Campobello Island, N. B., Wednesday—I am more than glad that the fates were kind yesterday and gave us good weather for the last part of our drive. No matter how often I take this drive, I never grow tired of certain views along the way and the sea is much more friendly under a blue and sunny sky.

All along the road lobsters and clams are advertized and I kept thinking, "When I stop for lunch I'll remember to eat some kind of sea products." Then when the time came, I had a glass of milk and a bacon-and-egg sandwich. Anything more prosaic and unimaginative would be hard to find!

I had not happened to stop before, this year, at the Triangle gas station outside of Ellsworth, Me., but the man there is an old friend. He greeted me warmly and told me that he and his family had been at my Bangor lecture earlier in the year and so we talked a little of the world situation.

Maine is so remote that many of the affairs of vital interest to other people in the country may mean little here. But the Battle of the Atlantic is very close to these people. They see the ships being built. They have known men of the Navy and they understand the life and the risks of the sea which are simply augmented in times of war. Airports are being built in Maine, so the people are alive to the possibilities of air attack, as those living farther away from the sea and the Canadian border cannot possibly be.

Being dependent on the sea for a livelihood, I think, must build in men and women rather contradictory characters. Perhaps farming does the same. There are so many things in both callings that are beyond control of any individual that the gambling spirit in us all, in greater or less degree, must be well developed in fishermen and farmers.

On the other hand, in order to exist, they must at times develop ingenuity, resourcefulness and determination to find some way of accomplishing at least a mere existence for themselves and their families. This means a constant battle with fate. It must make strong men and women.

How fascinating a great country is! The problems, though never the same, have many elements in common from one end of our great land to the other. The need will always be for a better understanding over the whole great area so that we will realize that one step forward for anyone, no matter what group he may be in, is a step forward for everyone in the nation.

I found my mother-in-law much better and we are going to have a pleasant and care-free week—I hope!