Wben (Braes is (3reen 



And how desperately forlorn, forsaken and re- 

 pelling are the great majority of our country roads. 

 We hear much, of late, of making them better for 

 wagon traffic; but how little has been said of beau- 

 tifying the highways ? and never a word for the 

 foot passenger, as if he who has no horse is beneath 

 consideration. 



There is so generally nothing to see on a high- 

 way, as Thoreau intimates, it is necessary to jump 

 over the fence, trusting you will not be held for 

 trespass. I leaped a fence recently into an un- 

 known field and alighted on a snake. Fortunately 

 the astonished reptile was not injured, and I took 

 it up carefully, much to its disgust ; but it was pac- 

 ified at last, and we had great fun. Of course kbit 

 me several times, but then got tired in both neck 

 and jaws, and it was my turn. I puffed tobacco 

 smoke in its face, and how it struggled to get free. 

 Then I put it down and ran after it, when it would 

 coil quickly and "play" mad, but it soon saw I 

 was only in fun, and was really docile. It was a 

 striped garter-snake, twenty -nine inches long, and 

 being newly dressed, that is, having recently shed 

 its skin, was really handsome. 



How utterly unreasonable it is to be afraid of 

 snakes. There is not one chance in a thousand of 

 encountering a rattlesnake or copperhead in our or- 

 dinary rambles, and there ought to be a reasonable 

 probability in every half-mile walk of seeing a green- 

 snake, gentle, harmless, and beautiful; a garter- 

 107 



