More Noise than Music." 



77 



I love to loiter. In the leafless woods, if the 

 south wind is gently stealing through them, there 

 is sufficient inducement to ramble and, while stroll- 

 ing in the forest by-paths, to pry into every petty 

 cavern at an old tree's root, hoping to find at least 

 an opossum and possibly scaring a mouse ; or to 



Golden-winged Woodpecker. 



gaze up into the interlacing branches of clustered 

 oaks, or to wonder what may be hidden in the 

 shadows of the impenetrable cedars. There is ever 

 more than sufficient to warrant a walk in the woods, 

 even in winter ; and when frost withholds its chilly 

 touch for the day, it is pleasant to loiter there, to 



