II 



WINTER 



During the winter I am content — or try to 

 think I am — to make my head-quarters in town Value of 

 and to get fresh air and a broader outlook at in- 

 tervals that are frequent, but still at intervals. 

 Perhaps the walk or the drive out to the frozen 

 lake among the hills for an afternoon's skating is 

 the more keenly relished because of a busy week 

 elsewhere. For all practical purposes nature is 

 at a standstill. There is little chance that she 

 will steal a march on me in the few days that 

 intervene between my visits of inspection. And 

 there is a wonderful joy in leaving behind the 

 noisy city streets and starting out along the 

 white road that leads across the hills. With each 

 breath of the sharp, reviving air one seems to in- 

 hale new life. A peace as evident as the sunshine 

 on the fields takes possession of one's inner being. 

 The trivial cares which fretted like a swarm of 

 mosquitoes are driven away by the first sweep of "House- 

 the wind that comes straight from the mountains, troubles 

 The graver anxieties seem to have dwindled in 



