THE STUDY OF NATUHE. 21 



'MJy 



remote summits of the Pyrenees, which were visible 

 in clear weather. The young elm-trees of our own 

 France, mingled with American acacias, rose-laurels, and 



1^? 



young cypresses, interrupted its full flood of light, and 'vXty'- 



transmitted to us a softened radiance. '-^'Wv 



'■'■ On our right, a thicket of oaks, inclosed with a fwi) 



dense hedge, sheltered us from the north, and from the |M|\ 



keen wind of the Cantal. Far awa}'-, on the left, swept v/l^ 



the green meadows and the corn-fields. Through the \t$^ 



broom, and in the shade of some tall trees, flowed a y^h^ 



brooklet — a thin thread of limpid water, defined against v|pf, 



the evening horizon by a small belt of haze which ran fi^ft"^ 



along its border. j V 



" The climate is intermediate. In the valley, which ^^^ 



is that of the Tarn, and which shares the mildness of j<*«''( 



^J,V' the Garonne- and the sevei'ity of Auvergne, we find '^^, 



tyn none of those southern products common everywhere OtS 



)'/l around Bordeaux. But the mulbeny, and the melting km 



C^rn^ perfumed peach, the juicy gi'ape, the sugared fig, and ^5(l|7 



{^ the melon, growing in the open air, testify that we are tw% 



\W ill the south. Fruits superabounded with us ; one ^J^ 



X{j portion of the estate was an immense vineyard. ?''()# 



^.fJ " Memory viv^idly recalls to me all the charms of ^'i^ 



'■'fe this locality, and its varied character. It was never '-Wt^, 



(,>i? otherwise than grave and melancholy in itself, and it 'j\^v 



tM^ impressed these feelings on all about it. My father, ^U^ 



''l';]!"^' though lively and agreeable, was a man already aged, ^/^^ 



''i ►( and of uncertain health. My mother, young, beautiful, . -X 



1 \ austere, had the queenly bearing of the North American, ' * ^ 

 with a prudence and an active economy very rare in 

 Creoles. The estate which we occupied formerly belonged 



