Nothing a Year 25 



me my long evenings before a wood fire, and 

 entire freedom from worry or business anxiety. 

 My friends may say, and do say, that with- 

 out my few weeks or months in the city there 

 would occur inevitably a rapid deterioration, 

 mentally. They are kind enough to hint that 

 at present I am better than I might be. At all 

 events, they say, if I do not lose all interest 

 in the higher things of life, gradually being 

 absorbed in the details of vegetable - rais- 

 ing, poultry-keeping, oyster-raking, and duck- 

 shooting, my children will suffer and sink to 

 the level of the country people around them. 

 This is a serious matter. It would be a matter 

 of sincere sorrow to me if my boys and girls 

 grew up without the tastes of educated men 

 and women. But I do not believe that any- 

 thing of the kind will occur. I do not believe, 

 as I have already said elsewhere, that a boy or 

 girl brought up among people who read and 

 talk about things beyond the village world will 

 fail to absorb something of the spirit of their 

 elders. After all, are the people of the town, 

 taking the average merchant and shopkeeper, 

 so much superior to the people of the country. 



