E-text prepared by Annie McGuire from scanned images of public domain material generously made available by the Google Books Library Project (http://books.google.com/) Note: Images of the original pages are available through the the Google Books Library Project. See http://books.google.com/books?vid=B_IOAAAAIAAJ&id THE JONATHAN PAPERS by ELISABETH WOODBRIDGE * * * * * By Elisabeth Woodbridge DAYS OUT AND OTHER PAPERS. MORE JONATHAN PAPERS. THE JONATHAN PAPERS. HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY BOSTON AND NEW YORK * * * * * THE JONATHAN PAPERS by ELISABETH WOODBRIDGE [Illustration] Boston and New York Houghton Mifflin Company Copyright, 1912, by Elisabeth Woodbridge Morris TO JONATHAN AND TO ALL PERFECT COMRADESHIP WHEREVER ITS JOYOUS SPIRIT IS FOUND THIS LITTLE BOOK IS DEDICATED Contents FOREWORD--ON TAKING ONE'S DESSERT FIRST ix I. A PLACID RUNAWAY 3 II. AN UNPROGRESSIVE FARM 14 III. A DESULTORY PILGRIMAGE 25 IV. THE YELLOW VALLEY 38 V. LARKSPURS AND HOLLYHOCKS 49 VI. THE FARM SUNDAY 68 VII. THE GROOMING OF THE FARM 87 VIII. "ESCAPED FROM OLD GARDENS" 107 IX. THE COUNTRY ROAD 114 X. THE LURE OF THE BERRY 131 XI. IN THE RAIN 139 XII. AS THE BEE FLIES 155 XIII. A DAWN EXPERIMENT 171 XIV. IN THE WAKE OF THE PARTRIDGE 183 XV. BEYOND THE REALM OF WEATHER 199 XVI. COMFORTABLE BOOKS 214 XVII. IN THE FIRELIGHT 222 The papers in this volume first appeared in the _Outlook_, the _Atlantic_, and _Scribner's_. The author wishes to express to the editors of these magazines her appreciation of their courtesy in permitting the republication of the papers. Foreword On Taking One's Dessert First When we were children we used to "happen in" to the kitchen just before luncheon to see what the dessert was to be. This was because at the luncheon table we were not allowed to ask, yet it was advantageous to know, for since even our youthful capacity had its limits, we found it necessary to "save room," and the question, of course, was, how much room?