BOY LIFE IN THE OPEN 229 



an one is not symmetrically educated, and is quite 

 likely to be put to shame as the years pass. A 

 story is told of a young woman, able to order her 

 breakfast in six different languages, who, spend- 

 ing some days in the home of a farmer, made most 

 mortifying mistakes concerning the common things 

 of country life. When, coming down to breakfast 

 one morning she discovered a plate of honey on the 

 table, she felt that the time had come for a display 

 of her knowledge and for the discomfiture of those 

 who had laughed at her mistakes, and exclaimed, 

 " Ah ! I see that you keep a bee." 



Take the witness box! Yes, I am speaking 

 to you, middle-aged man, city-dweller, slave to bus- 

 iness, familiar with paved streets and great build- 

 ings, the honk of automobile horns and the love 

 songs of vagrant cats. 



" Were you born in the country? " 



".Yes." 



" Have you forgotten your boyhood ? " 



" Forgotten it ! Sometimes I can think of noth- 

 ing else, and always something out of that boyhood 

 is popping up even in the midst of my business 

 undertakings." 



" Do you regret that you were not born in the 

 city?" 



" Regret it? Say, you are fooling. I wouldn't 

 trade the recollections of my boyhood on the farm 

 for the best business block in this city." 



" But it can't be worth anything to you in a busi- 



