   
look out through the open doorway and   

see ,harriet near  the fireplace rocking
 and sewing4 ,sometimes she hums a      
little tune which  ,i never confess to  
hearing1 lest ,i miss some of the       
unconscious  cadences4 ,let the wind    
blow outside and the snow drift in piles
 around  the doorway and the blinds     
rattle--,i have before me a whole long  
pleasant evening4           99       99 
99       99       99    ,what a         
convenient and delightful world is this 
world of books6--if you  bring to it not
 the obligations of the student1 or look
 upon it as an  opiate for idleness1 but
 enter it rather with the enthusiasm of 
the  adventurer6 ,it has vast advantages
 over the ordinary world of daylight1   
of barter and trade1 of work and worry4 
,in this world every man is his  own    
,king--the sort of ,king one loves to   
imagine1 not concerned in such  petty   
matters as wars and parliaments and     
taxes1 but a mellow and  moderate despot
 who is a true patron of genius--a mild 
old chap who has  in his court the      

greatest men and women in the world--and
 all of them  vying to please the most  
vagrant of his moods6 ,invite any one of
 them to  talk1 and if your highness is 
not pleased with him you have only to   
put  him back in his corner--and bring  
some jester to sharpen the laughter of  
your highness1 or some poet to set your 
faintest emotion to music6    ,i have   
marked a certain servility in books4    
,they entreat you for a  hearing3 they  
cry out from their cases--like men1 in  
an eternal struggle  for survival1 for  
immortality4    ,take me1 pleads this   
one1 ,i am responsive to every mood4    
,you will  find in me love and hate1    
virtue and vice4 ,i don't preach3 ,i    
give you  life as it is4 ,you will find 
here adventures cunningly linked with   
romance and seasoned to suit the most   
fastidious taste4 ,try me4    ,hear such
 talk6 cries his neighbour4 ,he's       
fiction4 ,what he says never  happened  
at all4 ,he tries hard to make you      
believe it1 but it isn't  true1 not a   

word of it4 ,now1 ,i'm fact4 ,everything
 you find in me can be  depended upon4  
,yes1 responds the other1 but who cares6
 ,nobody wants to read you1  you're     
dull4    ,you're false6    ,as their    
voices grow shriller with argument your 
highness listens with  the indulgent    
smile of royalty when its courtiers     
contend for its  favour1 knowing that   
their very life depends upon a wrinkle  
in your  august brow4           99      
99       99       99       99    ,as for
 me ,i confess to being a rather crusty 
despot4 ,when ,horace was  over here the
 other evening talking learnedly about  
silos and ensilage ,i  admit that ,i    
became the very pattern of humility1 but
 when ,i take my  place in the throne of
 my arm-chair with the light from the   
green-shaded  lamp falling on the open  
pages of my book1 ,i assure you ,i am   
decidedly  an autocratic person4 ,my    
retainers must distinctly keep their    
places6 ,i  have my court favourites    
upon whom ,i lavish the richest gifts of

 my  attention4 ,i reserve for them a   
special place in the worn case nearest  
my person1 where at the mere outreaching
 of an idle hand ,i can summon  them to 
beguile my moods4 ,the necessary slavies
 of literature ,i have  arranged in     
indistinct rows at the farther end of   
the room where they  can be had if ,i   
require their special accomplishments4  
99       99       99       99       99  
,how little1 after all1 learning counts 
in this world either in books or  in    
men4 ,i have often been awed by the     
wealth of information ,i have           
discovered in a man or a book3 ,i have  
been awed and depressed4 ,how           
wonderful1 ,i have thought1 that one    
brain should hold so much1 should be  so
 infallible in a world of fallibility4  
,but ,i have observed how soon  and     
completely such a fount of information  
dissipates itself4 ,having  only things 
to give1 it comes finally to the end of 
its things3 it is  empty4 ,what it has  
hived up so painfully through many a    

studious year  comes now to be common   
property4 ,we pass that way1 take our   
share1 and  do not even say ,thank you4 
,learning is like money2 it is of       
prodigious  satisfaction to the         
possessor thereof1 but once given forth 
it diffuses  itself swiftly4    ,what   
have you8 we are ever asking of those we
 meet4 ,information1  learning1 money8  
,we take it cruelly and pass onward1 for
 such is the law of material            
possessions4    ,what have you8 we ask4 
,charm1 personality1 character1 the     
great gift  of unexpectedness8    ,how  
we draw you to us6 ,we take you in4     
,poor or ignorant though you may  be1 we
 link arms and loiter2 we love you not  
for what you have or what  you give us1 
but for what you are4    ,i have several
 good friends 7excellent people7 who act
 always as ,i  expect them to act4      
,there is no flight6 ,more than once ,i 
have listened  to the edifying          
conversation of a certain sturdy old    
gentleman whom ,i  know1 and ,i am      

ashamed to say that ,i have thought3    
,lord6 if he would jump up now and turn 
an intellectual handspring1 or  slap me 
on the back 7figuratively1 of course3   
the other would be  unthinkable71       
or--yes1 swear6 ,i--think ,i could love 
him4    ,but he never does--and ,i'm    
afraid he never will6    ,when ,i speak 
then of my books you will know what ,i  
mean4 ,the chief charm  of literature1  
old or new1 lies in its high quality of 
surprise1  unexpectedness1 spontaneity3 
high spirits applied to life4 ,we can   
fairly  hear some of the old chaps you  
and ,i know laughing down through the   
centuries4 ,how we love 'em6 ,they      
laughed for themselves1 not for us6     
,yes1 there must be surprise in the     
books that ,i keep in the worn case at  
my elbow1 the surprise of a new         
personality perceiving for the first    
time the beauty1 the wonder1 the humour1
 the tragedy1 the greatness of  truth4  
,it doesn't matter at all whether the   
writer is a poet1 a  scientist1 a       

traveller1 an essayist or a mere daily  
space-maker1 if he  have the ,god-given 
grace of wonder4    ,what on earth are  
you laughing about8 cries ,harriet from 
the  sitting-room4    ,when ,i have     
caught my breath1 ,i say1 holding up my 
book3    ,this absurd man here is       
telling of the adventures of a certain  
chivalrous ,knight4    ,but ,i can't see
 how you can laugh out like that1       
sitting all alone  there4 ,why1 it's    
uncanny4    ,you don't know the ,knight1
 ,harriet1 nor his squire ,sancho4      
,you talk of them just as though they   
were real persons4    ,real6 ,i exclaim1
 real6 ,why they are much more real than
 most of the  people we know4 ,horace is
 a mere wraith compared with ,sancho4   
,and then ,i rush out4    ,let me read  
you this1 ,i say1 and ,i read that      
matchless chapter wherein  the ,knight1 
having clapped on his head the helmet   
which ,sancho has  inadvertently used as
 a receptacle for a dinner of curds and1
 sweating  whey profusely1 goes forth to

