14 HAPPY HOLLOW FARM 



Around this our thoughts grouped them- 

 selves, opening out, broadening, room by room, 

 space upon space, with nothing grudged and 

 no mean subterfuges. We were to build, not 

 for ourselves alone, but for generations. We 

 dreamed of a home that, not in our lifetime 

 alone, but through the generations to come 

 after us, would slowly, slowly grow richer and 

 richer in all life's sweetnesses and gentle mem- 

 ories. We would build an abiding place for 

 the spirit that endures. 



Most likely you can understand, without 

 more telling, what we were driving at. Most 

 of us, at one time or another, have nursed that 

 fond notion. Laura and I clung to it as the 

 first-born inspiration of our life together. Bit 

 by bit we watched it grow. For years upon 

 years we kept a portfolio of pictures and 

 sketches and scraps; and now and then, when 

 our life seemed to be halting a little, as if to 

 catch its breath, we'd get these out and look 

 them through and talk them over. That 

 helped, no end. 



There was one thing we always carefully 

 avoided in our talks the perfectly plain im- 

 possibility of actually doing this thing we were 

 dreaming about, as matters stood with us. We 



