grasses, winged
creatures are in the shrubs, the trees, the air, active, eager,
beautiful life is everywhere. The heart thrills with the beauty, the
joy, the zest, the abundance of it, expands to a capacity for the
amplitude of it. Human life grows sweeter, richer, more worth while.
There is so much to live for, so much to hope for; this is the meaning
and the glory of the summer.

* * * * *

Farther out, where the old road leaves the woods, the landscape is
like a vast park, more beautiful than many a park which the world
calls famous. From the crest of the ridge the fields roll away in
graceful curves, dotted with comfortable homes and groves and skirted
by heavy timber down in the valley where the sweet water of the river
moves quietly over the white sand. Still responding to the freshening
impulse of the June rains, fields and woods are all a-quiver with
growth. By master magic soil-water and sunshine are being changed into
color and form to delight the eye and food to do the world's work.
Every tree is a picture, each leaf is as fresh and clean as the
rain-washed air of the morning. From the low meadows the perfume of
the hay is brought up by the languid breeze. Amber oat-fields are
ripening in the sun and in the corn-fields there is a sense of the
gathering force of life as the sturdy plants lift themselves higher
and higher during

_"The long blue solemn hours, serenely flowing
Whence earth, we feel, gets steady help and good."_

Many a tourist comes home to a land like this, weary and penniless,
like Sir Launfal after his fruitless quest, to discover that the grail
of health and rest and beauty which he sought afar so strenuously is
most easily and readily found at home.

* * * * *

[Illustration: "CURVES WHICH ADD MUCH TO ITS WILD BEAUTY" (p. 23)]

Ceaselessly up and down the old road passes the pageant of the year,
never two days the same, especially at this season. In the middle of
the road is a dirt wagon-track, on either side of which is a broad
belt of grass, flowers, shrubs and small trees till you come to the
fence. Beyond one fence the thick woods has a heavy undergrowth; over
the other is a well-wooded pasture. On the south side, between the
road and the fence there is a little brook, sometimes with a high,
mossy and timbered bank, sometimes completely hidden by tall grasses.
The road rises and falls in gentle grades, with