A man who thus faces the problem squarely will soon see whether country life is the thing for him; if he finds it truly so, he can be as nearly assured of “living happily ever after” as any one outside of a story-book can ever be.  Out of it all is likely to come some of the greatest rewards that men can know, a robust body, a healthy appetite, a serene and cheerful spirit!

And finally there is one advantage not so easy to express.  Long ago I read a story of Tolstoi’s called “The Candle”—­how a peasant Russian forced to plough on Easter Day lighted a candle to his Lord and kept it burning on his plough as he worked through the sacred day.  When I see a man ploughing in his fields I often think of Tolstoi’s peasant, and wonder if this is not as true a way as any of worshipping God.  I wonder if any one truly worships God who sets about it with deliberation, or knows quite why he does it.

“My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as showers upon the grass.”

THE END