HAPPY HOLLOW FARM 17 



How did it come about? Well, that's the 

 story, of course. 



Maybe there's no better way to put it than 

 just to say that our idea wouldn't wait any 

 longer to be born. Ideas are a good bit like 

 other living things ; when the birthtime comes, 

 you can't put it off just because you think 

 you're not ready. That's the way it seemed 

 to work with us. 



It was in the early spring of 1908. Laura 

 was away from home on a visit. While she 

 was gone, one night I got out paper and pencil 

 and set to work. Until that time we hadn't 

 even tried to make a finished plan; we had 

 only sketches and scraps, here a little and there 

 a little, on vagrant sheets. I began putting 

 them together. Before I went to sleep that 

 night I had sent to Laura my completed drafts. 



They came back to me with only two words 

 of comment: "Simply perfect!" That gave 

 me plenty to think about until Laura got 

 home. 



"Well," I said then, "if that house is all 

 right, let's go find a place to put it, so we can 

 be getting started on it." 



Laura laughed. I'd known that she would. 

 She had always said that she was the "practi- 



