64 DECEMBER OUT-OF-DOORS. 
But I answer, in all good conscience, yes. 
The motto with which I began states the 
truth somewhat strongly, perhaps Gt must 
be remembered where I got it), but aside 
from that one bit of harmless borrowed hy- 
perbole, I have delivered a plain, unvar- 
nished tale. For all that, however, I do 
not expect my industrious fellow-citizens to 
fall in at once with my opinion that winter 
is a pleasant season at the seashore (it 
would be too bad they should, as far as my 
own enjoyment is concerned), and December 
a month propitious for leisurely all-day ram- 
bles. How foreign such notions are to peo- 
ple in general I have lately had several for- 
cible reminders. On one of my jaunts from 
Marblehead to Swampscott, for example, I 
had finally taken to the railway, and was in 
the narrow, tortuous cut through the ledges, 
when, looking back, I saw a young gentle- 
man coming along after me. He was in full 
skating rig, fur cap and all, with a green 
bag in one hand and a big hockey stick in 
the other. I stopped every few minutes to 
listen for any bird that might chance to be 
in the woods on either hand, and he could 
not well avoid overtaking me, though he 
