(Brass 10 teen 



old, was the first marvel to attract attention. A 

 few strands of this dreaded vine had come down 

 the river, with trees or fence rails, and it was now 

 again as flourishing as the day it left its home on 

 the eternal hills. It does not poison me, nor the 

 birds, so we agreed independently to thread its 

 many tangles, and I to break it wheresoever I saw 

 fit. Scrambling is better physical than mental ex- 

 ercise, and when perched at last on the trunk of an 

 uprooted tulip tree, I was not in a receptive state 

 of mind; but fate decreed otherwise, and sluggish 

 senses were well aroused at catching a glimpse of 

 a skunk. 



I remember once a school composition written 

 in a great hurry to prevent being "kept in." It 

 ran thus: "The skunk is a beautiful animal and 

 'distance lends enchantment to the view.'" My 

 teacher remarked I had said a great deal in a few 

 words and let me off. To-day there was no dis- 

 tance to speak of, and I put myself on my good be- 

 havior, but was not sure of my near neighbor. He 

 eyed me very critically for some seconds hours, 

 they seemed and then ran into his snuggery, which 

 was directly under where I was sitting. Affairs 

 were critical. I had not quietly walked to my seat 

 and could not noiselessly withdraw. Would the 

 dreaded animal resent my scrambling above him 

 and possibly falling down upon him. I admit I 

 was a good deal disturbed, and the more so when 

 the creature's mate came trotting along and, when 

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