hound, for lost trails--I began to think again of my friend's lodges.
And do you know, I had lost every trace of depression. The whole matter
lay as clear in my mind, as little complicated, as the countryside which
met my eye so openly.

"Why!" I exclaimed to myself, "I need not envy my friend's lodges. I
myself belong to the greatest of all fraternal orders. I am a member of
the Universal Brotherhood of Men."

It came to me so humorously as I sat there in my buggy that I could not
help laughing aloud. And I was so deeply absorbed with the idea that I
did not at first see the whiskery old man who was coming my way in a
farm wagon. He looked at me curiously. As he passed, giving me half the
road, I glanced up at him and called out cheerfully:

"How are you, Brother?"

You should have seen him look--and look--and look. After I had passed I
glanced back. He had stopped his team, turned half way around in his
high seat and was watching me--for he did not understand.

"Yes, my friend," I said to myself, "I _am_ intoxicated--with the wine
of spring!"

I reflected upon his astonishment when I addressed him as "Brother." A
strange word! He did not recognize it. He actually suspected that he was
not my Brother.

So I jogged onward thinking about my fraternity, and I don't know when I
have had more joy of an idea. It seemed so explanatory!