we lived where we could and as we could. I
took rooms with an old couple, early settlers
in Lincoln, who had married off their children
and now lived quietly in their house at the
edge of town, near the open country. The
house was inconveniently situated for stu-
dents, and on that account I got two rooms
for the price of one. My bedroom, originally
a linen closet, was unheated and was barely
large enough to contain my cot bed, but it
enabled me to call the other room my study.
The dresser, and the great walnut wardrobe
which held all my clothes, even my hats and
shoes, I had pushed out of the way, and I
considered them non-existent, as children
eliminate incongruous objects when they are
playing house. I worked at a commodious
green-topped table placed directly in front of
the west window which looked out over the
prairie. In the corner at my right were all
my books, in shelves I had made and painted
myself. On the blank wall at my left the
dark, old-fashioned wall-paper was covered
by a large map of ancient Rome, the work
of some German scholar. Cleric had ordered
it for me when he was sending for books from
abroad. Over the bookcase hung a photo-

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v?