230 THE INVITATION. 



the fields and woods, a new moral and iatellectuaj 

 tonic, a new key to the treasure-house of nature. 

 Think of the many other things your Excellency 

 would get ; the air, the sunshine, the healing fra- 

 grance and coolness, and the many respites from the 

 knavery and turmoil of political life. 



Yesterday was an October day of rare brightness 

 and warmth. I spent the most of it in a wild, wooded 

 gorge of Rock Creek. A persimmon-tree which 

 stood upon the bank had dropped some of its fruit in 

 the water. As I stood there, half-leg deep, picking 

 them up, a wood-duck came flying down the creek 

 and passed over my head. Presently it returned, 

 flying up ; then it came back again, and, sweeping 

 low around a bend, prepared to alight in a still, dark 

 reach in the creek which was hidden from my view. 

 As I passed that way about half an hour afterward, 

 the duck started up, uttering its wild alarm note. In 

 the stillness I could hear the whistle of its wings and 

 the splash of the water when it took flight. Near 

 by I saw where a raccoon had come down to tho 

 water for fresh clams, leaving his long, sharp track 

 in the mud and sand. Before I had passed this hid- 

 den stretch of water, a pair of those mysterious 

 Jirushes, the gray-cheeked, flew up from the ground 

 %nd perched on a low branch. 



Who can tell how much this duck, this foot-piint 

 tn the sand, and these strange thrushes from the far 

 North, enhanced the interest and charm of th« 

 tutumn woods ? 



