In the summer of 2008, we moved to Setauket, New York, up along the North Shore of Long Island. In the village of Setauket sits a lovely park dedicated to the memory of Frank Melville, Jr. (1850-1935). Inscribed in the park's stone bridge over a pond is a poem:

FRANK MELVILLE JR.
"Here was a man whose heart was good,
Who walked with men and understood.
His was a hand that asked no fee
For friendliness or kindness done.
And now that he has journeyed on
His is a fame that never ends,
And leaves behind uncounted friends."

I paused and wrote these words down on a scrap of paper from my pocket. Frank Melville's life was no doubt a mixture of light and shadow, but if he lived anything like the life that this affirming eulogy hints at, I suspect that he died a satisfied man in large part because he was at least as interested in the happiness of others as in his own. In other words, his happiness came from being a certain kind of loving and giving person.