4 The Life Worth Living 



hurst, gave it up after two hours, and didn't 

 go home till morning. The first big snow- 

 storm that came in the winter buried the 

 trolley lines, and I didn't see my wife and 

 children for two days. As the telephone 

 wires were down I could only hope for the 

 best. I sold the place to a bigger fool, after 

 a patient search of four weeks for him. The 

 ease with which I got out of that house, with 

 only the loss of the carpets and window 

 shades, I shall always regard as a mark of 

 the special favour of God. 



I bought a five-acre place on Staten Island 

 on the top of the highest hill. It had a 

 grand view of the sea, Sandy Hook and the 

 shipping. The mosquitoes were so thick, so 

 enormous, and so venomous, that they could 

 attack and kill a horse if left to their mercy. 

 Their fang was so poisonous that when they 

 bit one of our boys his little legs and arms 

 would swell as though a snake had struck 

 him; and at the end of the summer he 



