64 NEW HAMPSHIRE 



going neither uphill nor downhill, and it rested 

 the eyes to be looking not at remote peaks and 

 dimly discovered sheets of water, but into green 

 branches so near that the leaves could be seen, 

 and the blue sky through them. How sweetly 

 the ripple of the brook came to my ears as it 

 ran over its stony bed just beyond the velvety, 

 smooth meadow ! And the cawing of a dozen or 

 two of crows, who were talking politics among the 

 pines on the hillside, affected me most agreeably. 

 There was something of real neighborliness about 

 it. I would gladly have taken a hand in the dis- 

 cussion, if they would have let me. When a song 

 sparrow started out of the hedge at my elbow 

 it gave me a start of surprise. I had become so 

 unused to such movements ! A robin's sudden 

 cackle I thought almost the sweetest of music ; 

 the careless warble of a bluebird was nothing 

 less than a voice from heaven; and a squirrel 

 sputtering defiance from the stone wall set me 

 laughing with pleasure. None of these sounds, 

 nor anything akin to them, was to be heard on 

 the desolate, boulder-covered top of Mount 

 Washington. 



Now the trees interlaced their branches over 

 my head. Nothing could be prettier ; and the 

 effect was so novel ! I stopped short to admire 

 it. And anon, as the road made a little ascent, 



