"
THE FRIENDLY ROAD
Copyright, 1913, by DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
A WORD TO HIM WHO OPENS THIS BOOK
I did not plan when I began writing these chapters to make an
entire book, but only to put down the more or less unusual
impressions, the events and adventures, of certain quiet
pilgrimages in country roads. But when I had written down all of
these things, I found I had material in plenty.
"What shall I call it now that I have written it?" I asked
myself.
At first I thought I should call it "Adventures on the Road," or
"The Country Road," or something equally simple, for I would not
have the title arouse any appetite which the book itself could
not satisfy. One pleasant evening I was sitting on my porch with
my dog sleeping near me, and Harriet not far away rocking and
sewing, and as I looked out across the quiet fields I could see
in the distance a curving bit of the town road. I could see the
valley below it and the green hill beyond, and my mind went out
swiftly along the country road which I had so recently travelled
on foot, and I thought with deep satisfaction of all the people I
had met on my pilgrimages--the Country Minister with his
problems, the buoyant Stanleys, Bill Hahn the Socialist, the
Vedders in their garden, the Brush Peddler.
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