i8 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



LOOKING DOWN INTO THE RAVINE. 



"The rocky hill rose on three sides, 

 like any of its neighbors, in a fairly 

 easy slope from its foot, but on the 

 other side it ended in a precipitious 

 rocky bluff, a hundred feet high, with 

 its perpendicular surface broken here 

 and there by great jutting crags ; and 

 at its foot lay a dark ravine, awful in 

 its silent beauty, with giant hemlocks 

 whose tops were just above your head 

 as you gazed over the edge. A silvery 

 stream ran through the valley, and on 

 the other side you could dimly see a 

 woody hill rising. A thick carpeting 

 of fern and moss covered the ground. 

 Seldom did buzz of bee or song of bird 

 disturb the stillness, and in those 



shaded depths the air was always fra- 



grant and cool. 



H 5 5fc 



* * 



"And Laddin's Rock still stands 

 and guards the quiet valley, and hun- 

 dreds of interested visitors have stood 

 and gazed down into the green and 

 shaded depths, and wonder how long 

 the big boulders have lain at the base 

 of the precipice. In the cracks in the 

 face of the giant Rock, where once the 

 jutting ledges hung, great trees have 

 grown, and seem to thrive with but a 

 handful of earth to hold their roots." — 

 "Laddin's Rock" by Alice Stead Bin- 

 nev. 



THE SCENE OF OUR FRONTISPIECE IN WINTER. 



