TANGLE-LEAF PAPERS. 67 
heard, and felt in a little while under the 
ordinary circumstances of a run; or rather 
what a mass of observations one can record 
by the industrious use of one’s eyes, ears, and 
note-book, and pencil, even when nothing 
really unusual occurs. 
I set out quite early in the morning over 
a good road. A slight rain had fallen the 
day before, and there were a few puddles here 
and there, but no real mud. ‘The spring had 
been a little slow coming, though the wheat- 
fields were waving ankle-high with a rich 
sward, and the woods were washed over with 
’ the tender green of tassels and leaves. A 
bracing freshness pervaded the air, which was 
from the south—a mere breath with a hint of 
summer warmth in it. No sooner had I 
cleared the town and got rid of the half-dozen 
ragged urchins that ran howling after me, as 
if I might have been mistaken for the advance 
agent of a circus, than I put on a spurt of 
power, bowling along ina level lane, with a 
hedge of do7s d’arc on one hand and a high 
board fence on the other. A man walking in 
the middle of the road ahead of me evidently 
did not hear me coming, for when I whisked 
past him he shied like a young colt and 
glared at me as if he meant to attack me, but 
I left him so suddenly that I could not analyze 
his expression further. Somehow this little 
incident called up De Quincey’s Viszon of 
Sudden Death—a story which has _ always 
seemed to me a most perfect piece of art-work. 
If you have not read it, I advise you to take 
it with you on your first outing. It will 
fill an hour of rest with an enjoyment wholly 
