90 LAND OF THE LINGERING SNOW. 



a picture of rural security and comfort. An old- 

 fashioiied farmhouse, in the midst of drooping 

 willows, barns, sheds, cattle-yards, and fruit trees, 

 stood near the sunny end of the hollow. At the 

 eastern end was a large pool, thickly grown with 

 stiff, interlacing bushes which rose from the water 

 in the manner of the button-ball bushes. Around 

 the farm buildings were cows, a bull with a large 

 ring in his nose, hens, ducks, and turkeys. 

 Around the pool were song sparrows, tree spar- 

 rows, yellow-rumped warblers, crow blackbirds, 

 and redwings. The air was lull of their music 

 and the clamor of the barnyard. The spot 

 gave one the feeling that it must have a history. 

 Indians, smugglers, pirates, patriot conspirators, 

 exiled regicides, might one or all have made this 

 nook a place of refuge. The oasis in the desert 

 is seen from afar ; this spot of life was hidden 

 in the bosom of the sandhills. 



While I was thinking thus the heavens sud- 

 denly gave out an unearthly sound ; a drove of 

 celestial jackasses, all braying at once, seemed 

 coming afar from the sun's pastures. Shading 

 my eyes, I discovered a multitude of dark specks 

 connected like a chain, and advancing across the 

 sky with a swaying, undulatory motion. They 

 were wild geese flying a little north of east, and 

 within three hundred feet of the ground. The 

 farmer's dog barked vehemently at them. A 



