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 as Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, The Story of Patsy and A Village Stradivarius, earned a permanent place in the heart of America's youth.