CHAPTER XL 



OUTINGS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



"Too bad you did not have your trip this year," and 

 "You did not have your usual drive, did you?" from one 

 and another, proves that others besides ourselves thought 

 w^e did not "go anywhere" just because we did not drive 

 seven hundred miles, and cross the borders into Canada 

 as we did last year. But we will remind you as we have 

 reminded ourselves, that a little is just as good as a great 

 deal so long as it lasts, and that no one need go to 

 Canada thinking to find finer driving than right here in 

 Massachusetts. Indeed, the enchantment of Canadian 

 roads is largely that lent by distance. 



Seriously, it is not that we did not go to Canada or to 

 the mountains, that the impression has gone abroad that 

 we did not go anywhere, but because of the mountains 

 or obstructions that lay across our path all July and 

 August, and threatened September. Scripture says 

 mountains can be removed by faith, and perhaps it was 

 due to our faith in believing we should go because we 

 always have been, that the way was suddenly cleared 

 near the middle of September, and we were off without 

 any farewells for just a little turn in Massachusetts. 



Our annual outing had a long preliminary of waiting, 

 and our story would be quite incomplete unless we gave 

 you a little account of our doings during the weeks we 

 were — not weeping and wailing — but wondering, and 

 watching the signs of the times and trying to think how 



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