Bruce Shanks (1908-1980)

[inscription reads] " is too familiar. Like a friend we like it from a distance more - that is, reserved. / Heard in Variety Hollow a weird (sic) shrieking, sounding like a fire - whistle, or as I think a Banshee would wail, which proved as I suspected to be two wind-rubbed trees. A fine sound to hear on a dark windy night. / I wish I could be, in town, what I am in the fields - calm, serene & happy, without a mean thought in my mind. "