 fight two fierce lions4 ,as ,i proceed 
with  that prodigious story1 ,i can see 
,harriet gradually forgetting her       
sewing1 and ,i read on the more         
furiously until1 coming to the point of 
the conflict wherein the generous and   
gentle lion1 having yawned1 threw  out  
some half yard of tongue wherewith he   
licked and washed his face1  ,harriet   
begins to laugh4    ,there6 ,i say      
triumphantly4    ,harriet looks at me   
accusingly4    ,such foolishness6 she   
says4 ,why should any man in his senses 
try to  fight caged lions6    ,harriet1 
,i say1 you are incorrigible4    ,she   
does not deign to reply1 so ,i return   
with meekness to my room4           99  
99       99       99       99    ,the   
most distressing thing about the        
ordinary fact writer is his             
cock-sureness4 ,why1 here is a man 7,i  
have not yet dropped him out of  the    
window7 who has written a large and     
sober book explaining life4 ,and  do you
 know when he gets through he is        

apparently much discouraged about  this 
universe4 ,this is the veritable moment 
when ,i am in love with my  occupation  
as a despot6 ,at this moment ,i will    
exercise the prerogative  of tyranny3   
,off with his head6    ,i do not believe
 this person though he have ever so many
 titles to  jingle after his name1 nor  
in the colleges which gave them1 if they
  stand sponsor for that which he       
writes1 ,i do not believe he has        
compassed this universe4 ,i believe him 
to be an inconsequent being like        
myself--oh1 much more learned1 of       
course--and yet only upon the  threshold
 of these wonders4 ,it goes too         
deep--life--to be solved by  fifty years
 of living4 ,there is far too much in   
the blue firmament1 too  many stars1 to 
be dissolved in the feeble logic of a   
single brain4 ,we  are not yet great    
enough1 even this explanatory person1 to
 grasp the  scheme of things entire4    
,this is no place for weak              
pessimism--this  universe4 ,this is     

,mystery and out of ,mystery springs the
 fine  adventure6 ,what we have seen or 
felt1 what we think we know1 are        
insignificant compared with that which  
may be known4    ,what this person      
explains is not1 after all1 the         
,universe--but himself1  his own        
limited1 faithless personality4 ,i shall
 not accept his  explanation4 ,i escape 
him utterly6    ,not long ago1 coming in
 from my fields1 ,i fell to thinking of 
the  supreme wonder of a tree2 and as ,i
 walked ,i met the ,professor4    ,how1 
,i asked1 does the sap get up to the top
 of these great maples  and elms8 ,what 
power is there that should draw it      
upward against the  force of gravity8   
,he looked at me a moment with his      
peculiar slow smile4    ,i don't know1  
he said4    ,what6 ,i exclaimed1 do you 
mean to tell me that science has not    
solved  this simplest of natural        
phenomena8    ,we do not know1 he said4 
,we explain1 but we do not know4    ,no1
 my ,explanatory ,friend1 we do not     

know--we do not know the why of the     
flowers1 or the trees1 or the suns2 we  
do not even know why1 in our own        
hearts1 we should be asking this curious
 question--and other deeper  questions4 
99       99       99       99       99  
,no man becomes a great writer unless he
 possesses a highly developed  sense of 
,mystery1 of wonder4 ,a great writer is 
never blas2 everything  to him happened 
not longer ago than this forenoon4      
,the other night the ,professor and the 
,scotch ,preacher happened in here      
together and we fell to discussing1 ,i  
hardly know how1 for we usually  talk   
the neighbourhood chat of the           
,starkweathers1 of ,horace and of       
,charles ,baxter1 we fell to discussing 
old ,izaak ,walton--and the nonsense    
7as a scientific age knows it to be7    
which he sometimes talked with such     
delightful sobriety4    ,how superior it
 makes one feel1 in behalf of the       
enlightenment and  progress of his age1 
said the ,professor1 when he reads      

,izaak's  extraordinary natural history4
    ,does it make you feel that way8    
asked the ,scotch ,preacher4 ,it makes  
me want to go fishing4    ,and he took  
the old book and turned the leaves until
 he came to page  #ed4    ,let me read  
you1 he said1 what the old fellow says  
about the  'fearfulest of fishes4'      
'444 ,get secretly behind a tree1 and   
stand as  free from motion as possible2 
then put a grasshopper  on your hook1   
and let your hook hang a quarter of  a  
yard short of the water1 to which end   
you must rest  your rod on some bough of
 a tree2 but it is likely  that the     
,chubs will sink down towards the bottom
  of the water at the first shadow of   
your rod1 for a  ,chub is the fearfulest
 of fishes1 and will do so if but  a    
bird flies over him and makes the least 
shadow  on the water2 but they will     
presently rise up to the  top again1 and
 there lie soaring until some shadow    
affrights them again2 ,i say1 when they 
lie upon the  top of the water1 look at 

the best ,chub1 which you1  getting     
yourself in a fit place1 may very easily
 see1  and move your rod as slowly as a 
snail moves1 to  that ,chub you intend  
to catch1 let your bait fall  gently    
upon the water three or four inches     
before  him1 and he will infallibly take
 the bait1 and you  will be as sure to  
catch him4444 ,go your way  presently1  
take my rod1 and do as ,i bid you1 and  
,i  will sit down and mend my tackling  
till you return  back----'    ,now ,i   
say1 said the ,scotch ,preacher1 that it
 makes me want to go  fishing4    ,that1
 ,i said1 is true of every great book3  
it either makes us want  to do things1  
to go fishing1 or fight harder or endure
 more  patiently--or it takes us out of 
ourselves and beguiles us for a time    
with the friendship of completer lives  
than our own4    ,the great books indeed
 have in them the burning fire of life2 
4444 nay1 they do preserve1 as in a     
violl1  the purest efficacie and        
extraction of that living  intellect    

that bred them4 ,i know they are as     
lively1  and as vigorously productive1  
as those fabulous  ,dragon's teeth2     
which being sown up and down1 may       
chance to spring up armed men4    ,how  
soon we come to distinguish the books of
 the mere writers from the  books of    
real men6 ,for true literature1 like    
happiness1 is ever a  by-product2 it is 
the half-conscious expression of a man  
greatly engaged  in some other          
undertaking2 it is the song of one      
working4 ,there is  something           
inevitable1 unrestrainable about the    
great books2 they seemed  to come       
despite the author4 ,i could not sleep1 
says the poet ,horace1  for the pressure
 of unwritten poetry4 ,dante said of his
 books that  they made him lean for many
 days4 ,i have heard people say of a    
writer  in explanation of his success3  
,oh1 well1 he has the literary knack4   
,it is not so6 ,nothing is further from 
the truth4 ,he writes well not  chiefly 
because he is interested in writing1 or 

