252 WHEAT AND WOMAN 



told me he had great confidence in the value of the 

 security, and I was only too thankful to have the 

 opportunity of falling back on the capital to settle 

 my bank overdraft for the year. I had tea by the 

 bright stove in the pleasant house from which one 

 looks out on both lakes, delicious tea with cream, 

 which clearly hailed from a relation of Molly, and 

 the j oiliest cakes. 



I drove home with an easier mind, and the year 

 of 1906 passed into its very last day . . . the day 

 of the spirit of farewell. It dawned in brilliant 

 winter glory, but grew silent and solemn after the 

 hour of noon was passed. From the south window 

 of my green room I saw the string of beasts returning 

 for drinks. It was my duty to prepare for their 

 coming at the well, but on that last day of the year 

 I tumbled to the temptation of thinking back. 

 For a moment I remembered ungenerously that some 

 of the hours of the dying year had been sad and many 

 almost unbearably weary. " But many were glad 

 and none were bitter " smiled the pale gold sun, 

 as it slipped behind the shore-like line of grey 

 which veiled the horizon. It seemed like the last 

 word of a friend. I did my chores the better for it. 

 If you have to water horses, pigs, and chickens, all 

 anxious to drink from the same pail at the same 

 moment, all born in the faith of the survival of the 

 fittest, you must take with you as your weapon the 

 temper of a devil, or, as your shield, the patience of 

 an angel. 



