BROWSING AND NIBBLING. 
I was once following a tireless guide 
through a wild mountain region of the South, 
when, in answer to a direct question, he de- 
livered himself as follows:— 
“What makes me allus a-nibblin’ an’ 
a-browsin’ of the bushes an’ things as I goes 
along? Well, I dunno, ’less hit’s kase I’ve 
sorter tuck a notionto. A feller needs a heap 
o’ nerve ef he ’spects to be much account for 
a deer-hunter in these here hills, an’ I kinder 
b’lieve hit keeps a feller’s heart stiddy an’ his 
blood pure for to nibble an’ browse kinder 
like a deer does. You know a deer is allus 
strong an’ active, an’ hit is everlastin’ly a- 
nibblin’ an’ a-browsin’. Ef hit’s good for the 
annymel hit orter be good for the feller.” 
This philosophy immediately gained a lodg- 
ment in my mind. I delightedly took up the 
seeds of suggestion let fall by the strong- 
limbed, steady-nerved mountaineer, and forced 
them to rapid quickening and utmost growth. 
The old alchemists in their search for the 
elixir of life ought to have known that the 
birds and the animals of the wild woods had 
long ago discovered it. How many sick deer, 
or bears, or partridges, have ever been found 
by huntersor woodsmen? For twenty years, as 
boy and man, I have been an untiring and per- 
sistent roamer in the wildest nooks and cor- 
ners of our American forests ; and during this 
period, I have never found a deer, a bear, a 
squirrel, a turkey, a grouse, a quail, or any 