because he possesses any  especial      
knack1 but because he is more           
profoundly1 vividly interested in  the  
activities of life and he tells about   
them--over his shoulder4 ,for  writing1 
like farming1 is ever a tool1 not an    
end4    ,how the great one-book men     
remain with us6 ,i can see ,marcus      
,aurelius  sitting in his camps among   
the far barbarians writing out the      
reflections of a busy life4 ,i see      
,william ,penn engaged in great         
undertakings1 setting down ,some of the 
,fruits of ,solitude1 and ,abraham      
,lincoln striking1 in the hasty         
paragraphs written for his speeches1 one
  of the highest notes in our ,american 
literature4           99       99       
99       99       99    ,david8    ,yes1
 ,harriet4    ,i am going up now2 it is 
very late4    ,yes4    ,you will bank   
the fire and see that the doors are     
locked8    ,yes4    ,after a pause3     
,and1 ,david1 ,i didn't mean--about the 
story you read4 ,did  the ,knight       

finally kill the lions8    ,no1 ,i said 
with sobriety1 it was not finally       
necessary4    ,but ,i thought he set out
 to kill them4    ,he did2 but he proved
 his valour without doing it4           
,harriet paused1 made as if to speak    
again1 but did not do so4    ,valour--,i
 began in my hortatory tone1 seeing a   
fair opening1 but at  the look in her   
eye ,i immediately desisted4    ,you    
won't stay up late8 she warned4    ,n-o1
 ,i said4    ,take ,john ,bunyan as a   
pattern of the man who forgot himself   
into  immortality4 ,how seriously he    
wrote sermons and pamphlets1 now happily
  forgotten6 ,but it was not until he   
was shut up in jail 7some writers ,i    
know might profit by his example7 that  
he put aside1 as he said1 a  more       
serious and important work and wrote    
,pilgrim's ,progress4 ,it is  the       
strangest thing in the world--the       
judgment of men as to what is  important
 and serious6 ,bunyan says in his rhymed
 introduction3        ,i only thought to

 make  ,i knew not what3 nor did ,i     
undertake  ,thereby to please my        
neighbour2 no1 not ,i3  ,i did it my own
 self to gratify4    ,another man ,i    
love to have at hand is he who writes of
 ,blazing ,bosville1  the ,flaming      
,tinman1 and of ,the ,hairy ,ones4      
,how ,borrow escapes through his books6 
,his object was not to produce          
literature but to display his erudition 
as a master of language and of          
outlandish custom1 and he went about the
 task in all seriousness of  demolishing
 the ,roman ,catholic ,church4 ,we are  
not now so impressed with  his erudition
 that we do not smile at his vanity and 
we are quite  contented1 even after     
reading his books1 to let the church    
survive2 but  how shall we spare our    
friend with his inextinguishable love of
 life1  his pugilists1 his gypsies1 his 
horse traders8 ,we are even willing to  
plow through arid deserts of            
dissertation in order that we may enjoy 
the  perfect oases in which the man     

forgets himself6    ,reading such books 
as these and a hundred others1 the books
 of the worn  case at my elbow4    ,the 
bulged and the bruised octavos1  ,the   
dear and the dumpy twelves----    ,i    
become like those initiated in the      
,eleusinian mysteries who1 as  ,cicero  
tells us1 have attained the art of      
living joyfully and of dying  with a    
fairer hope4           99       99      
99       99       99    ,it is late1 and
 the house is still4 ,a few bright      
embers glow in the  fireplace4 ,you look
 up and around you1 as though coming    
back to the  world from some far-off    
place4 ,the clock in the dining-room    
ticks with  solemn precision2 you did   
not recall that it had so loud a tone4  
,it has  been a great evening1 in this  
quiet room on your farm1 you have been  
able to entertain the worthies of all   
the past6    ,you walk out1             
resoundingly1 to the kitchen and open   
the door4 ,you look  across the still   
white fields4 ,your barn looms black in 

the near  distance1 the white mound     
close at hand is your wood-pile1 the    
great  trees stand like sentinels in the
 moonlight2 snow has drifted upon the   
doorstep and lies there untracked4 ,it  
is1 indeed1 a dim and untracked  world3 
coldly beautiful but silent--and of a   
strange unreality6 ,you  close the door 
with half a shiver and take the real    
world with you up to  bed4 ,for it is   
past one o'clock4    ,illustration3 ,the
 beauty1 the wonder1 the humour1 the    
tragedy1 the  greatness of truth        
,,xiii      ,,the ,,politician    ,in   
the city1 as ,i now recall it 7having   
escaped71 it seemed to be the           
instinctive purpose of every citizen ,i 
knew not to get into politics but  to   
keep out4 ,we sedulously avoided        
caucuses and school-meetings1 our  time 
was far too precious to be squandered in
 jury service1 we forgot to  register   
for elections1 we neglected to vote4 ,we
 observed a sort of  aristocratic       
contempt for political activity and then

 fretted and fumed  over the low estate 
to which our government had fallen--and 
never saw  the humour of it all4    ,at 
one time ,i experienced a sort of       
political awakening3 a boss we  had was 
more than ordinarily piratical4 ,i think
 he had a scheme to steal  the city hall
 and sell the monuments in the park     
7something of that  sort71 and ,i1 for  
one1 was disturbed4 ,for a time ,i      
really wanted to bear  a man's part in  
helping to correct the abuses1 only ,i  
did not know how  and could not find    
out4    ,in the city1 when one would    
learn anything about public matters1 he 
turns1 not to life1 but to books or     
newspapers4 ,what we get in the city  is
 not life1 but what someone else tells  
us about life4 ,so ,i acquired a  really
 formidable row of works on ,political  
,economy and ,government 7,i  admire the
 word works in that application7 where  
,i found ,society laid  out for me in   
the most perfect order--with pennies on 
its eyes4 ,how  often1 looking back1 ,i 

