The Friendly Road: New Adventures in Contentment

andy, "will speak of the fair a

lain fact is, my success at the Stanleys', and the easy manner in which I had fallen in with Mr. Canfield, gave me

irit; he must be willing to accept Adventure in whatever garb she chooses to present herself.

leasant farmstead where men were working in the fields, and many an open doo

, who, riding out from Madrid one day, came unexpectedly upon the greatest man in the world. This great man, of whom Carlyle observes (I have looked up the passage since I came home), "a kindlier, meeker, braver heart has seldom looked

answer that the blame lay with the horse of Don Miguel de Cervantes, whose trot was of the speediest. He had hardly pronounced the name when the student dismounted and, touching the h

heard a man-a modern man, living to-day-tell with a hush in his voice, and a peculiar light in his eye, how, walking in the outskirts of an unromantic town in New Jersey, he came suddenly upon a vigorou

was Walt

gan to fall I came to a stretch of wilder country with wooded hills and a dashing stream by the roadside. It was a fine and beautiful country-to look at-but the farms, and with them the chances of dinner, and a fri

id to myself, "surely none could b

back should appear at the door of one of those well-groomed establishments. It came to me, indeed, with a sudden deep sense of understanding,

e houses are, after all, merely men and wo

giving them something

le from the city; what can

hose who want the most are those who have the mo

ray, do you sup

e unattainable: they want chiefly the rarest and most

e things above ordinary living-is not that the essential thing for which th

d. Tell a man how he can increase his income and he will be grateful to you and soon forget you; but show him the highest, most mysterious things

ached still closed up, for the spring was not yet far enough advanced to attract the owners to the country. I walked rapidly onward through the

of the place. I saw, or thought I saw, people on the wide veranda, and I was sure I heard the snort of a climbing motor-car, but I had scarcely decided to make my way up to the house when I came, at the turning of the country road, upon a bit of open

a fine magnolia-rare in this country-which had not yet cast all its blossoms, and I paused for a moment to l

the twilight and swaying back and forth in rocking-chairs. I fancied-it may have been onl

bloom that was yet to come, climbed over one end of the porch, and there were fin

venture. Without the premeditation and not knowing what I should say or do, I realized that everything depended upon a few sentences spoken within the next minute or two. Believe me

ly regard an intruder whose bag and clothing must infallibly class him

ng, but said nothing. An old dog that had been sl

iful specimen of the magnolia tree-the one still in blossom. I myself have tried to grow magnoli

iastic gardeners. The man glanced around at the magnolia with evident pride, and

tep up and h

I saw, on the table just behind me a number magazines and books-books of

aid to myself, with a

"but this is the only one that has been reall

ning describ

loved both books gardens they would know Downing-Bible of th

t was Downing's enthusiasm for the Chine

raise of him, and later-for may not the faithful be permitted latitude in their comme

every detail of practice as recommended by Downing.

literal-minded man should

the Holy Scriptures,

mental teachings, for the great literature and poetry of the art. Do you remember," I asked, "that pas

jumping up instantly; "do we

a lamp in one hand-for it had grown pretty dark-and a familiar, po

d Mr. Vedder in

said I, "so certain to produce a happy h

ectacles, sat forward on the edge of his rocki

said. "I can put my

d Mrs. Vedder, "in th

esponded, "it is in 'Mistakes

the leav

in 'Rural Taste.' Let me

ays

sure of a garden? It has always been agreed that these plantations should make men amends for living at a distance

the old Chinaman was right! A

ght us here," s

ases, resolving that while there were bugs and blights, and droughts and floods, yet upon the whole there

form. The marvellous thing about good conversation is that it brings to birth so many half-realized thoughts of our own-besides sowing the seed of

one of the most amusing adventures of my whole life. I can scarcely think of it now withou

full of the spirit of the garden as we have long known it, although the auth

ll one subject,

but gardeners. Well, the book to which I refer is called 'Adve

able way righted itself again; and I saw Roman candles and Fourth of July rockets in front of my eyes. Never in all my experience was I so completely bowled over. I felt like a sm

n I saw Mrs. Vedder rising as though she had seen a s

David G

soner at the bar must feel when the judge, leani

offence as charged, and sente

me through his glasses. I must have looked as foolishly gu

, sir. We know you, and have

ests and enthusiasms. I had to tell them of my farm, and why I had left it temporarily, and of the experiences on the road. No sooner had I related what had befallen me at t

and with that I laid in, Mr. Vedder helping with the mi

. Vedder led the way to the immaculate

out among the trees and the shrubs and the flower-beds. The sun was just coming up over the hi

tle table. And here I sat down to listen to the morning concert, and I saw, cut or

a lovesome t

e p

ged

ed g

school of pe

e

that Go

gardens? w

c

t I hav

ure God wal

er copying this ve

arden: I like

had a moment of

next them, and bring Harriet, and we will live h

and of Horace, and Mr. and Mrs. Starkweather, an

ople there are in this world," I s

me one saying, and glancing up I saw Mrs.

ays hungr

ting out various spireas and Japanese barberries, of whi

fterward the table that Mrs. Vedder set was wonderfully dainty-dainty not merely with flowers (with which it was loaded), but with the quality of the china and silver. It was

ith a skill almost equal to Harriet's-so skillfully that the

en had appeared from somewhere, and were digging in the vegetable garden. After giving them certain directions Mr. Vedder and I both found five-tined f

esting conversation and interrupted by a hundred little excursions into other parts of the gard

country road, and a moment later it stopped at our gate. I thought I saw the Vedders exchanging significant glances. A

claimed, "you MU

, "the roses MUST be pruned-and see!

presented me t

ere not the caretakers but the owners of the estate and of the great house I had seen on the

hill. But the more we came to know of country life the more we wanted to get down into it. We found i

r put in, "we were losin

house," said Mrs. Vedder, "to

d developed this garden mostly with our own hands. We would have sold t

a more truly roman

o many possessions, too much property, to the peace and

edder, "that I never really believ

on the table in t

got a long, long way from God for many

fast, I set my hour of departure with all the firmness I could command. I left them, indeed, before ten o'clock that forenoon. I shall never forget the parting. They walked with me to the top of

lived in a house by the side of the road? I shall always think of you as friends of men-yo

-you have christened it anew, Davi

d I left them to return to their gard