314 HAPPY HOLLOW FARM 



but because the prospect has shown in a curious 

 way what the life of Happy Hollow has done 

 to me. Save on the family's account, I'm not 

 half so keen for the trip as I fancied I should 

 be. Honestly, I don't more than half want to 

 go for my own pleasure. I'd just about as 

 soon stay at home here in the Arkansas hills. 



That wasn't my temper six years ago. If 

 we had planned then for such an adventure I'd 

 have spent excited days and sleepless nights 

 on the planning. That's not the case now. I'm 

 brushing up my German and Spanish a bit, 

 and I'm trying to direct the children as I'm 

 able in some reading they ought to do before 

 we go; but my own days' work goes on right 

 placidly, free of nervous exaltation. Not that 

 I'm indifferent. I know it will be a wonderful 

 experience and that I'll come home with sym- 

 pathies broadened and understanding mightily 

 quickened. I'm always anxious for new hu- 

 man contacts, and I'll get some on this trip. 

 But with all that in prospect I'm not so keen 

 for it as I should have been before we came to 

 the farm. 



I know what you're thinking: "Why, that 

 man's getting old! He must be losing his 

 grip." But that's not the explanation. Maybe 



