66 HAPPY HOLLOW FARM 



scolding us. They grew friendly before the 

 end of summer. Little green lizards would 

 flash about the walls or lie basking in the sun- 

 light on our very doorstones, cocking their im- 

 pudent heads slantwise and studying us with 

 gold-rimmed, jewel-bright eyes. We scraped 

 acquaintance with cottontails and pretty 

 striped snakes that sought the warmth of our 

 clearing; and once we found a fat 'possum 

 curled up snugly in a hen's nest. All through 

 the summer we rubbed elbows with wild things. 

 From that first lodgment we widened our 

 circle, clearing and cleaning up, fighting the 

 thickets back. It was slow work and raw work, 

 work that took us right back to first principles. 

 There are no compromises in that kind of an 

 undertaking. If there's a big stone to be 

 moved, there's nothing else to do but to move 

 it; if there's a tree to come down, you must 

 simply go to work and chop it down. I liked 

 that ; I haven't yet got over liking it. In a day 

 like ours, with life made up so largely of ex- 

 pedients and subterfuges and makeshifts, 

 there's real value in tackling a rough, primitive 

 task. When you've won out at it, there's no 

 discount on your winning. There's no least 



