THE HAPPY VALLEY 463 



changes and the keen rivalry in the marts of 

 trade. In the quiet of my simple home, twenty 

 miles from a railroad and half that from a tele- 

 phone, with a dozen neighbors in as many miles, 

 peace has come to dwell. The successes and the 

 failures of the past have only an impersonal in- 

 terest. The snow sometimes drifts deeply in our 

 valley and there are days when we walk out only 

 on skis or snowshoes and when even the mail can- 

 not enter, but our living room is always bright 

 with the light of many windows and warm with 

 the blazing of logs on the hearth. Then I write 

 before a vista of ice-bound brook and snow- 

 covered mountain, luminous in the winter's sun. 

 Our friends, who are always our chief est joy, 

 know that the latchstring is always out to them, — 



"Welcome ever smiles, 

 And farewell goes out sighing." 



There are men in the stress of life, seeking the 

 peace of the valley, coming for friendship's sake 

 and the rest they are sure to find. They are free 

 to dream by the fireside, to climb the rocky 

 cliffs, explore the caves, wander through the 