see myself as in those days1 read my    
learned  books with a sort of fury of   
interest6--    ,from the reading of     
books ,i acquired a sham comfort4       
,dwelling upon the  excellent theory of 
our institutions1 ,i was content to     
disregard the  realities of daily       
practice4 ,i acquired a mock assurance  
under which ,i  proceeded complacently  
to the polls1 and cast my vote without  
knowing a  single man on the ticket1    
what he stood for1 or what he really    
intended  to do4 ,the ceremony of the   
ballot bears to politics much the       
relationship that the sacrament bears to
 religion3 how often1 observing  the    
formality1 we yet depart wholly from the
 spirit of the institution4    ,it was  
good to escape that place of hurrying   
strangers4 ,it was good to  get one's   
feet down into the soil4 ,it was good to
 be in a place where  things are because
 they grow1 and politics1 not less than 
corn6 ,oh1  my friend1 say what you     
please1 argue how you like1 this        

crowding  together of men and women in  
unnatural surroundings1 this haste to be
  rich in material things1 this attempt 
to enjoy without production1 this       
removal from first-hand life1 is        
irrational1 and the end of it is ruin4  
,if our cities were not recruited       
constantly with the fresh1 clean blood  
of the country1 with boys who still     
retain some of the power and the  vision
 drawn from the soil1 where would they  
be6    ,we're a great people1 says      
,charles ,baxter1 but we don't always   
work  at it4    ,but we talk about it1  
says the ,scotch ,preacher4    ,by the  
way1 says ,charles ,baxter1 have you    
seen ,george ,warren8 ,he's up  for     
supervisor4    ,i haven't yet4    ,well1
 go around and see him4 ,we must find   
out exactly what he intends  to do with 
the ,summit ,hill road4 ,if he is weak  
on that we'd better look  to ,matt      
,devine4 ,at least ,matt is safe4       
,the ,scotch ,preacher looked at        
,charles ,baxter and said to me with a  

note  of admiration in his voice3       
,isn't this man ,baxter getting to be   
intolerable as a political boss6        
99       99       99       99       99  
,baxter's shop6 ,baxter's shop stands   
close to the road and just in the  edge 
of a grassy old apple orchard4 ,it is a 
low1 unpainted building1  with generous 
double doors in front1 standing         
irresistibly open as you  go by4 ,even  
as a stranger coming here first from the
 city ,i felt the  call of ,baxter's    
shop4 ,shall ,i ever forget6 ,it was a  
still morning--one  of those days of    
warm sunshine--and perfect quiet in the 
country--and  birds in the branches--and
 apple trees all in bloom4 ,baxter      
whistling  at his work in the sunlit    
doorway of his shop1 in his long1 faded 
apron1  much worn at the knees4 ,he was 
bending to the rhythmic movement of his 
plane1 and all around him as he worked  
rose billows of shavings4 ,and oh1  the 
odours of that shop6 the fragrant1      
resinous odour of new-cut pine1  the    

pungent smell of black walnut1 the dull 
odour of oak wood--how they  stole out  
in the sunshine1 waylaying you as you   
came far up the road1  beguiling you as 
you passed the shop1 and stealing       
reproachfully after  you as you went    
onward down the road4    ,never shall ,i
 forget that grateful moment when ,i    
first passed ,baxter's  shop--a failure 
from the city--and ,baxter looking out  
at me from his  deep1 quiet1 gray       
eyes--eyes that were almost a caress6   
,my wayward feet soon took me1          
unintroduced1 within the doors of that  
shop1 the first of many visits4 ,and ,i 
can say no more in appreciation of  my  
ventures there than that ,i came out    
always with more than ,i had when  ,i   
went in4    ,the wonders there6 ,the    
long bench with its huge-jawed wooden   
vises1 and  the little dusty windows    
above looking out into the orchard1 and 
the  brown planes and the row of shiny  
saws1 and the most wonderful pattern    
squares and triangles and curves1 each  

hanging on its own peg2 and  above1 in  
the rafters1 every sort and size of     
curious wood4 ,and oh6 the  old bureaus 
and whatnots and high-boys in the       
corners waiting their turn  to be       
mended2 and the sticky glue-pot waiting1
 too1 on the end of the  sawhorse4      
,there is family history here in this   
shop--no end of it--the  small and yet  
great 7because intensely human7         
tragedies and humours of  the long1     
quiet years among these sunny hills4    
,that whatnot there1 the  one of black  
walnut with the top knocked off1 that   
belonged in the old  days to----        
,charles ,baxter1 calls my friend       
,patterson from the roadway1 can you    
fix my cupboard8    ,bring it in1 says  
,charles ,baxter1 hospitably1 and       
,patterson brings it  in1 and stops to  
talk--and stops--and stops--,there is   
great talk in  ,baxter's shop--the      
slow-gathered wisdom of the country1 the
 lore of  crops and calves and cabinets4
 ,in ,baxter's shop we choose the next  

,president of these ,united ,states6    
,you laugh6 ,but we do--exactly that4   
,it is in the ,baxters' shops 7not in   
,broadway1 not in ,state ,street7 where 
the presidents are decided upon4 ,in    
the little grocery stores you and ,i    
know1 in the blacksmithies1 in the      
schoolhouses back in the country6       
99       99       99       99       99  
,forgive me6 ,i did not intend to wander
 away4 ,i meant to keep to my           
subject--but the moment ,i began to talk
 of politics in the country ,i was      
beset by a compelling vision of ,charles
 ,baxter coming out of his shop in  the 
dusk of the evening1 carrying his       
curious old reflector lamp and  leading 
the way down the road to the            
schoolhouse4 ,and thinking of the  lamp 
brought a vision of the joys of         
,baxter's shop1 and thinking of the     
shop brought me naturally around to     
politics and presidents2 and here ,i  am
 again where ,i started6    ,baxter's   
lamp is1 somehow1 inextricably          

associated in my mind with  politics4   
,being busy farmers1 we hold our        
caucuses and other meetings in  the     
evening and usually in the schoolhouse4 
,the schoolhouse is  conveniently near  
to ,baxter's shop1 so we gather at      
,baxter's shop4  ,baxter takes his lamp 
down from the bracket above his bench1  
reflector  and all1 and you will see us1
 a row of dusky figures1 ,baxter in the 
lead1 proceeding down the roadway to the
 schoolhouse4 ,having arrived1  some one
 scratches a match1 shields it with his 
hand 7,i see yet the  sudden fitful     
illumination of the brown-bearded1      
watchful faces of my  neighbours67 and  
,baxter guides us into the              
schoolhouse--with its shut-in  dusty    
odours of chalk and varnished desks     
and--yes1 leftover lunches6    ,baxter's
 lamp stands on the table1 casting a    
vast shadow of the chairman  on the     
wall4    ,come to order1 says the       
chairman1 and we have here at this      
moment in  operation the greatest       

