WALK AND TALK. 29 



made HICM- woods smell as fivsh and sweet as a baby," 

 chimed in Johnson, whose thoughts doubtless took a back- 

 ward lea]), at the moment, to a certain home circle in 

 Washington, 



"And a> bright a^ a maiden's eye", sang out bachelor 

 Hrn-oii. with a broad grin. 



"Oh! oh! Why raifl you fellows just enjoy this thing 

 in a good, old fashioned way, without any such far-fetched 

 comparisons, and cheap sentiment ! 1 say, fellows," and 

 Thompson's incipient wrath oo/ed away perceptibly, 



1 -ay, what t ivmendou- u'reat trees these are! The little 

 chaps have a hard time of it down under these big maples 

 and hemlocks and >pruces." 



That broad-spreading beech tree would have delighted 

 Virgil hiniM-lt. md these, 1 believe. ;ire the veritable aisles 

 of the dim woods, that Ilemaii- Bang/' added the Professor. 



"The woods are dim enough, to be sure," broke in 

 Thompson. "Inn they'll be dimmer before we get to camp 

 if you fellows stop to stare at every hig tree you see." 



Soon we trudged \\itli joke or shout or in silence, as the 

 mood took u^ and the path permitted. Our way was a 

 simple track throimh a dense wilderness, over mountains, 

 down sleep declivities, clambering over monstrous bould 

 ers, through slough holes, and crossing swollen streams on 

 fallen trees a bridge sometimes hard to find and always 

 dillicult to civ 



The lew small birds that inhabit the wilderness llitted 

 about in I he shades; a great gray owl right over our heads, 

 disturbed in his dreams, lifted himself from his lofty 



