HAPPY HOLLOW FARM 207 



and saying to ourselves how "queer" he was; 

 but that talk has always taken the other tack 

 before we were done with it. 



"Never mind!" That's the way we're apt 

 to sum it up. "He's a good neighbor, take 

 him altogether. We shouldn't want to get 

 along without him." And at that we're not 

 trying merely to make the best of a poor busi- 

 ness. Our feeling for our neighbors amounts 

 to good, simple liking. That's the way it 

 ought to be. You can't get good from a man 

 no, nor do him any good by holding him in 

 low esteem. Out in the country we easily get 

 into the way of weeding the garden of our so- 

 cial relations as we weed out our kitchen gar- 

 dens and our flower beds, keeping them as free 

 as we can of nettles and cockleburs. It's not 

 hard work, once you get used to it, and it gives 

 you much to enjoy. 



We've been out of sorts, time and again, 

 over something we felt to be a lapse in neigh- 

 borliness. We have a "stock law" here in the 

 hill country which requires every farmer to 

 keep his animals inclosed and makes him liable 

 for damages if they're allowed to stray. It's 

 a good enough law on the books, but it's ob- 

 served mostly only in the breach. Arkansas 