institution in this round world3 the    
institution  of free self-government4   
,great in its simplicity1 great in its  
unselfishness6 ,and ,baxter's old lamp  
with its smoky tin reflector1 is  not   
that the veritable torch of our         
liberties8    ,this1 ,i forgot to say1  
though it makes no special difference--a
 caucus  would be the same--is a school 
meeting4    ,you see1 ours is a prolific
 community4 ,when a young man and a     
young  woman are married they think     
about babies2 they want babies1 and what
  is more1 they have them6 and love them
 afterward6 ,it is a part of the        
complete life4 ,and having babies1 there
 must be a place to teach them to  live4
    ,without more explanation you will  
understand that we needed an addition   
to our schoolhouse4 ,a committee        
reported that the amount required would 
be #hjj4 ,we talked it over4 ,the       
,scotch ,preacher was there with a plan 
which he tacked up on the blackboard and
 explained to us4 ,he told us of  seeing

 the stone-mason and the carpenter1 he  
told us what the seats  would cost1 and 
the door knobs and the hooks in the     
closet4 ,we are a  careful people2 we   
want to know where every penny goes6    
,if we put it all in the budget this    
year what will that make the rate8      
inquires a voice from the end of the    
room4    ,we don't look around2 we know 
the voice4 ,and when the secretary has  
computed the rate1 if you listen closely
 you can almost hear the buzz of        
multiplications and additions which is  
going on in each man's head as he       
calculates exactly how much the addition
 will mean to him in taxes on  his farm1
 his daughter's piano his wife's        
top-buggy4    ,and many a man is saying 
to himself3    ,if we build this        
addition to the schoolhouse1 ,i shall   
have to give up  the new overcoat ,i    
have counted upon1 or ,amanda won't be  
able to get the  new cooking-range4     
,that's real politics3 the voluntary    
surrender of some private good for  the 

upbuilding of some community good4 ,it  
is in such exercises that the  fibre of 
democracy grows sound and strong4 ,there
 is1 after all1 in this  world no real  
good for which we do not have to        
surrender something4 ,in  the city the  
average voter is never conscious of any 
surrender4 ,he never  realises that he  
is giving anything himself for good     
schools or good  streets4 ,under such   
conditions how can you expect           
self-government8 ,no  service1 no       
reward6    ,the first meeting that ,i   
sat through watching those bronzed      
farmers at  work gave me such a         
conception of the true meaning of       
self-government as  ,i never hoped to   
have4    ,this is the place where ,i    
belong1 ,i said to myself4    ,it was   
wonderful in that school meeting to see 
how every essential  element of our     
government was brought into play4       
,finance8 ,we discussed  whether we     
should put the entire #hjj into the next
 year's budget or  divide it paying part

 in cash and bonding the district for   
the  remainder4 ,the question of credit1
 of interest1 of the obligations of     
this generation and the next1 were all  
discussed4 ,at one time long ago ,i  was
 amazed when ,i heard my neighbours     
arguing in ,baxter's shop about the     
issuance of certain bonds by the ,united
 ,states government3 how  completely    
they understood it6 ,i know now where   
they got that  understanding4 ,right in 
the school meetings and town caucuses   
where they  raise money yearly for the  
expenses of our small government6 ,there
 is  nothing like it in the city4       
,the progress of a people can best be   
judged by those things which they       
accept as matters-of-fact4 ,it was      
amazing to me1 coming from the city1    
and before ,i understood1 to see how    
ingrained had become some of the        
principles which only a few years ago   
were fiercely-mooted problems4 ,it  gave
 me a new pride in my country1 a new    
appreciation of the steps in            

civilisation which we have already      
permanently gained4 ,not a question     
have ,i ever heard in any school meeting
 of the necessity of educating  every   
,american child--at any cost4 ,think of 
it6 ,think how far we have  come in that
 respect1 in seventy--yes1 fifty--years4
 ,universal education  has become a     
settled axiom of our life4    ,and there
 was another point--so common now that  
we do not appreciate the  significance  
of it4 ,i refer to majority rule4 ,in   
our school meeting we  were voting money
 out of men's pockets--money that we all
 needed for  private expenses--and yet  
the moment the minority1 after full and 
honest  discussion1 failed to maintain  
its contention in opposition to the new 
building1 it yielded with perfect good  
humour and went on with the  discussion 
of other questions4 ,when you come to   
think of it1 in the  light of history1  
is not that a wonderful thing8    ,one  
of the chief property owners in our     
neighbourhood is a rather  crabbed old  

bachelor4 ,having no children and heavy 
taxes to pay1 he  looks with jaundiced  
eye on additions to schoolhouses4 ,he   
will object  and growl and growl and    
object1 and yet pin him down as ,i have 
seen the  ,scotch ,preacher pin him more
 than once1 he will admit that children 
7of  course1 he will say1 certainly1 of 
course7 must be educated4    ,for the   
good of bachelors as well as other      
people8 the ,scotch  ,preacher will     
press it home4    ,certainly1 of course4
    ,and when the final issue comes1    
after full discussion1 after he has     
tried to lop off a few yards of         
blackboard or order cheaper desks or    
dispense with the clothes-closet1 he    
votes for the addition with the  rest of
 us4    ,it is simply amazing to see how
 much grows out of these                
discussions--how  much of that social   
sympathy and understanding which is the 
very  tap-root of democracy4 ,it's      
cheaper to put up a miserable shack of  
an  addition4 ,why not do it8 ,so we    

discuss architecture--blindly1 it is    
true2 we don't know the books on the    
subject--but we grope for the big  true 
things1 and by our own discussion we    
educate ourselves to know why  a good   
building is better than a bad one4      
,heating and ventilation in  their      
relation to health1 the use of fad      
studies--how ,i have heard  those things
 discussed6    ,how ,dr4 ,north1 who has
 now left us forever1 shone in those    
meetings1 and  ,charles ,baxter and the 
,scotch ,preacher--broad men1 every     
one--how they  have explained and       
argued1 with what patience have they    
brought into  that small schoolhouse1   
lighted by ,charles ,baxter's lamp1 the 
grandest  conceptions of human          
society--not in the big words of the    
books1 but in  the simple1 concrete     
language of our common life4    ,why    
teach physiology8    ,what a talk ,dr4  
,north once gave us on that6    ,why pay
 a teacher #dj a month when one can be  
had for #cj8    ,you should have heard  

