CHAPTER I 

 OFF FOR THE WOODS 



" Are not these woods more free from peril than the envious court ? " 



As You LIKE IT. 



ENTEKI^TG the close and heated train in Broad Street 

 Station one Friday night in September, bound for New 

 Brunswick via Boston, I was glad to fly for a time 

 from the dirt and dust and the excruciating noises of 

 our much-abused business street. j The relaying of the 

 paving blocks was being carried on in some places with 

 the clicking of hammers and the pounding of rammers, 

 while in other spots the street was being ruthlessly torn 



up for the th time; the blind mendicants, with 



their discordant playing of the cornet, the fife, the 

 flute, the accordion and the barrel organ, were moving 

 at a snail-like pace, meandering in and out of the 

 crowded throngs and adding their quota of noise to 

 the other nerve-destroying conditions. 



When the train pulled out the sleeper was well filled. 



Three young actresses enlivened the spirits of the 

 other passengers, for they were comely and exuber- 

 antly happy. A young farmer from Woodstown, IS T . J., 

 was journeying all the way to Fort Fairfield, in the ex- 

 treme northeast corner of Maine, in search of potatoes. 



