24 THE JONATHAN PAPERS 



just above each fireplace. And so in half the 

 chimney the swallows still build, but the 

 young ones now drop on the nettings instead 

 of in the embers, and lie there cheeping shrilly 

 until somehow their parents or friends convey 

 them up again where they belong. And I no 

 longer spend my mornings collecting apron- 

 fulsof frightened and battered little creatures. 

 At dusk the swallows still eddy and circle 

 about the chimney, but Jonathan has lost the 

 opportunity for training them. Once more 

 the optimist is balked. 



But in these matters I am firm: I do not 

 want the hens made intelligent, or the orchard 

 improved, or the swallows trained. There is, 

 I am sure, matter enough in other parts of the 

 farm upon which one may wreak one s optim 

 ism. I hold me to my tidy hearths, my com 

 fortable hens, my old lilacs, and my dream 

 ing apple trees. 



