Wilkins's Wood was a quiet stretch of timber land that lay along the banks of Pleasant River; and though the natives, for the most part, never noticed that it was paved with asphalt and roofed in with oilcloth, yet it was, nevertheless, the most tranquil bit of loveliness in all the country round.
Here was a quiet pool where the rushes bent to the breeze . . . and there, a winding path where the cattle came down to drink of the river's nectar. Here the first mayflowers pushed their sweet heads through the reluctant earth, and waxen Indian pipes grew in the moist places . . .
And here sat Timothy Jessup, with all his heart in his eyes, bidding good-by to all this soft and tender loveliness.
For Timothy Jessup was running away --again.
Kate Douglas Wiggin (1856-1923), with such works asRebecca of Sunnybrook Farm,The Story of PatsyandA Village Stradivarius,earned a permanent place in the heart of America's youth.