242 HAPPY HOLLOW FARM 



tie, talking a little, playing with Peggy and 

 Betty. Haven't I told you about Betty? 

 She's a year and a half old ; a gay-hearted wee 

 one, full of rollicky humors. She certainly 

 does keep things stirred up ! I don't know how 

 we ever managed to get along without her. 



By and by, toward the cool of evening, 

 Laura and I went across the farm to the home 

 of some new neighbors. They came here from 

 Texas, and they're good people. We sat with 

 them and talked for an hour or so, and inevi- 

 tably the talk turned to matters of the farm. 

 Their place lies beside ours; it's in the rough, 

 as ours was six years ago; their problems are 

 ours right over again. It's not an easy thing 

 they've set out to do. 



They know it, too, but they're not looking 

 for the easy thing; if they were, they'd be bad- 

 tempered, peevish, complaining you know 

 what sour dispositions the easy-thing hunters 

 always have. These people have been on their 

 land for eight months or such a matter, and 

 they act just as if they were having no end of 

 a good time. Presently they began to joke 

 about their misadventures, and then we told 

 some jokes on ourselves, and then they told 

 some more. Listening, you'd have thought 



