NOTES FROM THE PEAIRIE 



The best lesson I have had for a long time 

 in the benefits of contentment and of the value 

 of one's own nook or corner of the world, how- 

 ever circumscribed it may be, as a point from 

 which to observe nature and life, comes to me 

 from a prairie correspondent, an invalid lady, 

 confined to her room year in and year out, and 

 yet who sees more and appreciates more than 

 many of us who have the freedom of a whole 

 continent. Having her permission, why should 

 I not share these letters with my readers, espe- 

 cially since there are other house-bound or bed- 

 bound invalids whom they may reach and who 

 may derive some cheer or suggestion from 

 them? AVords uttered in a popular magazine 

 like "The Century" are like the vapors that go 

 up from the ground and the streams: they are 

 sure to be carried far and wide, and to fall 

 again as rain or dew, and one little knows what 

 thirsty plant or flower they may reach and 

 nourish. I am thinking of another fine spirit, 

 couch-bound in one of the northern New Eng- 

 land States, who lives in a town that bears the 

 same name as that in which my Western cor- 

 respondent resides, and into whose chamber my 

 slight and desultory papers have also brought 



