A COMPOSITE FAMILY 26 1 



in his sorrow, I went out to dwell in the cliffs of 

 the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in rocks, 

 to become a 'brother to dragons and a companion 

 to owls/ Not that there were even exactly drag- 

 ons hereabouts (nothing worse than catamounts), 

 but I dreaded folks and found the ice storms 

 kinder than their jedgments, and God more often 

 encouragin' and to be met with in walkin' in the 

 wood path in the cool o' the day, than restrained 

 and havin' meanin's that he never meant put into 

 his mouth up in the meetin' house. 



"After maybe ten years of hearin' from Eph 

 now and then, the letters bein' from first one 

 state and then another, he wrote he 'd settled in 

 Calif orny and was growin' grapes for wine-makin'. 

 Then for a year he wrote often and pestered me 

 to come out to him. But I wa'n't constituted 

 to transplant and leave my haunts here, and her 

 up yonder, so I sent him a bit of money, promised 

 more, and told him, so 's to make him feel I was 

 trustful, and not to hurt his pride, if he did n't 

 need it, to keep it for me. 



"He wrote back and said he was well-to-do, 

 and would turn any money I sent to account to 

 make me rich! It sounded just so like him, but I 

 did n't let myself doubt his word, and next I knew, 



