KUKAL LIFE IN NEW ENGLAND. 409 



and smiling children, and the neat and comfortable aspect 

 of everything within doors and without, that here is true 

 philosophy, where health is not sacrificed to wealth, nor 

 simplicity to pride, nor beauty to ornament, nor charity to 

 selfishness, nor domestic peace to fashion, nor heaven to 

 the world. If the inhabitants of heaven ever visit the 

 earth, this is the home they would delight to enter during 

 their sojournment. 



When gilded by the morning sun, the smoke of its 

 chimneys gracefully curling as if to meet the silvery 

 clouds that move quietly across the sky, its windows 

 looking out modestly under a canopy of elms, he must 

 have a soul that is insensible to all moral beauty who 

 is not warmed with enthusiasm, while gazing on this pic- 

 ture of homely happiness, with all the goodness that 

 dwells within it and the simple luxuries that are spread 

 around it. Come when we may, within and without is 

 always something to exhilarate the soul and to warm 

 the heart in this home of peace ; on a summer morning, 

 resonant through all its leafy umbrage with the notes of 

 birds, at noonday alive with the busy return of laborers 

 from the field and children from school, and in the even- 

 ing vocal with the sounds of music and merriment. 



A group of trees at a small distance from the house, 

 upon a slight eminence, half shades a primitive well, from 

 which the water is raised by means of a crosspole. Simi- 

 lar wells were formerly numerous in all parts of the coun- 

 try, and wherever they are now seen they are sure evi- 

 dence of ancient manners and hospitality within the house. 

 Into this well, through the interwoven branches of elms 

 and maples, the sun sheds upon the glassy surface a 

 picture of gold, emerald, and sapphire, as the colors and 

 forms of the leaves, the blue sky, and the snow-white 

 clouds are cast upon it. "We look upon this picture 

 through a circle of embroidered mosses, ferns, and lichens, 



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