NOTES FEOM THE PEAIRIE 



n^HE best lesson I have had for a long time in 

 ^ the benefits of contentment, and of the value of 

 one's own nook or corner of the world, however cir- 

 cumscribed it may be, as a point from which to ob- 

 serve nature and life, comes to me from a prairie cor- 

 respondent, an invalid lady, confined to her room 

 year in and year out, and yet who sees more and ap- 

 preciates more than many of us who have the free- 

 dom of a whole continent. Having her permission, 

 why should I not share these letters with my read- 

 ers, especially since there are other house-bound or 

 bed-bound invalids whom they may reach, and who 

 may derive some cheer or suggestion from them? 

 Words uttered in a popular magazine like " The 

 Century " are like the vapors that go up from the 

 ground and the streams: they are sure to be carried 

 far and wide, and to fall again as rain or dew, and 

 one little knows what thirsty plant or flower they 

 may reach and nourish. I am thinking of another 

 fine spirit, couch-bound in one of the northern New 

 England States, who lives in a town that bears the 

 same name as that in which my Western correspond- 

 ent resides, and into whose chamber my slight and 



