222 Life iu the Brick Moon. [February, regard to free agency were considered much more sound than mine. He took the chair, in that pretty observatory parlor, which Polly had made so bright with smilax and ivy. Of course I took no chair ; I waited, as a janitor should, at the door. Then a brief address. Dr. Philpotts trusted that the observa- tory might always be administered in the interests of science, of true sci- ence ; of that science which rightly distinguishes between unlicensed lib- erty and true freedom ; between the unrestrained volition and the freedom of the will. He became eloquent, he became noisy. He sat down. Then three other men spoke, on similar sub- jects. Then the executive committee which had appointed me was dis- missed with thanks. Then a new ex- ecutive committee was chosen, with Dr. Philpotts at the head. The next day I was discharged. And the next week the Philpotts family moved into the observatory, and their second girl now takes care of the instruments. I returned to the cure of souls and to healing the hurt of my people. On observation days somebody runs down to No. 9, and by means of Shubael com- municates with B. M. We love them, and they love us all the same. Nor do we grieve for them as we did. Coming home from Pigeon Har- bor in October, with those nice Wads- worth people, we fell to talking as to the why and wherefore of the summer life we had led. How was it that it was so charming ? And why were we a little loath to come back to more comfortable surroundings ? *' I hate the school," said George Wadsworth.
- ' I hate the making calls," said his
mother. ' I hate the office hour," said her poor husband ; " if there were only a dozen I would not mind, but seven- teen hundred thousand in sixty min- utes is too many." So that led to ask- ing how many of us there had been at Pigeon Cove. The children counted up all the six families, the Halibur- tons, the Wadsworths, the Pontefracts, the Midges, the Hayeses, and the Ing- hams, and the two good-natured girls, thirty-seven in all, and the two ba- bies born this summer. " Really," said Mrs. Wadsworth, " I have not spoken to a human being besides these since June ; and what is more, Mrs. Ingham, I have not wanted to. We have really lived in a little world of our own." " World of our own ! " Polly fairly jumped from her seat, to Mrs. Wads- worth's wonder. So we had lived in a world of our own. Polly reads no newspaper since the " Sandemanian " was merged. She has a letter or two tumble in sometimes, but not many; and the truth was that she had been more secluded from General Grant and Mr. Gladstone and the Khedive, and the rest of the important people, than had Brannan or Ross or any of them ! And it had been the happiest sum- mer she had ever known. Can it be possible that all human sympathies can thrive, and all human powers be exercised, and all human joys increase, if we live with all our might with the thirty or forty people next to us, telegraphing kindly to all other people, to be sure ? Can it be possible that our passion for large cities, and large parties, and large theatres, and large churches, develops no faith nor hope nor love which would not find aliment and exercise in a little " world of our own " ?
