FOREWORD xv 



and betake myself to my day s routine occu 

 pations. I read my mail, I answer letters, I 

 go over accounts, I fly to the telephone and 

 give orders and make engagements. And 

 at length, after hours of such stultifying em 

 ployment, I elect to call myself &quot;free,&quot; and 

 go forth to enjoy my &quot;well-earned&quot; leisure. 

 Fool that I am! As if enjoyment were a thing 

 to be taken up and laid down at will, like a 

 walking-stick. As if one could let the golden 

 moment pass and hope to find it again await 

 ing our convenience. Why can we not be like 

 Pippa with her one precious day? But if she 

 had been born in New England do you sup 

 pose her day would have been what it was? 

 Would she have sprung up at daybreak with 

 heart and mind all alight for pleasure? Cer 

 tainly not. She would have spent the golden 

 morning in cleaning the kitchen, and the 

 golden afternoon in clearing up the attic, and 

 would have gone out for a little walk after the 

 supper dishes were washed, only because she 

 thought she &quot;ought&quot; to take a little exercise 

 in the open air. 



Duty and work are all very well, but we 

 have bound ourselves up in them so com- 



