FROM CITY TO COUNTRY 171 
tive comforts after a year of experience. I did 
not plan our exodus for the sake of economy, or 
because I found it necessary to retrench; our 
rate of living was no higher than we were will- 
ing and able to afford. Our object was to change 
occupation and mode of life without financial 
loss, and without moulting a single comfort. We 
wished to end our days close to the land, and we 
hoped to prove that this could be done with both 
grace and profit. I had no desire to lose touch 
with the city, and there was no necessity for do- 
ing so. Four Oaks is less than an hour from the 
heart of town. I could leave it, spend two or 
three hours in town, and be back in time for 
luncheon without special effort ; and Polly would 
think nothing of a shopping trip and friends 
home with her to dinner. The people of Exeter 
were nearly all city people who were so fortunate 
as not to be slaves to long hours. They were 
rich by work or by inheritance, and they grace- 
fully accepted the otiwm cum dignitate which this 
condition permitted. Social life was at its best 
in Exeter, and many of its people were old 
acquaintances of ours. A noted country club 
spread its broad acres within two miles of our 
door, and I had been favorably posted for mem- 
bership. It did not look as though we should 
be thrust entirely upon our own resources in the 
country; but at the worst we had resources 
within our own walls and fences that would fend 
off all but the most violent attacks of ennui, 
