Satisfaction with the Country 153 



third generation. Nothing is sadder than 

 what they tell us of the passing of the 

 home. It is not true, but it is melancholy 

 that it should even seem so. 



For if civilization is more desirable than 

 barbarism (it is not sure that its softness 

 and barrenness are good for us), it is be- 

 cause it has been made by the owned 

 house, by securities that make content. 

 Years of effort ought to have that object in 

 view, that reaching of a sufficiency of some 

 sort, of money, or ways to do without it. 

 No doubt it is right that our years should 

 be forceful. It is no less a social than a 

 natural law. The elements are in motion 

 and fusion, the tree and the clam aspire, 

 and men cannot help their drift into diffi- 

 culties ; but when we have learned the 

 lesson of life, that there is no lesson, we 

 are entitled to an hour of ease in congenial 

 work. Few of the mass do the work they 

 like to do. Perhaps only the men in the 

 arts and professions are so employed, the 

 clerks, merchants, laborers, even farmers, 

 being what they are by force of circum- 

 stance. The trouble in getting content is 



