to run the car puzzled me s father had already expressed himself to me as opposed to the idea i can t understand what he sees in that fellow he said to me early this morning he s a reckless little devil and i don t think he really knows anything about machinery frank will stick to him though if it were my machine i wouldn t have him near it now that i looked at though i felt that he had so much courage and hope and � such an look in his eyes � that i quite envied him he was assistant mail clerk or something at the post office and when i came up and had been introduced through the window he promptly handed me out several letters when i told what his father had said he merely smiled the old man is always talking like that he said s all right he s better than speed it takes a certain slow moving type of intellect to enjoy or endure life in a small country town to be a doctor in a place like this or a lawyer or a merchant i or a clerk in the main in spite of many preliminary descriptions did not interest me as much as i thought it would or might it was interesting � as one says with the wave of a hand or a shrug of the shoulders of more im port to me was the household and the peculiar girl who would not come out to greet me at first and s father and mother and sister this day passed rather reading proofs which had been sent me and listening to passing expresses which tore through here northward and southward to and from only fifteen miles away � never even hesitating as n an village the negro said � and listening to the on which i put all the records i could find three by james little the man and my grandfather captured my fancy so strongly that i spent several hours just listening to them over and over they were so delightful then i would vary my diet with and during the afternoon and i went for a walk in a woods � a and oak grove � the occupying one section and the oaks another truly grey and described this day it was but in addition the clouds hung so low and thick and dark that they were almost in their sense of and it was warm and damp quite like a bath i had arrayed myself in great length rubber boots borrowed from s father and my and a worthless old cap so that i was independent of the long dripping wet grass and the frequent pools of water i know what i ll do i exclaimed suddenly i ll go in swimming it s just the day fine i when we reached the stream in the depth of the woods i was even more enchanted with the idea the leafy depth of the hollow was so dark and wet the water so and yellow a veritable made so by the heavy rains everywhere about would not come in with me instead he stood on the shore and told me local tales of and deaths and and joys to many my problem was how to without getting my clothes wet and my feet so muddy when i came out that i could not put on my boots by thought i solved it i took off my spread it down on the shore as a floor then took off my boots and stood on it dry and clean under one corner of it i tucked all my clothes to protect them from the rain then naked i plunged into the boiling flood it nearly swept me away so terrific was the of the waters i caught a branch hanging low and with my feet a holiday against a few rocks below lay flat and let the water rush over me it was wonderful to lie in this warm yellow water a bright gold color really and feel it go foaming over my breast and arms and legs it at me so quite like a man that i had to fight it to keep up my arms ached after a time but i hung on loving the feel of it sticks and leaves went racing past i would kick up a stone and instantly it would be swept onward toward some better lodging place farther down i figured an angle finally by which i could make shore letting go and and so i did coming up and scratched but happy then i dipped my feet in the water stood on my drying myself with my handkerchief and finally dressed and refreshed strode up shore then we went off flower gathering and made a big of iron weed he told me how for years he had been coming to this place how he loved the great oaks and the silvery huddled in a friendly company to the north and how he had always wanted to paint them and some day would the people have for cutting their names on trunks came up for here were so many covered with lover s hearts � their names inside � and so many all but by that i could not help thinking how lives flow by quite like the water in the stream below then we went back to a fine chicken dinner and a pie made especially for me and the and the rushing trains the of which i was never tired hearing � they sounded so sad another black rainy night and then the next morning the sun came up on one of the most perfect days imaginable it was and glistening and fragrant and � a wonder world what with the new wet trees and grass as cool and delightful as any day could be it was like 