THE SUMMIT OF THE YEARS 



world, and the maelstrom of business and political 

 life, and have sought the paths by the still waters, 

 and in the quiet fields, and life has been sweet and 

 wholesome to me. In my tranquil seclusion I am 

 often on the point of upbraiding myself because I 

 keep so aloof from the struggles and contentions and 

 acrimonious debates of the political, the social, and 

 the industrial world about me. I do not join any of 

 the noisy processions, I do not howl with the reform- 

 ers, or cry Fire! with the alarmists. I say to myself, 

 What is all this noisy civilization and all this rattling 

 machinery of government for, but that men may all 

 have just the sane and contented life that I am liv- 

 ing, and on the same terms that I do. They can find 

 it in the next field, beyond the next hill, in the town 

 or in the country a land of peace and plenty, if 

 one has peace in his heart and the spirit of fair play 

 in his blood. 



Business, politics, government, are but the 

 scaffoldings of our house of life; they are there that 

 I may have a good roof over my head, and a warm 

 and safe outlook into the beauty and glory of the 

 universe, and let them not absorb more time and 

 energy than the home itself. They have absorbed 

 very little of mine, and I fancy that my house of 

 life would have had just as staunch walls, and just 

 as many windows and doors, had they not absorbed 

 so much of other men's. Let those who love turmoil 

 arm for turmoil: their very arming will bring it; 

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