oncKl HERMIT TIJRUSII BROOK 327 



The brook ihcMi flows across the meadow lhrovi*^h an old stone 

 sluice tinder the KHne Road, then turns its course to the southwest 

 traversing a pasture. It now passes the ed^e of another woodlot 

 with many N'ouni^- willows fringing its route. During the course it 

 .gathers much speed and comes bounding out again into a narrow 

 \'alley, which leads directly toward the west. 



This valley is bordered on either side by woods filled with huge 

 old trees. Plenty of red oak, basswood and maple form the cover, 

 while blue beech, hawthorn and small elms make up the second 

 growth. The brook flows slowly and leisurely through the woods, 

 loitering in the sunny spots as if loth to leave. When it flows out 

 into the meadows again, it finds new surroundings. It has now^ 

 become an educated brook flowing beside the garden plots and 

 lawns of pleasing residences. Here it is enshrined and places of 

 beauty, along its banks are designed as resting places. A dam has 

 been made where the children may play, but the waters hasten 

 ever onward. 



Here the stream cuts its way through grassy fields, whose clay- 

 like soil it sweeps along, but it does not linger in these surroundings, 

 but hastens faster and faster toward the brow of the hill. The 

 bed rock now form.s layers over which the water leaps and it seems 

 hurrying on its wa}^ to the lake as it slides over the smooth rocky 

 bottom. The banks become higher here as the stream begins the 

 descent of the hill. 



Now our brook turns hermit and is almost hidden by the second 

 growth of wild cherry, hickory and maple. Every three or four 

 rods it disappears for an instant in the cement culverts, which 

 conduct it safely under the roads. It gains more speed with every 

 little fall and sliding cascade; the bank becomes still deeper and 

 now the brook sings its first real song of rushing wa'er as it rushes 

 over rocks and finer pebbles on its way through the woods. 



In the deeper shade of this woods some of the rarest wildflow^ers 

 grow. Columbine and moss pink adorn the rocks and the wdld 

 azalia sheds here its fragrance. The birds too accompany the 

 stream with their glad songs. Just at the edge of the deeper wood, 

 the brook takes its final and greatest fall into a deep gorge. This 

 descent is over a rocky ledge perhaps thirty feet high. Many trees 

 and bushes overshadow the fall from above. Only the roar and 

 splash of the water as it drops into a deeper pool at the bottom of 

 the gorge. This gorge extends for about an eighth of a mile. 



