222 MY AMERICAN FRIENDS

The chief exception is, of course, California;
and there are others of which I could name a
good many, but with the qualification that the
exception holds good only at certain seasons
of the year, and often very short seasons, too.
Even the savage climate of New England, with
its fierce extremes of heat and cold, has its gentler
moods in which, as Emerson said, " it is a luxury
to draw the breath of life/' But the luxury
there as elsewhere is usually of short duration.
Continuous, all-the-year-round companionship
with nature, such as the changeable but less
violent climate of England allows to healthy
people who can put up with her glooms as well
as enjoy her gleams, is very difficult in most
parts of America and quite impossible in many.
In these places your relationship with nature
becomes irregular. You can never become, as
Wordsworth was, wedded to nature for life;
at best the relationship will be that of a com-
panionate marriage. Your fair mistress will smile
upon you for a time; but at certain revolutions
of the seasons she will change into a fury, armed
with " Gorgonian terrors," lash you with icy
blizzards, roast you in torrid heats, torment
you with millions of abominable flies*

Ah, the flies! I suspect they have much to do
with the indoor habits of America, How often
have I stayed a prisoner behind closed walls, screens
or shutters, through terror of the devilish flies wait-
ing to devour me outside. How more than once,