the ,scotch ,preacher answer that       
question6 ,many a  one of us went away  
with some of the education which we had 
come1  somewhat grudgingly1 to buy for  
our children4    ,these are our         
political bosses3 these unknown         
patriots1 who preach the  invisible     
patriotism which expresses itself not in
 flags and oratory1  but in the quiet   
daily surrender of private advantage to 
the public  good4    ,there is1 after   
all1 no such thing as perfect equality2 
there must be  leaders1 flag-bearers1   
bosses--whatever you call them4 ,some   
men have a  genius for leading2 others  
for following2 each is necessary and    
dependent upon the other4 ,in cities1   
that leadership is often perverted  and 
used to evil ends4 ,neither leaders nor 
followers seem to  understand4 ,in its  
essence politics is merely a mode of    
expressing human  sympathy4 ,in the     
country many and many a leader like     
,baxter works  faithfully year in and   
year out1 posting notices of caucuses1  

school  meetings and elections1 opening 
cold schoolhouses1 talking to           
candidates1 prodding selfish voters--and
 mostly without reward4  ,occasionally  
they are elected to petty offices where 
they do far more  work than they are    
paid for 7we have our eyes on 'em72     
often they are  rewarded by the power   
and place which leadership gives them   
among their  neighbours1 and            
sometimes--and that is ,charles         
,baxter's case--they  simply like it6   
,baxter is of the social temperament3 it
 is the natural  expression of his      
personality4 ,as for thinking of himself
 as a patriot1  he would never dream of 
it4 ,work with the hands1 close touch   
with the  common life of the soil1 has  
given him much of the true wisdom of    
experience4 ,he knows us and we know    
him2 he carries the banner1 holds it  as
 high as he knows how1 and we follow4   
,whether there can be a real democracy  
7as in a city7 where there is not  that 
elbow knowledge1 that close             

neighbourhood sympathy1 that conscious  
surrender of little personal goods for  
bigger public ones1 ,i don't know4      
,we haven't many foreigners in our      
district1 but all three were there on   
the night we voted for the addition4    
,they are ,polish4 ,each has a farm     
where the whole family works--and puts  
on a little more ,americanism each      
year4 ,they're good people4 ,it is      
surprising how much all these ,poles1   
,italians1 ,germans and others1 are like
 us1 how perfectly human they are1  when
 we know them personally6 ,one ,pole    
here1 named ,kausky1 ,i have come  to   
know pretty well1 and ,i declare ,i have
 forgotten that he is a ,pole4  ,there's
 nothing like the rub of democracy6 ,the
 reason why we are so  suspicious of the
 foreigners in our cities is that they  
are crowded  together in such vast1     
unknown1 undigested masses4 ,we have    
swallowed  them too fast1 and we suffer 
from a sort of national dyspepsia4      
,here in the country we promptly digest 

our foreigners and they make as  good   
,americans as anybody4    ,catch a      
foreigner when he first comes here1 says
 ,charles ,baxter1 and  he takes to our 
politics like a fish to water4    ,the  
,scotch ,preacher says they gape for    
education1 ,and when ,i see  ,kausky's  
six children going by in the morning to 
school1 all their  round1 sleepy1 fat   
faces shining with soap1 ,i believe it6 
,baxter tells  with humour how he       
persuaded ,kausky to vote for the       
addition to the  schoolhouse4 ,it was a 
pretty stiff tax for the poor fellow to 
pay1 but  ,baxter figgered children with
 him1 as he said4 ,with six to educate1 
,baxter showed him that he was actually 
getting a good deal more than he  paid  
for6    ,be it far from me to pretend   
that we are always right or that we have
  arrived in our country at the         
perfection of self-government4 ,i do not
  wish to imply that all of our people  
are interested1 that all attend the     
caucuses and school-meetings 7some of   

the most prominent never come           
near--they stay away1 and if things     
don't go right they blame ,charles      
,baxter67 ,nor must ,i over-emphasise   
the seriousness of our public  interest4
 ,but we certainly have here1 if        
anywhere in this nation1 real           
self-government4 ,growth is a slow      
process4 ,we often fail in our election 
of delegates to ,state conventions2 we  
sometimes vote wrong in national        
affairs4 ,it is an easy thing to think  
school district2 difficult1  indeed1 to 
think ,state or nation4 ,but we grow4   
,when we make mistakes1  it is not      
because we are evil1 but because we     
don't know4 ,once we get a  clear       
understanding of the right or wrong of  
any question you can depend  upon       
us--absolutely--to vote for what is     
right4 ,with more education we  shall be
 able to think in larger and larger     
circles--until we become1  finally1     
really national in our interests and    
sympathies4 ,whenever a man  comes along

 who knows how simple we are1 and how   
much we really want to  do right1 if we 
can be convinced that a thing is        
right--who explains  how the railroad   
question1 for example1 affects us in our
 intimate daily  lives1 what the rights 
and wrongs of it are1 why1 we can       
understand and  do understand--and we   
are ready to act4    ,it is easy to     
rally to a flag in times of excitement4 
,the patriotism of  drums and marching  
regiments is cheap2 blood is material   
and cheap2  physical weariness and      
hunger are cheap4 ,but the struggle ,i  
speak of is  not cheap4 ,it is          
dramatised by few symbols4 ,it deals    
with hidden  spiritual qualities within 
the conscience of men4 ,its heroes are  
yet  unsung and unhonoured4 ,no combats 
in all the world's history were ever    
fought so high upward in the spiritual  
air as these2 and1 surely1 not  for     
nothing6    ,and so1 out of my          
experience both in city and country1 ,i 
feel--yes1 ,i  know--that the real      

motive power of this democracy lies back
 in the  little country neighbourhoods  
like ours where men gather in dim       
schoolhouses and practice the invisible 
patriotism of surrender and  service4   
,,xiv      ,,the ,,harvest    ,oh1      
,universe1 what thou wishest1 ,i wish4  
--,marcus ,aurelius    ,i come to the   
end of these ,adventures with a regret  
,i can scarcely  express4 ,i1 at least1 
have enjoyed them4 ,i began setting them
 down with  no thought of publication1  
but for my own enjoyment2 the           
possibility of  a book did not suggest  
itself until afterwards4 ,i have tried  
to relate  the experiences of that      
secret1 elusive1 invisible life which in
 every  man is so far more real1 so far 
more important than his visible         
activities--the real expression of a    
life much occupied in other  employment4
    ,when ,i first came to this farm1 ,i
 came empty-handed4 ,i was the veritable
  pattern of the city-made failure4 ,i  
believed that life had nothing more  in 

store for me4 ,i was worn out           
physically1 mentally and1 indeed1       
morally4 ,i had diligently planned for  
,success2 and ,i had reaped defeat4  ,i 
came here without plans4 ,i plowed and  
harrowed and planted1 expecting         
nothing4 ,in due time ,i began to reap4 
,and it has been a growing marvel  to   
me1 the diverse and unexpected crops    
that ,i have produced within  these     
uneven acres of earth4 ,with sweat ,i   
planted corn1 and ,i have here  a crop  
not only of corn but of happiness and   
hope4 ,my tilled fields have            
miraculously sprung up to friends6      
,this book is one of the unexpected     
products of my farm4 ,it is this way    
with the farmer4 ,after the work of     
planting and cultivating1 after the     
rain has fallen in his fields1 after the
 sun has warmed them1 after the  new    
green leaves have broken the earth--one 
day he stands looking out  with a       
certain new joy across his acres 7the   
wind bends and half turns  the long     

