A MAY VISIT TO MOOSILAUKE 



WHEN a man sets forth on an out-of-door pleasure 

 jaunt, his prayer is for weather. If he is going 

 to the mountains, let him double his urgency. 

 In the mountains, if nowhere else, weather is 

 three fifths of life. 



My first trip to New Hampshire the present 

 season 1 was made under smooth, high clouds, 

 which left the distance clear, so that the moun- 

 tains stood up grandly beyond the lake as we 

 ran along its western border. Not a drop of 

 rain fell till I stepped off the car at Warren. 

 At that moment the world grew suddenly dark, 

 and before I could get into the open carriage the 

 clouds burst, and with a rattling of thunder bolts 

 a deluge of rain and hail descended upon us. 

 There was no contending with such an adversary, 

 though a good woman across the way, commiser- 

 ating our plight, came to the door with proffers of 

 an umbrella. I retreated to the station, while the 

 driver hastened down the street to put his team 

 under shelter. So a half hour passed. Then we 

 tried again, and half frozen, in spite of a winter 



