THE MIXKRAL COLLECTOR 



221 



I soon was headed toward Litchfield 

 County. Well, after doing the ser- 

 pentine twist up the Shepaug Valley, 

 we arrived at Roxbury where my first 

 act was one of mercy; that is, to speci- 

 fy, I helped to separate a very portly 

 man from a large and populous sheet 

 of stickey fly paper to which he had be- 

 come attached in such a position that 

 he could not see to separate himself 

 from it. Verily it stuck closer than a 

 brother. He proved to be the landlord 

 of the local hotel and after a very satis- 

 factory dinner with him, he offered 

 to furnish me with a lantern to ex- 



and waited for my train which was 

 supposed to stop on signal. This 

 night for some reason it did not stop 

 and there 1 was, on a Saturday eve- 

 ning, marooned at Roxbury Falls and 

 mi train due until the next afternoon. 

 This would never do; the prospect 

 was too exciting. 1 finally found a 

 young man who agreed to drive me 

 to Hawleyville, some ten miles away, 

 if 1 would wait until he got a fresh 

 horse, lie did. The colt, he told me, 

 had not been in harness in two weeks, 

 and he went like a bird, only touching 

 the high places, and so, likewise, did 



A LIMONITE GEODE FROM LONG I SI. AND. 

 Contributed to Arcadia by Mr. Benjamin F. Palmer, Sound Beach, Conecticut. 



plore the old mine. But having 

 visions of snakes, bobcats and various 

 other unpleasant things inside, I de- 

 clined and contented myself with col- 

 lecting some very good specimens of 

 siderite and black sphalerite on the 

 dump. Then, the landlord having 

 furnished me with a horse, carriage and 

 driver, I started for the garnet mines, 

 some four miles away. The scenery 

 was interesting as was also my driver 

 — a pleasant, dark eyed girl. I realize 

 now that I enjoyed that part of my trip 

 very much. I collected all the garnets 

 I cared for, bade my driver good-bye 



we as the light wagon bounced from 

 the rocks and ridges with which the 

 road was liberally supplied. It sarted 

 to rain — a hard thunderstorm — and we 

 went through it without even an um- 

 brella. I have, I think, been swimming 

 in less water than that. ^Ye finally 

 reached Hawleyville with a broken 

 wagon seat and the horse shy of one 

 shoe, and I had a pocket full of mud 

 and water. I reached home that night 

 by way of Bridgeport, none the worse 

 for the wetting, with a good supply of 

 minerals and pleasant memories to last 

 me many a vear. 