blades of the corn7 and there springs up
 within him a song of  the fields4 ,no  
matter how little poetic1 how little    
articulate he is1  the song rises       
irrepressibly in his heart1 and he turns
 aside from his  task with a new glow of
 fulfillment and contentment4 ,at       
harvest time in  our country ,i hear1 or
 ,i imagine ,i hear1 a sort of chorus   
rising over  all the hills1 and ,i meet 
no man who is not1 deep down within him1
 a  singer6 ,so song follows work3 so   
art grows out of life6    ,and the      
friends ,i have made6 ,they have come to
 me naturally1 as the corn  grows in my 
fields or the wind blows in my trees4   
,some strange potency  abides within the
 soil of this earth6 ,when two men stoop
 7there must be  stooping7 and touch it 
together1 a magnetic current is set up  
between  them3 a flow of common         
understanding and confidence4 ,i would  
call the  attention of all great        
,scientists1 ,philosophers1 and         
,theologians to this  phenomenon3 it    

will repay investigation4 ,it is at once
 the rarest and  the commonest thing ,i 
know4 ,it shows that down deep within   
us1 where we  really live1 we are all a 
good deal alike4 ,we have much the same 
instincts1 hopes1 joys1 sorrows4 ,if    
only it were not for the outward  things
 that we commonly look upon as important
 7which are in reality not  at all      
important7 we might come together       
without fear1 vanity1 envy1 or          
prejudice and be friends4 ,and what a   
world it would be6 ,if civilisation     
means anything at all it means the      
increasing ability of men to look       
through material possessions1 through   
clothing1 through differences of  speech
 and colour of skin1 and to see the     
genuine man that abides within  each of 
us4 ,it means an escape from symbols6   
,i tell this merely to show what        
surprising and unexpected things have   
grown out of my farm4 ,all along ,i have
 had more than ,i bargained for4  ,from 
now on ,i shall marvel at nothing6 ,when

 ,i ordered my own life ,i  failed2 now 
that ,i work from day to day1 doing that
 which ,i can do best  and which most   
delights me1 ,i am rewarded in ways that
 ,i could not have  imagined4 ,why1 it  
would not surprise me if heaven were at 
the end of all  this6    ,now1 ,i am not
 so foolish as to imagine that a farm is
 a perfect place4  ,in these ,adventures
 ,i have emphasised perhaps too forcibly
 the joyful  and pleasant features of my
 life4 ,in what ,i have written ,i have 
naturally chosen only those things which
 were most interesting and  charming4   
,my life has not been without           
discouragement and loss and  loneliness 
7loneliness most of all74 ,i have       
enjoyed the hard work2 the  little      
troubles have troubled me more than the 
big ones4 ,i detest  unharnessing a     
muddy horse in the rain6 ,i don't like  
chickens in the  barn4 ,and somehow     
,harriet uses an inordinate amount of   
kindling wood4  ,but once in the habit1 
unpleasant things have a way of fading  

quickly  and quietly from the memory4   
,and you see after living so many years 
in the city the worst experience  on the
 farm is a sort of joy6    ,in most men 
as ,i come to know them--,i mean men who
 dare to look  themselves in the eye--,i
 find a deep desire for more            
naturalness1 more  directness4 ,how     
weary we all grow of this fabric of     
deception which is  called modern life4 
,how passionately we desire to escape   
but cannot see  the way6 ,how our hearts
 beat with sympathy when we find a man  
who has  turned his back upon it all and
 who says ,i will live it no longer4    
,how  we flounder in possessions as in a
 dark and suffocating bog1 wasting  our 
energies not upon life but upon things4 
,instead of employing our  houses1 our  
cities1 our gold1 our clothing1 we let  
these inanimate  things possess and     
employ us--to what utter weariness4     
,blessed be  nothing1 sighs a dear old  
lady of my knowledge4    ,of all ways of
 escape ,i know1 the best1 though it is 

far from  perfection1 is the farm4      
,there a man may yield himself most     
nearly to  the quiet and orderly        
processes of nature4 ,he may attain most
 nearly to  that equilibrium between the
 material and spiritual1 with time for  
the  exactions of the first1 and leisure
 for the growth of the second1 which  is
 the ideal of life4    ,in times past   
most farming regions in this country    
have suffered the  disadvantages of     
isolation1 the people have dwelt far    
distant from one  another and from      
markets1 they have had little to        
stimulate them  intellectually or       
socially4 ,strong and peculiar          
individuals and families  were often    
developed at the expense of a friendly  
community life3  neighbourhood feuds    
were common4 ,country life was marked   
with the  rigidity of a hard            
provincialism4 ,all this1 however1 is   
rapidly  changing4 ,the closer          
settlement of the land1 the rural       
delivery of  mails 7the morning         

newspaper reaches the tin box at the end
 of my lane  at noon71 the farmer's     
telephone1 the spreading country        
trolleys1 more  schools and churches1   
and cheaper railroad rates1 have all    
helped to  bring the farmer's life well 
within the stimulating currents of world
  thought without robbing it of its     
ancient advantages4 ,and those          
advantages are incalculable3 ,time first
 for thought and reflection  7narrow    
streams cut deep7 leading to the growth 
of a sturdy freedom of  action--which   
is1 indeed1 a natural characteristic of 
the man who has  his feet firmly planted
 upon his own land4    ,a city hammers  
and polishes its denizens into a defined
 model3 it  worships standardisation2   
but the country encourages              
differentiation1 it  loves new types4   
,thus it is that so many great and      
original men have  lived their youth    
upon the land4 ,it would be impossible  
to imagine  ,abraham ,lincoln brought up
 in a street of tenements4 ,family life 

on the  farm is highly educative2 there 
is more discipline for a boy in the     
continuous care of a cow or a horse than
 in many a term of school4  ,industry1  
patience1 perseverance are qualities    
inherent in the very  atmosphere of     
country life4 ,the so-called manual     
training of city  schools is only a poor
 makeshift for developing in the city   
boy those  habits which the country boy 
acquires naturally in his daily life4   
,an  honest1 hard-working country       
training is the best inheritance a      
father  can leave his son4    ,and yet a
 farm is only an opportunity1 a tool4 ,a
 cornfield1 a plow1 a  woodpile1 an oak 
tree1 will cure no man unless he have it
 in himself to  be cured4 ,the truth is 
that no life1 and least of all a        
farmer's life1  is simple--unless it is 
simple4 ,i know a man and his wife who  
came out  here to the country with the  
avowed purpose of becoming1 forthwith1  
simple4 ,they were unable to keep the   
chickens out of their summer  kitchen4  

