286 WOOD-PATHS. 



of this rude pathway, which has expelled no wild plant 

 from its habitats, nor a single forest warbler from its 

 retreats. We experience within it a true sensation of 

 nature, with a pleasant reminder of simple rural life. It 

 is hallowed by its humble purpose of utility, by its free- 

 dom from artifice, by its perfect submission to the care 

 of nature and chance, by its beauty without adornment. 



The wood-path becomes henceforth an avenue to all the 

 delights of the season. It introduces us to the produc- 

 tions of the forest in their most interesting condition. 

 The trees that spread their branches overhead shelter it 

 from cold and heat, and permit thousands of beautiful 

 shrubs to grow there that would be fatally crowded in the 

 dense parts of the wood. Multitudes of flowers appear 

 continually in its borders, one host following another in 

 glowing succession, and looking upon us in our journey 

 as with the eyes of so many little sentinels of light and 

 beauty placed here to make the scene delightful to the 

 sense and the imagination. like birds that multiply 

 around a human dwelling in the wilderness, flowers al- 

 ways become numerous in these woodland paths, and 

 consecrate them to nature. 



There is nothing here to call up any disagreeable ideas 

 of pride and pretence, or to excite envy by the ostenta- 

 tious parade of wealth. Nature never insults the most 

 humble person who enters her sacred precincts. The rich 

 and the poor, the learned and the unlearned, if they have 

 any love of truth and beauty, are equally pleased and in- 

 structed They surrender their hearts to the simplicity 

 of the scenes around them, forget the cares that per- 

 plex their minds, and find pleasure in every object they 

 meet. Here are both freedom and seclusion ; for though 

 every foot of knd has an owner, no invidious signs of 

 appropriation are made apparent to the pilgrim of these 

 walks. Everything has grown up without culture ; for 



