Satisfaction with the Country 157 



reached my grandfather's home in the 

 mountains on my summer vacation. School, 

 town, the world's affairs, these fell off 

 like husks and were forgotten, a great, 

 calm satisfaction was reflected from me over 

 the face of the world and back into my 

 eyes, the green terraces were sleek with 

 content, the brook sang a song of gladness, 

 the woods were whispering welcome, the 

 dear old crows laughed in their homely 

 way above the fields, and the undertone 

 and overtone of insect life completed a 

 major chord of happiness. Time might 

 stand still : things were well enough. 



Commiserate with the one who has no 

 hours like these. Encourage him to dwell 

 with sentiment on his various flats and 

 boarding-houses, on the happy moments 

 spent in listening to the water as it rippled 

 into the kitchen sink, on the smell of the 

 janitor's corned beef, and garbage in the 

 basement, on the late and early sounds in 

 the street below, on the green of the gera- 

 niums on the fire-escape. Poor fellow !. 

 He has known some joy, but of home and 

 country he understands nothing. 