,they discovered microbes in the well1  
and mosquitoes in the  cistern1 and     
wasps in the garret4 ,owing to the      
resemblance of the seeds1  their        
radishes turned out to be turnips6 ,the 
last ,i heard of them they  were living 
snugly in a flat in ,sixteenth          
,street--all their troubles  solved by a
 dumb-waiter4    ,the great point of    
advantage in the life of the country is 
that if a man  is in reality simple1 if 
he love true contentment1 it is the     
place of  all places where he can live  
his life most freely and fully1 where he
  can grow4 ,the city affords no such   
opportunity2 indeed1 it often  destroys1
 by the seductiveness with which it     
flaunts its carnal graces1  the desire  
for the higher life which animates every
 good man4    ,while on the subject of  
simplicity it may be well to observe    
that  simplicity does not necessarily1  
as some of those who escape from the    
city seem to think1 consist in doing    
without things1 but rather in the       

proper use of things4 ,one cannot       
return1 unless with affectation1 to the 
crudities of a former existence4 ,we do 
not believe in ,diogenes and his  tub4  
,do you not think the good ,lord has    
given us the telephone 7that we  may    
better reach that elbow-rub of          
brotherhood which is the highest of     
human ideals7 and the railroad 7that we 
may widen our human knowledge  and      
sympathy7--and even the motor-car8      
7though1 indeed1 ,i have sometimes      
imagined that the motor-cars passing    
this way had a different origin674  ,he 
may have given these things to us too   
fast1 faster than we can bear2  but is  
that any reason why we should denounce  
them all and return to  the old1 crude1 
time-consuming ways of our ancestors8 ,i
 am no  reactionary4 ,i do not go back4 
,i neglect no tool of progress4 ,i am   
too  eager to know every wonder in this 
universe4 ,the motor-car1 if ,i had     
one1 could not carry me fast enough6 ,i 
must yet fly6    ,after my experience in

 the country1 if ,i were to be          
cross-examined as to  the requisites of 
a farm1 ,i should say that the chief    
thing to be  desired in any sort of     
agriculture1 is good health in the      
farmer4 ,what1  after all1 can touch    
that6 ,how many of our joys that we     
think  intellectual are purely physical6
 ,this joy of the morning that the poet 
carols about so cheerfully1 is often    
nothing more than the exuberance        
produced by a good hot breakfast4 ,going
 out of my kitchen door some  mornings  
and standing for a moment1 while ,i     
survey the green and  spreading fields  
of my farm1 it seems to me truly as if  
all nature were  making a bow to me4 ,it
 seems to me that there never was a     
better cow  than mine1 never a more     
really perfect horse1 and as for pigs1  
could any  in this world herald my      
approach with more cheerful gruntings   
and  squealings6    ,but there are other
 requisites for a farm4 ,it must not be 
too large1  else it will keep you away  

from your friends4 ,provide a town not  
too far  off 7and yet not too near7     
where you can buy your flour and sell   
your  grain4 ,if there is a railroad    
convenient 7though not so near that the 
whistling of the engines reaches you71  
that is an added advantage4  ,demand a  
few good old oak trees1 or walnuts1 or  
even elms will do4 ,no  well-regulated  
farm should be without trees2 and having
 secured the  oaks--buy your fuel of    
your neighbours4 ,thus you will be      
blessed with  beauty both summer and    
winter4    ,as for neighbours1 accept   
those nearest at hand2 you will find    
them  surprisingly human1 like yourself4
 ,if you like them you will be          
surprised to find how much they all like
 you 7and will upon occasion  lend you a
 spring-tooth harrow or a butter tub1 or
 help you with your  plowing72 but if   
you hate them they will return your     
hatred with  interest4 ,i have          
discovered that those who travel in     
pursuit of better  neighbours never find

 them4    ,somewhere on every farm1     
along with the other implements1 there  
should  be a row of good books1 which   
should not be allowed to rust with      
disuse3 a book1 like a hoe1 grows       
brighter with employment4 ,and no farm1 
even in this country where we enjoy the 
even balance of the seasons1  rain and  
shine1 shine and rain1 should be devoid 
of that irrigation from  the currents of
 the world's thought which is so        
essential to the  complete life4 ,from  
the papers which the postman puts in the
 box flow  the true waters of           
civilisation4 ,you will find within     
their columns how  to be good or how to 
make pies3 you will get out of them what
 you look  for6 ,and finally1 down the  
road from your farm1 so that you can    
hear the  bell on ,sunday mornings1     
there should be a little church4 ,it    
will do you  good even though1 like me1 
you do not often attend4 ,it's a sort of
 ,ark  of the ,covenant2 and when you   
get to it1 you will find therein the    

,true  ,spirit--if you take it with you 
when you leave home4 ,of course you will
  look for good land and comfortable    
buildings when you buy your farm3  they 
are1 indeed1 prime requisites4 ,i have  
put them last for the reason  that they 
are so often first4 ,i have observed1   
however1 that the joy of  the farmer is 
by no means in proportion to the area of
 his arable land4  ,it is often a nice  
matter to decide between acres and      
contentment3 men  perish from too much  
as well as from too little4 ,and if it  
be possible  there should be a long     
table in the dining-room and little     
chairs around  it1 and small beds       
upstairs1 and young voices calling at   
their play in  the fields--if it be     
possible4    ,sometimes ,i say to       
myself3 ,i have grasped happiness6 ,here
 it is2 ,i have  it4 ,and yet1 it always
 seems at that moment of complete       
fulfillment as  though my hand trembled1
 that ,i might not take it6    ,i wonder
 if you recall the story of ,christian  

and ,hopeful1 how1 standing  on the hill
 ,clear 7as we do sometimes--at our     
best7 they looked for the  gates of the 
,celestial ,city 7as we look--how       
fondly673    ,then they essayed to look1
 but the remembrance  of that last thing
 that the shepherds had showed them     
made their hands shake1 by means of     
which impediment  they could not look   
steadily through the glass3  yet they   
thought they saw something like the     
gate1 and  also some of the glory of the
 place4    ,how often ,i have thought   
that ,i saw some of the glory of the    
place  7looking from the hill ,clear7   
and how often1 lifting the glass1 my    
hand  has trembled6