OUR GUEST BOOK 



tional organizations. These few hours of informality 

 give one a rare insight into the real being, and often 

 change one's estimate of a character formerly known 

 only from external appearances. 



For comfort and freedom from care, a country 

 house should be so simply furnished that merely turn 

 ing the key in the outside door suffices so far as intrinsic 

 values go, and we have so arranged ours; but there is 

 one object in it which is very precious. It is not of 

 silver or gold or any precious stone, not wonderful in 

 needlework or a relic of the ages, yet it is our one most 

 cared-for possession. Can you not guess, O Sympa 

 thetic Reader? It is our Guest Book. Begun when 

 we entered the tiny cottage, continued through our 

 camping in the kitchen-house and our final settlement 

 in the main house, it bears a complete record 

 of our different visitors to the present day. It lacks 

 the whimsical charm of many guest books, it has no 

 sketches, photographs or comments, it contains only 

 the autographs of our guests ; it goes steadily forward 

 in methodical order from month to month, from year 



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