THE STUDY OF NATUIIE. 21 



^■\y^' remote summits of tlie Pja-enees, wliich were visible fe^ 



1^ in clear weather. The young elm-trees of our own |VV.J 



§Vf France, mingled with American acacias, rose-laurels, and S^, 



iM- y^^^« cypresses, interrupted its fuU flood of light, and '^ 



#1^ transmitted to us a softened radiance. |-:^^^ 



"*% '■' On our right, a thicket of oaks, inclosed with a vkx> 



tm <iense hedge, sheltered us from the north, and from the j^j; 



^ keen wind of the Cantal. Far away, on the left, swept Jl 



1^ the green meadows and the corn-fields. Through the (j^ 



}M broom, and in the shade of some tall trees, flowed a |i| 



^^k brooklet — a thin thread of limpid water, defined against ifg 



%lj the evening horizon by a small belt of haze which ran f^M') 



l^-' ft along its border. [^ 



IH' " The climate is intermediate. In the valley, which ||« 



fm; is that of the Tarn, and which shares the mildness of p:::] 



^f|^ the Garonne and the severity of Auvergne, we find ^ 



iM none of those southern products common everywhere M 



ji^ around Bordeaux. But the mulberry, and the melting |^ 



Jg- perfumed peach, the juicy grape, the sugared fig, and gji 



^\t^ the melon, growing in the open air, testify that we are i^ 



^'f ■ in the south. Fruits superabounded with us ; one 



it' portion of the estate was an immense vineyard. 



J'"|"' "Memory vividly recalls to me all the charms of 



ir^. this locality, and its varied character. It was never 



\;^ otherwise than grave and melancholy in itself, and it 



?$^ impressed these feelings on aU about it. My father, 



j'^V^ 111 



q':j'| though lively and agreeable, was a man already aged, 



i[ ^!? and of uncertain health. My mother, young, beautiful, 



i \ 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 



