"Love is the first thing,
Love goes past.
Sorrow is the next thing,
Quiet is the last.

Love is a good thing,
Quiet isn't bad,
But sorrow is the best thing
I've ever had."




XI

AND IS FOUND IN GOOD HANDS

From the Bade farmhouse, a mile below Hemlock Mountain, the road winds
down to Adams' Forge, past Aaron Bade's stony fields. To the north
lies Milford; but to the south lies that enchanting land, blue in the
distance, misty in the sun, which the heart delights to call its home.

It is the land we see from any hilltop. As we gaze at its far off
rises, its hazy, shadowy valleys, we feel within us a longing and a
faint melancholy. There, we think, dwell the friends who would love
us, if we were known to them, and there, too, must be found the beauty
and the happiness that we have failed to discover where we are. It
seems to us that there, in the distance, we should be happier, we
should be more amiable and more dignified.