HAPPY HOLLOW FARM 205 



ways, by poor word of mouth, mixed with chaff 

 and tares and smudged by the murky logic of 

 the interpreters. You'd be likely to say that 

 the path of her life hasn't been lit by any direct 

 illuminating rays. In spite of that she has 

 managed to keep a stanch steadfastness, a 

 simple piety, an almost fierce loyalty to her 

 standards. Don't call it crude. Such virtues 

 are never crude. To be frank, I don't feel en- 

 tirely sure on that point of Jake's crown; I'd 

 rather take chances on his mother's, even with- 

 out a sign or a portent to guarantee it. 



Just about the best of the values we've got 

 from our life at Happy Hollow has been the 

 human value. I used to think I knew people 

 pretty well and could judge their motives 

 fairly ; but that was only a townsman's conceit. 

 Looking back, it's no trouble to see how mis- 

 taken some of those old notions were pitifully 

 one-sided, thin-blooded, bad-tempered. One's 

 judgments of men change, not so much be- 

 cause the men themselves grow better or worse, 

 but rather because his own motives and man- 

 ner of judgment change. My way of measur- 

 ing folks has grown kindlier; that's how I 

 know it's juster, better. 



If you're inclined to insist that the way to 



