2i6 Bog-Trotting for Orchids 



summits, and still others, of the same family of mist 

 or cloud, hovering in the gold radiance of the upper at- 

 mosphere. Stepping from one to another of the clouds 

 that rested on the hills, and thence to the loftier brother- 

 hood that sailed in air, it seemed almost as if a mortal 

 man might thus ascend into the heavenly regions. 

 Earth was so mingled with sky, that it was a day 

 dream to look at it. To supply that charm of the 

 familiar and homely, which Nature so readily adopts 

 into a scene like this, the stage-coach was rattling 

 down the mountain-road, and the driver sounded his 

 horn, while Echo caught up the notes, and intertwined 

 them into a rich and varied and elaborate harmony, of 

 which the original performer could lay claim to little 

 share. The great hills played a concert among them- 

 selves, each contributing a strain of airy sweetness." * 

 As we neared the head of The Bellows-Pipe, and 

 passed the Wilbur and Eddy farms, where Thoreau 

 was entertained, I tried to trace the paths which he had 

 followed in his ascent to Greylock some years after 

 Hawthorne sojourned here. He stopped that July 

 afternoon in North Adams Village, purchased a tin 

 cup, a little rice and sugar, and, placing them in his 

 knapsack, started up The Bellows toward the moun- 

 tains, followed closely by a thunderstorm. " The 

 thunder had rumbled at my heels all the way," he 

 said, *' but the shower passed off in another direction, 

 though if it had not, I half believed that I should get 

 above it." He ''reached the last house but one, where 

 ' Hawthorne, Ethan Brand. 



