e, although his vest is far too
gay for a person who is the main support, quite likely of a large and
growing family, he don't seem to have the air of a bachelor. There is a
loon at the other end of the lake that laughs just like a person, and
twice I have seen a big bird walking around on the edge of the water
that Mr. Smith says is a blue heron. When we go up into the woods,
little red lizzards with gold spots run across the path, and the babies
try to get them. I have been fishing twice, but I won't do it no more,
as I can't bear to take the hooks out of the fish's mouth, so when the
others go I will stay on shore and watch the funny water-bugs that make
such big jumps. If we could jump like them, one good hop would take us
from 14th Street to the Grand Central, and there would be no use for the
subway.

I just live out-of-doors, setting on the veranda watching the mist rise
over the lake, or, when I am not helping Mrs. Smith, spending long hours
lying flat on my back looking up at the sky and wondering if there is
some path for me, and if I will ever find it. I think it is good to get
close to the ground, and I tell it all my secrets. It gives me strength,
and a sort of hope I never had before.

Oh, Kate, I am so happy here! You know I have been hungry all these
years and didn't know it, just hungry for friends. I wanted love that
you didn't have to watch, and these people give it to me. They show me
that they want me and I have a part in their life, eat the things they
eat and hear their home talk and am just one of them. You know I never
tasted food, no matter how much it cost, that tastes so good as it does
out here. It ain't just the things, if you got lots of money you can buy
them, but it is the something that goes with the "why, come right in,
you are in time for dinner." If it was only potatoes and salt, the way
they offer it to you makes it better than a dinner party at Martin's. In
the afternoon, we have tea and bread and butter and preserves that Mrs.
Smith has made herself. She is English you know, and says she could not
go without her afternoon tea any more than she could go without her
breakfast. And we set and talk and laugh and I feel as if there was such
a thing as windows in one's soul, mine are all open to the sunlight for
the first time.

Good night, Kate dear. Do I seem sort of stupid to you? I know you
wouldn't like it here, as it is too far from Broadway, but I love it!
We have been out on