AFTER TEN YEARS 



in time of need. Not only in the spring and summer, 

 but any week-end during the winter when brains and 

 bodies are exhausted with the stress and strain of city 

 life, do we run away to the peace and comfort of our 

 country home. Its very existence saves us from dis- 

 couragement. It stands ready to receive us with wel- 

 coming arms, to soothe our tired nerves, to cool our 

 fevered brains, to teach us the wholesomeness of soli- 

 tude. After hours of tramping through snowy woods, 

 after great draughts of icy, sunlit air, after a good 

 dinner before an open fire, the worst case of insomnia 

 succumbs. What a delicious sense of liberty! What 

 absolute freedom to follow one's own desires! No set 

 hours for engagements, no interruption from telephone 

 or doorbell! One does not have to do anything at 

 all! Is that the reason why work in the country al- 

 ways has such a glamour of play about it? 



"What are you going to do in the country at this 

 time of year?" asked a bewildered lady on overhear- 

 ing my resolve to go up to the lake one cold January 

 day after a particularly strenuous season, when the 



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