Oh, for some planet where such young saplings can
grow without hinderance from the ignorant and the
unsympathetic; where they can reach out for the sun
on all sides and stretch their long arms skyward;
where each vine can grow as it would in all the luxuriance
of its nature, free from the pruning-knife
of criticism and the straitlaced trellis of
conventionality--a planet on which the Puritan with his
creeds, customs, fads, issues, and dogmas, and the
Cavalier with his traditions and time-honored notions
never sat foot. Where every round peg fits a round hole,
and men toil with a will and with unclouded brows
because their hearts find work for their hands and
each day's task is a joy.

If the road and the country on each side of it, and
the giant trees, now that they neared the mountains,
and the deep ravines and busy, hurrying brooks had
each inspired some exclamation of joy from Oliver,
the first view of Ezra's cabin filled him so full of
uncontrollable delight that he could hardly keep his
seat long enough for Marvin to rein in his horses
and get down and swing back the gate that opened
into the pasture surrounding the house.

"Got a boarder for ye, Ezra," Marvin called to
Oliver's prospective host, who had come down to
meet the stage and get his empty butter-pails. Then,
in a lower tone: "Sezs he's a painter chap, and that
Mr. Slade sent him up. He's goin' to bunk in with