dreamy face of
each flower. All of these became voices in my ears; I could listen to
their singing and sighing for hours. What an awakening it was! I had
been dreaming for over half my life, and with a sigh I looked at the
well-worn tomes in my bookcase, which must now take second place in my
heart. They had served me well. True and tried friends, into whose faces
I had looked in both joy and sorrow, and never failed of consolation or
delight. I would never desert them--God forbid! They were grappled to my
soul with hooks which would neither bend nor break, and which could not
fall away. Still would I come to them and caress them with loving
fingers as I held them in my lap; still would I ask their advice and
store my mind of their knowledge, for they had lightened too many hours
of my life to be forsaken now,--it would be like giving up a friend of
twoscore years for one newly found. And I loved them none the less,--in
the full flush of the secret which I had discovered I knew this, and I
walked over to where the long rows stood like phalanxes, and ran my
hands lovingly over the sheepskin and vellum backs. And, 'pon my soul,
they seemed to respond to my fingers, as though I had touched hands with
a friend! They may have been dumb, but they were not lifeless; for the
spirits of their creators still lingered between the leaves, and made
them live--for me. Good friends, rest easy on your shelves; one by one
each of you shall come down, as you have always done, and commune with
me. When Nature sleeps, then we shall revel.

I sat down again, and stretched my feet out towards the low fire. With
pipe newly filled, I caressed it between my joined hands, and thought.
After a half hour of smoking and ruminating, I came to a conclusion. I
would move to the country for the summer! What a dolt I had been all
these years! The matter of board need not be considered, for that was
cheaper in the country than in town. When winter came again, I could
return to my present quarters, if I chose. What I wanted was a quiet old
farmhouse with as few people in it as possible, and located in the
blue-grass region of the State. Then life would be one endless
delight,--days afield, and peaceful, noiseless nights. To be awakened in
the morning by the matin song of the thrush; to breathe the intoxicating
odor of honeysuckle and jessamine; to step out into the dew-washed
grass, instead of upon the hard pavement, and to receive the countless
benedicti